Did the Reformation End in 1999?

National Catholic Register, 31 October 2024

The ‘Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification,’ signed by the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation, was joined by 2017 by the World Methodist Council, the Anglican Consultative Council, and the World Communion of Reformed Churches.

Oct. 31 is All Hallows Eve in the Catholic Church. It is also Reformation Day for Protestants. On that day in 1517, according to tradition, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. The Reformation followed, and a great rupture ripped apart Western Christianity. 

So did the Reformation end 25 years ago?

Though the splintering of Western Christian continues, many (usually Catholic) ecumenical commentators argue that the Reformation did end, in a sense, when the main theological reason was resolved Oct. 31, 1999 — the day the Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation signed the “Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.” By 2017, the document had been joined by the World Methodist Council, the Anglican Consultative Council, and the World Communion of Reformed Churches.

Peter Wolfgang recently summarized the Reformation-is-over argument. As he points out, the estimable Peter Kreeft lent his scholarly credibility to this position in his book for the 500th anniversary of Luther’s theses in 2017.

The joint declaration is “the greatest ecumenical achievement in the five hundred years since the Reformation,” wrote Kreeft in Catholics and Protestants: What Can We Learn From Each Other? “The most important religious difference between Protestants and Catholics has essentially been overcome.”

That difference was the teaching on “justification.” 

How do sinners become “justified” or “righteous” before God?

As the dispute came down through the ages, it was usually styled that Protestants believed that sinners are saved by the grace of Christ Jesus “alone” (sola gratia), and sinners need to profess faith in that saving work (sola fide).

Catholics, on the other hand, were said to believe that sinners are saved by grace and their good works, perhaps even in reverse order. This was often characterized as Catholics holding that sinners had to “earn” their salvation rather than receive it as God’s gratuitous gift.

Both views — “by faith” and “by works” — enjoy biblical warrant.

“Opposing interpretations and applications of the biblical message of justification were in the sixteenth century a principal cause of the division of the Western church and led as well to doctrinal condemnations,” says the joint declaration. “A common understanding of justification is therefore fundamental and indispensable to overcoming that division.”

That was achieved by the document, according to its signatories. They observed “a notable convergence concerning justification, with the result that this Joint Declaration is able to formulate a consensus on basic truths concerning the doctrine of justification.”

“In light of this consensus, the corresponding doctrinal condemnations of the sixteenth century do not apply,” states the declaration. That sounds like the Reformation is over — more or less. 

At the heart of the document is this agreement:

“In faith we together hold the conviction that justification is the work of the triune God. The Father sent his Son into the world to save sinners. The foundation and presupposition of justification is the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ. Justification thus means that Christ himself is our righteousness, in which we share through the Holy Spirit in accord with the will of the Father. Together we confess: 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 and calling us to good works.”

That was a monumental agreement. Kreeft exulted that “Goliath is slain.”

We are not saved by our own works, as was mistakenly believed by many Protestants to be the Catholic position. Justification by faith does change the heart, enabling the converted sinner to do meritorious works in union with Christ, whose grace is active in him. 

The great ecumenical achievement of the “Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification” was not without difficulties. After many years of patient theological dialogue, the Lutheran World Federation and the relevant Holy See officials announced in June 1998 that the breakthrough had been achieved.

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