Redemption, Salvation, Sanctification, and Justification, in the Light of Purgatory
Redemption doesn’t mean that each person is automatically saved.
Salvation, as opposed to redemption, has to do with
each individual. Salvation --- to put it in the baldest
terms possible - - - simply means to get into heaven. If I
get into heaven, I’m saved. If I don’t, I'm not - - - and
that means the alternative is hell. Salvation is the cru-
cial issue for everyone.
Jesus accomplished the work of redemption, but
there is still something for us to do so that the re-
demption will be effective for us. Even the fundamen-
talists admit this, since they say a person must accept
Jesus as personal Savior and Lord. But what does the
New Testament say about salvation? "The one who
believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mk 16:16).
So at the very minimum, we have to do two things:
believe, and be baptized. But the whole tenor of the
New Testament presupposes that this is only the be-
ginning. After baptism, a person needs to persevere in
living a holy life.
This brings us to sanctitication. What does that
mean? It means to be holy. Holiness doesn’t come
automatically. It’s a lifelong struggle. We can’t be
content with simply aiming for salvation, to get in un-
der the wire. The goal is the full development of life
in Christ. St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians: "You were
taught to put away your former way of life, your old
self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be
renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe
yourselves with the new self, created according to the
likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness"
(Eph 4:22-24). St. Paul didn’t think it was enough to
have simply been converted to Christ. No, he kept on
straining ahead to the goal, the fullness of life in
Christ. His attitude is not "Christ has done it all, so I
can sit back and relaxl” He talks about effort. He talks
about work.
St. Paul also wrote, "Work out your own salva-
tion with fear and trembling" (Phil 2:12). To work it
out means we still have something to do. He said too
that "I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your
sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking
in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is,
the Church" (Col 1:24). What could be lacking to the
sufferings of Christ? Evidently St. Paul does not mean
here that the redemption is ineffective; that would
contradict the rest of his writings. The redemption is
all-sufficient. But it points out that we still have some-
thing to do. The redemption is accomplished. But sal-
vation is not. The salvation of each person now living
on earth hangs in the balance. In some mysterious
way, as members of Christ’s Mystical Body, our suf-
ferings can contribute to the salvation of others.
To bring this all back to our discussion on purgatory,
the objection that purgatory detracts from
Christ’s redemption is not at all valid. If Christ had
not redeemed us, we could do absolutely nothing to
obtain salvation, far less sanctification. The redemp-
tion wrought by Jesus is the absolutely necessary con-
dition for us to be saved. But once that condition was
in place, once the redemption was done, we have to
do our part to profit by it.
The idea that Jesus has done it all, so we need
do nothing, is one that detracts from human dignity.
God treats us as free and responsible persons. He
doesn’t treat us as if we were babies, totally incapable
of doing anything for ourselves. We’ve had our part in
sin; shouldn’t we also do our part to make up for the
effects of sin?
In regard to the second objection, that purgatory
de-emphasizes the importance of faith by emphasiz-
ing works, the following observations are in order.
· First, purgatory is not something that we do, it’s
something we undergo. lt’s a passive purification. It’s
something God does; our role is to submit to it. God is
the one who purifies us in purgatory. It’s not some-
thing we do on our own.
Second, this objection really concerns the nature
of justification. Again, the issue is much deeper than
purgatory. What do we mean by justification? Simply
put, justification means to get right with God. It’s
what happens when a sinner converts. lt means to do
away with sin and put on the Lord Jesus Christ. How
are we justified? Through faith and baptism. But the
crucial difference is between the fundamentalist
and the Catholic idea of what the state of justification
actually is.
Fundamentalists see justification as a legal im-
putation of justice to us from God, that God declares
us clean. But in reality, they say, justification does not
actually make us clean. lt does not truly purge us from
the guilt of our sin. The sins remain, but God over-
looks them. Think of a garbage heap covered with
snow, and you have the idea. The garbage is still
there; it just looks good on the outside.
Catholic doctrine, instead, is that by justification
God truly cleanses us of sin. God makes us righteous,
or holy, not just externally, but in a radical, internal
way. The person’s inner being is reconciled to God in
such a way that sin no longer remains. God declares us
clean because we really are clean, and not because he
chooses to overlook our sins. He gets rid of our sins.
They’re forgiven; they’re gone. This is a much more
profound view, and one that is in accord with the New
Testament. For example, St. Paul says, "So whoever is
in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed
away; behold, new things have come (2 Cor 5:17
NAB). That doesn’t sound like sin is merely covered
over. In Titus 3:5, he also says that God saved us "ac-
cording to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and
renewal by the Holy Spirit." The idea of a rebirth and
renewal also speaks of a true, inner regeneration.
Excerpted from
"Purgatory - The Purifying Power of God's Healing Love"
pp. 21-24
by Marianne Lorraine Trouve, FSP
