Old Life Theological Society | Former Saint’s Remorse

Old Life Theological Society | Former Saint’s Remorse.

D.G. Hart (OPC elder) comments on the recent defection of Jason Stellman (PCA pastor who also published a book for Ligonier’s Reformation Trust Publishing) to the Roman Catholic Church. One area that Hart focuses on is the Protestant view of sainthood vs. Rome’s view. It is worth reading his comments. Hart’s article was originally posted July 25, 2012 on his blog named above.

To move from membership in a Protestant church into fellowship with the Bishop of Rome (i.e., the Pope), then, is to lose one’s status as a saint. In fact, the Protestant convert could likely never recover his former status, given the requirements for canonization and beatification.

This difference may not be enough to give Stellman former saint’s remorse, but it does underscore an important difference between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. We view sainthood and sanctity differently, and the basis for that difference has much to do with the sole sufficiency of Christ’s righteousness for any Christian who might claim to be a saint.

This may also be an important perspective on those old debates about the priority of justification. Sanctification, imperfect as it is in this life, is not sufficient to make one a saint, at least not according to the communion that regards justification, according to Stellman, as a life-long process of having the love of God written on the believer’s heart. But justification (of the Protestant variety) is enough for sainthood since I personally receive all of Christ’s righteousness in faith and that is the only qualification in which I could take comfort for sanctity.