The Doctrine of Justification in Titus

The primary difference between the Catholic and Protestant understandings of justification is that the Catholic view holds that in justification we receive a gift of infused righteousness that interiorly renews us, making us a new creation, whereas the Protestant view holds that we receive a merely external righteousness (Christ's personal righteousness) that is legally imputed to us, and we receive this imputation by faith alone. Our righteousness before God is merely legal and not ontological. As John Calvin taught:

A man is said to be justified in the sight of God when in the judgment of God he is deemed righteous, and is accepted on account of his righteousness...[A] man will be justified by faith when, excluded from the righteousness of works, he by faith lays hold of the righteousness of Christ, and clothed in it appears in the sight of God not as a sinner, but as righteous. Thus we simply interpret justification, as the acceptance with which God receives us into his favor as if we were righteous; and we say that this justification consists in the forgiveness of sins and the imputation of the righteousness of Christ (Institutes of the Christian Religion III, 11, 2). 

[I]t is entirely by the intervention of Christ’s righteousness that we obtain justification before God. This is equivalent to saying that man is not just in himself, but that the righteousness of Christ is communicated to him by imputation, while he is strictly deserving of punishment...[O]ur righteousness is not in ourselves, but in Christ...the only way in which we become possessed of it is by being made partakers with Christ...[W]e are deemed righteous, solely because the obedience of Christ is imputed to us as if it were our own (ibid. III, 11, 23).

For Protestants, interior renewal is referred to as sanctification and is understood to be separate from, and subsequent to, justification. According to Lutheran teaching:

[R]enewal and sanctification, although it is also a benefit of the Mediator, Christ, and a work of the Holy Ghost, does not belong in the article or affair of justification before God, but follows the same since, on account of our corrupt flesh, it is not entirely perfect and complete in this life (Formula of Concord: Solid Declaration III, 28).

By contrast, on the Catholic view, sanctification is an essential constituent of justification. As the Council of Trent teaches, "[J]ustification…is not merely the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward man" (Decree on Justification, Ch. VII). The teaching of Sacred Scripture favors the Catholic understanding. Although there are many relevant passages of Scripture, in this post I focus on just one passage from St. Paul's Letter to Titus:

[W]hen the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit, which he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life (Titus 3:4-7).

This passage is a perfect encapsulation of the basics of the doctrine of salvation and justification. In particular, all of the essential aspects of justification as taught by the Council of Trent are contained in this sublime passage of Sacred Scripture. The Council of Trent identifies five essential aspects of justification:

1. The final cause (causa finalis) is the honour of God and of Christ (primaria) and the eternal life of men (secundaria).
2. The efficient cause (causa efficiens), more exactly, the main efficient cause (i.e., principalis), is the mercy of God [“who gratuitously washes and sanctifies, sealing, and anointing with the holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance” (Decree on Justification, Ch. VII)].
3. The meritorious cause (causa meritoria) is Jesus Christ; who as mediator between God and man, has made atonement for us and merited the grace by which we are justified.
4. The instrumental cause (causa instrumentalis) of the first [i.e., initial] justification is the Sacrament of Baptism.
5. The formal cause (causa formalis) is God’s justice, not that by which He is Himself just, but by which He makes us just, that is, sanctifying grace (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, pg. 270-271).

Now, according to the teaching of St. Paul in the above passage of Titus, we are saved in virtue of God’s mercy, by (emphasis added) the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit, which is given to us through the merits of Christ our Savior, so that (emphasis added) we might be justified by grace and become heirs as God’s adopted children in hope of eternal life. Washing, renewal, and regeneration are indicative of an inner sanctification. Furthermore, “washing” is almost certainly a reference to the sacrament of Baptism, as even Martin Luther recognized in his Small Catechism: “[W]ith God’s Word it is a Baptism, a grace-filled water of life, a bath of new birth in the Holy Spirit, as St. Paul said to Titus in the third chapter.” And, according to St. Paul in this passage, we are saved by this washing, renewal, and regeneration. Hence, we are saved by an inner sanctification (cf. Romans 6:22, 2 Thessalonians 2:13).

We know that this inner sanctification is a necessary component of justification because we are said to be saved by washing, renewal, and regeneration (i.e., sanctification) so that we might be justified (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14). This inner sanctification inhering in our soul is that in virtue of which we stand in a state of justification. This inner sanctification identifies, therefore, the formal cause of justification, and is referred to in Catholic theology as sanctifying grace. As aforementioned, “washing” is a reference to Baptism. This identifies the instrumental cause of justification. This salvific sanctification that is received in the washing of Baptism is wrought within us by God, in virtue of His mercy, through the Holy Spirit who sanctifies. This identifies the efficient cause of justification. This sanctification by the Holy Spirit is given to us through Christ our Savior. This identifies the meritorious cause of justification. Finally, we are justified so that we might have eternal life. This identifies the final cause of justification. Thus, all of the essential aspects of justification defined by the Council of Trent are presented in this passage of Scripture.

From all of this, it follows that justification does not consist in a mere external imputation of Christ’s righteousness; rather, as the Council of Trent decreed:

[J]ustification…is not merely the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward man, through the voluntary reception of the grace and gifts, whereby man from unjust becomes just, and from an enemy a friend, that so he may be an heir according to the hope of eternal life [Titus 3:7] (Decree on Justification, Ch. VII).

If anyone shall say, that men are justified without the righteousness of Christ, by which he merited for us to be justified; or that it is by that [justice] itself that they are formally just; let him be anathema (On Justification, Canon X).

If anyone shall say, that men are justified either by the sole imputation of the righteousness of Christ, or by the sole remission of sins, to the exclusion of the grace and the charity which is shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit [Romans 5:5], and is inherent in them; or even that the grace, by which we are justified, is only the favor of God; let him be anathema (ibid., Canon XI).

Justification and sanctification, therefore, are two sides of the same coin and are not to be separated as they are by Protestants. As Robert C. Koons observes in his commentary on this passage of Titus, “Notice how closely justification by grace (in verse 7) is identified with rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit in verse 6. There is no shadow of the Protestant distinction between justification, regeneration, and sanctification here” (A Lutheran’s Case for Roman Catholicism, pg. 127).

Commenting further on the unity of justification and sanctification, Koons explains that the distinction between, and separation of, justification and sanctification are read “into, rather than out of, the Scriptures. In many places, the words sanctify and renew are used interchangeably with justify and save” (ibid., pg. 21, emphases in original). As examples of this, Koons cites Acts 26:17-18, 1 Corinthians 6:11, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, Hebrews 10:10-14; 13:12, and 1 Peter 1:1-2. Jimmy Akin cites, as a further example, Romans 6:1-7. As he explains:

At the end of this passage [Romans 6:1-7], Paul states that he who has died has been “freed” from sin, and the context is obviously one of sanctification. Paul is discussing why we must not “continue in sin,” how we have “died to sin,” and how we must not “still live in it.” He explains that “our old self was crucified with him” so that “the sinful body might be destroyed” and we might “no longer be enslaved to sin.” It is on this basis that Paul says, “he who has died is freed from sin.” The context here is so obviously one of sanctification that every modern translation renders the last sentence of the passage as saying that one who has died through baptism into Christ’s death has been “freed” from sin.

But that is not what the passage says in Greek. Instead of the word freed, the Greek text says that he “has been justified” (dedikaiotai; a perfect passive form of dikaióō, “justify”). What Paul actually wrote was, “He who has died has been justified from sin. Yet, because of the context of sanctification, modern translators render this “freed.” … We therefore see that, in Paul’s thought, being justified from sin can include being freed from sin through sanctification. For Paul, there is not the rigid division between justification and sanctification that many suppose (The Drama of Salvation, pg. 140-141).

In summary, Sacred Scripture affirms that justification and sanctification are two sides of the same coin. The Catholic understanding of justification, therefore, has been justified.