Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 337 – Part I.

YOUCAT Question n. 337 -  Part I. How are we saved?

(Youcat answer) No man can save himself. Christians believe that they are saved by God, who for this purpose sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world. For us salvation means that we are freed by the Holy Spirit from the power of sin and have been brought back from the realm of death to a life without end, a life in God’s presence.

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 1987) The grace of the Holy Spirit has the power to justify us, that is, to cleanse us from our sins and to communicate to us "the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ" and through Baptism (Rom 3:22; cf. 6:3-4): But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves as dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rom 6:8-11).   

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) Paul observes: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). Sin cannot exist in the presence of God, who is justice and goodness through and through. If sin is worth nothing, what about the sinner, then? In his love, God found a way by which he destroys sin but saves the sinner. He makes him “right” again, that is to say, righteous or just. That is why from ancient times salvation has also been called justification. We are not made just by our own power. A man can neither forgive his own sins nor rescue himself from death. For that, God has to act on our behalf out of mercy, not because we could deserve or merit it. In Baptism, God grants us “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ” (Rom 3:22). Through the Holy Spirit, who is poured out into our hearts, we take part in the death and Resurrection of Christ we die to sin and are born to new life in God. The divine gifts of faith, hope, and charity come over us and make us able to live in the light and to obey God’s will.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 1988) Through the power of the Holy Spirit we take part in Christ's Passion by dying to sin, and in his Resurrection by being born to a new life; we are members of his Body which is the Church, branches grafted onto the vine which is himself (Cf. 1 Cor 12; Jn 15:1-4): [God] gave himself to us through his Spirit. By the participation of the Spirit, we become communicants in the divine nature.... For this reason, those in whom the Spirit dwells are divinized (St. Athanasius, Ep. Serap. 1, 24: PG 26, 585 and 588).

(This question: How are we saved? is continued)