1. Roman Catholic penance--According to the Roman Catholic penatential system, baptism provides original justification for the observant member (or, as is more often the case, the infant of members, observant or otherwise). Mortal sin "kills" the grace of justification, forcing the person onto the second plank of justification, which is penance. Penance is both an internal virtue, meritorious and therefore "worthy" of recognition and reward by God, and an external sacrament, which is a good work, consisting of contrition, confession, satisfaction, and absolution. Indeed, through acts of satisfaction (usually a painful or burdensome task) the sinner can and must pay for his own sins and win God's favor. Through proper penance, the observant Roman Catholic is restored to a state of grace with God--he has regained justification.
2. Evangelical Arminian repentance--According to this scheme, repentance precedes regeneration and lies therefore within the ability of natural men. The natural man, truly repenting and placing faith in Christ, is rewarded by God with eternal life. This concept gets the shoe on the wrong foot and inadvertantly turns the gospel of grace into a gospel of works. Man repents and believes and is rewarded for these good works by God.
Tomorrow: A summary of biblical repentance.
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7 comments:
Actually it's referred to as an "act of contrition" and instead of being a "painful or burdensome task" the most common act of contrition is to "say ten 'Hail Marys' and five 'Our Fathers'" or something of that nature.
Thanks for the terminological clarification, Anne. But I'll stick with the statements otherwise as made. Penitential tasks are, in fact, acts of satisfaction according to the RCC because they provide a temporal propitiation for mortal sins (although they do not cleanse from spiritual stain and must still be dealt with in purgatory) and a complete propitiation for venial sins.
As to whether the "Hails" and whatnot are burdensome, ISTM that's in the eye of the beholder. I suppose it's better than self-flagellation or a hair shirt but I could make better use of my time saying real prayers.
Gotcha; just didn't want readers to think "painful" and "burdensome" in this area was crawling a block on one's knees or something like that.
No, the penance to be performed is usually pretty lame, which can be knocked off in a very few minutes.
The penance to be performed is usually pretty lame, which can be knocked off in a very few minutes.
I've never been RC but your observation concurs with what I've seen from the outside. One could argue that practice actually teaches a cavalier attitude toward sin. "I can do XYZ, enjoy myself, and what'll it cost me besides a few 'Hail Marys'? The official line will be one of stern disapproval toward such attitudes, of course, but it's hard to deny that it turns repentance into a superficial, rote, box-checking exercise.
Traditional Arminianism holds that the work of the Holy Spirit precedes faith and repentance. The Holy Spirit must draw the sinner to repentance.
Of course, this isn't really emphasized in the modern church. Sub-Calvinists, who believe in eternal security but reject the other 4 points, don't talk that much about the role of the Spirit in conversion.
Thanks, Daniel. Your point merits further comment, and I will strive to pay it proper attention before the end of the week.
If we are interested in the view put forward by "traditional" Arminianism, the best place to start is with the Articles of Remonstrance. For our purposes, we should look at Articles III and IV:
Article III — That man has not saving grace of himself, nor of the energy of his free-will, inasmuch as he, in the state of apostasy and sin, can of and by himself neither think, will, nor do anything that is truly good (such as having faith eminently is); but that it is needful that he be born again of God in Christ, through his Holy Spirit, and renewed in understanding, inclination, or will, and all his powers, in order that he may rightly understand, think, will, and effect what is truly good, according to the word of Christ, John xv. 5: "Without me ye can do nothing."
Article IV — That this grace of God is the beginning, continuance, and accomplishment of an good, even to this extent, that the regenerate man himself, without that prevenient or assisting; awakening, following, and co-operative grace, can neither think, will, nor do good, nor withstand any temptations to evil; so that all good deeds or movements that can be conceived must be ascribed to the grace of God in Christ. But, as respects the mode of the operation of this grace, it is not irresistible, inasmuch as it is written concerning many that they have resisted the Holy Ghost,—Acts vii, and elsewhere in many places.
In Article III, the Remonstrants acknowledged the spiritual powerlessness of the natural man. We must be born again. In Article IV we get to the meat of the issue raised by Daniel, that of prevenient grace. This must not be confused with regeneration itself or effectual calling in the Reformed concept as the authors of this Article strive to emphasize, for this prevenient grace, however necessary to salvation, is specifically said to be resistible.
At this point, two questions occur:
1. Is this concept of prevenient grace biblical?
2. Is prevenient grace universal? That is, does God extend prevenient grace to all natural men?
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