The Catholic Understanding of Grace

Anybody who has read the New Testament is aware that Grace from God is important for us as Christians, and in particular that it has a role to play in our salvation.  It is mentioned often by St. Paul and addressed frequently by Jesus.  And the fact that Grace does exist in our lives and is given to us by God is something that is ecumenical in spirit: both Catholics and Protestants understand that this Grace, this free gift from God that saves us from ourselves, is essential of the life we are called to live as His children.

There are, however, many misunderstandings concerning what the Catholic Church teaches is the role that Grace plays in our salvation.  Below is a brief summary of Her teachings on the matter.

WHAT IS GRACE?

Grace is what is given to us by God so that we might attain eternal life; it is impossible for us to attain eternal life apart from God’s grace, and it is solely due to God’s grace that we can be saved and enter into Heaven. 

There are two kinds of grace that a given person can receive.  One is called Actual Grace.  Actual Grace is Grace given to us when God acts in a particular moment in time; it is not continuous and does not stay with us.  An example of Actual Grace would be a particular form of enlightenment you may receive about an issue during a moment of prayer to God.  It is an instantaneous experience that pushes you to act.

The other kind of grace is called Sanctifying Grace.  Sanctifying Grace is grace that is developed inside of us.  Unlike Actual Grace which is a momentary act, Sanctifying Grace is a state of being that our soul becomes infused with by the Holy Spirit on account of Christ’s sacrifice for the remission of our sins.  It is Sanctifying Grace that is the basis for our salvation and is infused in us upon our Baptism.

HOW DOES SANCTIFYING GRACE SAVE US?

In short, Sanctifying Grace saves us through faith and works.  God requires us to have faith in Him to be saved, and He also requires us to live a moral life in accordance with His will.  If we ever choose to stop believing in God and remain in that unbelief or if we ever choose to live a life of serious sin and immorality (and remain unrepentant until we die) then we will not attain eternal life; God requires us to have both in order for us to achieve salvation.

This in no way, however, contradicts the notion that we are saved entirely by God’s Grace, for we are not saved by the faith and works apart from God’s Grace, nor are we saved by a combination of Grace as well as faith and works apart from Grace.  Our faith in God and the works we do in accordance with His will are only possible as a result of the Grace of God that we are given in the first place.  That is why we can say, on the one hand, that we must have faith and live a moral life in order to be saved, and yet, on the other hand, that it is only and entirely by the Grace of Jesus Christ that we can be saved at all.

DON’T CATHOLICS TEACH THAT WE ARE SAVED BY OUR WORKS, APART FROM GOD’S GRACE?

This is a common misunderstanding by many Protestants.  Almost all Protestants believe in salvation by faith alone.  This means that, according to Protestants, while works may play a role in the identification of a true believer, works do not play a role in our salvation.  Thus when they see Catholics and their emphasis on works and how it affects their salvation, many Protestants believe that Catholics teach that we are saved by our own works apart from God’s grace.

While such Protestants are absolutely right to condemn a works-based salvation in the way it is phrased above (since it is contrary to the Holy Word of God), they are incorrect to assert that this is part of Catholic Church teaching.  Though we do differ from Protestants in our proclamation of the importance of works for salvation, we do not differ from them in the importance of Grace for our salvation.  The Protestant who believes that Catholic teaching proclaims we are saved directly by our works apart from God’s Grace, in other words that we are capable of saving ourselves entirely or partially on our own merit and not by God’s Grace, does not understand Catholic teaching on Grace, salvation, or works.  The true debate between Protestants and Catholics on this issue is not ‘Saved by Grace vs Saved by Works’, but rather ‘Saved by Grace through Faith Alone vs Saved by Grace through Faith and Works’.  This distinction is necessary for Protestant-Catholic dialogue, but it does not call in to question the necessity of Grace.

THE THREE TYPES OF ‘MERIT’

A lot of difficulty between Protestants and Catholics on this issue arise because of a misunderstanding of the word ‘merit’.  This is a word used by a lot of Catholics in discussions on justification (i.e. we ‘merit’ eternal life), and to many Protestants the use of such a word implies that we ‘merit’ salvation in the sense that we ‘earn’ salvation, like an employee who works a certain amount of hours in a business and, purely as a result of said work, is entitled to compensation. 

In Catholic theology, however, there are three types of ‘merit’: Strict Merit, Congruent Merit, and Condign Merit.

Strict Merit is the type of merit just described above, where one is owed a reward purely based off of the work that one does on their own basis.  In Catholic teaching there is only one person who has such merit: Jesus Christ.

Congruent Merit is merit in which we are rewarded when there is no necessity to be rewarded and we did nothing to deserve it, like when a father takes his child out to get candy as a reward for cleaning up his room.  The child is not owed it, but the father rewards him for it nonetheless.

Condign Merit is merit in which a reward is promised for certain actions being taken.  Such a reward is not deserved by the recipient nor is it earned in a strict sense, but is still ‘owed’ in the sense that a promise was made to give the reward on the basis of such actions.  In the case of salvation, God rewards us for our faith and good works; but we nonetheless do not deserve it nor do we achieve such a reward by our own actions apart from God’s Grace.  God simply promised us that if we have faith and do good works, all of which take root in His Grace, then He will give us eternal life.  It is this type of merit that explains our justification by Grace through faith and works.

This is the framework of the Catholic understanding of Grace and its effects on our eternal life.  This is not a defense of Catholic teaching on this matter; it is nothing more than an explanation of what said teaching is and a response to some of the misunderstandings that surround it.  May it be helpful in your understanding of God’s grace and how it operates in your life.