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Justification, Sanctification, and Grace Compared with Protestant Understanding by Msgr

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The Catholic Under standing of Justification, Sanctification, and Grace Compared with Protestant Understanding By Msgr. Lawrence Moran & Ronald J. Eldred Above is a painting of the Conversion of St. Paul on the Road to Damascus by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio in the Church of Santa Maria del Populo in Rome. Catholics and Protestants disagree substantially over the meaning of justification, sanctification, and grace, and that both parties rely heavily on St. Paul’s writings to justify their position. This issue is thoroughly discussed in this essay. Justification, Sanctification, and Grace The Catholic Understanding of Justification, Sanctification, and Grace Compared with the Protestant By Msgr. Lawrence Moran & Ronald J. Eldred Table of Contents The Catholic Understanding of Justification, Sanctification, and Grace Salvation History The Old Testament (Covenant)—the Creation Humans created in God’s image and likeness Humans in God’s image Humans in God’s likeness Life in the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve fall from God’s grace: The terrible consequences of Original Sin How Original Sin affects man's image to God How Original Sin affects man's likeness to God Reasons for hope God’s covenants with a Chosen People Old Testament (Covenant) New Testament (Covenant) The Incarnation The Catholic Understanding of Justification St. Paul’s Theology of Justification The Mosaic Law compared with the Law of Grace The Catechism on Justification The Council of Trent on Justification The Catholic Understanding of Sanctification The Catholic Understanding of Grace Sanctifying Grace The loss and restoration of Sanctifying Grace Mortal sin 1 Justification, Sanctification, and Grace Regaining God's grace and friendship Living a life of holiness and achieving sainthood The Role of Baptism in Our lives Baptism is absolutely necessary for salvation Baptism by water: Baptism by Desire and Blood Growing in Holiness Mary, Full of Grace Growing in Holiness Divine Filiation and Divinization St. Paul and divinization Church Fathers and divinization St. Augustine and divinization St. Thomas Aquinas and divinization The process of divinization What divinization is and isn’t The Protestant Understanding of Justification, Sanctification, and Grace Justification Sola Gratia Sola Fide Sola Scriptura The Five Points of Calvinism TULIP T = Total Depravity U = Unconditional Election The doctrine of predestination St. Paul’s theology of predestination St. Augustine’s theology on predestination The Catholic teaching on predestination Sufficient and efficacious grace Luther’s objection to the Catholic doctrine of predestination 2 Justification, Sanctification, and Grace L = Limited Atonement I = Irresistible Grace P = Perseverance of the Saints Extrinsic Justification and Imputed Righteousness The Protestant view The Catholic view The logic of Extrinsic Justification and Imputed Righteousness The basis for Extrinsic Justification and Imputed Righteousness St. Paul’s view of Justification Arminianism The Arminian position compared with the Catholic one John Wesley and Methodism Joint Declarations on the Doctrine of Justification Catholic and Lutheran Agreement Response to the Joint Declaration Catholic and Baptist Agreement Catholic and Presbyterian Dialog Catholic and Methodist Dialog Appendix One Paul vs James Appendix Two Paul’s treatment of the law Appendix Three New Perspectives on St. Paul 3 Justification, Sanctification, and Grace The Catholic Understanding of Justification Sanctification, and Grace Compared with the Protestant By Msgr. Lawrence Moran & Ronald J. Eldred atholics and Protestants disagree substantially over the meaning of justification, sancti- fication, and grace, and that both parties rely heavily on St. Paul’s writings to justify its C position. When Adam and Eve sinned, not only was their image of God damaged, for they now possessed diminished intellects and weakened wills, but they also lost their holiness and justice, for God who is holy no longer dwelled in their souls and they were no longer in good standing with God, for they no longer lived in harmony with God, themselves, and the rest of creation. In other words, by their sin, our first parents lost sanctifying grace, which is the life of God dwelling in their souls. Also, they lost the state of original justice, because they had failed to give God his due, which is worship and obedience. But God still loved them and planned to one day send his only begotten son into the world to save them and their descendants. Salvation History To fully understand the meaning of Justification, Sanctification, and Grace we must have know- ledge of Salvation History. We will provide only a brief outline of the subject here. To begin, let’s examine what is meant by Salvation History. Salvation History is the story of the creation, fall, and redemption of humankind. Central to this story is the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose story includes his conception, birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection, ascension, and second coming. Salvation history is found in Holy Scripture, Sacred Tradition, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, writings of the Church Fathers and Doctors, and the history of the Catholic Church. It is found especially in the Holy Bible and Tradition as interpreted by the Magisterium or teaching authority of the Catholic Church. Salvation history ties everything together for us; it relates the Old Testament with the New Testament. The Old Testament (Covenant)—the Creation: Our story begins in the Book of Genesis of the Old Testament, which describes how God the Holy Trinity created the universe and all that is in it in six days and rested on the seventh. The mystery of the Holy Trinity is the most important mystery of our Faith, and the source of all other mysteries. The Holy Trinity is a perfectly happy family consisting of three divine persons that need nothing to fulfill them-selves and who live in intimate loving communion. The Trinitarian Family is one of relationships. The Father eternally generates the Son; the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son, each constituting separate Persons of the Holy Trinity. It is important to remember that the Holy Trinity is only one God consisting of three divine Persons, because they all share the same substance or being, which makes them co-equal in power, glory, majesty, and wisdom and all of them have existed from all eternity. God created everything out of his abundance, out of his goodness, wisdom, and love and a desire to demonstrate and communicate his glory, not out of 4 Justification, Sanctification, and Grace any deficiency. Of this the Catechism states, “God created the world to show forth and commun- icate his glory. That his creatures should share in his truth, goodness and beauty—this is the glory for which God created them” (No. 319). After having created the heavens and the earth, Genesis tells us that on the sixth day God created the first humans in his image and likeness. Holy Scripture tells us that God said regarding the creation of man, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth” (Genesis 1:26). God created man to know, love, and serve him so he could be happy with him in Heaven forever. God placed Adam and Eve in an earthly paradise, the Garden of Eden, where they and their children were to till and keep it and cooperate in partnership with him to perfect it (Genesis 2:15). Originally God created our first parents and all of their descendants to be members of his family. They and their descendants were to be God's adopted sons and daughters and to share in the inner life of the Trinitarian Family. The Second Person is the Father's Son by nature; Adam and Eve were his son and daughter by adoption and by grace. God’s intention was that they and their descendants were to live in happiness with him forever. They and all of their children were to be the Father's heirs. The natural family, consisting of husband, wife, and children, is patterned after the Trinitarian family; it should be the mirror image of the Trinitarian family. Humans created in God’s image and likeness Humans in God’s image: What does it mean that God created man in his image and likeness: To make them worthy of being his adopted children, God created the first human beings, Adam and Eve, in his image and likeness. The Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Bible tells us: [T]he term ‘image’ is a phrase used in Genesis 1:26-27 to designate the special superiority of man over the other works of God's visible creation. This ‘image of God’ is the spiritual part of man's nature, which includes his soul and its faculties of intellect and free will. In these natural perfections man reflects, in a limited and imperfect way, God, the Infinite Spirit, whose intelligence and freedom are supremely perfect. Man's faculties give him the ability to communicate and have relationships, abilities possessed by the Trinity at the supreme level. Intellect gives man the ability to think and free will the ability to make decisions. We shall discuss below how through sanctifying grace and the infused virtues man’s nature is elevated to a supernatural plane of being and acting. The Catechism states: Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self- possess-ion and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. And 5 Justification, Sanctification, and Grace he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give in his stead (No.
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