Justification

[Fez]

Excuse my ignorance and maybe a catholic brother or sister can answer, but does the catholic church believe in justification and sanctification?

This IS a genuine question and not an attack of any sort, because I really don't know.

[elkieDannsa' Air An Drochaid]

HI Fez,

To understand how the Catholic (Universal) First Church believes it is really best to read from them at their own site(s). There is free Catholic encyclopedia at a couple of sites and one can fully read the early writings and the same that is believed today. It is as simple as to look/type into the "search" box for the things you are wanting to know about, at the encyclopedia at Catholic.com, newadvent.com or Catholic Catechism at several sites and get information one would like to know. Otherwise it seems like one is going by hearsay. People will disagree or hate what "they think" is Catholic sometimes; but, when they find out what is really Catholic they often find they do not disagree at all. Not to mention a Protestant board gets upset, even usually hot over any Catholic discussion. While I find the Catholic does not and will fully discuss reasoning concerning subjects. Some thoughts for you in my sincere hopes that you will learn the real thing this way. I could cut and paste a lot ;but, why?

If you wanted to know what I thought would you ask me or someone else to tell you about me?

Blessings,

elkie

[nikki1]

Excuse my ignorance and maybe a catholic brother or sister can answer, but does the catholic church believe in justification and sanctification?

This IS a genuine question and not an attack of any sort, because I really don't know.

Blessings, Fez,

I am not a catholic, but from some catholic church literature I had, I dug this out for you which explains what the catholic church believes concerning justification and sanctification from their catholic church catechism;

Of the acts to be performed by Catholics for justification, baptism is the first requirement Please consider these quotes:

". . Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of forgiveness of sins because it unites us with Christ, who died for our sins and rose for our justification, so that 'we too might walk in newness of life,'" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 977).

"Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ. It is granted us through Baptism. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who justifies us. It has for its goal the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life. It is the most excellent work of God's mercy," (CCC, par. 2020).

"Sanctifying grace is the gratuitous gift of his life that God makes to us; it is infused by the Holy Spirit into the soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it" (CCC, par. 2023).

This is the crux of the problem. Roman Catholic theology asserts that God's grace is granted through baptism and infused into a person by the Holy Spirit.

This amounts to a works based salvation and not by God's grace through the shed blood of Jesus Christ at calvary.

Hope this helps.

Nikki

[Scarletprayers]

And there you go Fez, just what Elkie was talking about, go the the site, read the literature and make up your own mind.

[Guest shiloh357]

Excuse my ignorance and maybe a catholic brother or sister can answer, but does the catholic church believe in justification and sanctification?

This IS a genuine question and not an attack of any sort, because I really don't know.

In my various discussions with Catholics over the years concerning this very subject I have come to note sharp differences in how Protestantism generally views the doctrine of justification and how it is viewed in Catholocism.

For example, we believe that justification is based upon a declaration of God upon the believer. This based on Romans 4 where God declares Abraham righteous on the basis of his faith. God justified Abraham and imputed his faith as righteousness. Now, in Catholocism, this would be considered legal fiction. In the Catholic view, one cannot be declared righteous while still a sinner and can only be righteous after completing works of merit and actually becoming righteous first. Then and only then in their view does a person warrant being justified before God. That view flatly contradicts Romans 3 and 4.

Secondly, we believe that justification is imputed (credited to one's account). This is again based on Romans 4:25-26. Like Abraham, our faith is imputed to us as righteousness. This is apart from any works of merit we might do. God sees us as righteous on the basis of Christ's merit, and not our own. In this way, by justifying us by Christ's merits alone, God is able be just and still declare the sinner just. In Catholocism, it is taught that the power of Christ is more or less infused in a person and one must cooperate with that power in order to be justified. Basically, you must become righteous in order for God to justify you. Essentially, it is a works-based salvation and not the true gospel of Christ. It denies the full suffiency of Christ's work on the cross.