Needing a Prisoner Exchange Program

I first saw this link on Dr. White's Blog and thought it was a Roman Catholic Priest speaking Protestant terms without their meaning. But even Dr. White seemed a little impressed. Then John Mark gave a quote of the Meditation on his Blog that was too amazing to shrug off:

"All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his blood, to prove his righteousness because of the forgiveness of sins previously committed, through the forbearance of God -- to prove his righteousness in the present time, that he might be righteous and justify the one who has faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:23-26).

Nothing of this text can be understood, even to the point that it could inspire fear more than consolation (as occurred for centuries), if the term "righteousness of God" is interpreted incorrectly. It was Luther who rediscovered that "righteousness of God" does not indicate here chastisement, or worse, his revenge, toward man, but rather it indicates, on the contrary, the act through which God "makes" man "just." (He really said "declares," not "makes," just, because he was thinking of an extrinsic or legal justification, in an imputation of justice, more than a real being made just.)

Here is the novelty that distinguishes the Christian religion from any other. Any other religion draws out for man a path to salvation by means of practical observations and intellectual speculations, promising him, as a final prize, salvation and illumination, but leaving him substantially alone in achieving the task. Christianity does not begin with what man must do to save himself, but rather with what God has done to save him. The order is reversed.

Is Luther getting a second chance? This is the beauty of a church that is as large as Rome's. Even though Rome has anathemetized anyone who holds to the doctrine of "imputation", sometimes a man will become overwhelmed with historical reality and Biblical truth.

In conclusion, I remain convinced that there are many Protestants who are now apostates from the Biblical faith. I see there are also many Roman Catholics who may equally be lost from Rome while standing in their camp. Perhaps we should send some delegates and arrange a prisoner swap.