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11/19/2008
In the journey we are taking under the guidance of St. Paul, let us dwell today on a topic which was at the center of the controversies in the century of the Reformation: the question of justification.
How does man become just in the eyes of God?
When Paul encountered the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he was a fully 'realized' man: irrepressible as to the justification that comes from the Law (cfr Phil 3,6), he surpassed most of his contemporaries in the observance of the Mosaic prescriptions and he was zealous in sustaining the traditions of the Jewish fathers (cfr Gal 1,14). The enlightenment of Damascus radically changed his existence: he started to consider all the merits that he had acquired in a most correct religious career as 'rubbish' in the face of knowing Jesus Christ (cfr Phil 3,8).
The Letter to the Philippians offers us a moving testimonial of Paul's passage from justice founded on the Law and acquired by observing prescribed acts, to a justice based on faith in Christ. He understood that what had until then appeared to him as gain was, in fact, a loss in front of God, and therefore, he decided to stake his entire existence on Jesus Christ (cfr Phil 3,7). The treasure hidden in the field and the precious pearl, into the acquisition of which one must invest everything, were no longer works done under the Law, but Jesus Christ, his Lord. The relationship between Paul and the Risen Lord became so profound as to lead Paul to maintain that Christ was not only his life but his living [non era più soltanto la sua vita ma il suo vivere], to the point that in order to reach him, even death would be a gain [cfr Phil 1,21). ["For to me, life is Christ, and death is gain".]
It was not that he deprecated life, but he understood that for him, living now had no other purpose - and therefore, he felt no other desire - but to to be with Christ, and as in a race, to be always with him. The Risen Lord had become the beginning and the end of his existence, the reason and the goal of his race. It was only his concern for the maturation of faith among those he had evangelized and his solicitude for all the Churches he had founded (cfr 2 Cor 11,28) that led him to slow down his pace towards his one Lord, in order to care for the disciples so that together they could all 'race' towards the goal.
If in his previous observance of the Law, he could not be reproved as to his moral integrity, once he met Christ, he preferred not to make judgments about himself (cf 1 Cor 4,3-4) but limited himself to speaking about his pursuit of the One who had conquered him (cfr Phil 3,12). "I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it, since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ".]
It is precisely because of his personal experience of a relationship with Jesus Christ that Paul would now place at the center of his Gospel an irreducible opposition between two alternative courses towards justice: one built on the works of the Law, the other founded on the grace of faith in Christ.
The choice between justification by the working of the Law and that by faith in Christ thi\us becomes one of the dominating themes throughout his Letters: "We, who are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles, (yet) who know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified" (Gal 2,15-16).
To the Christians of Rome, he reiterated that "all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus" (Rom 3,23-24), adding that "a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law" (ibid 28).
Luther translated this point as "justified by faith alone". I will return to this point at the end of the catechesis. First, we must clarify what is this Law from which we have been liberated and what are the 'works of the Law' that do not justify.
Already in the community of Corinth, there existed an opinion that would systematically return throughout history: it consisted in maintaining that the 'Law' referred to moral law, and that Christian freedom thus consisted in being liberated from ethics. Thus the catch phrase 'For me, everything is allowed' circulated among the Corinthians. It is obvious that this interpretation is wrong; Christian freedom is not libertinism. The liberation St. Paul speaks of is not liberation from doing good. What then is this 'Law' from which we have been liberated and does not save?
For St. Paul, as for all his contemporaries, the word Law meant the Torah in its totality, that is, the five books of Moses. The Torah implied, in the Pharisaic interpretation - that which Paul had studied and made his own - an ensemble of behavior and actions that ranges from its ethical nucleus down to ritual and cultic observances which substantially determined the identity of the 'just' man.
Especially circumcision, observances with regard to pure food and ritual purity in general, the rules on the observance of the Sabbath, etc. Actions that often figured even in the debates between Jesus and his contemporaries. All these observances which express a social, cultural and religious identity had become singularly important in the era of Hellenistic culture, starting with the third century before Christ.
This culture, which had become the universal culture of that time - and was an apparently rational culture, a polytheistic culture, apparently tolerant - constituted a strong pressure for cultural uniformity and thus threatened the identity of Israel, which was politically constrained to enter the common identity of Hellenistic culture with a consequent loss of its own identity, and therefore also a loss of the precious heritage that was the faith of the Fathers, faith in the one God and God's promises.
Against this cultural pressure, which threatened not only Israelite identity, but also faith in the one God and his promises, it was necessary to create a wall of distinction, a shield of defense, to protect the precious heritage of faith - and this wall consisted of the observance of all the Jewish prescriptions. Paul, who had learned these observances precisely in their function as a defense of God's gift, of the heritage of faith in the one God, saw this identity threatened by the freedom of the Christians - and that is why he persecuted them.
At the moment of his encounter with the Risen One, he understood that with the resurrection of Christ, the situation had radically changed. With Christ, the God of Israel, the one true God, became the God of all peoples. The wall - he says in the Letter to the Ephesians - between Israel and the pagans was no longer necessary: it is Christ who protects us against polytheism and all its deviancies. It is Christ who unites us with and in the one God. It is Christ who guarantees our true identity in the diversity of cultures. The wall was no longer necessary.
Our common identity in the diversity of cultures is Christ, and it is him who makes us just. To be just simply means to be with Christ and in Christ. And that is enough.
Other observances were no longer necessary. Therefore Luther's expression 'sola fide' (faith only) is true, if faith is not opposed to charity, to love.
Faith is to look to Christ, entrust oneself to Christ, attach oneself to Christ, conform to Christ, to his life. And the form of Christ, the life of Christ, is love: therefore, to believe in Christ and to conform to him is to enter his love.
That is why St. Paul, in his Letter to the Galatians - where he developed above all his doctrine on justification - speaks of faith that works through charity (cfr Gal 5,14). Paul knows that the Law is present and fulfilled in the double love of God and of neighbor.
Thus, in the communion with Christ, in the faith that creates charity, all of the Law is realized. We become just by entering into communion with Christ who is love. We will see this in the Gospel next Sunday, the solemnity of Christ the King. It is the Gospel of the judge whose only criterion is love. All he asks is this: Did you visit me when I was sick? When I was in prison? Did you give me food when I was hungry, did you clothe me when I was naked? Thus, justice is decided in charity, and at the end of that Gospel, we can almost say: sola carita, only love.
But there is no contradiction between this Gospel and St. Paul. It is the same vision - that vision according to which communion with Christ, faith in Christ, creates charity. And charity is the realization of communion with Christ. Thus, united with him, we are just, and in no other way. In the end, we can only pray to the Lord that he may help us to believe. To truly believe - believing thus becomes life, union with Christ, a transformation of our life.
Thus, transformed by his love, by the love of God and our neighbor, we can truly be just in the eyes of the Lord.
Here is how he synthesized the lesson in English:
In our continuing catechesis on Saint Paul, we now consider his teaching on our justification. Paul’s experience of the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus led him to see that it is only by faith in Christ, and not by any merit of our own, that we are made righteous before God. Our justification in Christ is thus God’s gracious gift, revealed in the mystery of the Cross. Christ died in order to become our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption (cf. 1 Cor 1:30), and we in turn, justified by faith, have become in him the very righteousness of God (cf. 2 Cor 5:21). In the light of the Cross and its gifts of reconciliation and new life in the Spirit, Paul rejected a righteousness based on the Law and its works. For the Apostle, the Mosaic Law, as an irrevocable gift of God to Israel, is not abrogated but relativized, since it is only by faith in God’s promises to Abraham, now fulfilled in Christ, that we receive the grace of justification and new life. The Law finds its end in Christ (cf. Rom 10:4) and its fulfilment in the new commandment of love. With Paul, then, let us make the Cross of Christ our only boast (cf. Gal 6:14), and give thanks for the grace which has made us members of Christ’s Body, which is the Church.
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