In the Context of the Church 11. The church is a consequence of justification. As a social entity, the Christian community needs to return daily to its justified identity as much as any of its individual members. When the church lives in the certainty of justification, it can risk a prophetic witness and need not feel obliged to mimic culture's criteria of success. The church must be aware that it can become corrupted.
Christian freedom is also freedom to accept our guilt.
Thus, the justified church can acknowledge its failures and guilt. It does not need to maintain a chronic defensive attitude. The justified church can treat all people, including its own members, with joyful graciousness and allow space in daily and liturgical life for palpable experiences of grace. Finally, the justified church need not justify itself even by reference to its theology of justification, but can and will expend itself for the communication of justification through all the world. In this respect, the church can be a message of justification and a manifestation of grace.