Salvation

Intro

“God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life.” (CCC 1)

“The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life.” (CCC 234)

“The Christian economy, therefore, since it is the new and definitive Covenant, will never pass away; and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (CCC 66)

These lines set the horizon: salvation is God’s own life—Trinitarian love—freely shared with us in Christ and brought to completion in the Spirit within the definitive New Covenant.

Introductory citation (Dominus Iesus)

“By this revelation then, the deepest truth about God and the salvation of man shines forth in Christ, who is at the same time the mediator and the fullness of all revelation. Furthermore, ‘Jesus Christ, therefore, the Word made flesh, sent “as a man to men”, “speaks the words of God” (Jn 3:34), and completes the work of salvation which his Father gave him to do (cf. Jn 5:36; 17:4). To see Jesus is to see his Father (cf. Jn 14:9). For this reason, Jesus perfected revelation by fulfilling it through his whole work of making himself present and manifesting himself: through his words and deeds, his signs and wonders, but especially through his death and glorious resurrection from the dead and finally with the sending of the Spirit of truth, he completed and perfected revelation and confirmed it with divine testimony… The Christian dispensation, therefore, as the new and definitive covenant, will never pass away, and we now await no further new public revelation before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Tim 6:14 and Tit 2:13).’”

— Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Dominus Iesus (2000), §5.

What salvation is

Salvation is the Triune God’s free act of rescuing us from sin and death and elevating us into filial communion with himself—pardon and real transformation—so that we share, by grace, in the very life of God. Scripture names both rescue and elevation (Col 1:13–14; Jn 17:3). In Catholic terms:

“Grace is a participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of Trinitarian life.” (CCC 1997)

“Justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man.” (CCC 1991)

“By sending his only Son and the Spirit of Love… God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange.” (CCC 221)

Thus salvation is adoption, sanctification, and deification—“partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4)—in line with the Catechism’s classic synthesis:

“The Word became flesh to make us ‘partakers of the divine nature’ (2 Pt 1:4)… ‘For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.’” (CCC 460)

Its final horizon is the vision of God (1 Jn 3:2; 1 Cor 13:12), which the Church confesses as:

“Those who die in God’s grace and friendship and are perfectly purified live forever with Christ. They are like God forever, for they ‘see him as he is,’ face to face.” (CCC 1023)

The one salvific economy: from the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit

The Father saves through the Paschal Mystery of the Son and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, ordinarily communicated in the Church’s sacramental economy.

“From the Church’s living Tradition… the ‘sacramental economy’… is the communication of the fruits of Christ’s Paschal mystery in the celebration of the Church’s ‘sacramental’ liturgy.” (CCC 1076)

Baptism

By Baptism we are born “of water and Spirit” (Jn 3:5), united to Christ’s death and resurrection (Rom 6:3–5).

“Baptism… not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte a ‘new creature,’ an adopted son of God, who has become a ‘partaker of the divine nature,’ member of Christ… and a temple of the Holy Spirit.” (CCC 1265)

Eucharist

The Eucharist gives us the Body and Blood that abide in us and give eternal life (Jn 6:51–58).

“The Eucharist is ‘the source and summit of the Christian life’.” (CCC 1324)

“The mode of Christ’s presence under the Eucharistic species is unique… truly, really and substantially.” (CCC 1374)

Penance

Penance restores friendship with God after sin (Jn 20:22–23; Jas 5:16).

“Only God forgives sins.” (CCC 1441)

“Christ has entrusted to the apostles the ministry of reconciliation.” (CCC 1442)

“The whole power of the sacrament of Penance consists in restoring us to God’s grace and joining us with him in an intimate friendship.” (CCC 1468)

Justification, grace, and merit

We are “justified by his grace as a gift” (Rom 3:24–26). The Catechism:

“The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it.” (CCC 1999)

“Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace… Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others…” (CCC 2010)

“The merit of man before God… is due to God’s gratuitous justice.” (CCC 2008)

So our cooperation is real but derivative (Jn 15:5; 1 Cor 4:7); we “work out” what God works within (Phil 2:12–13).

Christ the unique Mediator, the Church necessary—yet God’s grace reaches all

“There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5).

“Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church… is necessary for salvation.” (CCC 846)

“Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will… may achieve eternal salvation.” (CCC 847)

“God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.” (CCC 1257)

Thus the ordinary path is explicit faith, Baptism, and persevering charity (Mk 16:16; Acts 2:38; Rev 2:10), even as Christ has “other sheep” to gather (Jn 10:16).

Already and not yet: purification and glory

Salvation is begun now and consummated in glory (Jn 5:24; Eph 2:6–7). If any purification remains at death:

“All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified… undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.” (CCC 1030)

And the end:

“In this new universe… God will be ‘all in all’ (1 Cor 15:28), in eternal life.” (CCC 1045)

In short

Salvation is participation in the Son’s filial life by the Spirit unto the Father: forgiveness, transformation, communion, and glory—“the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” (2 Cor 13:14).

Outro

“The ultimate end of the whole divine economy is the entry of God’s creatures into the perfect unity of the Blessed Trinity.” (CCC 260)

So the Church prays and labors until that day when the faithful hear, “Enter into the joy of your master” (Mt 25:21), and God is “all in all” (1 Cor 15:28).

Magisterium / Official Church Documents

• Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Dominus Iesus: On the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2000. (Quoted verbatim at §5.)
• Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997. (Quoted verbatim at CCC 1, 66, 221, 234, 460, 1023, 1030, 1045, 1076, 1265, 1324, 1374, 1441–1442, 1468, 1991, 1997, 1999, 2008, 2010, 260, 846–847, 1257.)

Scripture

• The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version (RSV). (All biblical citations in the text follow the RSV numbering.)