Dear Ajig,
Ouch! You want a "brief differentiation" of three terms about
which there has been a squabble for five centuries! Your short
question would fill up an entire semester --- or an entire
lifetime.
I'll give you the relevant paragraphs from John Hardon's "Modern
Catholic Dictionary"*. (I wonder what happened to the real easy
questions I used to get like "Why do Catholics worship statues?"
or "Does the Pope wear `666' on his belt buckle?" --- Just
kidding, of course. I have trouble answering those, too!
"JUSTIFICATION, THEOLOGY OF. The process of a sinner becoming
justified or made right with God. As defined by the Council of
Trent*, `Justification is the change from the condition in which
a person is born as a child of the first Adam into a state of
grace and adoption among the children of God through the Second
Adam, Jesus Christ our Savior' (Denzinger 1524). On the
negative side, justification is a true removal of sin, and not
merely having one's sins ignored or no longer held against the
sinner by God. On the positive side it is the supernatural
sanctification and renewal of a person who thus becomes holy
and pleasing to God and an heir of heaven.
The Catholic Church identifies five elements of justification,
which collectively define its full meaning. The primary
purpose of justification is the honor of God and of Christ; its
secondary purpose is the eternal life of mankind. The main
efficient cause or agent is the mercy of God; the main
instrumental cause is the sacrament of baptism, which is called
the "sacrament of faith" to spell out the necessity of faith
for salvation. And that which constitutes justification or its
essence is the justice of God "not by which He is just Himself,
but by which He makes us just," namely sanctifying grace.
Depending on the sins from which a person is to be delivered,
there are different kinds of justification. An infant is
justified by baptism and the faith of the one who requests or
confers the sacrament. Adults are justified for the first time
either by personal faith, sorrow for sin and baptism, or by the
perfect love of God, which is at least an implicit baptism of
desire. Adults who have sinned gravely after being justified
can receive justification by sacramental absolution or perfect
contrition for their sins. (Etym. Latin justus, just + facere,
to make, do: justificatio.)
JUSTIFYING GRACE. The grace by which a person is restored to
God's friendship, either for the first time, as in baptism, or
after baptism, as in the sacrament of penance.
SALVATION. In biblical language the deliverance from
straitened circumstances or oppression by some evil to a state
of freedom and security. As sin is the greatest evil, salvation
is mainly liberation from sin and its consequences. This can
be deliverance by way of preservation, or by offering the means
for being delivered, or by removing the oppressive evil or
difficulty, or by rewarding the effort spent in co-operating
with grace in order to be delivered. All four aspects of
salvation are found in the Scriptures and are taught by the
Church. (Etym. Latin salvare, to save.)
REDEMPTION. The salvation of humanity by Jesus Christ.
Literally, to redeem means to free or buy back. Humanity was
held captive in that it was enslaved by sin. Since the devil
overcame human beings by inducing them to sin, they were said
to be in bondage to the devil. Moreover, the human race was
held captive as to a debt of punishment,to the payment of which
it was bound by divine justice.
On all these counts, the Passion of Christ was sufficient and
superabundant satisfaction for human guilt and the consequent
debt of punishment. His Passion was a kind of price or ransom
that paid the cost of freeing humanity form both obligations.
Christ rendered satisfaction, not by giving money, but by
spending what was of the highest value. He gave himself, and
therefore his Passion is called humanity's Redemption. (Etym.
Latin redemptio, a buying back, ransoming, redemption.)"
"His Passion is called humanity's Redemption." It is clear that
Redemption flows immediately from Christ's Passion and Death on
the Cross, and therefore Redemption "comes first". Or rather, of
course, Jesus Christ comes first.
Sincerely in Christ,
Father Mateo
- Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit -
* Encyclical or document is available "free" as a text file
from Catholic Information Network (CIN)
* Council of Trent Files on CIN by:
FILENAME SIZE | DESCRIPTION
TRENTBUL.ZIP 10,112 | Convocation of the Council of Trent. 1542
TRENT1.ZIP 858 | First Session of the Council of Trent, 1545
TRENT2.ZIP 3,045 | Second Session of the Council of Trent, 1546
TRENT3.ZIP 2,189 | Third Session of the Council of Trent, 1546
TRENT4.ZIP 4,283 | Fourth Session of the Council of Trent, 1546
TRENT5.ZIP 7,952 | Fifth Session of the Council of Trent, 1546
TRENT6.ZIP 18,759 | Sixth Session of the Council of Trent, 1547
TRENT7.ZIP 10,078 | Seventh Session of the Council of Trent, 1547
TRENT8.ZIP 1,267 | Eighth Session of the Council of Trent, 1547
TRENT9.ZIP 1,661 | Ninth Session of the Council of Trent, 1547
TRENT10.ZIP 3,919 | Tenth Session of the Council of Trenth, 1547
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