Objection: Paul teaches, “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be every one who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do them’” (Galatians 3:10). Paul is here referencing Deuteronomy: “’Cursed be he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen’” (Deuteronomy 27:26). The referent of “law” in this passage is the entire Law of Moses as laid out in Deuteronomy, which includes the Ten Commandments (cf. Deuteronomy 5:6-21). Thus, the moral law and not just the ceremonial law is in view. Consequently, Paul is excluding not just ceremonial works but also (morally) good works from justification, and this is because whoever would be justified by such works would have to perfectly keep the entire law, including the moral law, and this is manifestly impossible. In a similar vein, James teaches that, “[W]hoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it” (James 2:10). And James cites two of the Ten Commandments in the very next verse, which clearly indicates that the moral law is what James has in mind. What is being taught is that in order for works, good works included, to justify, one would have to keep the entire law perfectly. But it is evident that no one is capable of doing this. Hence, for both Paul and James, works, good works in particular, cannot play any role in justification. As John Calvin taught:
Even were it possible for us to perform works absolutely pure, yet one sin is sufficient to efface and extinguish all remembrance of former righteousness, as the prophet says (Ezek. 18:24). With this James agrees, “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all,” (James 2:10). And since this mortal life is never entirely free from the taint of sin, whatever righteousness we could acquire would ever and anon be corrupted, overwhelmed, and destroyed, by subsequent sins, so that it could not stand the scrutiny of God, or be imputed to us for righteousness. In short, whenever we treat of the righteousness of works, we must look not to the legal work but to the command. Therefore, when righteousness is sought by the Law, it is in vain to produce one or two single works; we must show an uninterrupted obedience. God does not (as many foolishly imagine) impute that forgiveness of sins once for all, as righteousness; so that having obtained the pardon of our past life we may afterwards seek righteousness in the Law. This were only to mock and delude us by the entertainment of false hopes. For since perfection is altogether unattainable by us, so long as we are clothed with flesh, and the Law denounces death and judgment against all who have not yielded a perfect righteousness, there will always be ground to accuse and convict us unless the mercy of God interpose, and ever and anon absolve us by the constant remission of sins. Wherefore the statement which we set out is always true, If we are estimated by our own worthiness, in every thing that we think or devise, with all our studies and endeavors we deserve death and destruction (Institutes of the Christian Religion, III, 14, 10).
Reply: There are a number of issues to address here. First, crucial distinctions need to be made and understood. The Catholic understanding of justification is that there are different stages of justification. In particular, there is initial justification on the one hand, and there is ongoing/progressive justification on the other. Initial justification refers to the critical moment of conversion when we are baptized and in which we are forgiven of our sins, made right with God, and brought into a state of grace, a state of salvation. Initial justification is utterly and entirely gratuitous. Our works, whether ceremonial or moral, play no role whatsoever in initial justification. We cannot, by the strength of human nature and by following the Law move towards justice in God’s sight. In order to bring ourselves into a state of grace, we would indeed have to fulfill the Law perfectly, and this is something that the objector rightly says we cannot do. As the Council of Trent teaches:
If anyone shall say, that a man may be justified before God by his own works, whether done through the strength of human nature, or through the teaching of the law, without the divine grace through Jesus Christ; let him be anathema (On Justification, Canon I).
If anyone shall say, that the divine grace through Jesus Christ is given only unto this, that man may more easily be able to live justly, and to merit eternal life, as if, by free will without grace, he were able (to do) both, though hardly and with difficulty; let him be anathema (ibid., Canon II).
And as St. Paul teaches, “I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification were through the law, then Christ died to no purpose” (Galatians 2:21). And also, “[I]f a law had been given which could make alive, then righteousness would indeed be by the law” (Galatians 3:21). But the Law cannot make us alive. Only grace can do that. So, insofar as the objector (and Calvin) is talking about initial justification, he is right that it is impossible for us to bring about justification by the performance of works done out of obedience to the Law. (As an aside, we know that Paul is talking about initial justification in Galatians 2-3, just as in Romans 2-4, because he is discussing the way in which Jews and Gentiles are brought into the New Covenant and receive the Holy Spirit). As St. Paul elsewhere teaches, “[T]he written code [i.e., the law] kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). We do not follow the (moral) Law so that we might be justified; rather, we are justified by grace through faith in Christ so that we might follow the Law. As St. Augustine taught:
[God] does not, indeed, extend His mercy to them because they know Him, but that they may know Him; nor is it because they are upright in heart, but that they may become so, that He extends to them His righteousness, whereby He justifies the ungodly (On the Spirit and the Letter, Ch. 11).
Now it is freely that he is justified thereby—that is, on account of no antecedent merits of his own works; “otherwise grace is no more grace” (Romans 11:6), since it is bestowed on us, not because we have done good works, but that we may be able to do them—in other words, not because we have fulfilled the law, but in order that we may be able to fulfil the law (ibid., Ch. 16).
Following the Law, being upright in heart, and doing good works, therefore, are relevant in a salvific way only after we have been justified by grace. This takes us into ongoing/progressive justification. In progressive justification, those who are already in a right covenant relationship with God “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18), putting “off the old man”, being “renewed in the spirit” of their minds, and putting “on the new man, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24), yielding their “members to God as instruments of righteousness…for sanctification…and its end, eternal life” (Romans 6:13, 19, 22), so that they can sow to the Spirit in “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6), and “from the Sprit reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:8), where they will be united with God—who renders “to every man according to his works” (Romans 2:6)—, seeing Him no longer “in a mirror dimly,” but “face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12).
Once already in a state of justification and empowered by God’s grace, we can cooperate with God’s grace and bring forth fruits of righteousness, which contribute to our growth in righteousness and consequently to our standing in God’s family. As the theologian Richard A. White sums up:
[T]here is a correlation between good works done in love and our standing before God. In this sense, justification is a dynamic process in which God the Father confers higher standing progressively upon His children as they grow (Scripture and the Mystery of the Family of God, Ch. V: “Justification as Divine Sonship: Is ‘Faith Alone’ Justifiable?”, pg. 130).
It must be stressed that progressive justification has nothing to do with establishing ourselves as members of God’s family. Initial justification accomplishes that (cf. Romans 8:15-17, Galatians 4:4-7). Rather, progressive justification is about growing within God’s family. Growing in one’s standing within God’s family corresponds to meriting a greater degree of glory in eternal life, but having any standing at all in God’s family is entirely sufficient for eternal life itself. Progressive justification, therefore, is not for the purpose of bringing us into a state of salvation but rather for the purpose of enabling us to persevere in a state of salvation and grow in the love of God. And with respect to this, an utterly perfect fulfillment of the Law is not necessary. For after we are justified, we “are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14). Consequently, in contrast to our works wrought in the flesh, we can please God by our good works wrought in the Spirit who dwells in us (cf. Romans 8:7-10). Moreover, charity, that is, supernatural love, is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit when we are justified (Romans 5:5). And this supernatural love serves to continuously cleanse us of sins that we commit, for “love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8, cf. Psalm 10:12). “Covering sins” is a Hebrew idiom for forgiveness (cf. Nehemiah 4:5, Psalm 32:1). And as St. John teaches, “[I]f we walk in the light [i.e., the grace of God], as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus…cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). As an aside, it should be said that this holds good with respect to venial sins, but mortal sins kill the spiritual life within us, which necessitates a new initiative of repentance and God’s mercy to restore us to a state of grace (cf. 1 John 1:6; 5:16-17); mortal sin requires us to be “re-justified,” which is essentially the same as initial justification, albeit without Baptism, since a person is baptized only once (cf. Ephesians 4:5). Back to the matter at hand, when we are justified, the infused gift of sanctifying grace ensures that, even when we fail to follow the moral law flawlessly, we are continually purified in the sight of God. Our inner being, the state of our soul, continues to be in possession of an objective holiness. Because of this, when in a state of grace, we are not blemished before God, and our good works, performed in Christ who lives in us (cf. Galatians 2:20), are truly pleasing and meritorious to Him (cf. 2 Timothy 4:8, Hebrews 13:20-21).
With this foregoing explanation having been given, let us directly consider Galatians 3:10 and James 2:10:
For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be every one who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do them” (Galatians 3:10).
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it (James 2:10).
With respect to Galatians, St. Paul is discussing the way in which we are brought into the New Covenant. In other words, he is talking about initial justification. And Catholic teaching is in agreement that no one can earn or in any way merit his way into the covenant family of God by one’s own efforts. This has no implications, however, for progressive justification. An objection that might be raised against this point is that Paul later teaches the following:
Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? (Galatians 3:2-3)
You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace (Galatians 5:4).
So, the objector might argue, Paul is condemning the idea that our works can contribute even to our progressive justification. After all, Paul is condemning people for relying on works even after one has already received the Spirit, i.e., after one has been justified. Furthermore, Paul says that those who once had grace and were united to Christ were cut off from Christ and fell away from grace due to relying on the Law to justify after having been initially justified by grace.
In response to this, it should first be noted that by “works of the law” in this context, Paul has in view the ceremonial precepts of the Law of Moses such as, for example, circumcision. (See my essay arguing for this here). Thus, what Paul is teaching is that circumcision is useless when it comes to salvation, which is rather the result of the grace of God being received through faith in Christ. One of Paul’s proofs of this is the fact that the Gentiles were forgiven of their sins and received the Holy Sprit through repentance and Baptism, without having been circumcised (cf. Acts 2:38; 15:8-11). And for Paul, there are two mutually incompatible ways to be saved: (1) Accept the gratuitous grace of God through faith in Christ as the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham so as to be justified, or (2) to perfectly keep the Torah in its entirety according to the Mosaic Covenant so as to be justified. (The following is a recapitulation of part of a previous post).
Since circumcision is the entrance into this second way of salvation, for Paul, if someone receives circumcision for the purpose of salvation, then that person has ipso facto opted for the second way of salvation. Insofar as nobody is capable of attaining salvation through the second way (cf. Acts 13:38-39; 15:10, Galatians 2:21; 3:10-12; 5:2-3), by accepting circumcision for the purpose of salvation, a person would be abandoning the first way of salvation and would consequently be cut off from Christ, just as a person’s foreskin would be cut off due to circumcision.
Thus, Paul is not condemning the idea that good works—which are the fruit of the Spirit (cf. Galatians 5:22-23)—contribute the one’s salvation and growth in righteousness before God. Rather, he is condemning the attempt to confine salvation to the Jews on the part of the Judaizers who tried to compel the Gentiles to be circumcised in order to be saved (cf. Galatians 5:7-12; 6:12-13). The New Covenant embraces the Gentiles as Gentiles without the need to be circumcised. For Paul, this fact is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham that through him all the nations would be blessed (cf. Genesis 22:18, Romans 4:13-18, Galatians 3:7-9, 15-18). That works of the law, which signified obedience to the Torah as a way of life, should have any role to play in our salvation, is for Paul, therefore, a fundamental falsification of the Gospel and the promises of God. For Paul, the Torah had served its purpose as a “custodian” (cf. Galatians 3:19-26). Now that Christ has come, we are under a new Law, the Law of Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians 9:20-21, Galatians 6:2). In contrast to the Law of Moses, which Paul refers to as a “yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1) and St. Peter describes as “a yoke…which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear” (Acts 15:10), the Law of Christ is described as a law of liberty (James 1:25; 2:12), whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30), and whose commandments are not difficult (1 John 5:3).
The ceremonies of the Torah no longer matter, but the moral commandments do, and grace enables us to follow these commandments (cf. Romans 8:4). Thus, Paul teaches that “neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God” (1 Corinthians 7:19). Here, Paul pits circumcision against keeping the commandments of God. This only makes sense if Paul is condemning the ceremonial precepts of the Law of Moses while upholding its moral precepts (such as, for example, the Ten Commandments), which retain their validity in the Law of Christ (cf. Romans 13:8-10, Galatians 5:14), and which we must fulfill (cf. Galatians 6:2). Furthermore, the parallel passages of Galatians 5:6 and 6:15 suggest that, for Paul, keeping the commandments, having a faith working through love, and being made a new creation all go hand-in-hand in the order of salvation. Paul also teaches that obedience leads to righteousness (cf. Romans 6:16). Paul, therefore, does not reject the notion that good works performed by the grace of Christ are meritorious and contributory to salvation. Instead, he rejects both the necessity and the sufficiency of the Torah as a path to salvation. The objection from Galatians 3:10, therefore, has been answered.
Now, with respect to James 2:10, it is crucial that we take into account the context of the verse:
My brethren, show no partiality as you hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory…If you really fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well. But if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” said also, “Do not kill.” If you do not commit adultery but do kill, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgement is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy; yet mercy triumphs over judgement (James 2:1, 8-13).
Given this context, what St. James is teaching is that as followers of Christ—who’s Law we must fulfill (cf. Galatians 6:2)—we cannot pick and choose which commandments we want to keep. If we break one commandment even while keeping others, then we have still violated the Law. It is important to realize as well that James is not discussing initial justification in James 2:10. He is not talking about the way in which we become justified before God and put into a right covenant relationship with Him. Rather, James is addressing those who already “hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2:1), and he is exhorting them to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only” (1:22). And being a doer, as James is teaching in 2:10, means comprehensively doing, not picking and choosing. Being a doer is something that we are enabled to become by the grace of Christ, and by keeping the commandments, we preserve and strengthen our union with God. Keeping the commandments is not how we come to God and receive forgiveness and reconciliation; rather, keeping the commandments is how we remain with God and grow in His love after we’ve been gratuitously justified (cf. John 15:10), which we are enabled to do by grace (cf. John 15:5).
The necessity of keeping the commandments in order to remain with God (i.e., to remain in a state of grace) is essentially equivalent to avoiding mortal sin. And notice that the two commandments that James mentions in 2:11 prohibit sins which exclude from the Kingdom of God (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 1 John 3:15), i.e., mortal sins. Thus, another way of understanding James here is that he is teaching that whether it’s one mortal sin or several, such is sufficient to condemn us under the law of liberty (cf. James 2:12), i.e., the Law of Christ. With that being said, James recognizes that “we all make many mistakes” (3:2), and so we stand in need of mercy throughout our lives. If we stumble into mortal sin, all we need do is humbly return to God with a penitent heart, and He will forgive us and restore us to a state of grace, for “the Lord is compassionate and merciful” (5:11). And, as James says, “mercy triumphs over judgement” (2:13). Thus, contrary to the objector, James 2:10 does not support the notion that good works cannot have any role to play in justification and salvation. James himself later makes clear that good works do have a role to play in (progressive) justification: "You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone" (2:24).
Brief Excursion: One final observation is in order. In the passage cited from Calvin, Calvin references Ezekiel 18:24, which reads as follows:
But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity and does the same abominable things that the wicked man does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds which he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, he shall die.
Calvin’s conclusion from this passage is as follows: “Even were it possible for us to perform works absolutely pure, yet one sin is sufficient to efface and extinguish all remembrance of former righteousness.” Now, if we are talking about initial justification, then there is no issue with Calvin’s teaching, since perfection is required if we would be justified through the Law by our own efforts. If, however, we are speaking of progressive justification, then Calvin’s statement is true with respect to mortal sin but false with respect to merely venial sin. As previously explained, venial sins do not efface our righteousness that we possess through sanctifying grace because the theological virtue of charity (love), which is always present along with sanctifying grace, cleanses us (cf. 1 Peter 4:8, Psalm 10:12). Mortal sin, however, which results in the loss of the state of grace, does efface our righteousness and consequently forfeits all of our former supernatural merits obtained through grace. Ludwig Ott explains this Catholic teaching as follows:
The loss by mortal sin of the grace by which we are justified implies the loss of all former merits as a consequence. The good works are to a certain extent killed (opera mortificata). However, according to the general teaching of theologians, former merits revive when we return to a state of grace (opera vivificata) (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, pg. 288; cf. pg. 461; Summa Theologica III, 89, 5).
Passages of Scripture cited in favor of the doctrine of the revival of merits are as follows: Ezekiel 33:12, Hebrews 6:10, Galatians 3:4, Matthew 10:42, Revelation 14:13. Let us, for present purposes, consider just the first passage cited:
And you, son of man, say to your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness; and the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness when he sins. Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered; but in the iniquity that he has committed he shall die. Again, though I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ yet if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him; he has done what is lawful and right, he shall surely live (Ezekiel 33:12-16).
This passage contrasts the righteous and the wicked. Just as in Ezekiel 18:24, what is being taught is that if the righteous man becomes wicked, then he will die and none of his righteous deeds will be remembered, i.e., he will have lost all of his merits. But if a wicked man repents and becomes righteous and walks uprightly, he will live, and his sins will not be remembered. Although not explicitly stated, the contrast here strongly suggests that when the wicked man (who was previously righteous) repents and becomes a righteous man once again, his previous righteous deeds wrought in a state of righteousness will be remembered, i.e., his merits will be revived.
Insofar as the iniquity being discussed in Ezekiel 18:24 is mortal sin, therefore, Catholic doctrine is entirely in accord with Ezekiel’s teaching. End of excursion.
In summary, there are two roads to salvation: one through the Torah and one through Christ. The way through the Torah requires perfect obedience to the Torah, which we cannot achieve. Thus, the only true road to salvation is through Christ (cf. Acts 4:12). Through the merits of Christ, which He won for us on the cross, we are justified by grace as a completely free gift without any merits on our part, made new creations, forgiven of our sins, and brought into the covenant family of God (initial justification). Once established in grace, we are enabled to substantially keep the moral commandments as expressed in the Law of Christ and doing so contributes to our growth in righteousness and in the love of God (progressive justification). And, although we will not always be perfect in this life and may stumble into serious sin from time to time, forgiveness is granted us by God for Christ’s sake for as long as we draw breath and have a contrite heart (cf. Psalm 51:17, 1 John 1:8-9; 2:1-2). The “All or Nothing” objection, therefore, is correct as far as initial justification is concerned, but it misses the mark with respect to progressive justification.
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