How does receiving a gift of grace translate into me "earning" something?
What is so difficult about the concept of grace (i.e. God's gift of Himself) transforming us?
How does receiving a gift of grace translate into me "earning" something? What is so difficult about the concept of grace (i.e. God's gift of Himself) transforming us?The intial saving grace for Catholics recieved via baptism can be said to be a gift.
The grace recieved via the sacraments is "free" but is essentially "spiritual power" that enables one to perform good works "essential" to salvation.
"Rome says that Christ made an atonement for sin, meriting the grace by which a person is justified but that the work of Christ is not the exclusive cause of an individual’s justification and salvation. Ludwig Ott makes this statement:
Christ’s redemptive activity finds its apogee in the death of sacrifice on the cross. On this account it is by excellence but not exclusively the efficient cause of our redemption....No one can be just to whom the merits of Christ’s passion have not been communicated. It is a fundamental doctrine of St. Paul that salvation can be acquired only by the grace merited by Christ (Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma (Rockford: Tan, 1974), pp. 185, 190).
According to the Church of Rome, Christ did not accomplish a full, finished and completed salvation in his work of atonement. His death on the cross did not deal with the full penalty of man's sin. It merited grace for man which is then channeled to the individual through the Roman Catholic Church and its sacraments. This grace then enables man to do works of righteousness in order to merit justification and eternal life."
http://www.christiantruth.com/articles/gospelrcsalvation.html