In 1983 a group of Lutheran and Catholic theologians made the newsworthy announcement that they had come to agreement on the meaning of justification. Although this widely publicized statement caused many people to believe that Catholics and Protestants were now agreed on this doctrine, this was far from true.
    First, whether or not some individual Catholic scholars accept the biblical doctrine of justification is not the same as having Rome accept it. Second, those involved did no such thing. Although their statements sounded evangelical, a careful reading of the report proves that what was upheld was the traditional Catholic doctrine of justification. For example, the report clearly equates justification and sanctification: "By justification we are both declared and made righteous. Justification, therefore, is not a legal fiction [a reference to the Protestant view]. God, in justifying, effects what He promises; He forgives sin and makes us truly righteous."
    But as W. Robert Godfrey, professor of church history at Westminster Theological Seminary in California, correctly observes, "The report yields to the Roman Catholics on the doctrine of justification, and compromises too much what is essential to the gospel." Thus, the report did not unite Lutherans and Catholics on the nature of justification; it simply upheld the Catholic view. This unfortunate confusion has been repeated several times in the ensuring decades.
    In essence, the decrees made by the Council of Trent on justification remain the standard of Roman Catholic theology. These decrees have never been modified, altered, or rescinded by Rome. This is why Karl Keating maintains that the views of Trent on justification are not only true Catholic doctrine, but that they are true-biblical doctrine as well.
    The Catholic doctrine reiterated by the Council of Trent (1566-1572) is principally a reply to the "heresies" of the Protestant Reformation. A careful reading of the sixth session on justification will clearly show that, despite Catholic claims, its pronouncements are not only unbiblical, but anti-biblical as well.
    Trent decreed that whoever does not "faithfully and firmly accept this Catholic doctrine on justification. . .cannot be justified. . ." Thus, in the section "Canons Concerning Justification," we read:
 

Canon 9 - If anyone says that the sinner is justified by faith alone, meaning that nothing else is required to cooperate in order to obtain the grace of justification. . .let him be anathema [cursed by God].
 

    Not surprising, Trent also decreed that good works increase our justification. For example, in Canon 24:
 

If anyone says that the justice received [i.e., justification] is not preserved and also not increased before God through good works, but that those works are merely the fruits and signs of justification obtained, but not the cause of its increase, let him be anathema.
    Trent established perhaps the most subtle form of justification by works ever devised. This subtlety may explain why some Catholic actively encourage Protestants to read the decrees of Trent - to "prove" that Catholicism does not teach a form of salvation by works. We do think that every Protestant should read these decrees carefully and then determine for themselves whether or not the gospel of grace has been rejected.
    Because Roman Catholic teaching denies that justification is the past and completed declaration of God the Judge, it thoroughly undermines a believer's certainty of salvation. If "to justify" means to make a person righteous, a person is left to his own subjective condition for the basis of his acceptance before God. This explains why Catholic justification fluctuates in the life of a believer. It is not a completed act of God. Rather, it is based on the grace-empowered works of sinful people for its maintenance. Thus, it can hardly provide any sense of security of salvation. For example, since the Catholic Church teaches that justification can be lost by mortal sin, a person can only know he retains his justification if he is certain he has not committed mortal sin. But in Catholic teaching, such knowledge is problematic at best. Mortal sin is not always clearly defined, so definite knowledge of having committed such a sin is not always possible.
    Clearly, Catholics and Protestants are not in agreement on this vital matter of salvation.