Lutherans, Roman Catholics Find "Fundamental Consensus"

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Vatican have agreed on wording that could end four centuries of bickering between the two churches.  The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification brings global attention to a "fundamental consensus" the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Roman Catholic Church reached in the 1980s.
     In 45 paragraphs the declaration summarizes Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogues on the subject around the world over the past three decades.  It draws special attention to "Justification by Faith," a consensus document issued in 1983 after five years of work by the U.S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue.
     The Rev. H. George Anderson was the Lutheran co-chair of the dialogue on justification, the seventh of ten "rounds" of talks in the United States.  He is now presiding bishop of the ELCA.
     "Justification is a central concept in how both of our churches understand the gospel of Jesus Christ," said the Rev. Daniel F. Martensen, director of the ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs.  It's also "the core of the difficulty ... in the 16th century which lead to the Reformation.
     "Over that doctrine there were condemnations thrown back and forth between the Roman Catholic Church and the then-emerging Lutheran community ... not so much against individuals but against teachings," he said.  The declaration states that those condemnations no longer apply.
     For Lutherans, the doctrine of justification is "that we cannot obtain forgiveness of sin and righteousness before God by our own merits, works, or satisfactions, but that we receive forgiveness of sin and become righteous before God by grace, for Christ's sake, through faith."  The declaration states that Roman Catholics agree but have a different way of looking at "grace" than Lutherans.
     Theologians recently finished editing a section of the declaration involving "a very complex set of theological issues" dealing with "concupiscence," said Martensen.  Concupiscence is "the tendency or the inclination toward sinning."
     Lutherans have a slogan, he said: "`We are simultaneously saints and sinners.'  The Roman Catholic Church talks a different way about the impact of salvation -- being saved by Christ -- that really you are no longer a sinner at that point, but you have an inclination -- a tendency.  There is concupiscence involved."
     Lutheran and Roman Catholic theologians wanted the declaration to clarify that this difference requires continued conversation between the two churches, said Martensen, but it does not affect consensus reached on the doctrine of justification.
     The joint declaration is being studied "by all 122 member churches of the Lutheran World Federation and by the Roman Catholic Church at the world level," said Martensen.  The official English translation was sent immediately to all Lutheran theological faculties in the United States, and it will be available this spring for discussion at the assemblies of the ELCA's 65 synods.
     The 7.6-million-member Church of Sweden -- the world's largest Lutheran church -- has already approved the declaration. The ELCA is the second largest with nearly 5.2 million members. The LWF will compile the results of all the responses from Lutheran churches around the world.
     The text is not to be amended, because the wording is being considered in so many settings, Martensen said.  "The bishop will make a proposal at some point" whether there be a vote on the declaration at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly this August in Philadelphia or there be further study.
     The declaration on the doctrine of justification is one of three ecumenical developments in 1997 for the ELCA.  The Churchwide Assembly is set to vote on two proposals for full communion, one with the Episcopal Church and the other with three Reformed churches -- Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Church in America and United Church of Christ.
     The joint declaration will not bring Lutherans and Roman Catholics into full communion, said Martensen, "but it's an important step to open new doors for further dialogue and for the exploration of new topics in relationship to our Roman Catholic sisters and brothers.  And that we think is important.  There will be a mood change potentially if this is passed."

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