Justification, Assurance of Salvation, and the Council of Trent

During the 1500's debate raged in western Christendom over many areas of Church life. It was in this time of controversy that the Catholic Church summoned a council at Trent. It was at the Council of Trent that the Church would definitively define many of the differences between the theology of the Reformation and the theology of the Catholic Church. One of the main areas of disagreement was over the nature of justification, and ideas on justification will affect the way assurance of salvation is understood. A careful study of the Council of Trent can best show the Catholic understanding of assurance of salvation.

The Sixth Session of the Council of Trent is the session that dealt with the Catholic doctrines of justification. In the decree on justification, many different ideas are covered. Included amongst these ideas is that of assurance of salvation. Catholics do not believe that one can have an absolute assurance of salvation. Since Catholic's believe that faith and works flow together in our salvation, it is generally seen as the result of human action that salvation would be stopped. As the Council says, "For God forsakes not those who have been once justified by His grace, unless he be first forsaken by them" (Council of Trent, Chapter 11). This is where the Catholic doctrine differentiates the most from Protestant belief. Protestants generally see salvation and justification as an extrinsic act of God. Catholic's see salvation and justification as intimately involving man, through grace, in God's work.

Catholics do not think that one can be completely sure of their final perseverance to salvation. It is believed that one should work out their salvation "with fear and trembling"(Philippians 2). The Council of Trent states: "If any one saith, that he will for certain, of an absolute and infallible certainty, have that great gift of perseverance unto the end,-unless he have learned this by special revelation; let him be anathema"(Council of Trent, Canon 16).

We can not, except through special revelation, know that we will surely persevere unto salvation. The Catholic Church also discourages trying to figure out the mystery of predestination. The Council of Trent declared:

"No one, moreover, so long as he is in this mortal life, ought so far to presume as regards the secret mystery of divine predestination, as to determine for certain that he is assuredly in the number of the predestinate... for except by special revelation, it cannot be known whom God hath chosen unto Himself "(Council of Trent, Chapter 12).

Instead the Council states that we must rely completely on trusting God's mercy.

"For even as no pious person ought to doubt of the mercy of God, of the merit of Christ, and of the virtue and efficacy of the sacraments, even so each one, when he regards himself, and his own weakness and indisposition, may have fear and apprehension touching his own grace; seeing that no one can know with a certainty of faith, which cannot be subject to error, that he has obtained the grace of God" (Council of Trent, Chapter 9, Italics mine).

So in everyday life, we ought not to doubt God, yet we ought not to think that we are guaranteed final perseverance.

Catholics view salvation as a process. It is not a one time event, where one suddenly becomes "saved". It is an ongoing process where our justification becomes reflected in our daily lives, and we become more like Christ. So in a sense we all have salvation right now, and can be assured of it, but "Until the process of salvation is complete, we can freely opt out of it by refusing God's grace and sinning mortally" (Kresta 90). Are this idea, and the other Catholic ideas on justification, Biblical? The answer is yes.

St. Paul best demonstrates this idea of Salvation as something that requires perseverance and grace working through us and our actions. In 1st Corinthians he says:

"Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race, but only one wins the prize? Run so as to win. Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. Thus I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight as if I were shadowboxing. No, I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified" (1st Corinthians 9:24-27).

Al Kresta comments on this passage and says: "Even St. Paul, who had as dramatic and undeniable a conversion as can be imagined, did not regard his own ultimate salvation as absolutely assured. Exertion was necessary"( Kresta 90). It is obvious that Paul says in the passage that he could be disqualified if he did not run to win the race. He sees that God would not turn his back on him, but that if he failed to live up to his calling as a Christian, he would be turning his back on God and be disqualified from the race. Patrick Madrid, a Catholic Apologist, states, "Christ offers us the gift of salvation, and he will not go back on his word. But you and I are entirely capable of going back on our word by abandoning Christ and thereby forfeiting his gift of salvation" (Madrid 66).

Later in 1st Corinthians Paul discusses how the believers are being saved, and how it is possible that they could believe in vain. He writes, "Now I am reminding you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand. Through it you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain"(1st Corinthians 15:1-2). It is interesting that he states that they are "being saved". This idea, shown in it's early stages of development in the Scriptures, was later elaborated on in the Church, and was ultimately shown to be true by the Council of Trent.
The idea of one being able to turn away from the promise of salvation exists in many other places throughout the Scriptures. It is demonstrated very well in the Epistle to the Hebrews. In chapter 10 the author writes, "If we sin deliberately after receiving knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains sacrifice for sins but a fearful prospect of judgment and flaming fire that is going to consume the adversaries" (Hebrews 10:26-27). This Epistle is written to believers, and the author is warning them to not turn their backs on God by sinning against him.

Even Jesus taught and told parables that explained how one could in the end not be saved. Patrick Madrid relates Jesus' parable of the unforgiving servant to assurance of salvation. He writes:

"And recall the unforgiving serant in Matthew 18:21-35. Although the merciful king forgave him and wiped out his debt, the unforgiving servant proceeded to mistreat a fellow servant. When the king discovered this, he reinstated his debt and threw him into prison. Christians can indeed lose their salvation by sinful rebellion against God" (Madrid 67).

It also should be pointed out that after the parable Jesus states, "So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart"(Matthew 18:35). Jesus gives an explicit warning that we could lose our forgiveness if we do not give the forgiveness to others that God require of us. It is also interesting to note that Jesus often states that we cannot have life in us if we do not do certain things. A great example is in John chapter 6 where Christ states, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you"(John 6:53). In an earlier discourse with Nicodemus Jesus states "Amen,amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit" (John 3:5). Christ left us sacraments to communicate grace to us, and to give us signs of assurance of our salvation, but unless we persevere to the end of the race we will be disqualified.

The Catholic Church, in the Council of Trent, has provided a Biblical view of justification. The Council warns us that we should not spend time trying to know the divine plans of God, but instead we should let our works show that we truly have grace working through love in us. If we persevere in the path of salvation, then we are assured of salvation.


Works Cited

Catholic Church. Catechism of the Catholic Church. New York: Doubleday, 1995.

Kresta, Al. Why do Catholics genuflect? . Cincinnati: St Anthony Messenger Press, 2001.

Madrid, Patrick. Does the Bible really say that? Discovering Catholic Teaching in Scripture. Cincinnati: St Anthony Messenger Press, 2006.

The New American Bible. New York: P. J. Kenedy & Sons, 1970.

The Council of Trent, Sixth Session, http://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct06.html

i enjoy using my brain

i will admit it, i am a wannabe theologian. its just the way i am. Ever since i was introduced to the idea of thinking about doctrine and different theologies i havent really stopped. My inquisitive mind leads me to search for truth, and better understand all the different doctrines of the different churches.

the thing is, i have been told that i should just relax. i just need to love God and have a relationship with Jesus Christ. I believe this idea has invaded modern evangelical thought- Thinking is bad. This is not true in any way though. A thinker has a relationship with God which reflects their personality. I enjoy thinking about theology, because it helps me better understand God, which in my case is helping my "relationship" with God.

now I am not saying that everyone should think more about theology, some people simply were not made to be interested in debating the finer points of doctrine. yet those people should not be criticizing those who do spend time thinking and discussing theology

end rant

Catholic-ese

So, I was talking with a friend online last night, and we were discussing the fact that Christians have their own language: Christianese. I also realized Catholics have a more elaborate Christianese than Protestants. I like to call it Catholicese( the ese is pronounced like Japanese). Then i realized how lost some of my friends may be when they hear some of the language used at Mass. I brought my father to Mass last night, and the Priest used the word Sacramental. I am pretty sure that none of my Protestant friends even know what that means(heck I am not even sure I completely understand). So I started to discuss this fact with my friend, and began listing off various words, that most catholics know of, but that protestants have no clue about. I forget which words i used exactly, but I am pretty sure i threw out "mortal sin", "Pontiff", and some others.

So anyways, why am I telling you all this, well I hope that it will remind any of my Catholic readers that some of our theological language is not shared by the Protestants, so we may have some explaining to do(especially if you say something about the tabernacle, or eucharistic adoration, those really confuse non-Catholics).

anyways....i will probably write a life story soon, to explain who I am.

God Bless

Papist Forever

So. I start this blog on this Pentecost Sunday, hopefully thats a good thing. I hear that a church started on Pentecost about 2000 years ago and is still going strong.

Anyways, this blog is for my random ramblings about theology and anything and everything to do with the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

Im sure you will hear more soon