A
worldwide coalition of Reformed churches representing approximately 80 million
Christians has signed onto an ecumenical statement with the Roman Catholic
Church to "overcome divisions" from the time of the Protestant
Reformation.
The
World Communion of Reformed Churches signed, last week, a "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification"
with Catholic, Lutheran, and Methodist leaders at a church in Wittenberg,
Germany. According to a WCRC press release,
"The declaration stated that mutual condemnations pronounced by the two
sides during the Reformation do not apply to their current teaching on
justification."
According
to the agreement, which was originally signed by the Catholic Church and the
Lutheran World Federation on October 31, 1999, Catholics and Protestants
"are now able to articulate a common understanding of our justification by
God's grace through faith in Christ."
"It
does not cover all that either church teaches about justification; it does
encompass a consensus on basic truths of the doctrine of justification and
shows that the remaining differences in its explication are no longer the
occasion for doctrinal condemnations," states the Joint Declaration in part.
