Replies

MARK: Calvinists say that they are infused by the nature of Christ.

FRUMANCHU: That's just an outright LIE! It is the ROMAN CATHOLICS who believe in the infusion of Christ's righteousness to MAKE them actually righteous, whereas the Reformed believe in the impartation of His righteousness that they may be regarded as righteous.

Mark, you've now been corrected on your slip-up several times. When one errs on the forum, it's best to come clean and admit the error. Harley (post 9,909), Frumanchu (10,027), me (post 9,921) and probably others I haven't read yet highlighted your mistake which incorrectly stated that the Reformed believe in infused righteousness.

As your own catechism states, it's YOU who believes the "infused" error.

PART THREE
SECTION ONE
CHAPTER THREE
ARTICLE 2
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. It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of sanctification

There it is -- "infused." And further, the error is compounded by the RCC belief that salvation is conferred at baptism; same old baptismal regeneration error which says the church alone holds the keys to a man's eternal soul. Adding insult to injury, it's referred to as "deifying grace!" Again, the RCC believes we become God, rather than possessed by Him.

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.

"Infused." Wasn't it you who just said (incorrectly) "Calvinists say that they are infused by the nature of Christ." If we believed that, we would be agreeing with your catechism! But you will find that word nowhere in the Reformed vocabulary (and probably not in any of the Protestant church.)

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. God also acts through many actual graces, to be distinguished from habitual grace which is permanent in us.

Let's all note that's FOUR KINDS OF GRACE -- sanctifying grace, special grace, actual grace and habitual grace! Whew!

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. Man's merit is due to God.

Please note here man's merit is "due to God." It is therefore not Christ's merit that saves us; it is merit made possible by Christ. "Infused" to make us good, rather than "imputed" and therefore reckoned as good by His goodness. According to the RCC, men actually become good and that is what God judges, rather than given the goodness of Christ and being judged by HIS goodness. It really is a fascinating and very telling distinction upon which the Reformation was waged. Christ alone by grace alone through faith alone.

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. Charity is the principal source of merit in us before God.

Again, we "merit" salvation by our "charity."

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.

Not only do we merit salvation, but we can actually merit it for others!

As Harley wrote in post 9,909...

The reason traditional Protestants never believed in infused righteousness is because the term "infused" is never used in scripture. Instead scripture uses the term imputed righteousness.

Rom 4:22 And therefore it was imputed to him [Abraham] for righteousness.
Rom 4:23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
Rom 4:24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
Rom 4:25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Jam 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

You are correct. I was not using the correct terminology or definitions.

Although Catholics affirm many of the central Christian doctrines that Evangelicals affirm (i.e. the divinity of Christ, the doctrine of the Trinity, the existence of hell, etc.), Catholics also affirm certain early Christian doctrines that Evangelicals adamantly reject (i.e. the perpetual virginity of Mary, the doctrine on the communion of saints, existence of purgatory, etc.). The doctrine on justification is one such example. For the Reformers in the sixteenth century and Evangelical Protestantism in the twentieth century, man’s righteousness is not inherent or intrinsic to his being since it was forever lost in the fall of Adam and Eve. The justification offered by Christ, says the Reformed tradition, is a legal declaration. It is an attribution or ‘imputation’ only.

This righteousness does not indwell in us; instead, it is a righteousness or justification that exists outside or apart from us [institia extra nos]. The remarkable aspect of this ‘justification by imputation’ doctrine is that it is not predicated on a comprehensive biblical defence. In fact, this doctrine is based on a relatively few number of biblical passages which have been grossly misinterpreted. They are understood out of context (Cf. Romans 3:10) and, as a consequence, contradict other scripture (Cf. Matthew 25:46). The Reformed notion of justification is, therefore, a legal declaration only since we cannot actually be holy ourselves.

Both Catholic and Reformed believe that a legal declaration by God is made. However, the Catholic does not hold to the belief as a legal declaration only. For the Catholic, the righteousness of Christ is not only imputed to the believer but is infused as well. When the faithful person co-operates with this infused righteousness, he then possesses an inherent righteousness, which subsequently becomes the grounds of justification. For Catholics, man’s righteousness becomes inherent rather than simply imputed or ‘credited’ to his account. The righteousness which man receives from God is located within man, existing as part of his being and intrinsic to his person.

While a comprehensive discussion on this question is beyond the scope of this paper, it would be useful to examine two difficulties with the Reformed view of justification. The Reformed way of making sense of Jesus’ commandment to be ‘perfect’ (Cf. Matthew 5:48), Saint Peter’s exhortation to be ‘holy’ (Cf. 1 Peter 1:15), or the plethora of other Scriptural references commanding us to be holy, clean, and pure (Cf. Leviticus 11:44, 2 Chronicles 23:6, Isaiah 6:3, Matthew 5:48, Hebrews 12:14, 1 Peter 2:5, Revelation 21:27, Revelation 22:11), is to conceive of these passages in the declaration sense. Evangelical Protestants claim that people cannot be holy but can claim Jesus’ holiness and, in that sense, ‘be’ holy. Yet, the Scriptures cited above, as well many others, do not say that at all. Jesus was not saying ‘I will credit righteousness to your account’. He said, “you are to be perfect. “ (Matthew 5:48). Likewise, Saint Peter does not say, ‘You can be holy by imputation of Jesus’ holiness’. He says, “Be holy yourselves. “ (1 Peter 1:15).

The only biblical way of initially making the person holy is the way that Jesus established it - in being ‘born of the water and the Spirit’ (Cf. John 3:5), and the way that the prophets had foretold long before - through baptism: “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” (Ezekiel 36:24-27). It is inconceivable to understand these passages in the Reformed tradition without entering into absurd speculation about what ‘to be’ really means. [Incidentally, this is the same problem that Protestants run into when Jesus says ‘This is my body’ at the last supper.]

Another point of contention arises when the whole concept of declaration is considered. Is it possible, for instance, for God to ‘declare’ something and it not actually ‘be’? This is a theological impossibility. When a human being declares something, it is not necessarily true or complete, but if God declares something, it comes into being and it is. To suggest that God can declare something and it not ‘be’ would contradict God’s perfect nature. In Genesis, God said “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3), and there was light. The Pharisees were called hypocrites by Our Lord because they were hypocrites. Satan was called the ‘Father of Lies’ because he is the ‘Father of Lies’ - not simply ‘considered to be’ the ‘Father of Lies’. Hence, when God cleans us and makes us righteous, He really does make us righteous and holy. It is not a mere legal declaration or ‘accounting entry’. In essence, therefore, Evangelicals believe in a kind of ‘legal fiction’ which is captured by Luther’s rather absurd belief that we are ‘at the same time just and sinner’, meaning, we are just by imputation even while sin remains in us. The obvious difficulty with this teaching is that, at any particular time, a person is either righteous or he is not, just as he is either saved or damned. He cannot be both at the same time.

The Reformed believers with the indwelling Holy Spirit can fade away and will always be called back before he dies. A nice and satisfying doctrine, if you are one of the elect.