What is the Catholic view on Salvation

[Shtove]

Im still a relatively new practicing Catholic and I’ve already noticed the debate of “Faith Alone vs Faith and Works” as it relates to Salvation. However, this usually ends up with Catholics being accused of believing that we can earn our salvation which is not true. I guess what I’m asking is what is the most simple way to describe the Catholic viewpoint on salvation to help someone else understand and this misconception is avoided?

 

[FrostArcana]

Grace alone. In my experience it is easiest to skip the whole faith and works debacle, and just go straight to grace. If someone believes, it’s a gift of grace, if someone does good, that is a good work of God produced by grace in them.

Catholics do believe in merit, but what makes merit meritorious is God’s grace.

 

[Vico]

Im still a relatively new practicing Catholic and I’ve already noticed the debate of “Faith Alone vs Faith and Works” as it relates to Salvation. However, this usually ends up with Catholics being accused of believing that we can earn our salvation which is not true. I guess what I’m asking is what is the most simple way to describe the Catholic viewpoint on salvation to help someone else understand and this misconception is avoided?

Salvation means being in a state of sanctifying grace (friendship with the Holy Trinity) at the end instant of one’s life, thus being confirmed in charity one can attain the Beatific Vision. Grace given by The Holy Trinity is necessary for this, yet a person is the partial cause that of salvation, through cooperation with grace which itself is not irresistible.

 

[fide]

Grace alone. In my experience it is easiest to skip the whole faith and works debacle, and just go straight to grace. If someone believes, it’s a gift of grace, if someone does good, that is a good work of God produced by grace in them.

Catholics do believe in merit, but what makes merit meritorious is God’s grace.

Speaking as one who has tried many ways to explain the Catholic Gospel to those who want only to reject it, I have to say “grace alone” is not a sufficient simplification. The reason is, we are persons, not machines that run - or don’t run - on “grace.” To say it as you have, with no more explanation, one can get the idea that Catholics believe that we are like battery-powered devices that

1. sit dead in a drawer, until we receive a new battery, then,
2. we work. Then, when the battery (grace) runs out, we stop and again,
3. sit dead again.
   – all, with no mind or will required.

The human person is more complex, obviously, than that. There is no bumper-sticker-sized “Catholic Gospel” that will solve the mystery of living faith - God’s work in us, and our human, personal, response.

 

[Dan_Defender]

Like St Paul, we work out our salvation in fear and trembling, taking nothing for granted.

 

[kapp19]

God earns our individual salvation with us through helping us by (efficient) grace to cooperate with the (sufficient) grace He has already given us to empower us to do His Will in all things. We are free to reject sufficient grace, which is our own fault.

 

[Justin_Mary]

I guess what I’m asking is what is the most simple way to describe the Catholic viewpoint on salvation to help someone else understand and this misconception is avoided?

Remember, Lord, your Church, spread throughout the world, and bring her to the fullness of charity, together with N. our Pope and N. our Bishop and all the clergy. Remember also our brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection and all who have died in your mercy: welcome them into the light of your face. Have mercy on us all, we pray, that with the blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with the blessed Apostles, and all the Saints who have pleased you throughout the ages, we may merit to be co-heirs to eternal life, and may praise and glorify you through your Son, Jesus Christ.

 

[ColoradoCatholic]

We are saved by Grace, through Faith and Works. You must reconcile ALL of scripture and tradition. It isn’t a cafeteria.

Note: Faith without works is dead.

 

[Godfollower]

What do your friends mean by “Salvation”? If they mean “getting into Heaven,” then let’s ask what Jesus says is necessary to get into Heaven:

And when the Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty. And all nations shall be gathered together before him, and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. Then shall the king say to them that shall be on his right hand: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in:

Naked, and you covered me: sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me. Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, and fed thee; thirsty, and gave thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and covered thee? Or when did we see thee sick or in prison, and came to thee? And the king answering, shall say to them: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.

Then he shall say to them also that shall be on his left hand: Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me not in: naked, and you covered me not: sick and in prison, and you did not visit me. Then they also shall answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to thee? Then he shall answer them, saying: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to me.

And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting.

Matthew 25:31-46.

Jesus did not say “Enter into Heaven, for you made an altar call and spoke lovingly of how I was your personal Lord and Savior, and you didn’t have to do anything else.” In fact, he specifically warned us that calling Him Lord is not enough; we must also do what God wants us to do:

Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 7:21.

And what does He mean by doing His Father’s will?

But what think you? A certain man had two sons; and coming to the first, he said: Son, go work today in my vineyard. And he answering, said: I will not. But afterwards, being moved with repentance, he went. And coming to the other, he said in like manner. And he answering, said: I go, Sir; and he went not.

Which of the two did the father’s will? They say to him: The first.

If you want to get into Heaven, you have to do what He told us to do: Feed the hungry. Heal the sick. Welcome the stranger. Visit the prisoner. Help the poor.

 

[Genesis315]

To be saved, one must persevere to the end in faith and charity with the necessary help of God’s grace.

What is faith? The Church teaches that "By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God. With his whole being man gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, “the obedience of faith”. (CCC 143) And “At the same time, and inseparably, it is a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed.” (CCC 150)

Does this mean explicit knowledge and assent to every revealed truth is absolutely necessary? Not necessarily. First and foremost it means faith in Christ, who is the Word, and who declares Himself to be the Truth. Again, as the Church teaches: "He “is the Father’s one, perfect and unsurpassable Word. In him he has said everything; there will be no other word than this one” (CCC 65). Faith in Christ covers any innocent ignorance or errors on specific points of revealed truth because He contains all such truth in Himself.

By the same principle, heresy–that obstinate denial of a revealed truth–destroys all faith since one substitutes his own authority for God’s. That’s why St. Paul says a heretic is “condemned by his own judgment” in his epistle to Titus.

Only the Catholic Church professes the fullness of revelation. That is why faith compels us to be Catholic and unites us to the Church.

Charity is summed up in the commandments. One in the “state of grace” is living in God’s charity. Deliberate, grave sin against God and neighbor destroys charity. Loving God and our neighbor as Christ loves us increases charity.

The sacraments are also very important. While God is not strictly bound by His sacraments, He has given the sacraments to aid us in persevering in faith and charity so we may be saved. Baptism, the sacrament of faith commanded by Christ, incorporates us into the Church, that communion of faith and charity necessary for salvation. The sacrament of Confirmation strengthens us in the Holy Spirit to help us persevere. The sacrament of Penance restores us to the grace and charity of God when we fall. The Holy Eucharist sustains us on this journey. Holy Orders is given to some to help others persevere in faith in charity. Matrimony provides aid to spouses doing the same for each other and to raise children to do the same. Anointing of the sick helps strengthen us for the final test. If one wants to be saved, one should seek out and take part in these means God has graciously given.

I hope that helps.

 

[Wesrock]

Catholics: God enables us to choose whether to cooperate with him, or we can choose to reject him.

Lutherans: Man can choose to reject God but man is passive in accepting God.

Reformed: Man doesn’t have a role in the matter.

 

[KMC]

This is nice and simple.

How about this (would love to hear a critique): I use the analogy of a race to compare Catholics with most Protestants. The Catholic starts their race at baptism, when they receive grace. The race continues throughout their entire life. If they trip and fall (i.e. mortal sin) they lose their grace, however, through confession they can get that grace back and continue the race. If they cross the finish line (death) with grace, then they are saved. Many Protestants (not counting those that believe in predestination) believe they start the race and finish the race at the same point: When they accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The rest of life is pretty much a “cool down” lap.

 

[fhansen]

To speak in general terms, Catholicism teaches that a person must be made just, or justified, in order to enter heaven. This means that a real justice or righteousness is given to that person, specifically the virtues of faith, hope, and love. Faith is a gift of grace granted initially, with the Holy Spirit moving in us to respond to God’s calling. We’re never forced, however, to turn to God; we can always say “no”; gifts can be rejected. And we can always turn back away from Him at any point by living and acting unjustly, by persistence in serious sin IOW which opposes and destroys love in us by it nature. And love is the primary aspect of man’s justice/righteousness, which is why the Greatest Commandments are what they are.

Love opposes and excludes sin by its nature and the pride which lies at the root of that sin while fulfilling the Law (Rom 13:10). Love compels the kinds of works that God has prepared for us as per Eph 2:10 and of those done “for the least of these” in Matt 25. Love is the true righteousness that God writes on our hearts to fulfill Jer 31:33, the most important New Covenant prophecy. Faith, alone, does not justify man; rather it’s the means to that justice because it’s the means to a direct relationship or communion with God who, alone, can accomplish that true justice in us.
"…if I have faith that can move mountains but have not love, I am nothing." 1 Cor 13

And He will accomplish this in us to the extent that we enter and remain in that relationship, or re-enter it by a change of heart if it’s ever seriously compromised, similar to Adam’s original act of compromising and destroying his relationship with God. We’re here to learn that Adam was wrong in any case, and the why’s and hows of turning back to God. Anyway love is so crucial to the union with God that man was made for and to the obedience that it engenders that the Church can teach, quoting St John of the Cross:
"At the evening of life we shall be judged on our love."

Protestantism also teaches that a person must be justified in order to be saved, and yet they teach that faith, alone, is all-sufficient in order to accomplish this. And that no virtue is infused in or given to man but rather that righteousness is strictly imputed rather than actually granted. Some teach that man’s will is totally uninvolved while others aren’t so sure. Some teach that man can lose their salvation while others teach that once a person believes, they are eternally saved.

Catholicism teaches that salvation is worked out together with He who works in us (Phil 2), as we use or “invest” the gifts given: the virtues along with knowledge/revelation and any other grace God continues to give us during whatever time we have here, with more expected or demanded of those given more (Luke 12:48). We’re expected to grow in more virtue or holiness yet, more love to put it most correctly perhaps, striving, persevering, moving further ahead overall as we walk with Him even as we may well slip back now & then and need to repent in order to get back on that path after straying. God is very patient with us.