"Then What Did Jesus Accomplish?" Part III (On Grace)

            Continuing the previous articles on the Catholic understanding of grace, there are serious differences between the Catholic and the common Protestant concepts of grace. For a Catholic, grace is much more tangible, something that can be given and received over and over again, while at the same time able to be lost. Grace, in its simplest definition, is “favor … the free and undeserved gift of help, … the participation in the life of God,” as we read in the Catechism (CCC 1996, 1997). Grace is made possible through the blood of Jesus, which he poured out in an infinitely worthy sacrifice of love to the Father for the whole world, by which God himself showed his own merciful justice for the sake of every sinner and every victim of sin (Romans 3:21-26).

In the two prior articles, I have already described what Catholics call “original sin” and the understanding of Law, before the entrance of grace. Original sin is what we call the state into which every human being is born, unless otherwise granted by special provision, whereby we find ourselves without the fullness of justice within ourselves, the fullness of our source of Life and Love. Original sin is merely the lack of grace within our souls; when grace was lost by our parents, it could not be then handed down. The Law, we further saw, brought light into the world to show what we were missing – that fullness of Life and Love, God himself. It could only shed light on our current state, though, and could not impart that Life itself. The Law told us what Love really was, but could only condemn, because it did not give the power to fulfill that Law of Love, nor bring us back from death, which is merely separation from God.

Enters Grace: through the Cross, Christ was able to be obedient to Love even unto death. As a man, he was able to overcome sin, and in his resurrection, he was able to overcome death, by the power of the Spirit. Through this infinite act of justice, this act of mercy and love, we have now been given access back to God, who is our Life. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). Through faith, then, we are able to receive the Spirit of adoption (Romans 8:15). And in his sacrifice, we have redemption through his blood (Romans 5:10).

This is the grace of God, then; that when we are born again in baptism by water and the Spirit, then we are gifted full access to the Divine Nature, and the Divine Life within us (2 Peter 1:4). We are made “new creations,” as St. Paul wrote (2 Corinthians 5:17). Having been washed by the blood and the water, original sin is wiped out, and our status in grace, the life of God, is restored in our souls. We were dead, and now we live (Ephesians 2:4-5). The power of the Law to keep us condemned and under death, then, is disarmed, because of the just and merciful forgiveness of God.

Can we, then, be held accountable to the Law? Yes, even more than we ever had been before. Our reconciliation is specifically for our access to the Spirit, who not only washes us, but gives us the strength to do the perfect will of God. For this reason, we will be held even more accountable to the Law of God, which is poured out into our souls by the Spirit himself, and written on our hearts (Hebrews 15:16, Jeremiah 31:33).  So, Christ could say specifically, ““Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. (Matthew 5:17-18 NRSVCE)”

Here I must quote St. Paul at length, to show the seriousness of warning he gives for Christians and the possibility of falling back into sin:

For if we willfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy “on the testimony of two or three witnesses.” How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:26-31).

We see, then, that the people of God, even sons and daughters, are not exempt from the Law. Certainly not! While we are certainly reconciled by grace alone, we see that grace demands a proper response of our free wills. So, St. Paul can say in the same letter, “Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14 NRSVCE). The call to holiness is that much higher, now that we have received the Spirit and been washed by the very blood of the Son of God.

Here now comes to light all the parables of the Kingdom that Jesus told his disciples, about the demands of the Christian way, of the new life in Christ. We must pick up our crosses and die to ourselves, because we are still in the world, yet by the Spirit have been given grace to do the will of the Father, just as Jesus himself did. Just as so many parables describe to us, we must abide in the grace of God by keeping the law of love and doing good works. “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? … So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. (James 2:14,17 NRSVCE)”

Jesus, then, was so clear when he said in the fifteenth chapter of St. John: “Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. […] If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” (6, 10 NRSVCE). As we heard from him previously, Christ summed up the whole Law into love – love of God and love of neighbor. He asks us to love as he loved us; and this is his new commandment.

The Catholic understanding of grace, then, is that it is God’s undeserved and free gift of himself, to strengthen us and to partake in his divine nature, to be his children in all ways. His grace is plentiful and always sufficient, as he told St. Paul when he struggled against sin: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness” (1 Corinthians 12:9 NRSVCE). Christ was not saying that his blood covers up sin and makes law and sin ineffective; he was telling Paul that by his grace, he was set free from the power of sin over him, and would be given perfect strength where Paul himself was weak to do God’s will.

If that grace were to be scorned and left unused, we would fall back into a spirit of fear, and of slavery to sin (2 Timothy 1:7, John 8:34, 36). We must endure, then, until the end, in the grace of God, remembering that we have been set free from the power of sin and death, and been made alive, to live in newness of life as dear children of God. Let us press on toward the goal, so that we may rejoice with all the saints and angels in heaven; for God has poured out abundant blessings upon us to make all things new, and to live not according to the flesh, but to the Spirit, which brings life (Romans 8:13). And, as long as we live, he will always offer to us his grace, mercy and forgiveness, never tiring of giving such gifts: “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9 NRSVCE).

Blessed be God forever. Amen +

Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. – John 8:34-36 NRSVCE

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. – Galatians 5:1 NRSVCE

You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For the one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. – James 2:8-13 NRSVCE

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another. – Galatians 5:16-26 NRSVCE