SALVEZZA. — The idea of s. includes that of safety and preservation. This is also the meaning of the Greek σωτηρία, which frequently recurs in Holy Scripture. Transferred to the sphere of spiritual life, it signifies liberation from evil and the attainment of the good; more particularly, liberation from sin and its consequences and the attainment of the good beyond this world. The longing for s. arises, in fact, from the sense of sin and the human decadence that has resulted from it; it gives rise to a set of problems, both in the face of the recognition of human insufficiency and the difficulty of redemption, and because of fear or dread of the one who has been offended, the lawgiver and judge. S. therefore signifies healing from this pathological state of the human spirit, liberation from evil, safety and escape from the ever-impending danger of definitive, eternal perdition.
I. CHRISTIAN SOLUTION
Christianity offers a solution to this problem that is a synthesis of opposites and thus stands at the center between the conflicting solutions, harmonizing the elements of truth that they contain.1. The Old Testament
It already contains traces of the solution. To emerge from sin, observance of the Law is necessary above all, as recommended by God himself or by Moses and the Prophets in God’s name (cf. Deut. 4, 1 ff.; 6, 4 ff.; 12, 28 ff.; Lev. 18, 5; Ez. 18, 5 ff.; cf. Tob. 12, 9). At the same time, trust in God who saves is required, as the Psalms especially inculcate, and above all faith in God and in the One whom God will send to his people as Messiah-Saviour (cf.: Is. 62, 1; 11; 12, 3; Zach. 9, 9; Mi. 7, 7). Circumcision is the sign of entry into the state of righteousness and is prescribed for anyone who wishes, together with the rest of the chosen people, to benefit from God’s special governance. But he becomes heir to the promises made to Abraham only if Abraham’s faith is reproduced in him.Unfortunately, when the «night of legalism» descended, many reduced the way of s. to ritualism and formalism, and their expectation of s. was temporalized into political messianism. S. Paul waged a great battle against the idolatry of the Law, affirming the genuine meaning of faith and upholding its essential importance and primacy. But even though the bulk of rabbinic Judaism closed its eyes to the true meaning of the mission of the future Messiah, there were always pious and God-fearing souls, living by faith and in righteousness, awaiting the Saviour (cf. Lc. 1, 75 ff.; 2, 25 ff.; cf. M.-J. Lagrange, Le Messianisme chez les Juifs, Paris 1909).
2. The New Testament
The mystery of s. was revealed in its integral conception, according to the divine good pleasure, at the hour willed by God (Col. 1, 26), with Christianity, which is a great proclamation and message of s. (Lc. 2, 11; Rom. 8, 3; Col. 1, 13-14; Hebr. 1, 1-3; Io. 1, 29, 36). Jesus came as Saviour (Mt. 1, 21; Lc. 2, 25, 30), and presented himself as such (Mt. 15, 24; Mc. 2, 17; Lc. 19, 10; cf. Mt. 18, 12-23; Lc. 15, 1-8). This is the very substance of his mission: to heal, to save the lost sheep, to give his life for the world. In the Synoptic Gospels this concept of s. is constant; in the Fourth Gospel it corresponds to the concept of «life» and «eternal life». It is a concept intertwined with that of Redemption (v.) which, already latent in the poems of the Servant of Jahweh (Is. 42, 1 ff.; 49, 1-6; 50, 4-9; 52, 1-3; 53, 12), though unknown to the Jews in its full meaning, emerges clearly from the Gospel, both in Christ’s statements that he came for sinners (cf. Mt. 9, 13; Mc. 2, 17), and in the parables of s., and in the explicit declaration of the offering of his life for «the many» (Mt. 20, 28; Mc. 10, 45;cf. F. Prat. La théologie de st-Paul, I, 19th ed., Paris 1930, p. 516), for the remission of sins (Mt. 25, 27; cf. Mc. 14, 24; Lc. 22, 19, 20; I Cor. 11, 24). S. Paul further developed these concepts, laying the foundations of the entire theology of Redemption and s. (cf. J. Rivière, Le dogme de la Rédemption. Etude théologique, Paris 1914, pp. 46-70).
S. therefore consists in receiving from Christ the messianic goods, constituted not by an earthly kingdom restored according to Jewish hopes, which Jesus rejects, but by the kingdom of God, which is spiritual and transcendent (Lc. 17, 21; Io. 18, 36), and by eternal life, in which perfect happiness is achieved, but which already begins to be realized on earth in those who believe in Christ (Io. 3, 36; 5, 24; 6, 47). Here lies the crucial point of the message and work of s. If, according to Christianity, s. comes from Christ and consists in Christ, one naturally asks what is required on man’s part—in other words, what conditions are necessary in order to be saved.
3. Errors
There is a position that may be called Pelagian and semi-Pelagian (and which, translated into secular terms, is the rationalism and humanism that asserts human self-redemption), according to which s. comes from man and his works, since by his own natural powers alone he can attain faith and accomplish (Pelagius [v.]) or at least begin (semi-Pelagians [v.]) the work of his perfection. The Church condemned this theory at the Second Council of Orange (529), affirming the necessity and gratuity of Grace, even for the «initium fidei», since without Christ one can do nothing (Io. 15, 5), and all our capacity comes from God (II Cor. 3, 5), who works in us both willing and doing by virtue of his good pleasure (Philem. 2, 13). According to the Church, faithful to the Gospel, s. cannot come solely from works, solely from man (cf. Denz-U, 174-200; 200 a, 200 b). For Socinus’s theory V. REDEMPTION.An opposing position is that of the Protestants, who hold that s. can be attained by faith alone. Luther (v.) and Calvin (v.) distinguished a twofold faith: dogmatic, intellectual faith, which is adherence to revealed truths; and affective faith, or fiduciary faith, which rests upon the preaching of Christ and upon the interior experience of s., and is the only faith necessary to receive divine forgiveness and be saved.
It may be said that almost from the beginning, resistance and protest emerged among Luther’s and Calvin’s own followers (cf. J. Rivière, Justification, in DThC, VIII, II, cols. 2149-52). Today, moreover, there is a strong reaction within Protestantism against this doctrine, extending even to the admission by some that sin is actually blotted out (cf. J. Rivière, ibid., cols. 2203-2207).
4. Catholic doctrine
Established by the Council of Trent (cf. Denz-U, 792-843), it corresponds to the authentic message of s. contained in Sacred Scripture and is at once illuminating and fulfilling for man. The substance of this doctrine is that s. consists not in simple non-imputation, nor merely in the remission of sin, but also in the «sanctification» and renewal of the inner man through the voluntary acceptance of Grace and its gifts (cf. ibid., 792, 799). It is an infusion of Grace and holiness, not merely an external divine favor (ibid., 821). It is certainly a divine work, but one conditioned by a moral preparation on the part of man (ibid., 797, 819), whose first and most important act is faith, «humanae salutis initium, fundamentum et radix omnis iustificationis» (ibid., 801; cf. 1793). It is not, however, merely fiduciary faith in divine mercy (ibid., 822), but faith consisting in holding the divine revelations and promises to be true, especially the promise that the sinner is justified by the Grace of God (ibid., 798). But beyond faith, preparation through good works is also necessary, since faith neither saves nor justifies, nor can it give, as the Protestants claim, certainty of s. (ibid., 819; cf. 791, 798, 801, 804).The principal function in the work of human s. is in fact that of divine Grace, since all are justified freely by the Grace of God, through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom. 3, 24). The Protestants wrongly accuse Catholicism of violating this principle. It is held that «now, independently of the Law, the righteousness of God has been manifested... namely, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all believers» (Rom. 3, 21 ff.; cf. Gal. 3, 22). This doctrine is clearly established by the Council of Trent (cf. Denz-U, 793-94; 811-12), which solemnly summarizes and reaffirms (ibid., 797-98) the position already taken by the Church against the Pelagians concerning the necessity of Grace for salvation (cf. ibid., 103-104), and against the semi-Pelagians concerning the derivation from Grace also of the «initium fidei», the first step toward s.
As St. Thomas Aquinas teaches, reporting the words of Jesus, who says: « No one comes to me unless my Father draws him » (Io. 6, 44), « man cannot prepare himself to receive the light of Grace except with the gratuitous help of God, who moves him inwardly » (Sum. Theol., 1ª-2ªe, q. 109, a. 7), and that « man can do nothing unless he is moved by God », according to what is said in Io. 15, 5: « Without me you can do nothing. Therefore, even when it is said that man does everything within his capacities, this means what lies within man’s power insofar as he is moved by God » (ibid., ad 2; cf. Gaetano, in h. l., n. VI; A. Stolz, Anthropologia theologica, Friburgo in Br. 1940, pp. 120-21; R. Garrigou-Lagrange, De Gratia, Torino 1947, pp. 67-71). The initiative of salvation comes from the Father, who eternally foreknows, and « those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brethren; and those whom he predestined, he also called; and those whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified, he also glorified » (Rom. 8, 29-30), that is, led to salvation in its integral and definitive form. « It is written in the Prophets, » says Jesus: « And they shall all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard the Father and has learned from him comes to me » (Io. 6, 45).
Protestants accuse Catholicism of detracting from the merits of Christ by asserting this requirement of human free cooperation. But the accusation is false, since it belongs to the order of Redemption that salvation be accomplished with our cooperation; moreover, our own cooperation, insofar as it is supernaturally and salutarily exercised, is itself already an effect of Grace (cf. Sum. Theol., 3ª, q. 49, a. 1; ad 2, 3; a. 2, 3).
In concrete terms, man’s part in the work of salvation, as determined by St. Thomas Aquinas and by the Council of Trent, is based on the objective laws of human psychology: it is clear that the first necessary disposition is faith. Protestants are right to inculcate its necessity (cf. S. Harent, Foi, in DThC, VI, cols. 512-14), but it is precisely the Council of Trent that defines it as the « initium humanae salutis », the « radix omnis iustificationis », and teaches that through it one is gratuitously justified, not by the merit of human works (cf. Denz-U, 801).
The integral concept of this faith certainly also implies trust, hope, abandonment, and obedience (cf. Rom. 4, 20-22; 1, 6, 15, 18; II Cor. 10, 4-6). In order to justify, it must be « living » faith, accompanied by love. But fundamentally it has an intellectual character, as a response to the preaching of evangelical truth (cf. Rom. 8, 13-17; II Cor. 10, 5; I Tess. 3, 13; Hebr. 11, 1), which entails the submission of the mind to God and a reorientation of reason, so that both one’s vision of life and moral practice become theocentric, teleological, almost divine (cf. Conc. Vaticano, in Denz-U, 1787; cf. Mouroux, Io credo in Te. Brescia 1950; R. Spiazzi, La civiltà cerca Cristo, Milano 1949, pp. 262 ff., 302 ff.).
Protestants maintain that the « works » which we require for salvation are understood by us in a formalistic sense, as material observances, and that in any case, by asserting their necessity, we place man in God’s place in the work of salvation, as semipelagians. But the Church proclaims that external acts have no value unless they are animated by faith and charity, that primacy belongs to the spirit of faith and to love, which must give life also to all external works. And all this human activity, this cooperation in the work of salvation, already proceeds from Grace, which, like a torrent, carries man along and arouses his adherence to Christ.
Protestants, however, appeal to St. Paul, whom they regard as the preacher of salvation through faith alone, in opposition to St. James, who insists upon works. But St. Paul must not be isolated, nor must his words be given a meaning they do not have, nor may one remove from the Bible what one does not like (such as the Letter of St. James). Note that « faith » as spoken of by St. Paul must be understood in its full sense, in harmony with his habitual thought, that is, as adherence to God and to the new economy of salvation inaugurated by Christ, in which « being circumcised or being uncircumcised has no value; what has value is faith working through charity » (Gal. 5, 6). And St. Paul adds: « If I had all faith so as to move mountains, but did not have charity, I would be nothing » (I Cor. 13, 2). There is no difference between these affirmations of St. Paul and that of St. James, when he says that « as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead » (Iac. 2, 26). When St. Paul sets faith in opposition to works (Rom. 3, 27 ff.), he does not intend to discuss the practical conditions of salvation, as though he had set out to write a treatise on morality, but only to develop his theological vision of the plan of Redemption, according to which, within its economy of faith, the Mosaic law, with the works it prescribed, has been superseded. In essence, from St. Peter, who exhorted: « Make every effort, brethren, to make your vocation and election secure through good works, for by doing this you will never sin » (II Pt. 1, 10), to the Council of Trent, the same message of salvation announced by Jesus resounds throughout Tradition and the Church’s magisterium: he asked men to respond to his work as Savior, not merely by arousing vague feelings or purely intellectual assent in them, but by appealing to their good will, to the ethical effort of the sinners whom he wished to convert and of the just whom he wished to lead to definitive salvation in heaven.
With Grace operating in the man disposed by faith and works to its action, Christ brings about a transformation of the human spirit, the μενάνοια; it is both his work and man’s work. Then he truly remits and erases sins (Denz-U. 792, 799), since what matters to him is not external legalism, the righteousness of whitewashed tombs, but the inner renewal of man, who, like a tree, bears good or bad fruits according to his interior state (cf. Mt. 12, 33-35; 7, 16-20; Lc. 6, 43-46). The Lamb who takes away the sins of the world (Io. 1, 29) cannot content himself with covering man’s sins, but brings about a true inner purification and an interior sanctification.
The Catholic solution to the problem of salvation thus consists in the communication to the soul of the fruits of the Redemption accomplished by Christ. The Sacrament of Baptism effects this communication by incorporating us sacramentally (ex opere operato) into him and giving us salvation; but in addition to this sacramental incorporation, that which St. Thomas calls « mental » incorporation is necessary, by which the Head communicates to the members « his spiritual sense, which consists in knowledge of the truth, and the spiritual movement, which occurs through the instinct of Grace » (Sum. Theol. 3ᵃ, q. 69, a. 5, e ad 1). Thus man, through the « institution of salvation », the Church as a visible society organized for the implementation of the plan of salvation, enters the « community of salvation », which begins on earth and completes in heaven the work of our salvation. Ultimately, the solution to the ancient and tormented problem is found in the Church, founded and invisibly governed by Christ and enlivened by the Spirit; in it and through it man receives the messianic goods and participates in eternal life.