Live 4 The LORD

CATHOLIC DOCTRINE ON SALVATION:

T = Total inability (to please God without special grace)

U = Unconditional election

L = Limited intent (for the atonement’s efficacy)

I = Intrinsically efficacious grace (for salvation)

P = Perseverance of the elect (until the end of life).

 T = Total inability (to please God without special grace) (special grace is necessary for man to do any supernaturally good act, to love God, to fulfill God’s commandments, to gain eternal life, to prepare for salvation, to rise from sin, to avoid sin, and to persevere)

U = Unconditional election (God chooses whomever he pleases and passes over the rest. The ones God chooses will desire to come to him, will accept his offer of salvation, and will do so precisely because he has chosen them) (“God wills to manifest his goodness in men: in respect to those whom he predestines, by means of his mercy, in sparing them; and in respect of others, whom he reprobates, by means of his justice, in punishing them. This is the reason why God elects some and rejects others…. Yet why he chooses some for glory and reprobates others has no reason except the divine will.) (While God predestines some people, he simply passes over the remainder. They will not come to God, but it is because of their inherent sin, not because God damns them. This is the doctrine of passive reprobation)

L = Limited intent (for the atonement’s efficacy) (the propitiation for our sins, efficaciously for some, but sufficiently for all,) (God is the Savior of all men because he arranged a sacrifice sufficient for all men. He is the Savior of those who believe in a special and superior sense because these have the sacrifice made efficacious for them) (Christ intended to make salvation possible for all men, but he did not intend to make salvation actual for all men)

I = Intrinsically efficacious grace (for salvation) (Scripture indicates grace can be resisted) (A Catholic can agree with the idea that enabling grace is intrinsically efficacious and, consequently, that all who receive this grace will repent and come to God. While God may give efficacious grace only to some, he gives sufficient grace to all. This is presupposed by the fact that he intended the atonement to be sufficient for all.  “Since Christ died for all men, and since the ultimate calling of man is in fact one and divine, we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit in a manner known only to God offers to every man)

P = Perseverance of the elect (until the end of life). (The Church formally teaches that there is a gift of final perseverance. [43] Aquinas (and even Molina) said this grace always ensures that a person will persevere. [44] Aquinas said, “Predestination [to final salvation] most certainly and infallibly takes effect.” [45] But not all who come to God receive this grace.

Aquinas said the gift of final perseverance is “the abiding in good to the end of life. To have this perseverance man…needs the divine assistance guiding and guarding him against the attacks of the passions…After anyone has been justified by grace, he still needs to beseech God for the aforesaid gift of perseverance, that he may be kept from evil till the end of life. For to many grace is given to whom perseverance in grace is not give.”)