Within the March 22 reading from the letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians (Eph 2:4-10) it says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast.”
I was under the impression that the Catholic Church teaches that grace is given by God for good works, and that at least some Protestant religions believe it is freely given. Please clarify this apparent discrepancy between St. Paul’s letter and Catholic Church teaching.
There is no discrepancy. St. Paul’s teaching and the Catholic Church’s teaching are exactly the same. The Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 1996 says, “Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons [and daughters], partakers of the divine nature and eternal life.” It is Catholic teaching that we are saved by God’s grace! Thank God, that takes quite a burden off of us!
Now, I think you might be confused because as Catholics we also talk about works and merit along with grace. The reason is that Scripture talks about this too. Jesus told the “rich young man” that “to enter into life, keep the commandments” (Mt 19:17). The letter of James says, “See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” (Jas 2:24)
The Catechism gives us guidance on this too. It says, “With regard to God, there is no strict right to any merit on the part of man.” (CCC #2007). So God doesn’t owe us anything, but God in His great kindness does allow us to work, to participate, and to grow in grace (but this again is by God’s grace). The Catechism says, “Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification, at the beginning of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life.” (CCC #2010)
Yes, so here is where it gets confusing. As a Protestant friend once asked me, “If grace is unmerited, how can you merit grace?” The Catholic answer: “By God’s grace.” Our merit, our works are inspired by God’s grace, begun by God’s grace, and completed by God’s grace. All is grace. We do need to do good works (themselves a grace), because to not do so, we would be turning away from God’s grace (and that is a bad thing).
So, if you are still confused (sorry this is not an easy issue to condense into a single column), then try reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church part three, article 2 on “Grace and Justification.” The bottom line is that salvation, faith, works, merit, whatever: it’s all by God’s grace. We wouldn’t have any of it without God.
-Fr. Greg
If you would like submit a question, please write it out and place it in the “Ask a Priest” box in the vestibule or email me at frgreg@kc.rr.com.
