Calvin and Trent on the Causes of Justification

CALVIN AND TRENT ON THE CAUSES OF JUSTIFICATION

Causes	Trent	Calvin
Final	The glory of God and and Jesus Christ eternal life	The glory of divine justice and goodness
Efficient	The mercy of God	The mercy of God
Meritorious	Merits of Christ’s satisfaction and passion
Material		Christ with his blood
Instrumental	Baptism	Faith
Formal	The distributed justice of God infused in us to sanctification	Faith

Sources: John Calvin, Commentary on Romans, ed.
D. W. Torrance and T. F. Torrance, trans. Ross Mackenzie (Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 1961), 75; The Canons and Decrees of the
Council of Trent, Session Six, chapter 7 in P. Schaff,
The Creeds of Christendom 3 vol. (Grand Rapids: Baker, repr.
1983), 2:94-97.

Subscribe to the Heidelblog today!