Salvation

Salvation is the ultimate end of the Christian faith. Through Jesus Christ, God delivers us from sin and death and brings us into eternal communion with himself. The fullness of salvation consists in eternal life with God, ultimately including the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come.

Salvation is a gift of God's grace and cannot be attained through human effort alone. CCC 1998 states:

This vocation to eternal life is supernatural. It depends entirely on God's gratuitous initiative, for he alone can reveal and give himself. It surpasses the power of human intellect and will, as that of every other creature.

Attaining Salvation

The Catholic Church teaches that faith in Jesus Christ is necessary for salvation. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) states in paragraph 161:

Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation. “Since ‘without faith it is impossible to please [God]’ and to attain to the fellowship of his sons, therefore without faith no one has ever attained justification, nor will anyone obtain eternal life ‘but he who endures to the end.’”

To support this teaching, CCC 161 cites Mark 16:16, John 3:36, John 6:40, et al. However, the Church also recognizes that salvation is possible for those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church. CCC 847 states:

This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church: Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience—those too may achieve eternal salvation.

This does not mean that salvation is possible apart from Jesus Christ. The Church teaches that all who are saved are saved through Christ and by the grace of God. As CCC 846 states, “all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body.” Furthermore, the Church teaches that the Sacrament of Baptism is necessary for salvation. CCC 1257 teaches:

The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation. He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them. Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament. The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are “reborn of water and the Spirit.” God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.

God, however, is not bound by the sacraments. The Church recognizes circumstances in which a person may receive the fruits of Baptism without having received the sacrament itself. CCC 1258-1261 addresses, among other cases, the baptism of blood, the desire for Baptism, those who are ignorant of the Gospel through no fault of their own, and children who die without Baptism.

Perseverance in Salvation

The Christian life requires perseverance in faith until the end. Jesus states in Matthew 24:13, “But he who endures to the end will be saved.” This perseverance is itself dependent upon the grace of God. CCC 2016 states, in part:

The children of our holy mother the Church rightly hope for the grace of final perseverance and the recompense of God their Father for the good works accomplished with his grace in communion with Jesus.

Therefore, salvation should not be understood merely as a single event in the Christian life, but as a gift of God in which the Christian must persevere by his grace until the end.

The Fulfillment of Salvation

At death, each person faces judgment before God. CCC 1022 teaches:

Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven—through a purification or immediately,—or immediate and everlasting damnation. "At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love."

For those who die in God's grace and friendship, the ultimate fulfillment of salvation is eternal life with God. CCC 1023 states, in part:

Those who die in God’s grace and friendship and are perfectly purified live for ever with Christ. They are like God for ever, for they “see him as he is,” face to face.

Salvation ultimately encompasses not only the immortality of the soul, but also the resurrection of the body. At the resurrection of the dead, the soul will be reunited with the body. CCC 997 states, in part:

God, in his almighty power, will definitively grant incorruptible life to our bodies by reuniting them with our souls, through the power of Jesus’ Resurrection.

Thus, the fullness of salvation is found in eternal communion with God through Jesus Christ, culminating in the resurrection of the body and everlasting life with God.