Gold Dragon
Well-Known Member
Whew! After wading through about 50 posts, none of which dealt with the OP, I'd like to make a request.
Billwald linked the RCC Catechism, but I couldn't find with a quick search what it said about justification. So, to save time, will someone who knows please post the RCC doctrine on justification. I don't know exactly what it is, so i can't comment one way or the other.
Also, one other request. Rather than stating what the RCC teaches about justification, would it be possible to quote the RCC stating for itself what it believes? That way, nothing gets lost in translation.
Can anybody help?
The RCC is quite a wordy bunch so they do not have a one line statement about justification. I've linked the page in the catechism that deals with grace, justification and merit. It is quite long but I've highlighted a few statements that I think summarizes their view most effectively and is most relevant to this discussion.
Catechism of the Catholic Church: Grace and Justification
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1992 Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ who offered himself on the cross as a living victim, holy and pleasing to God, and whose blood has become the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men. Justification is conferred in Baptism, the sacrament of faith. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who makes us inwardly just by the power of his mercy. Its purpose is the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life:40
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1996 Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life. 46
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2003 Grace is first and foremost the gift of the Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us. But grace also includes the gifts that the Spirit grants us to associate us with his work, to enable us to collaborate in the salvation of others and in the growth of the Body of Christ, the Church. There are sacramental graces, gifts proper to the different sacraments. There are furthermore special graces, also called charisms after the Greek term used by St. Paul and meaning "favor," "gratuitous gift," "benefit."53 Whatever their character - sometimes it is extraordinary, such as the gift of miracles or of tongues - charisms are oriented toward sanctifying grace and are intended for the common good of the Church. They are at the service of charity which builds up the Church.54
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2008 The merit of man before God in the Christian life arises from the fact that God has freely chosen to associate man with the work of his grace. The fatherly action of God is first on his own initiative, and then follows man's free acting through his collaboration, so that the merit of good works is to be attributed in the first place to the grace of God, then to the faithful. Man's merit, moreover, itself is due to God, for his good actions proceed in Christ, from the predispositions and assistance given by the Holy Spirit.
Any discussion on Catholics and Justification should also include the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification co-authored by Ratzinger and Lutherans and officially accepted by the RCC in 1999. I think the bolded portion is most significant because of the RCC's historical position on sola gratia, but the rest of the document is also quite important.
3. The Common Understanding of Justification
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15.In faith we together hold the conviction that justification is the work of the triune God. The Father sent his Son into the world to save sinners. The foundation and presupposition of justification is the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ. Justification thus means that Christ himself is our righteousness, in which we share through the Holy Spirit in accord with the will of the Father. Together we confess: By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works.
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The Good Works of the Justified
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38.According to Catholic understanding, good works, made possible by grace and the working of the Holy Spirit, contribute to growth in grace, so that the righteousness that comes from God is preserved and communion with Christ is deepened. When Catholics affirm the "meritorious" character of good works, they wish to say that, according to the biblical witness, a reward in heaven is promised to these works. Their intention is to emphasize the responsibility of persons for their actions, not to contest the character of those works as gifts, or far less to deny that justification always remains the unmerited gift of grace.