A Critique of the Roman Catholic View of Justification
With all due recognition to the common Augustinian core of salvation by grace (see chap. 5), there are some important differences between the Roman Catholic and evangelical views of justification. Unfortunately the noble but unsuccessful recent statement by “Evangelicals and Catholics Together†lacked precision in this very area, speaking of a common belief that “we are justified by grace through faith.â€Â43 What it failed to note, however, is what the Reformation was fought over, namely, that Scripture teaches, as Protestants affirm, that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone. As we will see, there is a common belief in salvation by grace, but Roman Catholics hold that justification takes place at baptism of infants, which is long before they can believe in any conscious sense. Further, as the Catholic doctrine of merit reveals, they do not believe that salvation is by grace alone (sola gratia), since meritorious works are also necessary, at least for those that live beyond infancy. Further, for evangelicals, salvation is not simply “through faith†but “by faith alone†(sola fide). Since this was at the very heart of the Reformation, many evangelicals refuse to sign the statement since they believe it would betray the Reformation. Indeed, their protest led to a follow-up statement which strikes a more distinctively Protestant note: “We understand the statement that ‘we are justified by grace through faith because of Christ,’ in terms of the substitutionary atonement and imputed righteousness of Christ, leading to full assurance of eternal salvation; we seek to testify in all circumstances and contexts to this, the historic Protestant understanding of salvation by faith alone (sola fide).â€Â
Many criticisms of the Catholic view of justification revolve around the concept of merit that was made into infallible dogma of the Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Trent. The Catholic doctrine of meritorious works has been a target of Protestants since the Reformation. For Luther and his followers, it is “misleading to speak of any rewards as ‘merited.’ â€Â44 Indeed, the Reformers believed that at Trent the Roman Catholic Church apostatized and denied the true gospel. “For I thoroughly believe, more firmly than I believe in God, that they are acquainted with more human doctrine, and also with more villainy, because they are proving it before my very eyes by the things they are doing, and so they are apostles, evangelists, and prophets just as little as they are the church; that is to say, they are the devil’s apostles, evangelists, and prophets. The true apostles, evangelists, and prophets preach God’s word, not against God’s word.â€Â45
It confuses reward and merit. While Catholics wish to remind us that the whole doctrine of merit should be viewed in the context of grace,46 they overlook the fact that Scripture teaches that grace and meritorious works are mutually exclusive. Part of the reason for the difficulty is that the Catholic use of the word “reward†has an equivocal sense that leads to a confusion between a reward based on grace and one based on merit (i.e., on works), albeit prompted by grace. Often the problem seems to stem from a fallacious inference that simply because something is prompted by grace it is not obtained by merit. Just because the previous graciousness of a friend may prompt one to do a job for him that one would not otherwise have accepted does not mean that the wages earned from it were not at least partly merited, even if they were higher wages than one deserved. Thus, neither merit in the strict sense of what is justly earned nor merit which is based in part on what is earned but goes beyond that by God’s goodness is compatible with grace.
Catholic theology rightly points out that the Bible sometimes speaks of eternal life as a reward (e.g., Gal. 6:8) that one can “inherit†(Luke 18:18).47 In this sense, however, works are not a condition of salvation;48 salvation is a gift of grace received by faith alone apart from meritorious works. None of us works for an inheritance; it is something graciously given to us by a benefactor. If, however, we are “rewarded†for our work by salvation or eternal life, then it is not truly and solely God’s grace, despite Catholic protests to the contrary. When one is rewarded for works, the reward is not a matter of grace, since the payment is owed (at least in part) for work done. As Paul said emphatically, “But if by grace, it is no longer because of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace†(Rom. 11:6). It is in this latter sense that the New Testament clearly speaks against obtaining salvation (whether justification or sanctification) as a reward (i.e., wage)49 for work done. For the Scriptures insist that “a worker’s wage is credited not as a gift, but as something due†(Rom. 4:4). If the Catholic concept of merit (that progressive justification [= sanctification] is obtained by good works) is true, then the grace of sanctification would be bestowed, at least in part, on the basis of good works. But what is worked for is not of grace, and what is given by grace is not obtained by works (Rom. 4:4; Eph. 2:8–9). So the Catholic concept of merit as a necessary condition for obtaining eternal life or ultimate justification is contrary to this clear affirmation of Holy Writ.
It makes works a condition of eternal life. The Council of Trent declared clearly that “those who work well ‘unto the end’ [Matt. 10:22], and who trust in God, life eternal is to be faithfully given to their good works and merit.â€Â50 Even the new Catechism of the Catholic Church which tends to state doctrine in a way less objectionable to Protestants declares that “the merit of good works is to be attributed in the first place to the grace of God, then to the faithful†(2008, emphasis added, p. 486). Hence, it is grace plus good works. By contrast the Bible declares clearly and emphatically that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord†(Rom. 6:23, emphasis added). Further, in direct opposition to the Catholic position, the Bible guarantees that eternal life is a present possession of those who believe. Jesus said: “I say to you, whoever hears my words and believes in the one who sent me has [present tense] eternal life and will not come into condemnation, but is [currently] passed from death to life†(John 5:24). But according to the Roman Catholic view, one must await a final justification at death to know whether one has eternal life and will not see God’s condemnation. This same truth that eternal life is a present possession of the believer is repeated over and over in Scripture. John records Jesus proclaiming, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life†(John 3:36), and later adds, “I write these things to you so that you may know that you have eternal life†(1 John 5:13, emphasis added). Catholic dogma excludes Catholics from claiming that they can know with assurance that, if they were to die, they would have eternal life.51
In the Gospel of John only one condition is laid down for obtaining eternal life: belief (e.g., John 3:16, 36; 5:24; 20:31). If salvation were not by faith alone then John’s whole message would be misleading, since it states that there is only one condition for salvation when actually there are two: faith plus works. Indeed, John states explicitly that the only “work†necessary for salvation is to believe. When asked, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?†Jesus replied, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent†(John 6:29, emphasis added). There simply is nothing else we may do in exchange for our salvation. Jesus did it all (John 19:30; Heb. 10:14).
It makes works of sanctification a condition of ultimate salvation. The Council of Trent affirmed: “When he [Paul] characterizes the eternal reward as ‘the crown of justice which the Lord, the just judge, will render’ (2 Tim. 4, 8), he thereby shows that the good works of the just establish a legal claim to reward on God.â€Â52 Of course, this “legal†claim is not intrinsic but only because God has promised it. Nonetheless, it is a promise to give us salvation based in part on our works. “If anyone shall say that the good works of the man justified are in such a way the gifts of God that they are not also the good merits of him who is justified, or that the one justified by the good works, which are done by him through the grace of God and the merit of Jesus Christ (whose living member he is), does not truly merit increase of grace, eternal life, and the attainment of that eternal life (if he should die in grace), and also an increase of glory: let him be anathema.â€Â53 But one cannot work for a gift (Rom. 4:4–5). We work from our salvation but never for it (Gal. 3:11; Eph. 2:8–10). We are not saved by our works but in order to do good works.
Even granting that, for infants, works are not a condition for receiving initial righteousness (= justification), nonetheless, Catholic theology makes works a condition for progressive righteousness (= sanctification). In other words, one cannot receive a right standing before God by which one has the divine promise of salvation (eternal life) without engaging in works of righteousness. But this is precisely what Scripture says is not the case: It is “not because of any righteous deeds that we had done but because of his mercy, he saved us†(Titus 3:5).54 “It is not from works, so no one may boast,†wrote Paul (Eph. 2:9). To repeat the apostle, “if by grace, it is no longer because of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace†(Rom. 11:6). A right standing before God comes by grace through faith alone! Grace means unmerited favor, and reward based on works is merited. Hence, grace and works are no more compatible than is an unmerited merit! Trent overreacted to Luther, and in so doing, obfuscated the purity and clarity of the gospel of God’s grace.
The Catholic response that not all Protestants agree that one has the promise of heaven on the basis of initial justification55 alone (Arminians believe people can lose their salvation) misses the mark. For the question is not how we keep salvation after we get it, but how we get it to begin with. It is a fact that some Protestants (evangelicals) do believe like Catholics that one can lose his or her salvation (a belief the authors do not share), but this in no way justifies the Catholic belief that eternal life cannot be obtained without meritorious works. But as we have seen, the Bible makes it clear that eternal life, not just initial (and some say forfeitable) justification, is a present gift that believers possess (Luke 23:42–43; John 3:16; 5:24; Rom. 6:23). So the fact that some Protestants believe people can lose their salvation (eternal life) in no way justifies making works a condition for obtaining this salvation. The fact is that, even once the confusing terminology is cleared up and we understand that by eventual justification Catholics mean what Protestants call justification and sanctification, the official Catholic position is unbiblical. For it insists that works are necessary for salvation; that is, they are a condition for obtaining a right standing before God that entails the promise of heaven.56 This is precisely what the Reformation rejected.
It confuses working for and working from salvation. Put in traditional terms, Catholicism fails to recognize the important difference between working for salvation and working from salvation. We do not work in order to get salvation; rather, we work because we have already gotten it. God works salvation in us by justification, and by God’s grace we work it out in sanctification (Phil. 2:12–13). But neither justification nor sanctification can be merited by works; they are given by grace. Gifts cannot be worked for, only wages can. As Paul declared, “when one does not work, yet believes in the one who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness†(Rom. 4:5).
In spite of the fact that the Catholic understanding of salvation does not logically eliminate forensic justification, it nevertheless obscures it. For when one fails to make a clear distinction between forensic justification and practical sanctification,57 then the good works Catholics believe are needed for sanctification tend to obscure the fact that works are not needed for justification. Perhaps this is why hundreds of thousands of Catholics are coming to know Christ personally outside of the Catholic church. Indeed, this may be why Catholicism has not produced any of the great evangelists (such as Wesley, Whitfield, Sunday, Moody, and Graham) and has no widely circulated equivalent to “The Four Spiritual Laws†or other simple plan of salvation.
It makes a false distinction between “works†and “works of the law.†The New Testament verses against salvation by works are clearly opposed to the Catholic teaching that salvation can be merited. In order to counter this Roman Catholic scholars have made an artificial distinction between “works of the law†(which they admit are not a condition for salvation) and works (which they insist are a condition of salvation). But contrary to the Catholic claim, Paul’s statements against “works†cannot be limited to only “works of the [Mosaic] law†(such as circumcision) but extend equally to all kinds of meritorious good works, for all such works will in one way or another be works in accordance with God’s law. They would not be good works if they were not in accordance with God’s standard of goodness, namely, his law. Since God is the standard of all righteousness, it follows that all true works of righteousness will be according to his law and nature. It is only our righteousness (= self-righteousness) that is abhorrent in God’s eyes (cf. Isa. 64:6; Rom. 10:3). It makes no difference whether these works are prompted by grace; they are still meritorious works as a condition for eternal life. They are not based on grace and grace alone. That is, part of the basis for obtaining eternal life is meritorious works.
Further, when condemning works for salvation Paul does not limit himself to “works of the law†but sometimes simply refers to “works†or “works of righteousness†(cf. Eph. 2:8–9; Titus 3:5–7). Contrary to the Catholic view, the Ephesians passage is clearly aimed at Gentiles with no suggestion of works of the Jewish law such as circumcision.58 Nor does the Jew-Gentile conflict diminish the fact that he is speaking to Gentiles about “works†other than those unique to the Jewish law. And the argument offered by some Catholics that the boasting mentioned in Ephesians 2:9 is an indication that it is Jewish boasting (since they boasted about works of the law) is implausible for many reasons. First, unbelieving Jews are not the only ones who boast in their good works; pride is a condition of all fallen creatures, not just Jewish ones. Furthermore, in this context Paul explicitly addresses the issue of Gentiles who were “alienated from the community of Israel†(Eph. 2:11–12), not Jews. Likewise, Titus 3:5–7 does not refer to “works of the law†but simply “works of righteousness.â€Â59 The fact that the tense being applied to salvation refers to the past does not help the Catholic explanation that this refers only to what Protestants call justification, not to sanctification. Paul is speaking to people who have already been saved and therefore his words would naturally be in the past tense.60
Also, the Catholic claim that “works†are sometimes an abbreviation of “works of the law†(e.g., Rom. 3:27–28) fails for several reasons. Even if “works of the law†were sometimes summarized as “works,†it would not mean the reverse is necessarily true. All works of the law are works, but not all works are works of the law.
Further, when Paul is speaking to Gentiles (who, as Rom. 2:14 says, “do not have the [Mosaic] lawâ€Â), he does not speak of them performing works of the Mosaic law as such but simply to “works†(e.g., Eph. 2:8–9). They too are said not to be justified by works (Rom. 3:21–24). To be sure, in the New Testament “works†often arise in the context of circumcision (cf. Rom. 4; Gal. 3). But this is only because that was the specific situation that occasioned Paul’s condemnation of any kind of works deemed necessary for salvation (cf. Acts 15). To limit all of his condemnations of “works†to only works of the Mosaic law is like limiting God’s condemnation of homosexuality in the Old Testament (cf. Lev. 18:22; 20:13)61 to Jews since these passages occur only in the Jewish law which was written to Jews! And to grant that a moral law (e.g., natural law) exists outside the law of Moses is to grant the Protestant point that “works†here are not just limited to works of the Mosaic law. The truth is that the condemnations are more broadly applicable than the immediate context in which they arose. The same is true of Paul’s condemnation of meritorious “works†as a means of salvation. To limit Paul’s condemnation to works of self-righteousness as opposed to meritorious works is reading into the text a distinction that is not there. What is more, if our works contributed anything to our obtaining salvation, then we would have grounds to boast and would still come under Paul’s condemnation.
Finally, the basic moral character of God expressed in the Ten Commandments is the same as that expressed through the natural law to all people. The fact that someone is not consciously or deliberately doing works according to the law of Moses does not mean that the basic moral standard is not the same. In one sense all moral “works†are “works of the law,†in that they are in accord with the moral principles expressed in the law. This is why the apostle Paul said that “when the Gentiles who do not have the law [of Moses], by nature observe the prescriptions of the law . . . they show that the demands of the law written in their hearts†(Rom. 2:14–15). In the final analysis, when it comes to the moral62 demands of the law, there is no substantial difference between “works of righteousness†and the “works of the law.†Thus, the Catholic argument that Paul meant the latter but not the former is a formal distinction without a real difference. The simple truth is that no works of any kind merit salvation. Eternal life is a gift received only by faith (John 3:16, 36; 5:24; Rom. 6:23).
It is similar to the error of Galatianism. By insisting that works are not a condition for obtaining initial justification (righteousness) but only for sanctification (progressive righteousness) Catholics do not avoid the charge of soteriological error. Claiming that sanctification is by works, even if justification is not, seems akin to the error that Paul addressed in the Book of Galatians. The Galatian Christians were already justified, or declared righteous, in the forensic sense (or, to use Catholic terminology, they had already received “initial justificationâ€Â). They were “brethren†(Gal. 1:11; 6:1). They were “in Christ†(Gal. 2:4). Otherwise, they would not have been in danger of “falling from grace†(Gal. 5:4) as a way of living the Christian life. They had initial (forensic) justification but were in danger of losing their sanctification (progressive justification).
Paul’s warning to them clearly related to their sanctification. His fear was not that they would lose their initial (forensic) justification but that they would fall back into bondage to the law (Gal. 2:4). Even if Paul did mean that they would lose their justification (as Arminians say) it merely intensifies the problem with the Catholic view, for then the failure to do good works results in the loss of both sanctification and justification. In this indirect sense, failure to do good works is a means of forfeiting one’s (initial) justification too! Paul was afraid they would fall from grace as a means of continuing in the Christian life, not as a means of obtaining it to begin with, since they already had it (Gal. 3:3). To state it another way, if their initial righteousness was given by grace though faith, why should they think they could progress in righteousness in any other way than by grace through faith? In short, he did not want them to replace grace with works as the means of sanctification. This is evident from his pivotal plea: “Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect in the flesh?†(Gal. 3:3 nkjv, emphasis added).
Clearly, the message of Galatians is: You are not only justified by faith alone, but you are also being sanctified by faith alone. For “without faith it is impossible to please him [God]†(Heb. 11:6). Melanchthon articulated this Reformation principle when he argued that “the importance of faith not be restricted to the beginning of justification.â€Â63 Neither initial righteousness (justification) nor progressive righteousness (sanctification) is conditioned on meritorious works. Rather, both are received by grace through faith apart from any works of righteousness. Failure to understand that sanctification and justification are by grace through faith alone is the error of Galatianism. It seems to be the same error made by the Council of Trent.
It should be noted that Paul’s reference to “false brothers†(pseudadelphos) is not to the believers in Galatia who had adopted their erroneous teaching about needing to keep the law of Moses as a means of sanctification. Paul was referring to false teachers (Judaizers) who were “secretly brought in†from the outside (Gal. 2:4). Since the Galatians had already been justified by faith alone, the danger of the Judaizers’ teaching was that the true believers at Galatia would adopt this view as a means of progressive sanctification. This would have been a serious error, since it would have obscured the necessity of the pure grace of God as the condition for their progressive sanctification, just as it was the condition for their initial justification.64
It confuses salvation and service. All the texts cited by Catholics about reward for works are not really speaking about rewards for salvation (whether it be justification or sanctification); they are talking about rewards for service. Justification is by faith alone and not by works (Rom. 4:5). It is true that all who are saved by God’s grace through faith will be rewarded for their works in Christ (1 Cor. 3:10–14; 2 Cor. 5:10). These works, however, have nothing to do with whether we will be in heaven, but only with what status we will have there. As Jesus said, some of the saved will reign over ten cities and others over five (Luke 19:17–19), but all believers will be in his kingdom. The reward-for-works verses all speak of rewards for those who will be in the kingdom, not whether one will be in the kingdom. By contrast, in Roman Catholic theology one’s progressive sanctification does affect whether one will make it to heaven. What a person receives at the moment of initial justification, apart from progressive sanctification, does not suffice to get one into heaven (unless, of course, the person dies immediately after regeneration). In this sense, for Catholics works are necessary for salvation, even if they are works subsequent to initial justification. Actually, works are only necessary for the degree of reward we receive in heaven; they are not a condition for getting into heaven.
Works-for-reward come under sanctification, not justification. They are what we do as a result of being saved, not what we do in order to be saved (i.e., to receive the gift of eternal life). In other words, merit makes sense if understood in the context of those who already are justified before God and simply are working out their salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12), not working for it. Even here the works are not a condition for being sanctified but a manifestation of it. Thus Catholics are left with a de facto denial of the grace that they officially claim is necessary for both justification and sanctification.
It adds works into its concept of faith. Roman Catholic biblical scholars admit “the absence of any reference to sacraments and good works in Paul’s thesis in [Romans 1] 16f.†To this they respond by redefining faith to include works, saying, “Omission causes no difficulty if faith be understood in the sense of dogmatic faith, which accepts all the doctrines of the Gospel as true and obeys all its precepts as divine commandments. For in this faith sacraments and good works are included.â€Â65 This is a classic example of eisegesis, that is, reading into the text what is not there, indeed, in this case, the exact opposite of what is there. For Paul goes on to say that “when one does not work, yet believes in the one who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness†(Rom. 4:5), and “a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law†(Rom. 3:28). Yet when commenting on this verse A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture says emphatically that “Another conclusion from [Romans 1:]28 that had to be rejected by the Council of Trent is that before justification only faith is necey as a preparation and no other good works.†Faith, the commentary insists, is only the “immediate†preparation for justification; a “remote†preparation is also necessary, including “a resolution to receive the Sacrament of baptism and to keep the commandments.â€Â66 In other words, faith is only a necessary initial condition but not a sufficient condition for receiving the gift of salvation. However, the evident meaning of the Romans text (1–4) is that nothing in addition to faith is necessary for salvation (cf. Rom. 1:17; 4:4–5).
In spite of the commendable insistence on the necessity of grace for salvation and the need for explicit faith in adults as a precondition for justification, it is still true that Catholicism teaches that even justification (in adults) is preconditioned on faith plus the resolution to do good works. Hence, the promise to do good works is a condition of initial justification. Thereby sanctification is frontloaded into justification. That is, the promise to live a godly life is a condition for receiving the gift of eternal life. But if this is so then it is not of grace but works. And for Roman Catholics, salvation in the ultimate sense, not just initial justification, always requires faith plus works to obtain eternal life.
Geisler, N. L., & MacKenzie, R. E. (1995). Roman Catholics and Evangelicals : Agreements and differences (228). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.
