Salvation, justification, sanctification, etc

[ajpirc]

Protestants say we gain salvation by faith alone. When you show them James 2:24, they say that that says justified, not saved.

I’ve heard many Protestants say salvation, justification, and sanctification are three different things.

If they are, what do they mean? And if we aren’t justified by faith alone, then do we gain salvation by faith alone?

Thank You!

 

[josephback]

Protestants say we gain salvation by faith alone. When you show them James 2:24, they say that that says justified, not saved.

I’ve heard many Protestants say salvation, justification, and sanctification are three different things.

Such Protestants are digging themselves a logical hole, at least if they still want to stay true to Protestant theology. Luckily this is an opportunity to share the Catholic understanding of salvation, which they unknowningly are approaching without realizing it. In Catholicism justification, sanctification, and salvation are each distinct parts of an inseparable trio.

To my understanding justification and salvation are the same thing in Protestantism, but sanctification is divorced from these. They believe justification is a one time event rather than a process, and they do not hold to a two part justification(aka initial and final). By saying the two are distinct I think they are either misinformed or being defensive.

Sanctification is treated separately because it logically has to be if “faith alone” is true. But by divorcing justification from sanctification they are separating salvation(aka “justification”) from holiness(aka “sanctification”), which is impossible.

We are saved as it says in Ephesians: By grace through faith! Not explained in the text is that the ordinary means of grace are the sacraments. The Catholic understanding is a little different than the modern Evangelical one.

All in all very interesting.

 

[josephback]

If they are, what do they mean? And if we aren’t justified by faith alone, then do we gain salvation by faith alone?

As noted before, justification, sanctification, and salvation are all interlinked. We cannot be saved unless we are first justified, and we cannot be justified unless we have both faith and works(of love). Following this, we would not saved by faith alone, for we are not justified by faith alone. The two are interwoven, even in Catholic theology. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong on this.

 

[po18guy]

Luke 18:10-14 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

If that is all that our Lord taught, we would be fine to agree with them However, there are all those pesky verses about remaining in Him, keeping His commands, being a branch that bears fruit, etc. In a very limited, strictly contextual sense, they are right.