The Means of Grace Doctrine of the Roman Church.
The Roman church teaches that Christ acquired grace for man. The doctrine that man becomes justified and saved "without divine grace through Christ" is expressly rejected.533) Calvinism, which limits the grace of God in Christ to a part of man, is also rejected.534) But Rome wants the grace acquired by Christ to be understood in such a way that it moves God to infuse so much grace, that is, sanctification and good works, into man (gratia infusa), and indeed to infuse it with the constant cooperation of man535) that man is enabled to truly earn justification and salvation for himself (vere mereri),536) either de congruo [according to fairness or liberality] or
the Sacraments to others, but they understand it as referring to sacrifice. . . . But if ordination be understood as applying to the ministry of the Word, we are not unwilling to call ordination a sacrament. For the ministry of the Word has God's command and glorious promises.”
532) Apology 204, 15 [Trigl. 311, 15 🔗]: "If the marriage state alone should be called a sacrament because God has instituted and commanded it, then the other offices and states should also be called sacraments, which also go by the Word of God and command, as a supremacy or magistrate."
533) Trident, Sess. VI, can. l. 2. 3. 10. 22.
534) Trident, Sess. VI, can. 17.
535) Trident, Sess. VI, can. 4.<w:t xml:space="preserve">536) Trident, Sess. VI, can. 32.
138 > The Means of Grace. [English ed. ~ 117-118]
de condigno [by actual meri]. According to Roman doctrines, Christ has earned so much grace for men that they can earn salvation for themselves. Therefore, according to Roman doctrine, the means of grace are not the means by which God offers the forgiveness of sins and the salvation fully acquired by Christ to faith for acceptance, and by such presentation also causes faith in man and, if it is already present, strengthens it, but means to stimulate and support such efforts of virtue in man under Roman direction, by which man gradually and to an ever higher degree537) turns to himself the grace of God. However, since — as Rome itself points out — the striving for virtue remains piecemeal, except for a small elite, and yet the forgiveness of sins or justification is supposed to depend on this gratia infusa, the means of grace become means to keep man uncertain about divine grace. According to the Council of Trent, it is part of true piety that the Christian, if he has not received a special revelation from God, remains in doubt as to the attainment of divine grace.538) But because doubt is the opposite of faith and excludes from the forgiveness of sins, in the hands of Rome the means of grace become means by which men are effectively kept from the grace and salvation available through Christ. Instead, they are bound to the orders of the Papacy, which presents itself with its institutions as the mediator of grace. The mischief of the crusades, pilgrimages, indulgences, monastic life, etc., served and serve to keep men from the grace which Christ has acquired and dispenses through the word of the gospel and the sacraments. The Roman multiplication of the sacraments also serves this purpose. By its many sacraments, which are not all of equal importance, but are nevertheless necessary for salvation,539) Rome takes the forgiveness of sins acquired by Christ for men under lock and key, because, as Winer rightly notes, it does not understand by saving grace the grace of the forgiveness of sins, which is taken by faith and thus is
537) Trident, Sess. VI, cap. 16, can. 32.
538) Trident, Sess. VI, cap. 9 and can. 13.
539) Trident, Sess. VII, can. 3. 4.
139 > The Means of Grace. [English ed. ~ 118-119]
certain to man, but the infusion of good qualities, which, however, are not to be trusted after all.540) That Rome understands the grace conveyed by the sacraments to be the infusion of a substance of grace is also evident from the assertion that the sacraments make man partake of grace even without faith on his part. It is self-evident that all the communications of grace ascribed to the sacraments sine bono motu utentis are in the realm of the imagination, and in any case do not belong to the Christian religion, because according to Scripture all Christian virtues occur only as a consequence and effect of faith, which grasps forgiveness for the sake of Christ's merit alone.