Catholic Doctrine of Justification as Process
The Catholic doctrine of justification understands it as a process that involves both the remission of sins and the infusion of righteousness, transforming the individual rather than merely declaring them righteous. This contrasts with some Protestant views, which often define justification as a forensic (legal) declaration of righteousness based on Christ's merits, apart from human works [1, 3].
In Catholic theology, justification is not solely the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the inner person [5]. Thomas Aquinas, for instance, discusses justification as a movement towards rectitude, implying a right order in human acts [5]. This process begins with God's grace, which enables a person to turn away from sin and embrace faith. While faith is essential, it is not the sole instrument of justification in the same way it is understood in some Reformed traditions, which emphasize "justification by faith alone" (sola fide) [2, 6]. John Calvin, a key figure in Reformed theology, explicitly defines justification by faith and refutes "opposite errors" concerning it, emphasizing that it is "something out of ourselves, something done for us" [3, 4].
The Council of Trent, a foundational council for Catholic doctrine, affirmed that justification is not merely a legal imputation but an actual making righteous. It involves a real change within the individual, through which they become truly righteous and holy. This transformation is understood to be a lifelong process, sustained by God's grace and cooperation with it through good works, which are seen as meritorious because they are performed in grace. This perspective differs from the view that good works are merely evidence of justification, rather than contributing to it [7].
The concept of justification as a process also implies that it can be lost through mortal sin and regained through the Sacrament of Penance. This contrasts with the Protestant emphasis on the perseverance of the saints, where justification, once granted, is generally considered secure. While the Easton's Bible Dictionary defines justification as a "judicial act of God" that pardons sins and accounts believers as righteous [1], Catholic teaching integrates the pardon of sin with an internal renewal, making the justified person actually righteous in God's sight.
Sources
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Justification — A forensic term, opposed to condemnation. As regards its nature, it is the judicial act of God, by which he pardons all the sins of those who believe in Christ, and accounts, accepts, and treats them as righteous in the eye of the law, i.e., as conformed to all its demands. In addition to the pardon (q.v.) of sin, justification declares that all the claims of the law are satisfied in respect of the justified. It is the act of a judge and not of a sovereign. The law is not relaxed or set aside, but is declared to be fulfilled in the strictest sense; an”
- Romans “Romans 3:28 (LEB) — For we consider a person to be justified by faith apart from the works of the law.”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 19: of the law and accepts us as righteous in his sight, is something out of ourselves, something done for us, and not what we do or experience, then it of necessity follows that justification is not subjective. It does not consist in the infusion of righteousness, or in making the person justified personally holy. If the “formal cause” of our justification be our goodness; then we are justified for what we are. The Bible, however, teaches that no man living can be justified for what he is. He is condemned for what he is and for what he does.”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 66: 2036 CHAPTER 11. OF JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. BOTH THE NAME AND THE REALITY DEFINED. In this chapter and the seven which follow, the doctrine of Justification by Faith is expounded, and opposite errors refuted. The following may be regarded as the arrangement of these chapters:—Chapter 11 states the doctrine, and the four subsequent chapters, by destroying the righteousness of works, confirm the righteousness of faith, each in the order which appears in the respective titles of these chapters. In Chapter 12 the doctrine of Justificat”
- theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, First Part of the Second Part (Prima Secundae), Of the Effects of Grace, Art. 1: Article: Whether the justification of the ungodly is the remission of sins? I answer that, Justification taken passively implies a movement towards heat. But since justice, by its nature, implies a certain rectitude of order, it may be taken in two ways: first, inasmuch as it implies a right order in man's act, and thus justice is placed amongst the virtues---either as particular justice, which directs a man's acts by regulating them in relation to his fellowman---or as legal justice, wh”
- Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (Anglican) “Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (Anglican, 1571), Section 229: We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith, and not for our own works or deservings: Wherefore, that we are justified by Faith only is a most wholesome Doctrine, and very full of comfort, as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification.”
- Romans (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Romans 6 (introduction): The apostle having at large asserted, opened, and proved, the great doctrine of justification by faith, for fear lest any should suck poison out of that sweet flower, and turn that grace of God into wantonness and licentiousness, he, with a like zeal, copiousness of expression, and cogency of argument, presses the absolute necessity of sanctification and a holy life, as the inseparable fruit and companion of justification; for, wherever Jesus Christ is made of God unto any soul righteousness, he is made of God unto that soul sanctification, Co1 1:30. T”