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August 13, 2005

Ch. XV. Q. 94. The Method of Salvation

THE METHOD of salvation involves the following stages in its achievement: (a) the Incarnation, and obedience to the law for man, of the Son of God; (b) His vicarious and redemptive endurance of the fatal consequences of sin, and His resurrection-victory over death; (c) the dispensation of the Holy Spirit and the sacramental communication to us of Christ's perfected and life-giving manhood; (d) a renewal of our advance to our appointed destiny, through sacramental grace and penitential self-discipline; (e) the resurrection of the dead and the consummation.1

2. By taking our nature upon Him, and by what He did in it and for it, the Son of God perfected a leaven or medium which, when imparted to us, becomes in us the potential principle of our cleansing, sanctification and immortality—a supernatural involution, making possible the final evolution of the children of God.

3. By reason of the mystical union which He was to bring about through the Holy Spirit between Himself and His redeemed, the Incarnate became our true representative; and all that He did and suffered had vicarious efficacy for propitiation, redemption and conquest.

4. His death on the cross was a sacrifice for sin which consecrated Him to an everlasting heavenly priesthood, in which He perpetually appears in our behalf before the Father, and provides through His Holy Spirit, an effective dispensation of redeeming grace and eucharistic oblation on earth.

5. The spiritual progress of the redeemed has the following stages conditioned by persevering faith and repentance: (a) incorporation into the Body of Christ, the Church, through Baptism, whereby they are born anew and justified: (b) progressive sanctification in the Church by sacramental grace and self discipline; (c) completion of entire purification and sanctification after death; (d) resurrection of the body, followed by permanent enjoyment of God and of the communion of saints.


1 This question summarizes the subject matter of the rest of these Outlines.

Posted by AKMA at August 13, 2005 12:42 PM

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