Salvation Through Faith Is Issue

* Re “O.C. Catholic Bishop to Lead Church’s U.S. Interfaith Effort,” Oct. 28:

Martin Luther needs someone to speak for him. It’s not “something new.”

Bishop Tod Brown and Murray Finck, bishop of the Pacifica Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, recapitulate Contarini and Melanchthon. In 1541 at Regensburg an agreement was reached that resulted in Contarini being accused of heresy by Rome and Melanchthon’s compromise being rejected by Luther.

The agreement read, “Only the grace of God in the merits of Christ justified sinners and saved them through faith. But, on the other hand, this very faith had to be a living faith that showed itself in works of love for one’s neighbor.”

Rome saw a danger to sacramental piety and Luther saw a danger of trusting in works of salvation, rather than to Christ alone. What would Luther say to the delegates in 1999 at Augsburg, Germany, who “set out a consensus on the question of good works, stressing that faith is most important to earn God’s grace and a place in heaven”?

Concerning the central issue of the 16th century, Luther said that if the belief that one is saved by faith alone “is lost and perishes, the whole knowledge of truth, life, and salvation is lost and perishes at the same time. But if it flourishes, everything good flourishes: religion, true worship, the glory of God and the right knowledge of all things and of all social conditions.”

R.M. KERANEN

Tustin