Catechism of the Catholic Church · Part Three › Section One › Chapter Three · Article 2 (§§1987–2029)
Paragraphs · 43
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. Justification
- §1987 — The grace of the Holy Spirit has the power to justify us, that is, to cleanse us from our sins and to communicate to us "the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ" and through Baptism:vatican.va
- §1988 — Through the power of the Holy Spirit we take part in Christ's Passion by dying to sin, and in his Resurrection by being born to a new life; we are members of his Body which is the Church, branches grafted onto the vine which is himself:vatican.va
- §1989 — The first work of the grace of the Holy Spirit is conversion, effecting justification in accordance with Jesus' proclamation at the beginning of the Gospel: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."vatican.va
- §1990 — Justification detaches man from sin which contradicts the love of God, and purifies his heart of sin. Justification follows upon God's merciful initiative of offering forgiveness.vatican.va
- §1991 — Justification is at the same time the acceptance of God's righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. Righteousness (or "justice") here means the rectitude of divine love.vatican.va
- §1992 — 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.vatican.va
- §1993 — Justification establishes cooperation between God's grace and man's freedom. On man's part it is expressed by the assent of faith to the Word of God, which invites him to conversion, and in the cooperation of charity with the prompting of the Holy Spirit who precedes and preserves his assent:vatican.va
- §1994 — Justification is the most excellent work of God's love made manifest in Christ Jesus and granted by the Holy Spirit. It is the opinion of St.vatican.va
- §1995 — The Holy Spirit is the master of the interior life. By giving birth to the "inner man," justification entails the sanctification of his whole being:vatican.va
II. Grace
- §1996 — Our justification comes from the grace of God. 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.vatican.va
- §1997 — Grace is a participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of Trinitarian life: by Baptism the Christian participates in the grace of Christ, the Head of his Body.vatican.va
- §1998 — This vocation to eternal life is supernatural. It depends entirely on God's gratuitous initiative, for he alone can reveal and give himself. It surpasses the power of human intellect and will, as that of every other creature.vatican.va
- §1999 — The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it.vatican.va
- §2000 — Sanctifying grace is an habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by his love.vatican.va
- §2001 — The preparation of man for the reception of grace is already a work of grace. This latter is needed to arouse and sustain our collaboration in justification through faith, and in sanctification through charity.vatican.va
- §2002 — God's free initiative demands man's free response, for God has created man in his image by conferring on him, along with freedom, the power to know him and love him.vatican.va
- §2003 — Grace is first and foremost the gift of the Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us. But grace also includes the gifts that the Spirit grants us to associate us with his work, to enable us to collaborate in the salvation of others and in the growth of the Body of Christ, the Church.vatican.va
- §2004 — Among the special graces ought to be mentioned the graces of state that accompany the exercise of the responsibilities of the Christian life and of the ministries within the Church:vatican.va
- §2005 — Since it belongs to the supernatural order, grace escapes our experience and cannot be known except by faith. We cannot therefore rely on our feelings or our works to conclude that we are justified and saved.vatican.va
III. Merit
- §2006 — The term "merit" refers in general to the recompense owed by a community or a society for the action of one of its members, experienced either as beneficial or harmful, deserving reward or punishment.vatican.va
- §2007 — With regard to God, there is no strict right to any merit on the part of man. Between God and us there is an immeasurable inequality, for we have received everything from him, our Creator.vatican.va
- §2008 — The merit of man before God in the Christian life arises from the fact that God has freely chosen to associate man with the work of his grace.vatican.va
- §2009 — Filial adoption, in making us partakers by grace in the divine nature, can bestow true merit on us as a result of God's gratuitous justice.vatican.va
- §2010 — Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification, at the beginning of conversion.vatican.va
- §2011 — The charity of Christ is the source in us of all our merits before God. Grace, by uniting us to Christ in active love, ensures the supernatural quality of our acts and consequently their merit before God and before men.vatican.va
IV. Christian Holiness
- §2012 — "We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him . . For those whom he fore knew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren.vatican.va
- §2013 — "All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity." All are called to holiness: "Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."vatican.va
- §2014 — Spiritual progress tends toward ever more intimate union with Christ. This union is called "mystical" because it participates in the mystery of Christ through the sacraments - "the holy mysteries" - and, in him, in the mystery of the Holy Trinity.vatican.va
- §2015 — The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes:vatican.va
- §2016 — The children of our holy mother the Church rightly hope for the grace of final perseverance and the recompense of God their Father for the good works accomplished with his grace in communion with Jesus.vatican.va
In Brief
- §2017 — The grace of the Holy Spirit confers upon us the righteousness of God. Uniting us by faith and Baptism to the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, the Spirit makes us sharers in his life.vatican.va
- §2018 — Like conversion, justification has two aspects. Moved by grace, man turns toward God and away from sin, and so accepts forgiveness and righteousness from on high.vatican.va
- §2019 — Justification includes the remission of sins, sanctification, and the renewal of the inner man.vatican.va
- §2020 — Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ. It is granted us through Baptism. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who justifies us.vatican.va
- §2021 — Grace is the help God gives us to respond to our vocation of becoming his adopted sons. It introduces us into the intimacy of the Trinitarian life.vatican.va
- §2022 — The divine initiative in the work of grace precedes, prepares, and elicits the free response of man. Grace responds to the deepest yearnings of human freedom, calls freedom to cooperate with it, and perfects freedom.vatican.va
- §2023 — Sanctifying grace is the gratuitous gift of his life that God makes to us; it is infused by the Holy Spirit into the soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it.vatican.va
- §2024 — Sanctifying grace makes us "pleasing to God." Charisms, special graces of the Holy Spirit, are oriented to sanctifying grace and are intended for the common good of the Church.vatican.va
- §2025 — We can have merit in God's sight only because of God's free plan to associate man with the work of his grace. Merit is to be ascribed in the first place to the grace of God, and secondly to man's collaboration.vatican.va
- §2026 — The grace of the Holy Spirit can confer true merit on us, by virtue of our adoptive filiation, and in accordance with God's gratuitous justice.vatican.va
- §2027 — No one can merit the initial grace which is at the origin of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit, we can merit for ourselves and for others all the graces needed to attain eternal life, as well as necessary temporal goods.vatican.va
- §2028 — "All Christians . . are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity" (LG 40 # 2). "Christian perfection has but one limit, that of having none" (St.vatican.va
- §2029 — "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Mt 16:24).vatican.va
Scripture cited · 50 verses
Genesis 1:31 · Matthew 4:17 · Matthew 5:48 · Matthew 7:20 · John 1:12 · John 1:13 · John 1:14 · John 1:15 · John 1:16 · John 1:17 · John 1:18 · John 4:14 · John 7:38 · John 7:39 · John 15:1 · John 17:3 · Romans 3:21 · Romans 3:22 · Romans 3:23 · Romans 3:24 · Romans 3:25 · Romans 3:26 · Romans 6:3 · Romans 6:4 · Romans 6:8 · Romans 6:9 · Romans 6:10 · Romans 6:11 · Romans 6:19 · Romans 6:22 · Romans 7:22 · Romans 8:14 · Romans 8:15 · Romans 8:16 · Romans 8:17 · Romans 8:28 · Romans 8:29 · Romans 8:30 · Romans 12:6 · Romans 12:7 · Romans 12:8 · 1 Corinthians 2:7 · 1 Corinthians 2:8 · 1 Corinthians 2:9 · 2 Corinthians 5:17 · 2 Corinthians 5:18 · Ephesians 3:16 · 2 Peter 1:3 · 2 Peter 1:4 · Revelation 21:2