Good Works and Salvation – 16th Sunday after Pentecost Page 1 of 3

I had an interesting conversation with a woman at the airport recently. It revolved around salvation. In most conversations about salvation with a non-Catholic the question will inevitable end up talking about good works. In the Collect today, the main prayer of petition of today’s Holy Mass, we prayed the following:

Let Thy grace, we beseech Thee, O Lord, ever go before us and follow us, and may it make us to be continually zealous in doing good works. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ…

There is much we can say about that Collect, put on our lips by the wisdom of Holy Mother the to be prayed every year at this point in the (the 16th Sunday after Pentecost), but we will focus today on the part about good works. Now sooner or later, every conversation you have with an evangelical Christian will bring up the topic of good works. The problem that inevitably happens in every one of these conversations is that the Protestant is addressing one principle that he is certain is true and is found the Bible and that the Catholic is addressing another principle that he is certain is true, and is found in the Bible, and each person leaves the conversation convinced that he is right and wasn’t convinced by the other’s argument.

Does it matter? Can’t we just focus on what we have in common? Since Our Lord said that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, the reality is that the truth does matter – especially since it has to do with our salvation. So how do we answer the question about good works?

First we have to understand the process of salvation. We believe, from the Bible, that there are three terms that describe aspects of this process: , and salvation. Justification is the moment that a man is moved from a state of sin to a state of friendship (state of grace) with God. This first happened for us at Baptism. If we have been justified (placed into a state of grace) then we are saved unless we lose that state by a new, mortal sin. Sanctification is the process of growing in holiness and friendship with God – becoming more pleasing to God because the life of Christ Himself is increasing in our souls. This is just another aspect of the same reality as justification, but we can speak of sanctification (which happens as we are justified) as continuing after the moment we were justified; in other words we can speak of sanctification as the moment of justification, but also as the process of becoming even more holy, as Apoc 22:11 says, “he that is holy, let him be sanctified still.”. Salvation is the state in which, by the grace of God, a person is liberated from sin and its consequences. Sometimes this is referring to the moment mankind as a whole had this liberation opened to it (at Christ’s death on the Cross); sometimes this is referring to the moment an individual person is first freed from sin and its consequences; at other times this is referring to the moment that an individual person cannot again with his will choose sin and its consequences – in other words the moment of an individual person’s death, at which his will is fixed eternally wherever it is at that moment. St. Paul uses these three terms. The confusing part is that ideally once we are justified – made friends with God – we should keep that state as St. Paul assumes. Because he assumes this, he sometimes uses these words interchangeably, and sometimes to reflect distinct aspects of the process of salvation.

The describes the process of salvation in Session V, chapters 5-6. First, the grace of God moves a sinner’s heart to repentance. This grace cannot be merited – it is a free gift of God. A man might reject or accept this grace: he has free will to do either turn to God or Good Works and Salvation – 16th Sunday after Pentecost Page 2 of 3 stay in sin. If he accepts this grace he is disposed for salvation: he believes in God, he trusts in His mercy, he begins to love God at least as the source of justice, and he detests sin. With this disposition now in his soul, he is then justified, which is not just a removal of sin, but a transferring of the person from a state of being an enemy of God to being a friend of God, and an heir to eternal life. This change happens by one of three means: the Sacrament of Baptism, the Sacrament of or by an act of perfect , depending on the condition of the soul when this occurs.

St. Paul speaks of salvation and justification occurring together, since ideally, the moment one is moved to a state of friendship with God (justification) he should stay in that state and be saved, as Titus 3:5 states: “According to his mercy, he saved us, by the laver of regeneration [i.e. washing (baptism) of being reborn] and renovation of the Holy Ghost… That, being justified by his grace, we may be heirs according to hope of life everlasting.” "However, being justified (put into a state of grace) is distinct from being ultimately saved, according to St. Paul himself (Romans 5:9): "Being now justified by His Blood, much more, therefore, shall we be saved from wrath through Him." Notice that here is talking about salvation as a future event – the moment of death for a person in the state of grace.

So can a man earn the grace of being put into the state of grace from a state of mortal sin? No he can’t – and this is where the Protestants are correct when they say ‘a man is not saved by works – he can’t earn his salvation.’

However, once a man is in the state of grace, can a man’s works avail toward his salvation? The Bible says yes, and this is what Catholics are addressing. Once a person is in the state of grace, then God is working in that man, willing and doing the works in him. We know that from Scripture: “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who worketh in you.” (Philippians 2:12-13) And because God is working in the man, those works have a value beyond the work itself. Where is that in the Bible? It is the grace that is given for works done by one with God dwelling in him that avails toward salvation. This is why St. Paul could say “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who worketh in you.” (Philippians 2:12-13) It is these works, done in the state of grace, that St. Paul connects to people’s salvation, where he says, God “will render to every man according to his works, to them indeed who, according to patience in good work, seek glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life.” (Romans 2:6-10). Notice that St. Paul connects people’s eternal life to their good works, that is, those done in the state of grace. In John 14:12, where Our Lord says, “Amen, amen, I say to you, he that believeth in me, the works that I do, he also shall do: and greater than these shall he do.” How is this possible for a man to do the works that Christ does? Because God is dwelling in him (John 14:23). “He that believeth in me…” So is it just about faith? Once a man believes, can he lose his state of salvation? Or to phrase it using terms that some Protestants may use, once a man is saved, is he always saved? Some Protestants will say that if a man falls away after ‘accepting Christ as his personal Lord and Savior’, then he never really believed to begin with. But consider what Our Lord said in the parable of the sower. In Luke 8:13 Our Lord says that the plants that wither away – that die – are those who “believe for a while, but in time of temptation fall away.” In other words they did actually have the faith, but they didn’t persevere in it. So once a man is a believer – is ‘saved’ – it doesn’t mean he will keep that state, because we have free will – at the moment of death the will is fixed wherever it is at.

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Galatians 5:6 says that “nothing availeth but faith that worketh by charity.” Remember that St. Paul said that “If I should have all faith, so that I could move mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2). So what does it mean to have charity? The Bible answers that also, in 1 John 5:3, where St. John says, “THIS is the charity of God: that we keep His commandments.” “Finally, James 2:14-26 describes how “faith without works is dead” and a man is justified “by works and not faith only.” This of course, is speaking of works done after justification.

So to sum up, Justification is the moment that a man is moved from a state of sin to a state of friendship (state of grace) with God. Sanctification is the process of growing in holiness and friendship with God. Salvation is the state in which, by the grace of God, a person is liberated from sin and its consequences. We know that these terms are sometimes interchanged by St. Paul and sometimes used to reflect separate aspects of the process of salvation. We know that once in the state of grace God works in us (Phil. 2:12-13), and those works do become meritorious, even towards eternal life, as Romans 2:6-10 tells us. We know from the parable of the sower, that once saved always saved is not the case, and that even with faith, what matters is charity, as 1 Corinthians 13:2 and Galatians 5:6 tell us, and we saw from 1 John 5:3 that the charity of God means to keep the commandments.

Now if we are worried about our salvation, let’s take confidence: “Where sin abounded, grace did more abound.” (Romans 5:20) “Let Thy mercy be upon us, O Lord, according as we have put our trust in Thee.” (Psalm 32:22) “God protects and saves all who trust in Him.” (Psalm 17:32, 16:7) “Mercy surrounds all who trust in God.” (Psalm 31:10) “Let us go with confidence to the feet of Jesus Christ, the throne of grace, and there shall we find mercy and pardon.” (Hebrews 4:16)