PROTESTANT VIEW
Salvation is the free gift of God to man. It is obtained by God’s Grace alone and not through any merit on the part of the Christian.
GRACE = God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.
“For by grace you are saved through faith: and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God. Not of works, that no man may glory.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 (DRB).
CATHOLIC VIEW
In Catholic doctrine, Salvation is obtained by God’s Grace through faith; faith which is active, not passive. Salvation is through the grace of God which is “infused” into us. This grace is freely given, but men and women are responsible for co-operating with it. Primarily, this is done through participation in the Sacraments, which are seen as channels of grace. This grace of salvation (known as sanctifying grace) can be lost through committing mortal sin, but regained through the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Penance, which involves confession, repentance and forgiveness.
“Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 7:21 (DRB).
“The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of sanctification: Therefore if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself.”
Paragraph 1999, CCC.
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