Justification and the Holy Spirit

Anglican Theological Review, Summer 2001 by Fuller, Reginald H

Together we confess that by grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work, and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping us to do good works.

Earlier, in paragraph 11, the Joint Declaration had affirmed that justification occurs through the reception of the Holy Spirit in baptism, and that baptism in turn incorporates the believer into the one body. In paragraph 12 it interprets Luther's simul justus et peccator exactly as Newman had done (see above).

The renewed emphasis on the role of the Holy Spirit in justification should have further desirable consequences. The pietistic concentration on the moment of conversion has often led to an excessive individualism. The Church, however, does not come into being when the justified or converted get together and say: "Let us share our experience." It is significant that the Acts of the Apostles speaks of the first convert as "being added" through baptism (Acts 2:41). You can't add something to nothing, so baptism is the means by which converts are brought into an already existing community by the justifying act of God (divine passive). In this context, the divine activity is expressed through the passive voice which reverently avoids naming God as the agent of the saving activity.

The recognition of the Spirit's role in justification also calls attention to another important truth, namely the eschatological aspect of justification. As Paul puts it, the Holy Spirit is the ar-rabon (down payment) and aparche (first fruits) of a salvation which will not be consummated until the parousia. This is true of all the soteriological images employed in the New Testament: justification, reconciliation, regeneration, redemption and salvation. That was the point of Brooke Foss Westcott's reply to the question, "Are you saved?" Here too is the solution to the apparent contradiction between Paul, who asserts that we are justified by faith (alone), apart from the works of the law, and James, who asserts that we are justified by works and not by faith only Paul and James are speaking of justification in two different senses, Paul about what happens in baptism, James about what happens at the Last Judgment. They are also speaking about "works" in different senses, Paul of works done before justification, James of works done after what Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit. In this connection Protestants have been a little reluctant to speak about "rewards." Rightly understood, there is a place for such language, and even Paul did not shrink from it on occasion (1 Cor. 3:14; cf. Col. 3:24). This is recognized by ARCIC-II in Salvation and the Church:

The works of the righteous performed in Christian freedom and in the love of God which the Holy Spirit gives us are the object of God's commendation and receive his reward (Matt. 6.4; 2 Tim. 4.8; Heb. 10.35, 11.6). In accordance with God's promise, those who have responded to the grace of God and consequently borne fruit for the Kingdom, will be granted a place in that Kingdom when it comes at Christ's appearing. They will be one with the society of the redeemed and rejoicing in the vision of God. This reward is a gift depending wholly on divine grace. It is in this perspective that the language of "merit" must be understood, so that we can say with Augustine: "When God crowns our merits it is his own gift that he crowns" (paragraph 23).