.jpeg)
One of my theology professors at the Augustine Institute, a former Protestant pastor, converted to Catholicism after reading the Council of Trent documents. This is just one example of many that speaks to the effectiveness and lasting importance of the Council of Trent for properly understanding the Catholic Church’s teaching, especially when it comes to the hotly debated topic of justification. The Council of Trent, held between 1545 and 1563 to respond to the issue of the Protestant Reformation, was one of the most successful and influential councils in Church history by bringing about sweeping reforms within the Church (which corrected many of the abuses and concerns vocalized by Martin Luther and others within the Church before him) and issuing remarkably deep and clear teachings on many disputed topics.
The Catholic Church does not teach that we are saved by works apart from grace. That is pelagianism, a heresy condemned by the Catholic Church at the Council of Carthage in 418. Also, it does not teach that God gives us the initial spark of grace then we can “work out our salvation” (Phil 2:12) and merit heaven on our own after that. That is semi-Pelagianism, a heresy condemned by the Church at the Council of Orange in 529. These are two misconceptions about Catholic teaching commonly held by Protestants that continue to persist, despite the fact that they are explicitly rejected by the Catholic Church.
Much confusion about Catholic teaching on salvation and justification can be resolved by reading what the Catholic Church officially teaches. In this short article I hope to summarize the main points of the Council of Trent’s teaching on justification relying upon Session Five, the Decree Concerning Original Sin (before explaining justification we need to first understand why we need to be justified) and Session Six, the ever-important Decree on Justification.
Our becoming slaves to sin and being placed under the dominion of the devil began when Adam rejected God and lost for all of mankind the holiness and justice that had been graciously granted to Adam before the Fall. The sin of Adam, while not the personal sin of his descendants (Session V.3), was passed down to all of mankind by generation and leads everyone to sin and death, death of both body and soul. God must then save us, for nothing, not the efforts of human nature nor the law of Moses (Session VI.1), can remove this original sin save the “merit of the one mediator, our Lord Jesus Christ,” who has “reconciled us to God” by his Passion (Session V.3). For although everyone maintains free will after the Fall, Scripture clearly teaches and the Catholic Church has always taught that “there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved” (Session V.3, citing Acts 4:12).
As the Apostles also handed down, it is through the sacrament of baptism that the merit of Christ is applied to both infants and adults, cleansing them of original sin and regenerating them unto new life (Session V.4). At baptism the Holy Spirit infuses faith, hope, and love into the soul, all of which are necessary to become a living member of Christ’s Body (Session VI.7). The grace received at baptism is not merited by our own prior faith or works for nothing preceding justification can “merit the grace itself of justification” (SessionVI.8). Likewise, no one can even begin to move towards the grace of justification without prevenient grace and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (Session VI, Canon 3). Without denying man’s freedom and need to cooperate with God’s grace, the Council of Trent teaches that it is truly only by grace and the merit of Christ that man can be saved.
According to the Council of Trent, justification is the action of God bringing us into the state of grace through the sacrament of faith, which is baptism, when one becomes an adopted son or daughter of God. Our justification is made possible by the exceeding charity and meritorious act of Christ’s Passion (Session VI.7) which makes us supernaturally alive and worthy of eternal life.
To expand on this, justification starts at baptism when the charity of God is infused into a soul through the Holy Spirit. The theological virtues faith, hope, and love are infused into the soul of the regenerate, the child of God is cleansed of original sin and all personal sin, and the original justice and holiness lost by Adam, the first man, is regained through the merit of the second Adam, Jesus Christ (Session VI.4).
Trent states that faith is essential to be justified for without faith “no man was ever justified” (Session VI.7). While it is not by faith alone, we are justified by faith “because faith is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation, and the root of all Justification; without which it is impossible to please God” (Session VI.8). According to Trent’s teaching on justification baptism, faith, and works cannot be separated without straying from the pure faith that has been preserved and perpetually taught by the Catholic Church.
Trent teaches that we must freely assent to and cooperate with God’s grace to achieve salvation. God does not save us against our will. We can freely accept or reject God’s grace and therefore can either freely accept or reject God’s free offer of salvation. As Trent says, before justification is achieved through Christ bestowing his merit upon us one must “be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will” (Session VI, Canon 9), which is indeed only made possible by grace.
Contrary to what the heretics and schismatics claim, it is not by faith alone that we are justified and it is not with vain confidence in our justification that we can be certain of our salvation. Our salvation must be worked out to the end, and we are indeed further justified, after our initial justification by faith, by following the commandments of God, through “faith co-operating with good works” (Session VI, 10). Again, both initial and ongoing justification are only possible by grace.
Since we still have free will after receiving initial justification at baptism, we are ever inclined to fall into sin because concupiscence, or the inclination to sin, remains (Session V.5). So salvation can be lost if we freely consent to temptation, but it always remains possible to stay free from sin by God’s grace, “For God commands not impossibilities, but, by commanding, both admonishes thee to do what thou are able, and to pray for what thou art not able (to do), and aids thee that thou mayest be able” (Session VI.11). And yet, the salvation that can be freely gained by grace through baptism and lost through mortal sin (grace can be lost even if faith remains intact (Session VI.15; Session VI, Canon 28)) can again be regained by receiving God’s grace through the sacrament of Penance.
Lastly, because the justified are continually infused with the virtue of Christ, they are empowered to perform good works that are truly meritorious. Through freely cooperating with grace and being made a living member in Christ, we can merit eternal life. But although our merits are our own, they are not founded on ourselves apart from God but only in union with him by being infused by the merit of Christ (Session VI.16; Session VI, Canon 32).
Much more could be said about the Council of Trent’s teaching on justification and the Catholic Church’s teaching on this topic in general, but I hope this helps to clarify the Church’s teaching and provides a basis for further study. To start, I highly encourage you to read the Council of Trent documents yourself, in particular, the Decree on Justification. It is not long, is extremely clear, and is as relevant today as it was 500 years ago immediately following the Protestant Reformation. Of course, one could still disagree with this theology when rightly understood. But who knows? If you happen to be like my former professor, a devout Protestant earnestly seeking the truth about Catholic teaching on justification, maybe this will be the turning point in your own journey across the Tiber.
