What is salvation?

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steph_86

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Hi,

I have difficulty comprehending key concepts about our Catholic faith. I want to know what is the difference between redemption, salvation, justification and sanctification.

It is said that we are said through faith. But if that’s true, where do works come in. And what about love?

I am confused. Can someone explain to me the whole process of salvation?

Thanks.
 
steph_86 said:
Hi,

I have difficulty comprehending key concepts about our Catholic faith. I want to know what is the difference between redemption, salvation, justification and sanctification.

It is said that we are said through faith. But if that’s true, where do works come in. And what about love?

I am confused. Can someone explain to me the whole process of salvation?

Thanks.
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It’s all a work of Gods grace. Redemption is the work of Jesus on the Cross, reconciling man with God. Justification is God making us genuinely just. It begins, from our part, by a response of faith in God and His revelation to us, ultimately and most fully through His Son Jesus. We then, as an act of obedience to Jesus’ commands, receive Baptism. In this act of faith we are publicly confessing Jesus’ lordship and are made new-justified-by an act of God.

But since we’re still not much different at this point from Adam & Eve in terms of attraction to sin, in terms of our resistance to being attracted to things other than God first above all else, we still struggle with sin and generally then enter into a process of sanctification, where our justification should increase as we grow in the virtues of faith, hope, and love. This is accomplished by Gods giving us grace to invest, tests, works of love to perform, etc, all aimed at increasing our faith and our justice, ultimately aimed at increasing our love, so long as we, for our part, persevere.

The completely just man is the one who, simply, loves God with his whole heart, soul, mind, and strength and his neighbor as himself. In this way the greatest commandments, the Law, are fulfilled, order and justice are restored- actually* increased* -in our universe, Gods will is done. Salvation is simply the consequence of justification-when we’re truly just we’re enabled to “see” God, to know Him and be fully known by Him. This is heaven, and this is inexhaustible, unimaginable happiness for man.
 
I always deal with Protestants, so it seems pretty obvious “how to get saved”, but I am unfamiliar with how Catholics instruct unbelievers to proceed in order to be saved. What’s the process? Can the unbeliever get saved by simply going to confession for the first time?
 
unshinbop said:
I always deal with Protestants, so it seems pretty obvious “how to get saved”, but I am unfamiliar with how Catholics instruct unbelievers to proceed in order to be saved. What’s the process? Can the unbeliever get saved by simply going to confession for the first time?
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The state of your soul at death determines your destination.
If you die in a state of mortal sin you immediately go to Hell.
If you die in a state of grace you are immediately saved (either straight to Heaven or more likely Purgatory first).
 
thistle said:
The state of your soul at death determines your destination.
If you die in a state of mortal sin you immediately go to Hell.
If you die in a state of grace you are immediately saved (either straight to Heaven or more likely Purgatory first).
Click to expand...
The ‘problem’ though is that ABSOLUTELY no one but God (only) KNOWS the nature and state of your soul upon death! Even the Pope to the ‘saints’ can only HOPE to have lived the life according to His Will to enter Heaven.

Paul: “…lest any among you may boast…”
“…work out your salvation with fear and trembling…”

Even the ‘Hail Mary’ has the plea, “…pray for us sinners, NOW and at THE HOUR of our death!..” so that at the very least, everyone has her plea to Her Son on their behalf, since no one knows the hour of their death.

For the Christian? Live everyday as if it were your last! It is a day the Lord hath made; be GLAD in it.

:cool:
 
Deconi said:
The ‘problem’ though is that ABSOLUTELY no one but God (only) KNOWS the nature and state of your soul upon death! Even the Pope to the ‘saints’ can only HOPE to have lived the life according to His Will to enter Heaven.

Paul: “…lest any among you may boast…”
“…work out your salvation with fear and trembling…”

Even the ‘Hail Mary’ has the plea, “…pray for us sinners, NOW and at THE HOUR of our death!..” so that at the very least, everyone has her plea to Her Son on their behalf, since no one knows the hour of their death.

For the Christian? Live everyday as if it were your last! It is a day the Lord hath made; be GLAD in it.

:cool:
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That’s true. Only God knows who is saved or damned.
However, we can objectively say that those who die in a state of mortal sin go to Hell and those who die in a state of grace are saved.
That’s why its important to get to Confession as soon as possible if we commit a mortal sin.
 
We are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8).

Redemption - The restoration of man from the bondage of sin to the liberty of the children of God through the satisfactions and merits of Christ.

Salvation - Deliverance from the power and penalty of sin. In today’s world, salvation is often times assumed to be synonymous with redemption.

Justification - Basically, being in a state of grace – you are justified; your sins have been atoned for.

Sanctification - a process by which a person becomes holy through sanctifying grace. Justification is brought about by sanctification.

Early Christians were familiar with debtors prisons, and this is why throughout the gospels Jesus uses parables dealing with prison, judges, and corporal punishment. If you incurred a debt and failed to pay it you were thrown into prison. Even if you were able to pay the debt, you could not pay it while you were in prison. A family member, a friend, or someone else had to come and pay your debt for you to get you out. This was very humiliating to a person. So when we look at these terms we can look at them as if we are discussing debtors prison to understand them better.

Redemption - this is Jesus coming to prison to free us from the original debt (original sin). He is the family member rescuing us and getting us out of prison. He frees us of the bondage of sin.

Sanctification - this is us staying out of the danger of debtors prison, though if we incur more debt (personal sin), Jesus will help us (this is where confession comes into the picture, which is a humiliating experience in which we call upon our Lord and savior to come ‘bail us out of our mess’, because we have sinned through our own fault).

Justification - we are justified when we have no debt (we are in a state of grace). All of our debts are satisfied and we are prepared to see the judge, who will not throw us into prison because all our debts have been forgiven.

Salvation - we are free from sin and unable to incur any more debt (this is when you are in heaven with God). It is the end result of redemption, sanctification, and justification.
 
steph_86 said:
Hi,

I have difficulty comprehending key concepts about our Catholic faith. I want to know what is the difference between redemption, salvation, justification and sanctification.

It is said that we are said through faith. But if that’s true, where do works come in. And what about love?

I am confused. Can someone explain to me the whole process of salvation?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
also,

saved?..saved from something? saved form what?
  1. wrath of God
  2. eternal damnation
Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood,
we shall be saved from wrath through him.
wrath as opposed to salvation, enter into life versus cast in hell, and incurring wrath is related to fire
1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath,
but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ

Mar 9:45 …it is better for thee to enter halt into life,
than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that
never shall be quenched

Psa 21:9 Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven
in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up
in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.
 
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