The Pelagian controversy was officially resolved in favor of Augustine by several councils in the fifth and sixth centuries. It was made clear that Adam’s sin impacted all his posterity and that salvation was by God’s grace alone. Both Pelagianism and semi-Pelagianism were condemned. Unfortunately, there were streams of thought in the church that would eventually push the church back in a semi-Pelagian direction despite the church’s official declarations.
Neoplatonism, for example, conceived of human salvation in terms of the soul’s ascent to God through various ascetic practices. Such ideas became embedded in Christian monastic communities, whose theological influence on the development of doctrine was profound. These ideas are also found in the writings of enormously influential theologians such as Augustine and Pseudo-Dionysius.
By the time of the Reformation, many of the gains made in the fight against Pelagianism were lost. An entire ecclesio-sacerdotal system of salvation, which relied more on individual merit than the grace of God, had become dominant.
Understanding Roman Catholic soteriology is important. The Reformed doctrine of salvation cannot be fully understood without understanding the system of theology out of which it arose and to which it was responding.
In order to grasp the Roman Catholic doctrine of salvation, it is necessary to travel back in time to Adam. According to Roman Catholic theology, Adam was created good and could reach his natural ends, but Adam was not, by nature, able to reach his ultimate eschatological end—namely, the beatific vision of God. In order to reach that goal, Adam had to be elevated from the natural order of being to the supernatural order of being. He had to be given the ability to use his reason to control sinful desires. This was achieved by God’s giving Adam the gift of sanctifying grace that is above and beyond his human nature. It is thus a “superadded” gift (donum superadditum). It elevated Adam’s human nature and united him with God. It made him capable of meriting his ultimate eschatological goal.
When Adam sinned, he fell from the supernatural state of being. The fall entailed the loss of the superadded gift of grace, but it did not destroy his nature. During the medieval era, there were differences of opinion regarding the extent of damage done to Adam’s human nature, especially his faculties of reason and will. Some said that his human nature was not damaged at all and that Adam simply returned to the state in which he was created before the gift of grace was given to him. Others argued that his nature was wounded. Either way, Adam’s posterity is born into this fallen state.
In theology, whatever one sees as the problem will dictate the nature of the solution. One’s doctrine of salvation, therefore, is largely dependent on one’s doctrine of creation, sin, and the results of the fall. Given that medieval Roman Catholics saw man’s problem as the loss of the gift of sanctifying grace, they naturally saw salvation as the regaining of that gift. Salvation, then, in the Roman Catholic system, involves fallen humans being re-elevated to the supernatural order of being. How is this accomplished? Through the sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church. In other words, the Roman Catholic doctrine of the church and sacraments is the Roman Catholic doctrine of salvation. This is why I have referred to it as the Roman Catholic ecclesio-sacerdotal system of salvation (“ecclesio” referring to the church, and “sacerdotal” referring to the sacraments).
In the Roman Catholic system, baptism is the sacrament that elevates a child of Adam to the supernatural order of being from which Adam fell. It unites that person with God and cleanses him from all sin. By means of baptism, the gift of sanctifying grace is implanted in the soul, and the baptized person is made righteous. This sanctifying grace is also known as justifying grace. It is why baptism is understood to be the instrumental means of justification in the Roman Catholic system of salvation.
After baptism, the new believer is given the sacrament of confirmation, which increases and strengthens his sanctifying grace. The believer also increases and strengthens his sanctifying grace through partaking of the sacrament of the Eucharist. As long as the believer remains in this elevated state of sanctification or justification, he or she can do the good works necessary to merit salvation in the end. And as long as one dies in this state of grace, the worst that can happen is that he or she will spend time in purgatory before going to heaven.
If a believer commits a mortal sin (i.e., a sin that is considered a grave offense), however, that person falls out of the state of grace. If someone dies outside the state of grace, that person does not go to Purgatory. Instead, that person goes to hell. One must be returned to the elevated state of grace in order to have any hope of salvation. Must the person be re-baptized? No. A person can be baptized only once. Is the sinner then without any hope? No, because the Roman Catholic Church has another sacrament for this purpose. The sinner who has fallen out of the state of grace must go to the church and receive the sacrament of penance. By means of this sacrament, the sinner is re-elevated to the state of justification in which he can perform the works necessary to merit eschatological salvation.
By the time of the Reformation, this ecclesio-sacerdotal system of salvation dominated the Western church. Christians were forced to live in a state of spiritual uncertainty, never being able to have any certainty that they were in the state of grace. And since one could only go to heaven if he died in the state of grace, the toll on people’s spiritual lives was great. In our next article, we will look at the great discovery made by the Reformers that enabled them to once again bring actual good news to the people of Europe.
Ligonier Ministries