칭의와 치유

Abstract

Justification is God's forgiveness of sins that is through faith alone (Rom. 3:23-28). As accomplished and manifested in Jesus Christ, it means God's free, unconditional, and unmerited acceptance of us in spite of our sin and alienation from God, from others, and from ourselves. What we could not do for ourselves has been done for us in Jesus Christ. However, most of contemporary theologians tend to treat the doctrine of justification as some sort of theological dinosaur. They regard the doctrine as contemporary irrelevance, but as only something in fossil form, that is, embodied in confessional documents in the sixteenth century. In fact, it is true that the doctrine of justification has quite relevance for our own time. If justification by faith has not contemporary relevance, it is because we have made it so and have failed to explain its power and relevance for our own reality. Recently, the Lutheran World Federation has expressed some problems of modern society in terms of 'performance,' 'performance-oriented society'. The quest for acceptance and the drive to succeed border on idolatry in our competitive society. Whether captured by the spirit of possession or success, we are driven by the desire to make it, to feel valued, accepted, and loved. In all these respects, anyone who thinks that the doctrine of justification has no relevance for people in our sophisticated society captive to many kinds of addictions - whether of money, work, leisure, fame, sex, or the more frequently mentioned forms of substance abuse - is simply out of touch with common experience. According to D. L. Migliore, this day a powerful expression of the doctrine of justification comes out of the struggle of blacks for justice and freedom in North America and South Africa. An important element of the message of such eloquent preachers such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesse Jackson, Allen Boesak could be summarized as follows: "we are somebodies." Interpreted in light of the Gospel, this statement is apparently right. Moreover, rediscovery of justification by grace still has revolutionary power. That is why it is certain that 'performance-ideology' be devaluated when recognizing that, whatever and whoever they are, humans are loved by God and hence are not 'nobodies' but 'somebodies.' Therefore, it is noted that Church has a missionary task to proclaim so called justification by faith for the world.