{"id":942,"date":"2025-02-19T19:35:42","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T00:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bibleforcatholics.com\/faith-family\/?p=942"},"modified":"2025-02-19T19:38:41","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T00:38:41","slug":"beliefs-on-justification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bibleforcatholics.com\/faith-family\/blog\/2025\/02\/19\/beliefs-on-justification\/","title":{"rendered":"Catholic vs. Protestant Beliefs on Justification Chart"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beliefs on Justification – Catholic vs. Protestant –\u00a0Click to download PDF Chart<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

How do unrighteous sinners become righteous (i.e., justified) so that they may inherit eternal life? Use this chart to understand the key differences between Catholic and Protestant viewpoints.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Protestant<\/strong><\/td>\nCatholic<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1. Our justification is by God\u2019s grace apart from works. The Protestant doctrine of justification is mostly similar to the Catholic belief regarding initial justification.<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

1. Our justification is due to God\u2019s grace. Our initial justification is without any type of works. (CCC<\/em> 1996, 1998, 2003, 2010)<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

2. Faith alone<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

2. After initial justification, faith works through love, plus Baptism (gifts of grace).(CCC<\/em> 1814, 1987, 1991\u201392, 1997, 2017, 2020)<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

3. A momentary act<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

3. An ongoing transformation, yet with a distinct beginning. (CCC 1987, fn.35; 1988\u201389; 1990; 2000)<\/p>\n

Only initial justification is a momentary act. Afterward the friends of God are able to increase the justice received.<\/p>\n

(Trent 6.10, Canon 24)<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

4. No \u201cworks\u201d (connected to justification)<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

4. After initial justification, good works (by the power of the Holy Spirit) are necessary. (CCC<\/em> 1813\u201315, 1991)<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

5. Justification is a legal declaration of \u201cnot guilty\u201d (with no inward change)<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

5. Justification makes us inwardly righteous<\/em> (not just declared righteous). There is a momentous inward change produced by grace.<\/p>\n

(CCC<\/em> 1989\u201390, 1992, 1999, 2023)<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

6. Sanctification is distinct from and subsequent to justification<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

6. Sanctification (being made holy) is a vital part of justification.<\/p>\n

(CCC<\/em> 1989, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2019)<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

7. Adoption is distinct from justification<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

7. Adoption and participation in Trinitarian life (i.e., sharing in the life of God) is a vital part of justification.<\/p>\n

(CCC<\/em> 1813, 1996\u201397, 2021)<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>From: Grace & Justification: An Evangelical Guide to Catholic Beliefs<\/em><\/strong> by Stephen Wood, pages 29-30.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2017 Family Life Center Publications. All rights reserved. digital or printed reproduction, without written permission from the publisher is forbidden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beliefs on Justification – Catholic vs. Protestant –\u00a0Click to download PDF Chart How do unrighteous sinners become righteous (i.e., justified) so that they may inherit eternal life? Use this chart to understand the key differences between Catholic and Protestant viewpoints.   Protestant Catholic 1. Our justification is by God\u2019s grace apart from works. The Protestant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-resources"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bibleforcatholics.com\/faith-family\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bibleforcatholics.com\/faith-family\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bibleforcatholics.com\/faith-family\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bibleforcatholics.com\/faith-family\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bibleforcatholics.com\/faith-family\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bibleforcatholics.com\/faith-family\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bibleforcatholics.com\/faith-family\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bibleforcatholics.com\/faith-family\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bibleforcatholics.com\/faith-family\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bibleforcatholics.com\/faith-family\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}