Justification in the active sense (_iustificatio_, δικαίωσις) is defined by the Tridentine Council as “a translation from that state wherein man is born a child of the first Adam, to the state of grace and of the adoption of the sons of God through the second Adam, Jesus Christ, our Saviour.”(860) Justification, therefore, has both a negative and a positive element. The positive element is interior sanctification through the merits of Jesus Christ. The negative element consists in the forgiveness of sin. Though these elements are objectively inseparable, the forgiveness of sin being practically an effect of interior sanctification, yet we must treat them separately in order to be able to refute more effectively the Lutheran heresy that sin is not wiped out but merely “covered,” and that justification consists in an external “imputation” of the righteousness of Christ. Article 1. The Negative Element Of Justification 1. THE HERESY OF THE PROTESTANT REFORMERS AND THE TEACHING OF THE CHURCH.—Luther held that human nature was radically depraved by original sin(861) and that justification consists in this, that sin (original and mortal) is no longer “imputed” to the sinner; that is to say, it is not blotted out but merely “covered” by the merits of Christ. a) Forgiveness of sins, therefore, according to Luther, consists simply in their being no longer imputed.(862) This heresy was incorporated in the Formula of Concord and other symbolical books of the Lutheran Church,(863) and subsequently adopted by Calvin.(864) b) The Catholic Church has always maintained that justification is a renewal of the soul by which a man’s sins are blotted out and he becomes truly just. This applies first of all to original sin. “If,” says the Council of Trent, “anyone denies that by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is conferred in Baptism, the guilt of original sin is remitted, or even asserts that the whole of that which has the true and proper nature of sin is not taken away, but says that it is only raised or not imputed, let him be anathema.”(865) What it here defines in regard to original sin, the Council elsewhere reaffirms in respect of mortal sin.(866) 2. REFUTATION OF THE LUTHERAN THEORY.—The theory thus solemnly condemned by the Tridentine Fathers is unscriptural and opposed to Catholic Tradition. a) The teaching of the Bible on this point may be reduced to four distinct heads.