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
10 thoughts on “Predestination and How Sanctifying Grace Justifies Us”
Purgatory vs Predestination
The Bible informs that God is a God of Justice and allows no favouritism.
God also commanded – not suggested – our love for God and Neighbour.
Sin has 2 effects – human and divine.
If I break your window, I obviously sin against you – human.
I also sin against God -divine – who commanded me to not do it – Love of Neighbour
For sin to be wiped clean, I must do 2 things. One is to repair/compensate you sufficiently – human justice. Secondly, I must confess my sin – divine justice. If I only do one, then my sin remains. So if I only confess my sin of your broken window, then I will be required to spend time in Purgatory. This is because Jesus’ Commandment of Love of God and Neighbour has consequences when not fulfilled, and a = debt of love = results. For my repentance will not make God come down and repair your broken window – God will expect and demand me to do the repair/ or compensate you sufficiently
Thus, in Matthew 5:25-26, Jesus warned that a debt of love against non-reconciliation would result in Prison – which Catholics name as Purgatory – UNTIL last-penny Divine Justice is satisfied.
And in Matthew 18:32-35, Jesus warned that The Father will – in anger – send to the torturers UNTIL the debt of love caused by unforgiveness will occur. Here in Matthew 18:2-35, Jesus was spelling out that God will readily forgive our repented/confessed sins against God – I cancelled your entire debt – but will readily punish us for our trespasses against neighbour. And that is why, if we don’t repair our trespasses against neighbour, God declares in Hebrews 10:30, – Vengeance is mine, I will repay.
Moreover, Jesus declared in Matthew 6:14–15, ‘If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Can you tell me what will happen if I break your window and don’t repair it – will the Heavenly Father send me to Hell ????
While non-Catholics/Protestants believe that Jesus incarnated to take away ALL sin – including future sins, and that their names are already recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life whereby their direct Heavenly entry is guaranteed without a detour to Purgatory. Catholics, on the other hand, believe that Jesus incarnated as a man to live sinlessly and die and thereby pay the penalty of Adam’s sin – which was laid on each of his descendants, You and Me and all future unborn , which is Original Sin – and which closed the gates of Heaven. And that Baptism is a one-time – Grace – event which wipes all prior sins, but we are responsible for all sins after Baptism as exemplified by God’s ” execution ” of Ananias and Sapphira from the 1st Christian community for just dishonesty and lying – Acts 5.
Protestants/Non-Catholics, sadly, have ignored these facts and mistakenly believe that God – the God of Justice and no Favouritism – has changed from OT times whereby He severely punished sinners – even a 70 year Babylonian captivity to His Chosen people which is a proto-type of Purgatory whereby God sends into exile for a period of time, before He will allow them into Heaven. Yet God is still the same – He hates sin, always has, always will. Remember, that most of our sins are trespasses against others So if I continue to break your windows, and God continues to forgive me unconditionally – then God will be continually Unjust to you. However, the Bible tells us that God is Justice and has no favourites. And Matthew 18:32-35 confirms that the Heavenly Father will readily forgive our – repented – sins against God, but will in anger send us for punishment to the Torturers, our sins against neighbour – UNTIL – the debt of Love has been repaid.
The thief on the cross satisfied Human justice by his death by crucifixion. And when he reconciled with Jesus, he satisfied divine justice and was thus promised Paradise. The other thief also satisfied Human justice by crucifixion, but not Divine justice and thereby was not also promised Paradise.
Moreover, Jesus declared in Matthew 21:31 “ “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God. The point is how could Tax collectors and Prostitutes — ” heavy ” sinners who travelled on the broad path to damnation – Matthew 7:13-be saved ??. Surely they were not a part of the Few that made it straight to Heaven through the narrow gate. How ? It is only through God’s “last-penny ” Divine justice in the prison – which Catholics name Purgatory – that tax collectors and sinners would have to pass first – Matthew 5:25-26 – before they could enter Heaven.
Here, Jesus was not giving a lecture on Civics, but about the Kingdom of Heaven. And that only divine justice could be exact to – the last penny – before release – Mat.5:26. Moreover, this is not reference to earthly prisons where there have been many cases whereby prisoners have escaped. However, nobody can escape God’s justice in the prison of Purgatory.
And Matthew 21:31 further declares that the Tax Collectors and Prostitutes are entering Heaven = ahead = of the Chief Priests and Pharisees. Only the prison of Purgatory can schedule the departure to Heaven of the Tax Collectors and Prostitutes = ahead = of the Chief Priests and Pharisees who would have to spend a longer time there.
Humans sin continuously by way of Commission, Omission , by thoughts and words. Repentance is saying sorry which is a start, but will not repair or restore your broken window, or defamed good name, or a murdered person, for example. God expects more from us. Yet there are sins that cannot be humanly repaired – for example adultery with a neighbour’s spouse would cause more problems in trying to address it. Yet we all cry out to God for justice done against us. And God will respond. – Luke 18:7. To not believe in the ” until ” of God’s justice – Matthew 5:26 and Matthew 18:32-35, is to deny it.
Purgatory is a fact.
Jesus, is God and Judge – John 5:22 – who is assigned ALL judgement, declared that the gate to Heaven was narrow and few find it – Mat. 7:14 & Luke 13:23-24. Thus, if only a Few make it to Heaven, non-Catholics/Protestants have to accept this – unhappy – conclusion. Non-Catholic, Calvin, thus famously declared that God had ” pre-determined ” only a few to be saved. Thus His death on the Cross was in vain because Jesus is only able to present a few sons and daughters to the Heavenly Father, whereas the devil would harvest slaves who are the remaining majority.
If there was no Purgatory, how would you think God would react in the following scenario =I rob you of your house and possessions and throw you penniless, cold and hungry onto the street. Afterwards, you increasingly question God’s goodness in allowing this injustice, and as time goes by, you even question God’s existence and lapse into becoming a practical atheist. On the other hand, I get a remorse of conscience for robbing you and so I cry mightily – Jesus save me – but I do not restore your property to you. Then I feel elated about my contrition and knowing of Jesus’ victory on the Cross, I get the satisfaction that when I die, Jesus will welcome me as – Well done Good & Faithful Servant – and then proceed to give me the best mansion in Heaven.
Lastly, Jesus, our =Living= God, appeared to many (Catholic ) saints and urged them to pray for others – Check the internet for the 15 Prayers and Promises made by Jesus to St Brigid of Sweden in the 14th C. The 1st Promise given by Jesus to anybody reciting these prayers continuously for 1 year was the deliverance of 15 Souls from their lineage from Purgatory. NOTE = Check the internet for the Magnificent Promises to Saint Brigit of Sweden Purgatory is the best example whereby God’s Mercy, Justice and No Favouritism meet. For example a =repentant = murderer will = mercifully = not be sent to Hell because he broke God’s Commandment to not kill. However, in = justice = to the murdered person(s) and their families, God will send the repentant murderer to a long, long time in Purgatory = until = divine justice is satisfied, before releasing him into Heaven.Hebrews 12:6 declares = For whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and chastens everyone He accepts as his child. This discipling and chastening does not often occur on earth as the rich and powerful have many times gotten away with serious sins/crimes, even murder. Only Purgatory is the ultimate prison where divine justice is inescapable.
Purgatory is thus our – Angry and no-nonsense – God’s second chance to fallen humankind. Non-Catholics can only ignore this to their loss and peril.
Several of the posters on this page have complained about “That does not describe us, we don’t do that!”, but who can keep any balance on 45,000 differing, dissenting, and opposing so-called “christian truths” of God!
According to the IRS, there are now over forty-five-thousand Protestant “churches”
Please don’t learn your spiritual truths from the IRS.
The majority of Protestants do not subscribe to Predestination as you describe it, only those who belong to the “Reformed” movement begun by John Calvin. Calvinism is opposed by Arminianism, and most of us are Arminians.
I think you over-generalize and over-simplify with your use of the word “Protestant”. I would argue that many of them don’t subscribe to the theological beliefs stated here.
The author may know Catholic theology, but he needs to study Evangelical theology a bit more. Many evangelicals deny the absolutist aspect of predestination and strongly defend the free will of every person to choose or reject salvation through Jesus. The author contends, very mistakenly, that adherence to predestination is almost a universal teaching among evangelicals.
Also, the author quotes Luther freely, as though his writings form the basis of evangelical theology. Why not quote the Bible which actually is the basis of evangelical beliefs? Many evangelicals disagree with some of Luther’s ideas, especially on the absolute adherence to predestination to the exclusion of free will.
Not, some of the “things” about Protestants that you mentioned are debated loudly within Protestantism.
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Too much (contradicting) information.