We will briefly note the general concerns expressed by Protestants. The question of authority is an area of central dispute between Catholics and Protestants. Evangelicals believe that Catholicism's misguided authority structure has allowed numerous unbiblical teachings to arise in the church. We will return for a more thorough discussion of this crucial issue of authority in Part Three of this series. Although we can only summarize the views here, we will also return to this issue in Parts Three and Four.
Justification is both an event and a process.
An unrighteous man becomes a righteous man. Becoming a child of God in baptism and having the remission of sins, the Christian is made righteous. The believer will only know for certain that he is justified at the end of the process. It involves a change in status rather than in nature. Justifying righteousness is the alien righteousness of Christ, imputed to the believer and external to him, not a righteousness that is inherent within him, located within him, or in any way belonging to him.