Catechism of the Catholic Church · Part One › Section One › Chapter Three · Article 1 (§§144–165)
Paragraphs · 22
The Catechism's text is under copyright, so each paragraph is quoted briefly here with a link to the full text at vatican.va.
I. The Obedience of Faith
- §144 — To obey (from the Latin ob-audire, to "hear or listen to") in faith is to submit freely to the word that has been heard, because its truth is guaranteed by God, who is Truth itself.vatican.va
- §145 — The Letter to the Hebrews, in its great eulogy of the faith of Israel's ancestors, lays special emphasis on Abraham's faith: "By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go."vatican.va
- §146 — Abraham thus fulfils the definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1: "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen": "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness."vatican.va
- §147 — The Old Testament is rich in witnesses to this faith. the Letter to the Hebrews proclaims its eulogy of the exemplary faith of the ancestors who "received divine approval".vatican.va
- §148 — The Virgin Mary most perfectly embodies the obedience of faith. By faith Mary welcomes the tidings and promise brought by the angel Gabriel, believing that "with God nothing will be impossible" and so giving her assent: "Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word."vatican.va
- §149 — Throughout her life and until her last ordeal when Jesus her son died on the cross, Mary's faith never wavered. She never ceased to believe in the fulfilment of God's word.vatican.va
To believe in God alone
- §150 — Faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to God. At the same time, and inseparably, it is a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed.vatican.va
- §151 — For a Christian, believing in God cannot be separated from believing in the One he sent, his "beloved Son", in whom the Father is "well pleased"; God tells us to listen to him.vatican.va
- §152 — One cannot believe in Jesus Christ without sharing in his Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals to men who Jesus is. For "no one can say "Jesus is Lord", except by the Holy Spirit", who "searches everything, even the depths of God.vatican.va
Faith is a grace
- §153 — When St. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus declared to him that this revelation did not come "from flesh and blood", but from "my Father who is in heaven".vatican.va
- §154 — Believing is possible only by grace and the interior helps of the Holy Spirit. But it is no less true that believing is an authentically human act.vatican.va
- §155 — In faith, the human intellect and will co-operate with divine grace: "Believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will moved by God through grace."vatican.va
- §156 — What moves us to believe is not the fact that revealed truths appear as true and intelligible in the light of our natural reason: we believe "because of the authority of God himself who reveals them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived".vatican.va
- §157 — Faith is certain. It is more certain than all human knowledge because it is founded on the very word of God who cannot lie. To be sure, revealed truths can seem obscure to human reason and experience, but "the certainty that the divine light gives…vatican.va
- §158 — "Faith seeks understanding": it is intrinsic to faith that a believer desires to know better the One in whom he has put his faith, and to understand better what He has revealed; a more penetrating knowledge will in turn call forth a greater faith, increasingly set afire by love.vatican.va
- §159 — Faith and science: "Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth."vatican.va
- §160 — To be human, "man's response to God by faith must be free, and... therefore nobody is to be forced to embrace the faith against his will.vatican.va
- §161 — Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation. '"]vatican.va
- §162 — Faith is an entirely free gift that God makes to man. We can lose this priceless gift, as St. Paul indicated to St. Timothy: "Wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience.vatican.va
- §163 — Faith makes us taste in advance the light of the beatific vision, the goal of our journey here below. Then we shall see God "face to face", "as he is".vatican.va
- §164 — Now, however, "we walk by faith, not by sight"; we perceive God as "in a mirror, dimly" and only "in part". Even though enlightened by him in whom it believes, faith is often lived in darkness and can be put to the test.vatican.va
- §165 — It is then we must turn to the witnesses of faith: to Abraham, who "in hope... believed against hope"; to the Virgin Mary, who, in "her pilgrimage of faith", walked into the "night of faith" in sharing the darkness of her son's suffering and death;…vatican.va
Scripture cited · 72 verses
Genesis 12:1 · Genesis 12:2 · Genesis 12:3 · Genesis 12:4 · Genesis 15:5 · Genesis 15:6 · Genesis 18:14 · Genesis 23:4 · Psalm 40:5 · Psalm 146:3 · Psalm 146:4 · Jeremiah 17:5 · Jeremiah 17:6 · Matthew 11:25 · Matthew 11:27 · Matthew 16:17 · Mark 1:11 · Mark 9:7 · Mark 9:24 · Mark 16:16 · Luke 1:37 · Luke 1:38 · Luke 1:45 · Luke 1:48 · Luke 2:35 · Luke 17:5 · Luke 22:32 · John 1:18 · John 3:36 · John 6:40 · John 6:46 · John 12:32 · John 14:1 · John 18:37 · Romans 4:3 · Romans 4:11 · Romans 4:18 · Romans 4:20 · Romans 15:13 · 1 Corinthians 2:10 · 1 Corinthians 2:11 · 1 Corinthians 12:3 · 1 Corinthians 13:12 · 2 Corinthians 5:7 · Galatians 1:15 · Galatians 5:6 · Ephesians 1:18 · 1 Timothy 1:18 · 1 Timothy 1:19 · Hebrews 2:4 · Hebrews 11:1 · Hebrews 11:2 · Hebrews 11:8 · Hebrews 11:17 · Hebrews 11:39 · Hebrews 11:40 · Hebrews 12:1 · Hebrews 12:2 · James 2:14 · James 2:15 · James 2:16 · James 2:17 · James 2:18 · James 2:19 · James 2:20 · James 2:21 · James 2:22 · James 2:23 · James 2:24 · James 2:25 · James 2:26 · 1 John 3:2