Understanding Catholic Teaching :- Faith and Works

There is a lot of mis-understanding and mis-representation of what the Catholic Church teaches regarding faith and works.  There is plenty of mis-information on this very topic that is circling the internet, shared in Protestant circles, and unfortunately in Catholic circles as well.  This is going to be my attempt at sharing with you the official Catholic Teaching on Faith and Works...therefore, as you can imagine, I will be using a lot of sources, just to make sure I get this right.  As always, please feel free to correct this young Catholic Candidate that will be joining the Church this Easter.


Justification, the process by which God declares us to be righteous before Him, is a gift from God.  It can never be earned.

Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ who offered himself on the cross as a living victim, holy and pleasing to God, and whose blood has become the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men.(CCC 1992)

Do Catholics believe that justification can be earned or merited?  No.  That was part of the Pelagian heresy, that the Catholic Church fought against in the 5th Century:

In short, humanity has full control, and thus full responsibility, for its own salvation in addition to full responsibility for every sin (the latter insisted upon by both proponents and opponents of Pelagianism). According to Pelagian doctrine, because humanity does not require God's grace for salvation (beyond the creation of will), Jesus' execution is devoid of the redemptive quality ascribed to it by orthodox Christian theology. (Wikipedia Pelagianism)


So then do Catholics believe that we are justified by faith?  Yes.  Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, justifies man before the throne of God.  Do Catholics believe that we are justified by faith alone?  To be fair, let us first come to a common understanding of what is meant by faith alone.  According to Wikipedia:

The doctrine of sola fide or "faith alone" asserts God's pardon for guilty sinners is granted to and received through faith or belief alone, to the exclusion of all human efforts or works...Faith is seen as passive, merely receiving Christ and all his benefits, among which benefits are the active and passive righteousness of Jesus Christ. (Wikipedia: Faith Alone)

Note:  This definition in no way does a fair job in defining all of the various levels of Protestant beliefs when it comes to faith alone, but for the topic of this post, I think that it will suffice.

Catholic teaching tells us that works are a part of our justification, because it is what completes the faith (James 2:22).  Faith without works is dead (James 2:14-17).  Catholic teaching also says that we are justified by faith and works (James 2:24).  The two operate together in harmony.

Recently, Pope Benedict XVI, gave a general address, The Doctrine of Justification: from Works to Faith.  This document serves as a great source for Catholic Teaching regarding Faith and Works.

I just recently came across an interview from Catholic convert, Francis Beckwith, who served as the President of the Evangelical Theological Society (an association of over 4,300 Protestant Theologians).  In this interview, he is asked a question about justification.  Here is his reply:

Then when I read the Fathers, those closest to the Apostles...To be sure, salvation by grace was there. To be sure, the necessity of faith was there. And to be sure, our works apart from God’s grace was decried. But what was present was a profound understanding of how saving faith was not a singular event that took place “on a Wednesday,” to quote a famous Gospel song, but that it was the grace of God working through me as I acquiesced to God’s spirit to allow his grace to shape and mold my character so that I may be conformed to the image of Christ. I also found it in the Catechism...

Catholicism does not teach “works righteousness.” It teaches faith in action as a manifestation of God’s grace in one’s life. That’s why Abraham’s faith results in righteousness only when he attempts to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God.

Then I read the Council of Trent, which some Protestant friends had suggested I do. What I found was shocking. I found a document that had been nearly universally misrepresented by many Protestants, including some friends.  

I do not believe, however, that the misrepresentation is the result of purposeful deception. But rather, it is the result of reading Trent with Protestant assumptions and without a charitable disposition.

For example, Trent talks about the four causes of justification, which correspond somewhat to Aristotle’s four causes. None of these causes is the work of the individual Christian. For, according to Trent, God’s grace does all the work. However, Trent does condemn “faith alone,” but what it means is mere intellectual assent without allowing God’s grace to be manifested in one’s actions and communion with the Church. This is why Trent also condemns justification by works.  

Another great source of what the Catholic Church teaches by faith and works is from an article titled, Aren't we Saved by Faith Alone.  This is a very light read and is in the form of a conversation between two people.  It does a much better job of explaining the Catholic position than I could ever hope to do.

For a long time now, the Catholic teaching of faith and works has been misunderstood.  Unfortunately, for most of my life as a non-Catholic, I have been a source of the confusion as oppose to having a better understanding of what the Catholic Church actually teaches.  Regardless if you believe what the Catholic Church teaches or not, please take the time to get a better understanding of what She actually teaches before sharing it with others, forming an opinion about it, or attacking it completely.

God bless you all...