Sacramentally Speaking

In today’s Mass reading, the Church has presented us with Romans 5:1-5 which reads:

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

At first glance, this passage could seem to support our Protestant counterpart’s point as far as the question of justification through faith is concerned. However, upon further inspection of the original languages, it appears that the catholic position may have a leg-up.

First: what is the Catholic view of justification?

The catholic view is introduced in the Catechism in paragraph 2010 which says “Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification…” So, the initial grace of justification is a free gift from God given at baptism (though the Church allows for baptism of desire, that is another issue).

“Great!” you might say. “So we have our answer: justification is a one time event merited at our baptism through the grace of God and the redemptive work of Christ on the cross!” Well, not quite. This is what the Church recognizes as initial justification. Paragraph 1993 of the CCC says ““Justification establishes cooperation between God’s grace and man’s freedom.” So baptism is just the beginning of cooperation with God’s grace. In the above text, notice verse 1 where Paul says “Therefore, since we are justified by faith…” Many manuscripts of this text (and most Patristic Fathers) read the “we have been” (or “we are” in the translation I chose at the beginning of this article) as being in what is called subjective form. The subjective form of this verb implies that we must cooperate in God’s grace and may be read as “Therefore, let us have (ἔχωμεν) justification and peace with God.” which shows that peace and justification are something to strive for which has not yet been attained. Patristic references for the subjunctive include Origen’s Commentary on Romans, Theodoret of Cyr’s Commentary on Romans, and John Chrysostom’s Homily 9 on Romans.

Notice also Paul goes on to say “we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God.” We do not hope for something we do not yes possess, but rather, we strive for it with our very being. Take for example St. Paul’s words in Galatians 5:5 which says that we “wait for the hope of justification” (δικαιοσύνης). Again, how are we to hope for what we already possess?

In the following verses, the Apostle give us a picture of what our being justified may look like. We see that Paul encourages the church in Rome to rejoice in their sufferings for the endurance, character, and hope it produces in us. Acts 14:22 tells us “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” The early church attached a huge emphasis on suffering. Dr. Scott Han and Dr. Curtis Mitch in their commentary on Romans says this, “For the apostles, suffering is integral to God’s redemptive purpose. It is part of the Christian path because it sculpts us into the image of Jesus, who passed into glory by the way of the cross.”(Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture: Romans Pg. 74).

Reflect:

How can we as the mystical body of Christ unite our sufferings, however minor they may seem, to those of our crucified Christ and the Saints in heaven?

For a great article on the topic of Justification, check out this article written by Catholic Answer’s apologist, Tim Staples:
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/justification-process-or-one-time-deal