“For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” (Rom. 5:19)
The Council of Trent teaches, “Justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man.” Its explanation requires precision as disputes concerning its nature contributed to the Protestant Reformation. Considered as an act and state of the soul, an account of justification must explain its necessity, preparation, causes, effects, and reattainment if lost.
We require justification given our sinfulness. Sin’s division is twofold: original sin, the consequence of Adam’s sin incurred in us through our descent from him, and actual sin, our particular personal sins. Actual sin has a subsequent twofold division: mortal sin, which “destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God’s law,” and venial sin, which “allows charity to subsist, even though it offends and wounds it” (CCC 1855). Sin makes us enemies of God (cf. Rom. 5:10), and we require justification to become His friends and adopted children, worthy of relationship with Him and salvation.
Adults must prepare for justification given both their original and actual sins. As infants are only corrupted by original sin, their preparation for justification is unnecessary. Adults must, in accord with unmerited calling, “repent, and believe in the gospel,” through God’s free, unearned gift of grace (Mk 1:15). Neither performance of acts prescribed by Jewish law nor of naturally good acts alone are enough to prepare for, merit, or attain justification (cf. Rom. 3:9). Man must personally cooperate with this grace of conversion, as we can accept or reject it of our free will (CCC 2002).
The role of faith within one’s justification presents an essential division between Catholic and Protestant theology. Scripture and Catholic Tradition concur regarding faith’s importance. St. Paul writes, “For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law” (Rom. 3:28), and the Council of Trent teaches, “faith is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation and root of all justification.”
However, Protestants assert faith’s exclusivity in justification. Martin Luther, and other Protestant Reformers, taught justification of faith alone. This refers to “fiduciary faith,” meaning the belief that God does not and will not hold our sins against us, covering our interior sinfulness in His exterior justice and grace. The Catholic Church defines faith as “believing to be true what has been divinely revealed and promised,” namely God’s real transformation of ourselves and removal of sins rather than their mere concealment (Council of Trent). We believe God’s grace makes us truly and interiorly holy.
Furthermore, faith coincides with charity and the good works of charity, apart from which faith is not effective for our justification (cf. Cor. 13:2 and James 2:14-17, respectively). The Council of Trent rejects any claims that “the justice received is not preserved and also not increased before God through good works.”
Justification has various causes. Its meritorious cause is the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. Its instrumental cause is the sacrament of faith, Baptism, or its desire, in which we are baptized into Christ’s Death and Resurrection (cf. Rom. 6:3-4). Baptism, or desire for it, is necessary for our salvation (CCC 1257-1258), and through it God infuses us with the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. This is the initial act of justification, and as a sacrament of character, someone can only be baptized once. The only formal cause of justification is sanctifying grace, which “perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by his love” (CCC 2000). It cleanses us from original and mortal sin, and enables us to live free of sin and in sanctity.
Other erroneous teachings hold that one cannot lose their justification, or that one can only lose it through apostasy. This view follows the teaching of one’s certainty of justification and salvation. The Church rejects both of these claims. Through mortal sin alone, one can “fall from grace,” rejecting charity by one’s free will while still possessing faith. A fallen soul requires the sacrament of Penance, through which sins are forgiven and graces are received for further sanctification (cf. Jn 20:23). Like Baptism, cooperation with unmerited grace precedes Penance, and the absolution of sin and resolution to remain in the state of sanctifying grace occurs.
May we rely upon God’s grace, frequent the sacraments, and perform good works of charity to increase and preserve our justification until the hour of death.
Featured image courtesy of Laurom via Wikimedia Commons
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The clarification between fiduciary grace and becoming holy as an individual person, actually was helpful for me.
Does faith follow charity in coming to believe? Are they simultaneous? If I can have a dead faith, i.e. a faith disconnected from the love of God due to mortal sin, does that imply that Charity follows faith in nature?