James Montgomery Boice:
The church of the Middle Ages spoke about Christ. A church that failed to do that could hardly claim to be Christian. But the medieval church had added many human achievements to Christ’s work, so that it was no longer possible to say that salvation was entirely by Christ and his atonement. This was the most basic of all heresies, as the Reformers rightly perceived. It was the work of God plus our own righteousness. The Reformation motto solus Christus was formed to repudiate this error. It affirmed that salvation has been accomplished once for all by the mediatorial work of the historical Jesus Christ alone. His sinless life and substitutionary atonement alone are sufficient for our justification, and any ‘gospel’ that fails to acknowledge that or denies it is a false gospel that will save no one. (“The Five Solas of the Reformation”)
Filed under: Bible, Christianity, James Montgomery Boice, Salvation | Tagged: atonement, Justification, Reformers, solus Christus |
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The battle between Reformers and the Catholic Church was the battle between monergism of the Reformer (notably that of John Calvin) and synergism of the Catholic Church (later some Protestants or the Arminianists also followed synergism).
Contrary to what Mr. Boice wrote, synergism is NOT the work of God plus our own righteousness. This is common misconception or myth believed by most Reformed Christians. That statement is applicable to semi-pelagianism, which is NOT synergism – even though many Reformed scholars simply confuse these two to be the same. Synergism is the work of God in our salvation, – we do not contribute anything.
For more explanation you may read my post at:
https://vivacatholic.wordpress.com/synergism-amd-monergism-which-one-is-scriptural/
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