Sunday, September 3, 2017
Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 337 – Part III.
(Youcat answer - repeated) 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 1992 a) Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ
who offered himself on the cross as a living victim, holy and pleasing to God,
and whose blood has become the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men.
Justification is conferred in Baptism, the sacrament of faith. It conforms us
to the righteousness of God, who makes us inwardly just by the power of his
mercy. Its purpose is the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal
life (Cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1529).
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 1992 b) But now the righteousness of God has been
manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to
it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
For there is no distinction: since all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which
is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be
received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine
forbearance he had passed over former sins; it was to prove at the present time
that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus
(Rom 3:21-26).
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