Analytical and Synthetic

One helpful way of distinguishing the Reformed and Roman Catholic views of justification is by the terms analytical and synthetic. What do these words mean or imply? The word analytical has to do with analysis, which involves careful study, observation, classification, and so forth. The discipline of analytical philosophy involves linguistic analysis, or analysis of statements. One type of statement it identifies is the analytical statement, one that is formally true, or true by definition. An example of such a statement is “A bachelor is an unmarried man.” This statement tells us nothing we don’t already know about a bachelor: The predicate adds no information not already contained in the subject. A bachelor is an unmarried man by definition. By contrast, synthetic has to do with synthesis, a mixture of various elements. A synthetic statement is one in which the predicate adds information not included in the subject. An example of such a statement is “The bachelor is bald.” Here we learn something new about this bachelor.

Now, what do statements about bald bachelors have to do with justification? Just this: The historic Roman Catholic view of justification is said to be analytical. This simply means that God will not declare a person righteous unless He actually finds righteousness within the person. The person must be righteous by definition. By contrast, the Protestant view is said to be synthetic. The use of this term does not in any way imply that justification is artificial, man-made, or manufactured. It simply means that there is a mixture in the believer. The believer remains a sinner by definition. But something has been added to him—the righteousness of Christ. God, therefore, does not wait to declare the person righteous until actual righteousness is created within him. Rather, He justifies the person on the basis of the legal addition of the righteousness of Jesus.

When Martin Luther opened the book of Romans and began to study it, the Holy Spirit powerfully illumined his understanding of the way in which human beings are made right with God. And he saw that the church had wandered from the Biblical truth. He stood firm against the wrath of church and state, and so gave a priceless heritage to the people of God—the peace and freedom of the doctrine of justification by faith alone.