Predestination and How Sanctifying Grace Justifies Us

The idea that we are all predestined to heaven or hell when we die is rather disconcerting.  However, all Christians (and Muslims, too) agree that our souls will end up in one of those two places.

We know predestination is a real thing because St. Paul tells us so.  He says “For those he [God] foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined he also called; and those he called he also justified; and those he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:28-30).

A big problem with predestination, however, is that it can lead to confusion and even extremes.  Some may think “I’ve accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior so I’m saved no matter what sins I commit;” others may think “I’m doomed!” Such is not the case, however.

Protestant vs. Catholic Teaching

Protestant theology teaches that all of us are predestined to either heaven or hell when we die.  Catholic teaching also supports the idea of predestination – albeit with a difference.  And the difference between Protestant and Catholic predestination is BIG.

According to Protestant theology, God chooses those He is going to save and condemns everyone else to hell.  So He predestines some people to heaven and He predestines others to hell.  According to Catholic theology, however, predestination does not work like this.

Since God is omniscient, He most certainly knows who among us will end up in heaven or hell.  Both Protestants and Catholics agree on this.  But how “free will” comes into play is where Protestants and Catholics part company.

In the Protestant definition of free will, man is free to choose virtue or sin, but (and this is a really BIG but) our choices are determined by God.  God gives some of us saving grace and withholds it from others.  So it is God who actually determines who will be virtuous or sinful.  Therefore, it is God who determines who goes to heaven and who goes to hell.

Catholic teaching disagrees with this way of thinking.  As the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1037) states, “God predestines no one to go to hell; for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end.”

What’s more, Catholic teaching says:

1) God’s graces are available to everyone.
2) Free will is man’s elective power, given to us by God, to freely choose good or to freely choose evil.

Actual Grace

Catholic teaching says grace is a gift from God that strengthens and perfects our souls.   Specifically, the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” (1996) says, “Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life.”

Additionally, Catholics should know that there are two kinds of grace – actual grace and sanctifying grace.

Actual graces are gifts that God freely gives to all of us.  As this tract from Catholic Answers says, actual grace “is a supernatural push or encouragement. It’s transient. It doesn’t live in the soul, but acts on the soul from the outside, so to speak. It’s a supernatural kick in the pants. It gets the will and intellect moving so we can seek out and keep sanctifying grace.”

Sanctifying Grace

Sanctifying grace, on the other hand, is the grace we receive when we are Baptized.  We also receive sanctifying grace every time we go to Confession and when we receive the other sacraments.  It is a “stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul . . .” (CCC 2000).

But we can also receive sanctifying grace through our actions.  Praying, avoiding sinful behavior, acts of charity, living the Commandments and the Beatitudes, etc., all open us up to receive sanctifying graces.  When I was a boy attending a parochial grade school, the good Franciscan Sisters used to say these actions and other good works earn us graces.

Two easy ways to differentiate between the two kinds of grace are:

• actual grace predisposes us to sanctifying grace;
• sanctifying grace makes us holy and pleasing to God – it cleanses and perfects the soul.

So we need sanctifying grace.  Without it our souls are not cleansed or perfected.  And we lose God’s sanctifying grace when we commit mortal sin.  Fortunately our souls are cleansed again when we go to Confession.  And without clean and perfect souls we are not fully justified, so we cannot enter heaven.

Justification

But because God is merciful, He gives those who die in His “grace and friendship” (CCC 1023), but with less than perfect souls, a last chance, so to speak, to cleanse and perfect their souls in purgatory.

Of course, Protestants would say this is balderdash.  They would say that purgatory is a fiction taught by the Catholic Church.  And they would even insist that purgatory is not mentioned in the Bible.

Protestants also say that there is no need for purgatory.  This is because Jesus’ death atoned for all of our sins (Solus Christus) past, present and future.  (This is also why they don’t acknowledge the Sacrament of Reconciliation).

The long and the short of it is that Protestants believe that Jesus’ crucifixion earned those God has chosen all the grace they need to enter heaven.  His grace ‘covers up’ their sinful souls which allows them (justifies them) to go to heaven.  But justification and sanctification go hand-in-hand.  We are only justified if we are sanctified.

Catholics believe that Christ’s death opened the gates of heaven for us.  But we still need to earn graces that cleanse and purify our souls of sin so we can get into heaven.  We need to become saints here on earth (sanctified) in order to be justified. We need to enter into a right relationship with God.

Martin Luther, however, disagreed with this.  He said that because of Original Sin, all mankind became “totally depraved” and spiritually dead.  Worse still, we can do nothing to earn graces throughout our lives.  But because of His mercy, God “imputes righteousness” to those he has chosen.

Justice is Missing

Note that “imputes righteousness” is how Luther said it.  But no one has been able to quite define what “imputes righteousness” means.  And for those who believe in Sola Scripture, there is nothing in the Bible that even remotely resembles an “imputes righteousness” teaching.

So, according to Protestant theology, God’s chosen are saved by Faith alone (Sola Fide).  Their salvation is accomplished By Christ alone (Solus Christus).  And they are rescued from God’s wrath by His grace alone (Sola Gratia).  God’s chosen go straight to heaven because their souls are covered with a “cloak of the justifying merits of Christ” to save them from the Father’s wrathful judgement.  And the ‘un-chosen’ go straight to hell.

But there are some problems with this theology. One large problem is that Revelation 21:27 clearly tells us “nothing unclean” will enter heaven.  How then can impure souls simply be covered up?  Our souls are either pure and clean, or they are impure and unclean.  And if they are unclean, they cannot enter heaven.

God could certainly choose to cover up impure souls if He so chose. But this would be a contradiction, and while God can do anything He cannot contradict Himself.

Of course, God could simply cleanse our souls and make them clean through His mercy.  But how would this be perfect justice?  And why would a God who is perfect love predestine someone to hell or withhold sanctifying grace from someone in the first place?

Catholic Doctrine Makes More Sense

In the final analysis, the Protestant “once saved always saved” thinking is not really rationale.  And even though God knows where we’ll end up, He does not predestine anyone to heaven or hell.

Predestination is real, but simply accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and inviting Him into your heart doesn’t get you into heaven.  As Saint Paul says in Philippians 2:12, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”

Jesus’ death opened the gates of heaven for all but that does not mean that everyone will get to enter.  It takes work and effort.

In addition to links provided in the article, here are some additional articles you may find interesting and enlightening:

“What is Predestination?” by Jimmy Akin
“How to Have Supernatural Life” by Karl Keating
“Grace: What It Is and What It Does” Catholic Answers Tract
“Justification: Process or One-Time Deal?” by Tim Staples
“Catholic and Protestant Views on Justification and Sanctification” by Tom Nash