III-5 Saving and Justifying Grace
III-5-1 Saving Grace
Saving grace is an act of God, a manifestation of his goodness and generosity, which forgives, uplifts, and restores the sinner. It is a free gift from God offered to humanity. It goes beyond mere forgiveness, as it encompasses the entire process of salvation and is its very foundation.
Salvation:
In theology, salvation is defined as “Deliverance and Liberation.”
In Christianity, salvation:
– is liberation from sin, death, and eternal condemnation, made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
– is associated with Christ, considered the redeemer of humanity.
Salvation is obtained only through the grace of God in Christ, which is not only necessary, but constitutes the sole effective cause of salvation.
Thus, soteriology, the doctrine of salvation, is linked to Christology.
Salvation allows believers to enter heaven and establish an eternal relationship with God.
Although salvation has a common divine meaning and is obtained through divine grace, the means of attaining it vary according to denomination:
– For Catholicism, it is offered through grace, the sacraments, and good works.
– Whereas Protestantism emphasizes it primarily through faith and grace alone. Even within Protestantism, there are nuances in the path to salvation, depending on whether one is Lutheran, Calvinist, Arminian, or another denomination.
In Christianity, salvation is a broader process of which justification is an integral part and a first step. This overall process includes justification, sanctification, and glorification.
III-5-2 Justifying Grace
Justifying grace is an expression of love, a free and unmerited gift from God, and the source of reconciliation with God without any need to pay or earn salvation. It enables justification, which is God’s legal judgment, an act by which the believing sinner is declared righteous and forgiven through Jesus Christ. In short, this grace is the source, and justification is its effect.
One could say that justifying grace is the heart of saving grace.
Justification:
According to the doctrine of imputation, the expression “made righteous” in this context refers to the great truth of justification. Justification is not about a change of character or the infusion of something inherent into us. Rather, it involves a change in our standing before God. In justification, God declares us righteous because He imputes the righteousness of Christ to us, not because He makes us righteous internally (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21 ). So when Paul says “made righteous” here, he means “imputed with righteousness,” not “imbued with righteousness.”
The perfect obedience and righteousness of Jesus Christ—His sinless life and perfect fulfillment of God’s law—are “imputed”—that is, transferred and credited—to believers. This means that, before God, believers are declared righteous not on the basis of their own merits or intrinsic holiness, but on the basis of Christ’s perfect righteousness imputed to them by faith. This is a legal status of righteousness before God.
Believers are declared righteous at the moment of salvation. Justification is the legal status of these saved people; in other words, God declares them righteous because the righteousness of Christ has been applied to their faith. This is not a transformation of their person, but a change in legal status: God declares them righteous because of the work of Jesus.
Justification occurs through faith alone, not through the works of the law. It is faith that activates this legal status, and this status of justification is immediate.
Justification brings about the forgiveness of sins, peace with God, adoption as a child of God, and the reception of the Holy Spirit. The saved and justified person can then be transformed inwardly over time, during the process of sanctification.
III-5-3 The Path to Salvation and Justifications According to the Denominations
Once again, I wish to clarify that the following presentation is intended only to provide a neutral general overview of the path in question according to the vision of each of the denominations without entering into their theological debates. Each denomination carries a particular vision of salvation, to which the path it promotes is harmoniously aligned. It should be clarified that this journey is not a path of effort aimed at deserving salvation, but the very expression of what salvation produces. The perspectives of the four main denominations will be presented in the following sections.
III-5-3-1 Catholic Perspective
-General Overview
Catholic soteriology is structured, gradual, and relational. It comprises real steps, but these are part of a continuous dynamic in which divine grace precedes, accompanies, and perfects the human response. Salvation is a gift of God’s grace, obtained through faith in Jesus Christ, the sacraments, and the works that flow from them. This salvation, which liberates from sin and opens the gates of heaven, is a process that begins with baptism, continues through cooperation with God’s grace in the believer’s life, and culminates either in heaven or through purification in purgatory. It is therefore a sacramental and communal process, rooted in the Church, and includes the cooperation between divine grace and human freedom.
According to Catholic doctrine, salvation and the path that leads to it rest on three essential elements:
Grace and faith: Salvation is above all a free gift of God’s grace, received through faith in Jesus Christ.
Cooperating with God through works: Believers are called to actively cooperate with God’s grace. Good works are not a means of earning salvation but are the fruit and expression of it.
The sacraments and the life of the Church: Baptism marks the beginning of the journey toward salvation and the justification of the soul. The other sacraments are means through which the Church imparts grace and supports the believer on the path to holiness. Purgatory is understood as a step of purification for souls who must still be cleansed of their sins before entering fully into the blessedness of heaven.
-Main Steps
The Catholic path to salvation and justification unfolds as a continuous process in which divine grace precedes, accompanies, and perfects the human response.
- Common or prevenient grace: Offered by God to every person, this grace awakens the heart, inclines it toward good, and stirs the desire for God. Without this grace, no one can even begin to seek God.
- Initial faith: Under the impetus of grace, which is not irresistible, a person begins to believe. This is a free act.
- Conversion: The person turns away from sin in response to grace. Conversion includes contrition (regret for sin), the will to change, and the desire for God.
- Initial justification: This is the decisive moment of salvation according to Catholics. It usually occurs in baptism, is both a declaration and an inner transformation, and is not merely a legal declaration. The person truly becomes a child of God.
- Sanctification: Justification and sanctification are not separate, as they are one and the same process.
- Works of Charity: These are the fruits of grace that increase righteousness.
- The possibility of losing grace: Catholicism affirms that one can fall from salvation through mortal sin and that sanctifying grace can be lost.
- Restoration: When a Christian falls, grace can be restored because God forgives and re-establishes justification through confession, absolution, and contrition. Salvation is relational, not mechanical.
- Final perseverance: One must persevere to the end, but this too is a gift from God. God gives the grace necessary to persevere, but one must cooperate.
- Glorification: At the end of the journey, the person, completely purified (purgatory if necessary), enters into the direct vision of God. Glorification is the fulfillment of the salvation begun on earth.
NOTE: Sacraments, Church, and Good Works (including indulgences)
It is essential to describe the role of the sacraments, the Church, and good works (including indulgences) in salvation since Catholic soteriology is based on: “God saves humanity in the Church, through the sacraments, and by means of real cooperation with grace.”
Sacraments
Les sacrements sont des moyens réels par lesquels Dieu communique sa grâce et ne sont pas de simples symboles: ils produisent effectivement ce qu’ils signifient et accompagnent tout le parcours du salut.
Here is a brief list of the seven sacraments according to Catholic doctrine: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance (or Reconciliation), Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders (priesthood), and Matrimony. These sacraments are often classified into three groups: Christian initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist), healing (Penance, Anointing of the Sick), and service to God (Holy Orders, Matrimony).
Church
The Church is the Body of Christ. It is “the universal sacrament of salvation” and administers the sacraments, teaches the faith, and guides moral life.
The Church’s concrete role in salvation is to proclaim the Gospel, administer the sacraments that transmit grace, structure a life of charity and sanctification, and uphold sound doctrine (the Magisterium).
Salvation comes from Christ, and the Church is his instrument.
All saving grace comes through Christ and, mysteriously, through the Church.
Good Works (including indulgences)
Catholicism affirms:
Faith alone does not save unless it is enlivened by charity (James 2:24 “You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.” and James 2:26 “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”).
Works do not merit salvation in themselves, but when performed in grace, they truly participate in the path of sanctification.
Two fundamental points are emphasized in Catholic thought:
Sanctifying grace is the origin of all merit. God rewards the charity that this grace produces, and merit arises from the free cooperation between the human person and grace.
Good works are not independent human contributions but the very expression of grace at work within the believer.
Indulgence: What is it really?
It is neither the forgiveness of sins, nor a “sale of salvation,” nor a shortcut to heaven.
Rather, it is the remission of the temporal penalties associated with sins that have already been forgiven. An indulgence is rooted in the communion of saints and the spiritual treasury of the Church, and it is linked to acts of charity, prayer, and the sacraments.
According to Catholic teaching, it does not grant justification and adds nothing to Christ’s work; it simply helps the faithful advance in their purification, whether in this life or in purgatory.
-Divine and Human Actions
According to Cathlicisme, salvation is a synergistic process: God acts, but humanity must cooperate.
Divine actions:
Sanctifying grace communicated through the sacraments (baptism, Eucharist, confession, etc.).
God’s mercy, which forgives and transforms us inwardly.
The Holy Spirit, who sanctifies and strengthens us.
Human actions:
Receiving the sacraments with faith.
Cooperating with grace through good works (charity, prayer, penance).
Persevering in communion with the Church.
-Conclusion
For Catholics, salvation is a process in which divine grace initiates, accompanies, and perfects humanity’s free response; justification begins at baptism, develops in sanctification, can be lost through grave sin, restored through confession, and culminates in the beatific vision.
III-5-3-2 Calvinist Perspective
-General Overview
The calvinist doctrine is based on the five points of Calvinism summarized by the acronym TULIP that has been described in “Irresitible Grace“.
Salvation depends exclusively on God’s will, not on human effort (Romans 9:15–16 “15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.”).
Faith and salvation are infallibly produced by efficacious, irresistible, and infallible grace, working only in the elect according to God’s sovereign plan.
It is only through irresistible grace that God regenerates the heart, transforming human desires and making possible a voluntary response to salvation.
Calvinism:
- describes salvation from God’s perspective, that is, His eternal will, His sovereignty, and His efficacy.
- upholds the truth that salvation depends entirely on God. God is not indebted to anyone for salvation, but freely chooses to save some by pure grace.
- declares that God grants salvation selectively, not to diminish His love, but to manifest His glory in the diversity of His attributes: love, justice, mercy, and holiness.
His sovereign act of divine grace is not based on merit or pre-existing faith.
For Calvinists, salvation is a complete act of God:
God elects → prevenient grace (in its Calvinist version)
God calls → irresistible grace
God justifies → saving grace
God sanctifies → sanctifying grace
God causes perseverance → persevering grace
God glorifies → final fulfillment
Each step depends on God’s faithfulness, not on human consistency (Romans 11:29 “for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.”)
Final salvation is guaranteed (no loss is possible for the elect).
The security of salvation is absolute and infallible for the elect.
-Main Steps
The absolute sovereignty of God is affirmed, and everything is viewed from the perspective of His action and His decisions. At the same time, the work of salvation is attributed to the Son of God, who is portrayed as the Savior and reconciler, the nourishment of the soul, and the source of life.
- Eternal Decree of Election: God, in His absolute sovereignty, has freely chosen from all eternity those He destines for salvation.
- External Call: The Gospel is proclaimed to all humanity, but this outward proclamation alone is not sufficient to produce faith.
- Effective Internal Call: God works inwardly in the hearts of the elect to make the call of the Gospel irresistible and effective.
- Regeneration (New Birth): Even before a person believes, God transforms their heart by bringing about a new birth entirely produced by Him alone.
- Faith and Repentance: Faith in Christ and repentance from sin are the gifts God gives to the regenerated believer, and they flow from this new birth.
- Justification: God declares the believer righteous by imputing to them the perfect righteousness of Christ, a legal and definitive act.
- Adoption: Through an act of divine love, God welcomes the chosen one as His own child and grants them all the privileges that come with it.
- Sanctification: God produces in the believer a real growth in holiness, a process assured and inseparable from justification.
- Perseverance of the Saints: God preserves the chosen ones with certainty, so that they can never definitively stray and lose their salvation.
- Glorification (at Christ’s return or at death): At the time of death or at the return of Christ, God completes the work of salvation by fully transforming the believer for eternity.
It is fundamental to note that in Calvinist theology, regeneration precedes repentance and faith. This is a fundamental distinction that reflects the conviction that God sovereignly initiates salvation, even in the human heart.
- John Calvin: “Faith is the fruit of regeneration, not its cause.”
- Louis Berkhof: “Conversion is the act of God by which He brings His regenerated people to turn to Him in faith and repentance.”
NOTE-1: What is regeneration, in the Calvinist sense?
Regeneration is the sovereign act by which God gives new spiritual life to a person dead in their sins (Ephesians 2:1–5). It is:
- Monergistic: God acts alone, without human cooperation.
- Instantaneous: It does not develop gradually, but occurs at a specific moment.
- Transforming: It changes the heart, affections, and will.
John Calvin wrote that man is “incapable of willing what is good” until he is regenerated. Therefore, it is God who initiates salvation by changing the heart.
The regenerated believer receives the gift of repentant faith at the moment he responds to the Gospel, but this response is made possible by a prior regeneration (“Irresitible Grace“). In other words:
- Regeneration is invisible and internal, wrought by the Spirit.
- Faith and repentance are the first visible signs of this new life.
NOTE-2: Compatibility between divine sovereignty and human free will
In Calvinist thought, the absolute sovereignty of God encompasses all human actions without abolishing human responsibility. Man possesses free will, but this freedom is enslaved to sin and therefore incapable of choosing God on its own. It is only through irresistible grace that God regenerates the heart, transforming human desires and making a voluntary response to salvation possible. Thus, human freedom is real, but it is exercised within the limits of a nature renewed by divine grace.
Therefore (Philippians 2:13 “for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”):
God does not negate human will.
He directs circumstances and changes the heart so that man desires what God desires.
NOTE-3: Dilemma Between God’s Love and Predestination
This topic has already been discussed in “Irresitible Grace“.
Here are some additional thoughts on this subject.
Divine Love according to Calvinism: God does not love all people in the same way since there are the elect and the non-elect:
- Universal Love: Temporal blessings (Common Grace) for all.
- Redemptive Love: Irresistible salvation (Special Grace) reserved for the elect.
-Divine and Human Actions
According to Calvinism, salvation is monergistic. God alone acts to initiate and guarantee salvation.
Divine Actions:
Sovereign predestination.
Effectual calling and regeneration (new birth).
Gift of faith and repentance.
Justification and sanctification assured by God.
Human Actions:
Responding with faith and repentance (fruits of regeneration).
Living in obedience and sanctification.
-Conclusion
In the Calvinist perspective, the “order of salvation” is seen as the “Golden Chain” and can be described as follows:
Predestination: God sovereignly chooses those He will save.
Effectual calling: God calls the elect through irresistible grace, which overcomes their natural resistance to salvation.
– Regeneration: The Holy Spirit sovereignly transforms the sinner’s heart, enabling a genuine response to God. This inner work precedes faith and may not be immediately conscious, yet it is generally brought about through the ministry of the Word.
– Conversion: Once regenerated, the person responds to the Gospel with faith and repentance, which are understood as gifts produced by the regenerating work of the Spirit.Justification: Through faith, God declares the believer righteous by imputing to them the perfect righteousness of Christ; this is a definitive legal act.
Sanctification: Beginning at regeneration, it unfolds throughout the believer’s life and includes perseverance, which God secures for His elect until the end.
The expression “Golden Chain” of salvation is taken from Romans 8:29-30, where Paul describes the steps of salvation: “29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified“.
III-5-3-3 Armenian and Wesleyan Perspective
-General Overview
Arminianism and Wesleyanism view salvation as a joint effort in which God initiates, man responds through faith, and then God regenerates and justifies (God-initiated synergism). Synergism describes salvation as a collaboration between God and man, once the divine initiative has been accepted. The starting point of the salvation journey begins with God’s prevenient grace, which makes human choice possible, but which requires a free response of faith and repentance from the individual, who can resist this grace. Note the emphasis placed on free will and the possibility of losing salvation, in contrast to Calvinism, which emphasizes divine sovereignty and unconditional election.
In Arminian and Wesleyan theology, salvation is grounded in the following principles:
Prevenient grace: God grants grace to all, restoring the ability to respond freely to His call.
Free will and resistance: Human beings may accept or resist grace; the human response conditions both entry into and continuance in salvation.
Universal atonement: Christ’s redemptive work is intended for all humanity.
Conditional election: God elects on the basis of His foreknowledge of human faith.
Possibility of apostasy: Believers may fall from grace if they fail to persevere.
Synergism: Salvation involves genuine cooperation between God’s initiating grace and the human response of faith.
-Main Steps
The path to salvation, according to the Armenian and Wesleyan perspectives, is represented as follows:
Universal prevenient grace: God grants every person an initial grace that restores their ability to freely respond to His call.
External call of the Gospel: The Gospel is proclaimed to all as a genuine and universal invitation to salvation.
Internal call of the Holy Spirit (RESISTIBLE): The Holy Spirit works within individuals to convict them of sin and bring illumination, yet this work can be accepted or rejected.
Faith and repentance: The human person freely responds to grace through faith in Christ and repentance from sin.
Justification: God forgives sins and declares the believer righteous on the basis of faith.
Regeneration (new birth): After faith, God inwardly transforms the person and imparts new spiritual life.
Adoption: The justified believer is received into God’s family and becomes a child of God.
Sanctification: The believer grows in holiness through cooperation between divine grace and human freedom, with Wesleyan theology affirming the possibility of “Christian perfection.”
Conditional perseverance: Remaining in grace depends on the believer’s continued faithfulness, who can genuinely fall into apostasy.
Final glorification: God completes the work of salvation by glorifying those who have persevered in faith to the end.
It is important to note that in this process:
– Faith precedes regeneration
– Regeneration does not automatically mean eternal life, since salvation may not endure until the end, due to man’s free will.
– The state of being a “child of God” is a precious grace that must be nurtured by a living and continuous relationship of faith. If this relationship is broken by a conscious and persistent choice of sin or rejection, the status of adoption is lost.
This is in complete opposition to Calvinist doctrine.
-Divine and Human Actions
From the perspective of Arminianism/Wesleyanism, salvation is synergistic and conditional. God offers, and man must respond and persevere.
Divine actions:
Prevenient grace given to all.
Universal call to salvation.
Regeneration after faith.
Human actions:
Responding freely through faith and repentance.
Persevering in faith and sanctification.
Cooperating with grace in good works.
-Conclusion
Salvation is conditional because it is perceived as a conditional relationship, which requires an initial response of faith (justification) and a continuous maintenance in faith and obedience (progressive sanctification). Final perseverance is not unconditionally guaranteed.
It is free will that allows a person to initially choose God; this same free will allows them to consciously and deliberately turn away from God, reject grace, and “make shipwreck of their faith” (apostasy).
Apostasy is the act of a formerly believing person voluntarily and consciously abandoning the faith they professed, to the point of turning away from God in a lasting or definitive manner, thus resulting in the loss of salvation.
Arminianism/Wesleyanism see a reciprocal relationship where God protects the believer as long as they remain in Christ, emphasizing the possibility of falling away, but also the divine power to keep the believer in the faith, a vision more centered on human-divine cooperation.
III-5-3-4 Evangelical Perspective
Given that Protestant-Evangelical category comprises several denominations with nuances in their views, the presentation below reflects only the major doctrinal trends prevalent in the contemporary evangelical world, essentially the denominations described as “non-Calvinist, non-Arminian,” seeking to emphasize different aspects of Scripture.
-General Overview
The soteriological perspectives of these denominations generally agree on several essential points:
- Salvation by grace through faith: They affirm that salvation is entirely a divine gift, received through faith in Jesus Christ, without depending on meritorious works or religious practices.
- The interplay between divine sovereignty and human responsibility: They recognize that God works sovereignly in salvation, while maintaining that human beings must freely respond through faith and repentance.
- A rejection of extreme positions:
- They reject the absolute and unconditional predestination of Calvinism, according to which God determines in advance and unconditionally the eternal destiny of certain individuals.
- They also avoid the Arminian concept of total and definitive apostasy, favoring a view of assurance of salvation while emphasizing the importance of genuine perseverance in the faith.
In summary, these approaches aim to maintain a balance faithful to Scripture, focusing on the Bible’s clear calls to repentance and faith, while affirming that God is ultimately the author, perfecter and finisher of salvation.
-Main Steps
Below is the perspective on salvation presented by non-Calvinist and non-Arminian evangelicals.
- Creation and Fall: God created human beings in his image, with free will. However, through Adam’s sin, all of humanity fell, becoming sinful by nature and separated from God.
- God’s Universal Love: God loves the whole world and does not want anyone to perish. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross provided payment for the sins of all humanity, offering salvation that is universally available.
- Human Free Will: Human beings retain a real and uncoerced ability to choose to respond to or reject God’s offer of salvation. God has not unconditionally predestined anyone to hell or heaven.
- Grace and the Call: The Holy Spirit calls and draws every person to God (sometimes informally called “prevenient grace”), enabling them to understand the Gospel and respond freely.
- The Necessity of Personal Faith: Salvation is not automatic, inherited, or earned through religious works, but received only through personal faith and repentance (turning away from sin and turning to God).
- The Moment of New Birth: At the precise moment a person places their trust in Jesus Christ, they are instantly “born again” or “regenerated” by the Holy Spirit.
- Immediate and Complete Salvation: The forgiveness of sins is complete, and the person is declared righteous before God (justification). They become a child of God with direct access to Him.
- Eternal Security: This salvation, received by faith, is an eternal and irrevocable gift. God guarantees the believer’s security. Salvation does not depend on the believer’s ability to avoid all future sin, but on God’s faithfulness to keep His promise.
- Discipline, Not Damnation: A believer who sins or strays does not lose their saved status. He is more likely to experience God’s loving discipline in this life, but his ultimate destination (heaven) is assured.
- Sanctification and Perseverance (The Final Goal): The Christian life that follows is a process of growth (sanctification) where the believer, motivated by gratitude, seeks to live a holy life and persevere in the faith until their last day or the return of Christ.
From this perspective, sanctification considered as essential step and final goal, constitutes the second phase of salvation and represents a distinct yet indispensable process in the Christian life. Justification is both instantaneous and complete at the moment of conversion, while sanctification is continuous and progressive throughout the believer’s life. A work of the Holy Spirit, it aims to conform the Christian to the character of Christ and requires active cooperation, based on spiritual discipline and walking in the Spirit. Although distinct from justification, it necessarily flows from it without, however, being a condition for salvation: moral failure does not nullify justification but calls for repentance and restoration. Finally, this tradition affirms that sinless perfection remains impossible in this life, sanctification being completed only at the moment of glorification.
-Divine and Human Actions
According to evangelical perspective, salvation is centered on the personal experience of conversion. God saves through grace in Christ; man must be personally converted and live in a living relationship with Him. Depending on the denomination, it is seen as either guaranteed (majority vision: eternal security) or conditional (minority vision: can be lost).
Divine Actions:
God’s grace manifested in Christ.
New birth through the Spirit.
Justification by faith alone.
Human Actions:
Personal conversion (faith and repentance).
Living a vibrant relationship with Christ.
Bearing witness through good works as the fruit of faith.
-Conclusion
These evangelical Protestants adopt a selective theological approach, setting aside those aspects of Calvinist and Arminian doctrine that they consider inconsistent with the overall witness of Scripture. Their position rests on two main observations:
They are non-Calvinist in that they reject determinism and unconditional election. They deny that God arbitrarily predestines individuals to salvation or damnation apart from their personal response, and they emphasize human responsibility and the reality of free will.
They are non-Arminian in that they reject the idea that salvation can later be lost. They oppose the ongoing conditionality of eternal life and affirm that, once received by faith, salvation is secured and preserved by the power of God.
Within these evangelical circles, two major questions structure soteriological reflection: the possibility of losing salvation and the nature of free will. Answers vary, but two main currents can be identified.
I. The Possibility of Losing Salvation
A. Majority position: salvation is permanently secured
For most of these evangelicals, salvation cannot be lost (Eternal Security / Once Saved, Always Saved).
Their argument rests on three essential affirmations:
- Salvation rests entirely on the work of God
Since God guarantees his gift of eternal life, the believer is preserved “by the power of God” and not by their own merits. - Distinction between salvation and sanctification
A believer may fail morally or temporarily turn away from God without losing their status as a child of God. This results in divine discipline in this life and a possible loss of eschatological rewards, but not the loss of salvation. - Apostasy demonstrates the absence of genuine conversion
If a person definitively abandons the faith, it indicates that they were never truly regenerated.
B. Minority position: salvation can be lost
A minority believes that there is a real possibility of apostasy, consistent with human freedom.
Their essential convictions are as follows:
- Biblical warnings concern true believers
Texts calling for “perseverance” or not to “turn away from the living God” are interpreted as addressed to authentic believers. - Loss of salvation stems from persistent unbelief
It is not an isolated moral act that jeopardizes salvation, but a conscious, voluntary, and lasting rejection of faith in Christ. - Perseverance is necessary
Salvation is fully effective only for those who remain in the faith until the end.
II. Free Will
A. Majority position: real freedom and moral responsibility
The majority affirms that free will is essential to the human response to salvation. The main points are:
- Freedom as an element of the imago Dei
Humans were created with the capacity to choose, particularly to accept or reject the Gospel. - Personal responsibility
Each individual is accountable to God. Faith cannot be exercised by proxy. - Salvation rests on a free choice
Faith must be voluntary; it cannot be imposed by a deterministic divine action. - Rejection of Calvinist determinism
This perspective rejects the idea of unconditional predestination that would deny the reality of human choice.
B. Minority position: nuances of free will
Some adopt a more nuanced position, sometimes close to compatibilism:
- Individuals act freely according to their own desires.
- However, without the prior action of grace, the human heart naturally tends to reject God.
- This approach seeks to reconcile human freedom and divine initiative in salvation.
III-5-4 Synthesis
– COMPARATIVE TABLE OF THE PATH TO SALVATION
Catholics – Calvinists – Arminians/Wesleyans – Evangelical Protestants (non-Calvinist, non-Arminian)
| Stages / Doctrine | Catholics | Calvinists | Arminians / Wesleyans | Evangelical Protestants |
| 1. Prevenient Grace | Present, often mediated by the Church | Common (universal but not saving) | Universal, “RESISTIBLE” | Universal, but primarily preached through the Gospel; action of the Holy Spirit in the heart |
| 2. Free Will | Affirmed (cooperation with grace) | Total inability before regeneration | Capacity restored by prevenient grace | Strongly affirmed: human response is decisive |
| 3. External Call (evangelization) | Important, but linked to the Church | Not sufficient for salvation | Universal, invites belief | Central: preaching = privileged means of salvation |
| 4. Internal Call of the Holy Spirit | Yes (via sacraments and conscience) | Irresistible for the elect | “RESISTIBLE” | “RESISTIBLE”, but powerful: conviction of sin |
| 5. Moment of Faith | Initial faith + charity | Fruit of regeneration | Precedes regeneration | Central point: personal decision, voluntary conversion |
| 6. Conversion | Prolonged process | Produced by God | Free act | Conscious decision (conversion, “new beginning”) |
| 7. Regeneration | At baptism | Before faith | After faith | At the moment of faith: new inner birth |
| 8. Justification | Inner transformation + forgiveness | Legal declaration by God | Legal declaration, conditional on faith | By faith alone; declared act by God |
| 9. Adoption | Through baptism | After justification | After justification | After conversion and faith |
| 10. Sanctification | Requiring the sacraments, progressive | Guaranteed fruit of justification | Continual cooperation | Continuous process, often linked to active spiritual life |
| 11. Sacraments | Essential (7) and sources of grace | Symbolic (2) | Symbolic (2) | Symbolic: baptism and Lord’s Supper, not salvific in themselves |
| 12. Works | Necessary for growth in grace | Fruits of election | Fruits of faith; condition for perseverance | Proof of true conversion; Mark of sanctification |
| 13. Perseverance | Conditional (mortal sin) | Guaranteed by God | Conditional (possibility of apostasy) | Generally conditional but personal assurance encouraged |
| 14. Assurance of salvation | Uncertain | Total | Relative | Strongly encouraged (based on faith and spiritual experience) |
| 15. Death / Eternal life | Heaven / Purgatory / Hell | Heaven (the elect) / Hell | Heaven (faithful believers) / Hell | Heaven (genuine believers) / Hell |
– Divergence, Fascination, Complexity, Enrichment, Richness and Encouragement
The divergence in perspectives on these doctrines has made theological debate so fascinating and complex for centuries. This fundamental difference generally doesn’t stem from these theologians ignoring certain verses, but from how they prioritize and interpret them within their overall theological system. Each uses their own theological framework to make sense of the entire biblical canon. This is an excellent example of the importance of hermeneutics (the science of interpreting texts) in Christian theology. The fact that sincere, Bible-believing Christians can arrive at different conclusions on such central points clearly demonstrates the richness, but also the complexity, of Holy Scripture.
This often encourages believers on all sides to exercise humility, to focus on the common foundations of the Christian faith (the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, his death and resurrection for salvation), and to recognize that there is a diversity of legitimate interpretations within the broader Christian tradition.
– Common Points
Here are ten of them.
1. God is the initiator of salvation: All affirm that God takes the first step towards humanity. Grace precedes any human response (even if its effectiveness is interpreted differently). There is a shared emphasis on salvation as fundamentally a gift from God, free and unmerited.
2. Humanity is marked by sin and needs redemption: All acknowledge the reality of sin, humanity’s inability to free itself from it alone and the necessity of divine intervention. They differ on the depth of the corruption, but never on its reality.
3. Jesus Christ is the unique mediator of salvation: Each tradition affirms that Christ (His incarnation, His atoning death, His resurrection, His ascension, His role as Lord and Savior) is absolutely central in the economy of salvation.
4. Salvation comes through a personal relationship with God in Christ: Although the paths differ (sacraments, faith alone, conversion experience…), all affirm that salvation is not automatic, it involves a personal commitment and it requires faith, repentance, and inner transformation.
5. Baptism is of fundamental importance: Even if its nature and effects are debated, all recognize that it is an essential rite instituted by Christ, it marks entry into the Christian community and it is linked to salvation (effectively, symbolically, or as a public confession).
6. Transformation of life is necessary: Salvation is never a mere theoretical idea, but a life-changing reality. All traditions affirm that authentic faith produces a transformed life, that the Holy Spirit sanctifies the believer and that Christian ethics are constitutive of the path to salvation.
7. The Importance of Persevering to the End: The modes of perseverance differ (guaranteed grace vs. continuous cooperation), but all affirm that salvation must be lived out in continuous faithfulness to God. No Christian tradition preaches salvation without perseverance.
8. Salvation Finds Its Fulfillment in Eschatology: Each tradition recognizes an eschatological completion of salvation. All await the final resurrection, eternal life, the Last Judgment and eternal union with God.
9. Scripture Plays a Normative Role: Even though Catholics add Tradition and the Magisterium, evangelicals advocate sola scriptura, all recognize the fundamental authority of Scripture for faith and Christian life.
10. Grace Is Indispensable from Beginning to End: Finally, no Christian tradition believes that a human being can attain salvation without divine grace. Even the most “synergistic” views affirm “Without grace, no human response is possible”.
Bibliography
Christian Salvation: 3 Stages of Fitting You for Heaven
La doctrine de la justification
Le processus du Salut par Grâce
La doctrine de la justification chez J.H. Newman par le Père Jean Rencki
THÉOLOGIES DU SALUT AU COURS DES SIECLES
La controverse sur la certitude du salut en rapport avec la justification
JUSTIFICATION ET SACRAMENTALITÉ : LA COMMUNAUTÉ CHRÉTIENNE, AGENT DE JUSTICE
In Christ's Love
