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Soutane
Guest
Please support your contention with reference to Holy Scripture only
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Julian0404
Guest
Please define what you mean by “justification”.
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Carlan
Guest
Soutane, Could this be what you are looking for?.
I pulled this from my notes and I did not copy down my source at the time, sorry.
The initial grace of justification and salvation we receive in baptism is a done deal. And Catholics do not believe we were partially justified or partially saved at baptism.
Catholics believe, as Peter says in 1 Peter 3:21, “Baptism… now saves you…” Ananias said to Saul of Tarsus, “Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name” (Acts 22:16).
That means the new Christian has been “washed… sanctified… [and] justified” as 1 Corinthians 6:11 remarks.
That much is a done deal; thus, it is entirely proper to say we “have been justified” and we “have been saved.” However, this is not the end of the story.
*** Scripture reveals that through this justification and salvation the new Christian experiences in baptism, he enters into a process of justification and salvation requiring his free cooperation with God’s grace***.
More to the story.
Romans 5:1-2 states, “Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained access to this grace in
which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God.”
This text indicates that after having received the grace of justification, we now have access to God’s grace by which we stand in Christ, and we can then rejoice in the hope of sharing God’s glory. That word hope indicates that what we are hoping for we do not yet possess.
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).
Without a doubt, we must continue to work in Christ as Christians; it is also true that it is only by the grace of God we can continue to do so.
But even more importantly, Scripture tells us this grace can be resisted. Second Corinthians 6:1 tells us that “Working together with him, then, we entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain.”
St. Paul urged believers in Antioch—and all of us by implication—“to continue in the grace of God.” Indeed, Paul warns Christians that they can “fall from grace” in Galatians 5:4.
This example of justification being obtained in the future is not an isolated case.
Numerous biblical texts indicate both justification and salvation to be future and contingent realities:
Romans 2:13-16: For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified … on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Jesus Christ.
Romans 6:16: Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience which leads to righteousness? (Greek dikaiosunen, “justification”)
Matthew 10:22: And you will be hated of all men for my name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.
Peace, Carlan
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