Justified In The Spirit

A pneumatological, Pentecostal-friendly theology of justification by faith – broadly Trinitarian, ecclesiological, and eschatological in orientation

The classic debate on justification by grace through faith has historically been limited to the question of whether justification is the reception of forgiveness by faith alone (classically Protestant) or the personal transformation that occurs as we cooperate with grace (traditionally Catholic). While some more recent ecumenical discussions have sought to link the two, many of these efforts have been criticized as patchwork solutions that do not develop precisely how forgiveness and personal transformation via grace find integration under the larger notion of the justification of the sinner. Frank Macchia here seeks to fill that lacuna.

Inspired by the typically Pentecostal accent on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Justified in the Spirit sets both Protestant and Catholic views within a larger framework, namely, the Spirit of Life as the realm of God’s favor. Since the Holy Spirit is the power of love and communion within the Trinity and between us and God, a pneumatological accent ultimately locates the justification of the sinner within the embrace of the Triune God as a communion of persons. Therefore, the Christological, eccelesiological, social, and ecological implications of justification can be fruitfully developed from the broad spaces of this Trinitarian communion.

In identifying divine favor with the realm of the Holy Spirit, Macchia here constructs a unique pneumatological theology of justification by faith that is broadly Trinitarian, ecclesiological, and eschatological in orientation.