Sola Fide - Catholic View

Catholic View

The Catholic view excludes sola fide as grounds for justification, holding instead that grace, which implies good works, is also necessary for salvation (Matthew 25:31-46); that is, by God's grace through faith, a favour given by him (Matthew 16:17, Ephesians 2:8-10), and the Christian's response to it in God's grace (Galatians 5:6), as faith perfected by good works (James 2:22).

The Council of Trent sought to counter Reformation and clarify the Catholic Church's teaching on justification and the manner in which it differs from Lutherans and other Protestant traditions, stating that the believer is,

"justified by the good works that he performs by the grace of God and the merit of Jesus Christ."

And that,

"nothing further is wanting to the justified, to prevent their being accounted to have, by those very works which have been done in God, fully satisfied the divine law according to the state of this life, and to have truly merited eternal life."

“Hence, to those who work well unto the end and trust in God, eternal life is to be offered, both as a grace mercifully promised to the sons of God through Christ Jesus, and as a reward promised by God himself, to be faithfully given to their good works and merits.”

"If any one saith, that the justice received is not preserved and also increased before God through good works; but that the said works are merely the fruits and signs of Justification obtained, but not a cause of the increase thereof; let him be anathema."

"If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema."

The Catholic Catechism teaches, "Moved by the Holy Spirit, we can merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification and for the attainment of eternal life."

In response to sola fide, Robert Sungenis argues in his book Not by Faith Alone, that

A thorough study of his epistles reveals that Paul used the word faith and its cognates over two hundred times in the New Testament, but not once did he couple them with the adjectival qualifiers alone or only. Are we to believe that though he intended to teach justification by faith alone, he was never convinced that he should employ the attributes of the word alone to express explicitly what he invariably meant? What would have curtailed him from such an important qualification if indeed the solitude of faith in regard to justification was on the forefront of his mind? A second reason that leads us to pose this critical question is that Paul used the word alone more frequently than did any other New Testament writer. Many of these instances appear right alongside the very contexts that contain teachings on faith and justification. Thus it is obvious that even while Paul was teaching about the nature of justification he was keenly aware of the word alone and its qualifying properties. This would lead us to expect that if Paul, who is usually very direct and candid in his epistles, wanted to teach unambiguously and unequivocally that man was justified by faith alone, he would be compelled to use the phrase if he thought it would make his point indisputable. Moreover, since Paul's writings were inspired, we must also acknowledge that the Holy Spirit likewise knew of the inherent qualifying properties of the word alone but had specific reasons for prohibiting Paul from using it in connection with faith.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church justification is granted by God from baptism firstly, instead of plainly by faith, and from the sacrament of reconciliation after if a mortal sin is committed. A mortal sin makes justification lost even if faith is still present.