The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum DiscerningReader.com supporting N.T. Wright

John,

The distinction between the RCC's "infused" righteousness and the Protestant's "imputed" righteousness is simply this: The RCC teaches that the righteousness of Christ actually becomes that of the believer. In short, the believer working by "grace" can actually do works which are righteous and which are accounted to the person toward their eventual justification. Contrariwise, Protestantism teaches that the righteousness of Christ is accredited to the believer only. This righteousness is an "alien" righteousness, i.e., it remains outside, apart from the believer and it is upon this alien righteousness which God declares judicially that the believer IS righteous at the very moment faith takes hold of Christ. Luther's famous utterance of simul iustus et peccator really puts it clearly; i.e., "at the same time righteous and sinner".

For more detailed information regarding this topic see these:

• Justification by Faith Alone: The Nature of Justifying Faith, by John Gerstner
• Justification by Faith Alone: The Sufficiency of Faith for Justification, by John Armstrong (who now repudiates what he wrote in this article).
• Justification by Faith Alone: The Relation of Faith to Justification, by Joel Beeke
• The Biblical Teaching of Justification, by William Webster
• The Great Exchange - A Series on Justification, by Philip Eveson
• Faith and Works, by J. Gresham Machen

In His Grace,