This is an online forum for individuals in the Waterloo Parishes
participating in the Rites of Christian Initiation or Reception of Adults

Here is a question submitted from a recent RCRA session:
 

Why do Catholics and Protestants disagree about salvation by faith or good works?

At least in the popular mind, there is a lingering confusion about how Catholics and Protestants understand "faith" and "good works".  The general impression is that Protestants believe Christians are saved "by faith alone" and Catholics believe they are saved "by faith and works."  In fact, neither the Catechism of the Catholic Church or the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults ever use the phrase "good works."  According to the Council of Trent's Decree on Justification, “none of those things that precede justification, whether faith or works, merit the grace of justification." In other words, from the beginning, we are saved (ie, justified) by God's grace, which is a total, free and unmerited gift which cannot be earned by works.  Catholics and Protestants both believe this.  In addition, both Catholics and most Protestants actually agree that in response to the gift of justification an individual grows in righteousness, sanctification (or grace) by cooperating with this gift.  This growth can often be observed in the individual's behavior (loosely translated as "good works") subsequent to, or in response to, justification.  A simple (if not totally adequate way) to understand this is to think of marriage: a couple gives themselves freely to each other at their wedding--the original "gift" of one another's love, faithfulness, and self which is not forced or purchased.  Over time, in response to that mutual gift, the couple continues to grow in love and faithfulness--a growth which is often obvious in their behavior toward each other, toward their family, and to the world around them.  In that sense, a couple married 50 years may be said to be more "married" (or "more fully married") than they were on the day of their wedding.  The supposed conflict between Catholics and Protestants arose because Catholic theology sometimes use the word "justification" to refer to both the original gift and a person's response to it, probably because the English words for justification, righteousness and sanctification are all derived from a single word in Hebrew, Greek and Latin.  Protestant theology preferred to distinguish between the two, and to reserve "justification" for the original, and totally free gift which God bestows on us.
--Dave Cushing (10.19)

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Last Update: 10.04.19