Nothing unclean shall enter [heaven], nor any one who practices abomination or falsehood” (Rev 21:27). Sin and God’s holiness are absolutely incompatible. They are as diametrically opposed as light and darkness, life and death, Christ and Satan (cf. 2 Cor 6:14-16). This leads us to a sobering conclusion; before we may enter into God’s presence, we must become perfect (cf. Matt 5:48). This may seem impossible at first. Indeed, with man it is impossible. However, “with God all things are possible” (Matt 19:26). We, sinful creatures though we may be, can trust in “the one who justifies the ungodly” (Rom 4:5) and exclaim, along with St. Paul, praise be to God, “now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). How can this be? How can an imperfect creature be justified before his righteous creator? In this essay, I will give a brief overview of the Catholic doctrine of justification, and answer some Protestant objections as they arise.
To begin, justification is wholly and entirely the work of God’s grace. It is not our own doing (cf. Eph 2:8-9). And nothing that we possess, whether faith or works, can merit this grace; it is by nature gratuitous, free, and undeserved. Otherwise, as St. Paul says, “grace would no longer be grace.” (Rom 11:16) Thus, we cannot claim any part in the work of salvation to be exclusively our own.
Our justification must begin with God’s call. We cannot come to Christ without God’s grace first having gone before us, drawing us to Him. In our Lord’s own words, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him” (John 6:44). True, the grace of God does demand our free cooperation and consent; however, even this would be impossible if it were not for the Holy Spirit sustaining us. As the Catechism teaches, “The preparation of man for the reception of grace is already a work of grace. This latter is needed to arouse and sustain our collaboration in justification through faith, and in sanctification through charity. God brings to completion in us what he has begun, ‘since He who completes His work by cooperating with our will began by working so that we might will it’ (St. Augustine, De gratia et libero arbitrio)” (CCC 2001).
Here we encounter our first Protestant objection. A Calvinist would say that since God is sovereign, our will is entirely subject to His, and it is impossible to resist His grace. How are we to answer this contention? Well, there is a funny passage in 2 Corinthians wherein St. Paul exhorts his readers not to receive the grace of God in vain (2 Cor 6:1). According to the Calvinist, this is a metaphysical impossibility! Yet, it fits in perfectly with the Catholic understanding, wherein it is entirely possible for one to receive God’s grace, turn around, and squander it by choosing sin.
In addition to this passage, there are several other Scriptures which clearly stress the necessity of cooperating with grace as a condition for salvation. For example, Romans 11:22 states “See, then, the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but God’s kindness to you, provided you remain in His kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off” (cf. Rev 2:26, Matt 19:17).
The next disagreement between Catholics and Protestants is over the definition of justification itself. The council of Trent defined justification as “a translation from that state in which 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 Savior,” which includes “not only a remission of sins but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward man” (Decree on Justification). Upon justification, God pours His love into our hearts, transforming us and making us inwardly, ontologically righteous. We become “partakers in the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4). We are “new creations” (2 Cor 5:17). “For just as through the disobedience of one person many were made sinners, so through the obedience of one many will be made righteous.” (Rom 5:19).
This translation is effected at “the washing of regeneration” (Titus 3:5) i.e. baptism, for “we were indeed buried with [Christ] through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life” (Rom 6:4, cf. 1 Pet 3:21).
Now, having received this salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, it is incumbent upon us to “strive for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). We must continually cooperate with the sanctifying grace of God until we attain final perfection in heaven. It is not enough to have faith alone, since, “if [we] have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, [we] are nothing (1 Cor 13:2). Works are necessary as well. Since Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15), refusing to keep His commandments is tantamount to rejecting His love. St. James said it in the plainest language possible: “So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead… You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2). “For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love” (Gal 5:6). However, lest we boast, we must always remember that this is not us working, but Christ working within us (cf. Gal 2:20). Our contribution is the passive contribution of assent. We can echo Mary (Luke 1:38), but we cannot, and must not, glory in having performed a single meritorious act before God under our own power. However, works performed by Christ through us could never be anything less than meritorious!
Finally, upon our death, God will draw us up into the holy and consuming fire of His love, and whatever work of sanctification He did not finish on earth, He will finish then. Whatever dross is left upon our souls, he will eradicate. This is the concept of purgatory, and it is described in 1 Corinthians 3. God will finish His work: He will make us perfect.
According to the Protestant understanding of justification, on the other hand, God does not make us inwardly perfect. The sinner, who reaches out to God in faith, is legally accredited with the alien righteousness of Christ, while yet remaining inwardly sinful. The metaphor that Luther used to describe this state of affairs was that of a dungheap covered in snow. God looks at the sinner who has faith, pretends that he is Christ, and judges him accordingly. Then, as soon as the sinner enters heaven, his sinful nature just vanishes. His sanctification is instantaneous. Now, in addition to this being a theological novelty (which places the burden of proof on this issue squarely upon the Protestants), it is nowhere even hinted at in any of the biblical judgment scenes. From the sheep and the goats of Matthew, to the white throne of the Apocalypse, the message of the Bible is consistent and clear: God will judge us according to what we do (cf. Matt 25, Rom 2, Rev 20:11-15). Further, I would argue that the Protestant view of justification is a metaphysical impossibility, since it involves God declaring something to be so (that the sinner is righteous) and it not actually being so. As should be intuitively obvious to all Christians, if God declares something to be so, it is.
Finally, I will address one last point of contention between Catholics and some Protestants: the idea that it is impossible to lose one’s salvation. This doctrine is known as eternal security, or the perseverance of the saints. Personally, I cannot see how anyone could read the same Bible that I am reading and come up with this idea. St. Paul tells the Galatians, in the plainest language, that they have been severed from Christ, and have fallen from grace (Gal 5:4). If this is not the exact equivalent of telling them that they have lost their salvation, I do not know what is. Romans 11 uses similar language. In addition, there are several passages in the Bible which state that our salvation is conditional upon holding fast to our faith up to the moment of death (cf. Heb 3:6, 3:14, Mark 13:13). Surely this implies that it is possible to not hold fast? It would certainly seem so.