For centuries, the debate over salvation has been the defining divide between Roman Catholics and Protestants. Protestants have historically criticised the Catholic Church for teaching what they perceive as salvation by works, contrasting it with their rallying cry of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone. This doctrinal chasm was cemented during the Reformation, with Martin Luther famously declaring sola fide as the heart of the gospel. Yet, a closer look reveals a subtler issue at play. Many Protestants, particularly evangelicals and Reformed believers, affirm the oft-quoted phrase attributed to John Calvin:
“We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.”
This qualification introduces works as evidence of salvation, echoing a process-oriented view that aligns more closely with Roman Catholic theology than often recognised. A closer examination of the basics of soteriology held by Roman Catholics, Calvinists and Arminians reveals significant common ground. All three traditions affirm that salvation is by God’s grace and see it as a process rather than a one-time event. Furthermore, the emphasis Calvinists and Arminians place on perseverance and good works aligns them closer to Catholic theology than they may realise.
Therefore, the exploration undertaken here will challenge whether such views genuinely uphold the principle of sola fide, contrasting them with the distinct perspective of Free Grace theology, which fully embraces salvation as a one-time act of faith without conditions.
Salvation is All of Grace
Catholics, Calvinists, and Arminians all uphold the foundational truth that salvation begins and ends with God’s grace. While each tradition articulates this differently, the central affirmation remains the same: humanity cannot save itself.
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church unequivocally teaches that salvation is a gift of grace. The Council of Trent declared:
“If anyone says that man can be justified before God by his own works, whether done by his own natural powers or by the teaching of the law, without divine grace through Jesus Christ: let him be anathema.”
(Council of Trent, Session 6, Canon 1)
In Catholic theology, human effort plays no role in initiating justification. Instead, grace is freely given, especially through the sacraments. Works, far from earning salvation, are the fruits of grace working in the believer.
Calvinism
Calvinism also places God’s grace at the forefront. The Westminster Confession of Faith teaches:
“Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification; yet it is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love.” (WCF, XI.2)
Justification is entirely a work of God (monergism), and good works are evidence of true faith, not a means of earning salvation.
Arminianism
Arminians similarly affirm salvation by grace. The Five Articles of the Remonstrance state:
“That this grace of God is the beginning, continuance, and accomplishment of all good, even to the extent that the regenerate man himself, without this preceding or assisting, awakening, following, and co-operating grace, can neither think, will, nor do good, nor withstand any temptations to evil.” (Article IV)
Though Arminians emphasise human free will, they firmly teach that salvation is initiated and sustained by God’s grace.
Salvation as a Process
Despite theological differences, all three traditions view salvation not merely as a momentary event but as an ongoing process involving justification, sanctification, and eventual glorification.
Roman Catholic Church
Catholic theology sees salvation as a journey. Initial justification occurs at baptism, but sanctification continues throughout life. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) explains:
“Justification establishes cooperation between God’s grace and man’s freedom. It is expressed by the ascent of faith to the Word of God, which invites him to conversion, and in the cooperation of charity with the prompting of the Holy Spirit.” (CCC 1993)
The sacraments, especially the Eucharist and penance, are key to this ongoing process, sustaining the believer in grace.
Calvinism
Although Calvinists speak of justification as a one-time act, they also affirm that salvation involves a lifelong process of sanctification. John Calvin wrote:
“Christ justifies no one whom he does not also sanctify. These blessings are inseparable.” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, III.16.1)
Perseverance of the saints ensures that true believers will grow in holiness until glorification, making salvation a process as well as an event.
Arminianism
Arminians likewise hold that salvation is dynamic. While initial justification is by grace through faith, the believer must continue in faith to remain in God’s grace. Jacobus Arminius emphasised the necessity of perseverance:
“For no one is said to be in Christ, who does not continue in him.” (Works of Arminius, Vol. II, Disputation 11)
This process is not automatic but requires ongoing cooperation with God’s grace.
Faith Alone Undermined?
Both Calvinists and Arminians claim to uphold “faith alone” (sola fide), but their emphasis on perseverance and good works brings them closer to Catholic theology than they may admit.
Calvinism: Faith and Perseverance
Calvinists argue that perseverance in faith and good works is the necessary evidence of salvation. However, this creates a practical tension. If assurance of salvation requires perseverance, the believer must evaluate their works to confirm their faith is genuine. In practice, this shifts the focus from faith alone to a faith-works dynamic akin to Catholic theology.
Arminianism: Conditional Security
Arminians teach that a believer can lose salvation through persistent unfaithfulness. This conditional security mirrors the Catholic idea that mortal sin can break one’s state of grace. Both traditions require active cooperation with grace to retain God’s salvation.
Catholic Parallels
Catholic theology openly affirms this relationship between faith and works, describing works as the fruit of grace. Where Protestants hesitate to admit a synergistic model of salvation, the Catholic Church explicitly teaches it:
“Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life.” (CCC 2010)
This merit, however, is said to be wholly dependent on God’s prior grace, aligning closely with Calvinist perseverance and Arminian conditionality.
The Real Culprit
The true point of tension between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism emerged with the Roman Catholic response to the Reformation: the Council of Trent. The specific canon that defined this divide is Canon 11 from the sixth session of the Council, which states:
Whosoever shall say that men are justified by the mere imputation of Christ’s righteousness, or by the mere remission of sins, exclusive of grace and charity which is shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit, and is inherent in them, or also, that the grace by which we are justified is only the favor of God, let him be anathema.
This is the culprit. Protestantism, at least in principle, affirms that justification is by the sole imputation of Christ’s righteousness. The Roman Catholic Church, however, rejects this, concluding—rightly (yes, rightly)—that such a position implies that a person, once justified, could literally do anything and still remain saved. As I will shortly demonstrate, this is precisely what Free Grace Theology correctly (yes, correctly) teaches.
However, while Protestantism “technically” affirms justification as a one-time event based on the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to the believer, the reality is more nuanced. Ask a random Protestant, evangelical or otherwise, and they will likely affirm that truth. Yet, upon closer examination, one finds that many hold a view consistent with what John Calvin wrote in response to Canon 11 of the sixth session of the Council of Trent:
I wish the reader to understand that as often as we mention Faith alone in this question, we are not thinking of a dead faith, which worketh not by love, but holding faith to be the only cause of justification. (Galatians 5:6; Romans 3:22.) It is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone: just as it is the heat alone of the sun which warms the earth, and yet in the sun it is not alone, because it is constantly conjoined with light.
Calvin’s response, shaped by an erroneous interpretation of James inherited from Augustine and still pervasive among evangelicals today, essentially offers a non-answer to Canon 11. To assert that justification is by faith alone, but that justifying faith never exists without evidentiary works, is to tacitly affirm the Catholic position: “no one shall ever say that men are justified by the mere imputation of Christ’s righteousness.”
Calvin, bound by his human limitations like many Christians throughout the ages and even today, could not bring himself to boldly proclaim the full truth of Scripture: that any justified believer, even if they fall into faithlessness, will never be abandoned by Christ. Christ’s promise to His own remains unwavering.
Free Grace: A True Expression of Sola Fide
Free Grace theology represents a distinctive understanding of salvation that holds firmly to the principle of sola fide—salvation by faith alone. Unlike Catholic, Calvinist, or Arminian views, which involve conditions or evidence tied to perseverance or works, Free Grace insists that eternal salvation depends solely on a one-time act of faith in Jesus Christ, without any reference to ongoing sanctification or works.
Salvation by Grace Alone
Whilst all traditions affirm salvation by grace, Free Grace theology uniquely asserts that eternal life is granted the moment one places faith in Jesus Christ, without any conditions related to perseverance or fruit-bearing.
Catholic, Calvinist, and Arminian theologies often conflate justification and sanctification, suggesting that a lack of visible transformation calls salvation into question. Free Grace theology separates these doctrines, affirming that:
- Justification is a one-time event, entirely based on faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).
- Sanctification is a separate, lifelong process of discipleship, which impacts rewards and fellowship with God but not eternal security.
Free Grace theologians point to verses like John 5:24:
“He who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
This guarantees eternal life to the believer at the moment of faith, without requiring any subsequent proof or perseverance.
Salvation as a Moment, Not a Process
Free Grace theology rejects the notion that salvation is an ongoing process. It maintains that:
• Justification is a completed action with permanent results (John 10:28-29).
• Discipleship and sanctification, while desirable, are not automatic and do not affect the believer’s secure position in Christ.
This contrasts sharply with:
• Catholicism, which ties eternal life to ongoing cooperation with grace.
• Calvinism, which requires perseverance as evidence of salvation.
• Arminianism, which holds that failure to persevere can result in loss of salvation.
Free Grace theology affirms that spiritual growth and good works, while encouraged, are not conditions for salvation. As Zane Hodges explains, “Faith does not look to its own performance, but to the performance of Christ.”
Faith Alone in Its Purest Form
Catholic, Calvinist, and Arminian perspectives all introduce requirements or evidences that undermine the principle of grace alone through faith alone. Free Grace theology avoids this pitfall by teaching that:
• Works are entirely excluded from the salvation equation, even as evidence (Romans 4:5).
• Faith alone (sola fide) is sufficient for eternal life, as demonstrated by the thief on the cross (Luke 23:42-43).
This challenges the other main traditions:
• Catholicism explicitly ties justification to works (albeit through grace).
• Calvinism, by requiring perseverance as evidence, creates anxiety about salvation and risks making faith depend on observable performance.
• Arminianism, by making salvation conditional on continued faithfulness, places the burden of eternal security on human effort.
Free Grace theology critiques these approaches as compromising the sufficiency of Christ’s finished work. Eternal salvation, according to Free Grace, rests solely on the promise of Jesus:
“He who believes in Me has everlasting life.” (John 6:47)
Thus, Free Grace upholds sola fide in its most radical and biblical sense. By teaching that faith alone secures eternal life, Free Grace avoids the pitfalls of adding fallible conditions or insufficient evidences to justification. Unlike Catholicism, Calvinism, and Arminianism, it offers complete assurance of salvation, rooted in the promises of Christ rather than human performance.
Conclusion
Far from being sharply divided, the Catholic, Calvinist, and Arminian views on salvation share profound commonalities. All affirm that salvation is a gift of God’s grace, see it as an ongoing process, and recognise the necessity of faith and good works. Ironically, despite their claims of sola fide, both Calvinists and Arminians introduce conditions related to perseverance, aligning them more closely with the Catholic emphasis on cooperation with grace. These shared elements should challenge evangelicals to reconsider the tendency to quickly label Catholics as non-Christians solely because of perceived works-based salvation.
Many across the Christian spectrum fail to differentiate between justification (a past event secured by faith alone), sanctification (a present process of spiritual growth), and glorification (a future promise of perfection). This conflation fallacy leads to viewing salvation as an ongoing process rather than recognising that eternal life is a one-time gift received through faith in Christ.
Therefore, while we believe Catholic doctrine contains serious errors, so too do Arminianism and Calvinism. However, it is vital to distinguish between pseudo-Christian cults and those who affirm orthodox truths about Jesus: that he is the Christ, the Son of God, who died and rose again bodily for the salvation of those who believe in him. Unlike cults, the Roman Catholic Church holds to these foundational truths. If we desire to correct their doctrinal errors, we must begin from this shared foundation—just as we do when engaging with Arminians and Calvinists.
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