“Except it does when it says that one can merit grace for eternal life, and not just for yourself, but for others also, and not just for goodies, but for eternal life.”
False. Theologically “meriting” is NOT “earning”. There is no relationship between the two. God decides who merits and who does not. That means there is no “earning”. It is a logical impossibility.
“It’s also logically necessary, since if we aren’t saved by our merits earning grace, then Final Perseverance, Sola Fide, etc, must be true.”
No. Sola fide denies the role of works in our salvation. In direct terms it has nothing to do with either “meriting” or “earning” because - just as the Church teaches - the works in question are not our own but Christ’s. We co-operate with those works. We do not begin them. Christ does. He begins them within us. So, not only are you wrong, but you’re even wrong in your secondary claim as to what must be right.
“False. Theologically “meriting” is NOT “earning”. There is no relationship between the two. God decides who merits and who does not. That means there is no “earning”. It is a logical impossibility.”
I don’t think you know what you’re talking about. Notice how you do not actually define “merits,” and as far as I can tell, you must think the word “merits” means nothing at all. You must believe it means nothing, because the catechism directly says that we can ‘then’ merit grace. Now if the initial movement of grace we cannot merit, then what is the difference between that initial grace, and that grace that you do merit, if you define both of them as not having been earned? But then you go on to say:
“We co-operate with those works.”
Now if God creates in you a good work, perhaps He causes you to go out and help your neighbor, what part of that good work is yours, and what part of it is God’s? But if any part of the work is actually your own, cooperating with the God part, it is the same as saying that God’s power was not enough to cause you to do it, but your goodness meeting God in the middle in order to make it happen. In which case, you contradict the scripture which says that grace is not the reward for works.
“Merit” “earn” matters not. Both are bunk in the eyes of the Father.
The Father delights in the Son and it is The Son’s Righteousness that matters. Those who are in Christ have His reckoned (imputed) righteousness.
So it was NEVER about us at all. It is all about Jesus, because The Father delights in the Son.