And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the LORD will
raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your
sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer
of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being, even
as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the
land for three and a half years.
James 5, 15-17

The Sacrament of Reconciliation, also known as Confession, involves Catholics thinking about what their sins are (examination of conscience), resolving to avoid the sins in the future (the desire of amendment), confessing their sins to a validly ordained priest, and performing the penance the priest assigns to them. The purpose of confessing their sins is to mend their broken relationship with God and receive sanctifying grace to heal their souls and repair that relationship, allowing them to enter back into communion with the Church. Faithful Catholics obtain absolution for the sins that they've committed against God and neighbor upon making their confession. 

During Confession, Catholics enumerate all the sins that they can remember and are manifested to their minds by the voice of conscience. In order to make a good or beneficial confession, the faithful must confess all mortal or “deadly” sins. These are the sins that they have committed since their last confession, including the same sins that have been committed by habit (habitual sin). Catholics are bound to go to confession at least once a year, preferably in the Easter season. But the Magisterium of the Church strongly encourages the faithful to receive the sacrament regularly and as often as is necessary because of mortal sin.

We read in the Catechism of the Catholic Churchthat this sacrament is also called the “sacrament of conversion” since Jesus is made present to us in the sacrament calling us to the conversion of heart and return to the Father from whom we have strayed in sin. The sacrament is also called the “sacrament of penance” since it “consecrates the Christian sinner's personal and ecclesial steps of conversion, penance, and satisfaction” to God (1423). The sacrament is a “sacrament of forgiveness,” since, by the priest's absolution, God grants the penitent soul “pardon and peace.” This sacrament is essentially called the “sacrament of confession” and the “sacrament of reconciliation” since we are “called to acknowledge and confess our sins before God” in recognition of “God's loving mercy” and be restored to friendship with him and be reconciled with our neighbor (1424). 

Jesus calls us to conversion. This is an essential part of his proclamation of the kingdom of heaven. “Baptism is the principal place for the first and fundamental conversion. It is by faith in the Gospel and by Baptism that one renounces evil and gains salvation, that is the forgiveness of all sins and the gift of new life ”(CCC, 1427). We are “washed, sanctified, and justified” when we are baptized (1 Cor 6:11). However, the initial cleansing and regeneration of life in the Spirit haven't eradicated the frailty and weakness of our human nature nor the inclination to sin (concupiscence) that remains in the baptized, such that they rely on the grace of final perseverance from that time on. 

Catholics believe that “Christ's call to conversion continues to resound in the lives of Christians.” This daily need of conversion or “second conversion is an interrupted task of the Church, who… is at once holy and always in need of purification, constantly follows the path of penance and renewal. The endeavor of conversion is not just a human work. It is the movement of a contrite heart drawn and moved by grace to the merciful love of God who loved us first ”(1428).

True conversion is a conversion of the heart or interior conversion. Without this, acts of penance are sterile and serve no purpose. Exterior observances are unfruitful if unproduced by a conversion of heart. But interior conversion calls for an “expression of visible signs, gestures, and works of penance (fasting and mortification)” since, after all, actions speak louder than words (1430). The Catholic Church has always taught since ancient times that interior repentance is a “radical reorientation of our whole life, a return to God with all our heart, and end of sin.” 

Interior conversion involves the genuine desire of “turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the sins that we have committed” as baptized Christians. Simultaneously, a conversion of the heart “entails the desire and resolution to change one's life” or continue to grow in holiness despite the occasional backsliding. What makes doing penance fruitful is the “conversion of heart that is accompanied by a salutary pain and sadness” and the desire to restore equity of justice in our relationship with God (1431).

Hence, penance involves a heaviness of heart brought about by God's cooperative grace that turns the heart of stone into a heart of flesh. It is God who takes the initiative and causes our hearts to return to him, but not without our cooperation (Lam 5:21). God gives us the strength to be renewed by the outpouring of His Spirit. Moved by the Spirit to repent, we confess our sins and make acts of reparation that are ultimately the work of the Holy Spirit, whom we have initially received in Baptism. It's by the agency of the Holy Spirit that “our heart is shaken by the horror and weight of sin and begins to fear offending God by sin and being separated from Him” (1432). It's our love for God that cleanses us of all sin.If we love God, we'll demonstrate our love by doing acts of penance to restore the equity of justice in our relationship with Him. 

Christ initiated the Sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of his Church, especially for those who have fallen into grave sin after their baptism. We lose the sanctifying grace that we've initially received in baptism by committing a mortal sin. The Sacrament of Penance “offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification.” The Sacrament of Reconciliation is incomplete without disciplinary acts of penance and restitution. Penitential acts are necessary for us to be fully reconciled to God (commutative justice). So, these are the essential elements that make the sacrament one of forgiveness and reconciliation: “contrition, confession, and satisfaction” (1446-1449).

Since Christ entrusted to his apostles the ministry of reconciliation, “bishops who are their successors, and priests - the bishops' collaborators - continue to exercise this ministry. Indeed, bishops and priests, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, have the power to forgive all sins 'in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit' ”(1465). The priest fulfills the ministry of the “Good Shepherd” when he performs the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Penance by “seeking out the lost sheep” in the fold. He acts like the “Good Samaritan who binds up wounds,” like “the father who awaits the prodigal son and welcomes him on his return (reconciliation with the Church), and like the“ just and impartial judge whose judgment is both just and merciful .The priest is the sign and the instrument of God ' 

The confessor isn't “the master of God's forgiveness, but its servant. He must “unite himself with the intention and charity of Christ” (1466). A priest is in persona Christi because he acts as Christ and as God with an authority invested in him by Christ. Bishops and priests are given the power to act in the person of Christ when they exercise their sanctifying, teaching, and ruling functions for the sake of the members of Christ's body, which is the Church. Through the grace of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, bishops and priests are incorporated into the person of Christ, the Head of the Church.

Like all the sacraments of the Church, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is most effective. The penitent is forgiven of their sin and restored to the life of grace even though the minister of the sacrament might be depraved and sinful. The righteousness of the minister doesn't convey the power of the sacrament, but Christ does through the Holy Spirit. The priest is a covenantal mediator just like Moses was when he pleaded with God to forgive the sin of the Israelites after they had constructed and worshiped the golden calf. A mortal sin is essentially an act of idolatry in that the sinner places the objects of their disordered desires before God and against His will. 

Thus, St. Paul instructs us: 'Respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work' (1 Thess 5: 12-13). The Sacrament of Reconciliation is just as efficacious as any other sacrament, including Baptism, since the true minister is always Christ our High Priest in whom and through whom our Catholic ministers work. All seven sacraments function  ex opere operato by the very act of the actions being performed.

Jesus granted his apostles the authority to forgive sins. He said to them prior to his ascension into heaven, “As the Father sent me, so I send you” (Jn 20:21). As Christ was sent by the Father to forgive sins, our Lord commissioned his apostles and their ordained successors to forgive sins in his name. We read in the gospel, that Jesus breathes on his apostles and gives them the power to “forgive and retain” sins (Jn 20: 22-23). Jesus speaks of “the sins of any” meaning the personal sins of individuals. From this sentence, we can infer that the penitent must first confess their sin to an apostle or successor of his in the ministry of the priesthood before their sin can be forgiven or retained judging by the genuineness of conversion.Although he is a divine Person, Jesus forgave sins in his humanity by the power invested in him by his heavenly Father. He did this to convince the scribes and Pharisees that he had, in fact, the authority to forgive sins though he isn't the Father (Mt 9: 6; Mk 2:10; Lk 5:24). Jesus transferred this authority to his apostles, and they in turn to their appointed successors in the ministry or divine office. 

St. Paul forgave sins in persona Christi as a validly ordained minister (2 Cor 2:10). The “ministry of reconciliation” or the ministering of the sacrament was given to the “ambassadors” of the Church (2 Cor 5:18). Soon after returning from Jerusalem to Antioch, Paul and Barnabas were formally invested with this new commission by the laying on of hands and receiving the Holy Spirit (Acts 13: 3). In Acts 14:23, St. Paul established presbyters (ordained priests) in every place on his return through Asia Minor on his first mission (Acts 14:23). In 1 Thess 5. 12-13 he told the people to obey the religious authorities (1 Thess 5: 12-13). 

The apostles, and therefore their appointed successors in the priestly ministry, were given the power to “bind and loose” (Mt 18:18). The authority to bind and loose included administering and removing the temporal penalties due to sin. As Jews, the apostles would have understood this for it was the power that the priests in the Temple had until then, which included defining divine revelation. Jesus ordained the apostles as priests at the Last Supper by performing the Levitical ordination ritual of the washing of feet (Jn 13: 1-20). Jesus told Peter he couldn't have a share in his priesthood or have a part of him (in persona) unless he allowed our Lord to wash his feet after he objected to this. Peter then replied by saying, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." 

The washing of the head and hands was included in the Levitical ordination ceremony, but Jesus focussed only on the washing of feet which symbolized humility and service in the ministry. In the midst of the “consecration” of Aaron and his sons, Moses “washed them with water” (Lev 8: 6-10). We also see Aaron and his sons washing their hands and their feet (Exodus 40: 30-32). Moreover, the mention of having a “part” ( meros ) in John 13: 8 recalls the priestly Levites having their portion ( meris ) in the LORD or in persona (Num 18:20; Deut 10: 9, LXX). 

Jesus concluded this part of the Last Supper by telling his apostles that they should do as he had just done in his ministry by being as humble and loyal in their commission, and he added, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives me; and he who receives me receives him who sent me ”(Jn 13:20). Thus, Jesus did, in fact, transfer his priestly authority to his apostles, and they were to act in his name in persona Christi for the dispensation of his grace. With this authority, they could also ordain Matthias, Paul, Barnabas, and countless others who, in turn, would do the same up to our present-day in the Catholic Church by the laying on of hands in an unbroken physical chain or line of apostolic succession through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

Orally confessing sins to other people and not strictly privately to God was practiced and considered necessary in the infant Church and would continue in post-apostolic time in the early Church. James explicitly teaches us to “confess our sins to one another” (Jas 5:16). This passage must be read in context with Vv. 14-15 which refers to the physical and spiritual healing power possessed by the priests whom we should confess our sins to in the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the grace of forgiveness. Indeed, countless people came to the apostles and their anointed associates to orally confess their sins (Acts 19:18). They didn't go home and confess their sins directly to God in private with indifference toward the divine authority of the apostles or elders and presbyters. 

Our Lord faithfully cleanses and forgives us our sins provided we confess our sins to one another (1 Jn 1: 9). Confessing one's sin and making public restitution to re-enter the community of faith was a practice of the ancient Jews (Num 5: 7). The Israelites stood before a public assembly to confess their sins and intercede for each other (Neh. 9: 2-3; Baruch 1:14). In fact, God desired that His chosen people should confess their sins and not be ashamed to do it publicly (Sirach 4:26). Many people who came to John the Baptist at the Jordan river orally confessed their sins to him in a spirit of repentance and a firm desire of amendment (Mt: 3: 6; Mk 1: 5). So, the Sacrament of Reconciliation has its roots in ancient Judaism. 

Mortal sins lead to spiritual death and must be absolved in the sacrament if we hope to be saved. Venial sins (that don't incur spiritual death and cost us our salvation) don't have to be confessed to a priest, but pious Catholics include them in the confessional in order to receive graces for spiritual growth in holiness and avoid entering or spending more time in purgatory (1 Jn 5: 16-17; Lk 12: 47-48). Breaking the least of the commandments is a venial sin (Mt 5:19).

Finally, repentance is incomplete if the debt of sin remains in the balance. God forgave David for his mortal sins of murder and adultery after he sincerely repented and confessed his sins with a contrite heart and broken spirit. But to offset his transgressions and restore equity of justice, God took the life of the child David conceived in his act of adultery with Bathsheba for having murdered her husband Uriah: an innocent life for innocent life, or an eye for an eye. And God also permitted the rape of David's wives for his act of adultery (2 Sam 12: 9-10, 14, 18-19). Only then could David's broken relationship with God be fully amended, provided he accepted his pain and loss as a temporal punishment for his sins to restore equity of justice in his relationship with God. 

The debt of sin can be fully remitted only by having to do penance for it. Doing acts of penance, whose pain and loss counterbalances the sinful pleasure one is heartily sorry for or accepting the pain and loss that God permits because of our sins, completes the temporal redemptive process. Christ didn't suffer and die so that we should no longer owe God what is His rightful due for having offended His sovereign dignity (Mt 5:17; Job 42: 6; Lam 2:14; Ezek 18:21; Jer 31: 19; Rom 2: 4; Rev 2: 5, etc.). This is from Jesus himself: "No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish" (Lk 13: 3); "Bring forth, therefore, fruit worthy of penance" (Mt 3: 8). True repentance for the forgiveness of sin calls for fruit worthy of our act of contrition. Our outward acts (almsgiving / fasting) must conform to our inner disposition or spiritual reality (charity / temperance) to offset our vices and sins (greed / gluttony) which have been forgiven by the act of contrition pending full temporal restitution. This is all part and parcel of our confession through the sacrament given to us by Christ.

EARLY SACRED TRADITION

“In church confess your sins, and do not come to your prayer with a guilt
conscience. Such is the Way of Life…On the Lord’s own day, assemble in
common to break bread and offer thanks; but first confess your sins, so that your
sacrifice may be pure.”
Didache, 4:14,14:1 (c. A.D. 90)

“Moreover, it is in accordance with reason that we should return to soberness of
conduct, and, while yet we have opportunity, exercise repentance towards God.
It is well to reverence both God and the bishop.”
Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Smyraeans, 9
(c. A.D. 110)

“Such are the words and deeds by which, in our own district of the Rhone, they
have deluded many women, who have their consciences seared as with a hot iron.
Some of them, indeed, make a public confession of their sins; but others of them
are ashamed to do this, and in a tacit kind of way, despairing of [attaining to]
the life of God, have, some of them, apostatized altogether; while others hesitate
between the two courses, and incur that which is implied in the proverb, ‘neither
without nor within;’ possessing this as the fruit from the seed of the children of
knowledge.”
Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 1:13
(A.D. 180)

“Father who knowest the hearts of all grant upon this Thy servant whom Thou
hast chosen for the episcopate to feed Thy holy flock and serve as Thine high
priest, that he may minister blamelessly by night and day, that he may
unceasingly behold and appropriate Thy countenance and offer to Thee the gifts
of Thy holy Church. And that by the high priestly Spirit he may have authority
to forgive sins…”
Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition, 3
(A.D. 215)

“In addition to these there is also a seventh, albeit hard and laborious: the
remission of sins through penance…when he does not shrink from declaring his
sin to a priest of the Lord.”
Origen, Homilies on Leviticus, 2:4
(A.D. 248)

“For although in smaller sins sinners may do penance for a set time, and
according to the rules of discipline come to public confession, and by imposition
of the hand of the bishop and clergy receive the right of communion: now with
their time still unfulfilled, while persecution is still raging, while the peace of
the Church itself is not vet restored, they are admitted to communion, and their
name is presented; and while the penitence is not yet performed, confession is not
yet made, the hands Of the bishop and clergy are not yet laid upon them, the
eucharist is given to them; although it is written, ‘Whosoever shall eat the bread
and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood
of the Lord.'”
Cyprian, To the Clergy, 9 (16):2
(A.D. 250)

“For if any one will consider how great a thing it is for one, being a man, and compassed with flesh and blood, to be enabled to draw nigh to that blessed and pure nature, he will then clearly see what great honor the grace of the Spirit has vouchsafed to priests; since by their agency these rites are celebrated, and others nowise inferior to these both in respect of our dignity and our salvation. For they who inhabit the earth and make their abode there are entrusted with the administration of things which are in Heaven, and have received an authority which God has not given to angels or archangels. For it has not been said to them, ‘Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.’ They who rule on earth have indeed authority to bind, but only the body: whereas this binding lays hold of the soul and penetrates the heavens; and what priests do here below God ratifies above, and the Master confirms the sentence of his servants. For indeed what is it but all manner of heavenly authority which He has given them when He says, ‘Whose sins ye remit they are remitted, and whose sins ye retain they are retained?’ What authority could be greater than this? ‘The Father hath committed all judgment to the Son?’ But I see it all put into the hands of these men by the Son.”
John Chrysostom, The Priesthood, 3: 5
(AD 387)

“All mortal sins are to be submitted to the keys of the Church and all can be
forgiven; but recourse to these keys is the only, the necessary, and the certain
way to forgiveness. Unless those who are guilty of grievous sin have recourse to
the power of the keys, they cannot hope for eternal salvation. Open your lips,
them, and confess your sins to the priest. Confession alone is the true gate to
Heaven. ”
Augustine, Christian Combat
(AD 397)

“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.
“Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven;
if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. ”
John 20, 21-23

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God
which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is,
the word of God, which is at work in you believers.
1 Thessalonians 2, 13

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth,
the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal,
the promised Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 1, 13

Follow the pattern of the sound words which you have heard from me,
in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus; guard the truth that has been
entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.
2 Timothy 1, 13-14

Sacred Tradition is the unwritten word of God and thus is a source of divine revelation from which even sacred Scripture (the written word of God) proceeds (Lk 1:1-4). By unwritten or verbally unspoken, we mean all the divine mysteries that are revealed or declared by the Holy Spirit to the Church in the passage of time (Jn 16:12-13). It’s because Tradition or God’s unwritten word is infallible that Scripture, God’s written word, is infallible since both sources of divine revelation originate from the Holy Spirit under the Spirit’s guidance (Tradition) or by the Spirit’s inspiration (Scripture). And since the written word proceeds from the initial unwritten word, Scripture must be interpreted in light of Tradition. The former medium serves as an objective norm or confirmation of the latter. Thus, these two mediums of divine revelation comprise two sides of the same coin, and so they mustn’t be divorced from each other or placed in opposition to each other. This isn’t an either/or proposition. 

Tradition literally means “handing on” referring to the passing down of God’s revealed word from the beginning under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, Tradition means all divine revelation from the dawn of human history to the end of the apostolic age from one generation of believers to the next which is safeguarded by the Church (the Rule of Faith) until Christ returns in glory (Mt 28:20).  Tradition may also be said to contain all that is materially presented in Scripture either explicitly or implicitly. It’s because Scripture isn’t always explicit that, as a sole rule of faith, it is formally insufficient. And so, Tradition often reveals or exposes what is explicitly lacking in Scripture but is there nonetheless as a representation of the verbally unspoken word: the declaration of the Holy Spirit. The written word and the unwritten word of God mutually support each other in a complementary way, having originated from the same Divine Author and guarantor of the truth. 

Since the beginning, the one, visible Church founded by Christ himself has believed that Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition are bound closely together and correspond with one another towards the same goal in a form of symbiotic relationship and that these two mediums of divine revelation flow from the same source, viz. the Holy Spirit ( Jn 14:16, 26; 16:12-13).  The Church, therefore, has never drawn its certainty about the revealed divine truths from only sacred Scripture. The apostles understood that their preaching was guided by the Holy Spirit, who protects the Church from error (Acts 15:27-28). And it was Paul who wrote that the Church - not Scripture - is "the pillar and foundation of the truth" (1 Tim 3:15).

So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings
we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
2 Thessalonians 2, 15

Referring to how Christian tradition was handed on, Vatican ll states: “It was done by the apostles who handed on, by the spoken word of their preaching, by the example they gave, by the institutions they established, what they themselves had received – whether from the lips of Christ, from His way of life and His works, or whether they had learned it from the prompting of the Holy Spirit” (Constitution on Divine Revelation, ll, 7). God was faithful in the transmission of the written word as was evident by the Church’s infallible ruling of which Biblical books and Epistles belonged to the canon of Scripture. Thus, God must also be faithful to His Church in the transmission of His unwritten word declared by the Holy Spirit and preached (spoken) by the apostles and their anointed successors, which manifests in greater fullness what has been revealed by God and committed to writing for communities acquainted with the oral tradition. 

According to John Cardinal Henry Newman, Scripture and Tradition aren’t two separate “sources” of divine revelation, but rather two “modes” of transmitting the same deposit of faith. In his words: “Totum in scriptura, totum in traditione.” (“All is in Scripture, all is in Tradition.”). These two mediums point towards and embrace each other as constituting together in a single expression the word of God. If Paul had committed everything he preached to his letters, he would have written 'by word of mouth and by letter. 

Hence, the entire body of Christ - the laity to the bishops - has an anointing that originates from the Holy Spirit (1 Jn 2:20, 27). Being members of one mystical body with Christ as the head they cannot be deceived as our Lord had promised his apostles. This feature of the Church is shown in the supernatural appreciation of the faith (sensus fidei) by all the faithful when they manifest a universal consent in matters of faith and morals. And by this appreciation of the faith, aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth, the entire people of God's household, guided by the Magisterium and obeying it, receive not the mere word of men, but truly the word of God declared by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 2:13); the faith delivered once for all (cf. Lumen Gentium, 12). "What the body of the Church together with its pastors, agreed in holding as of faith, is part of revelation; since the Church is filled and assisted by the Holy Spirit and cannot be wrong on a matter of faith. This has always been the conviction of the Catholic Church both eastern and western" (Yves Congar, Tradition and Traditions: MacMillan, 1966).

The word is near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart:
that is, the word of faith, which we preach.
Romans 10, 8

On Pentecost, the Church was established as a single and visible historical reality with the descent of the Holy Spirit. It was only then that an unfolding revelation first received by the apostles could be transmitted to future generations under the promised guidance of the Paraclete. The divine truth in all its manifestations and growing fullness has carried with it ever since the seal of the Holy Spirit whose sanctifying presence guarantees the purity of faith in the Church - the "unblemished" body of Christ. Thus, the seed which has been planted by the apostles must be abided by and sustained through an increase of knowledge and understanding of the Divine mysteries through the inspiration and assistance of the Holy Spirit. The truth in all its fullness does not exist outside the Catholic Church, where there is neither Scripture nor Tradition apart from whatever capital has been borrowed by non-Catholic believers from the Church (Acts 1:8-9). 

In the words of the 5th-century monk, Vincent of Lerins: "We must hold what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all." Tradition has been described as timeless although situated in temporal reality. It is an ongoing memory of the whole Church (the one timeless mystical body of Christ) whose principal aim isn't to restore the past but better understand it in the present and recollect it in a greater light of faith beyond the limits of time. This memory consists not only of words, written or spoken but also of how they have been assimilated and expressed liturgically by all the faithful through the centuries and passed on. Tradition is a living experience that is relived and renewed over time but adversely unaffected by it without any adulteration of a divine truth presented as a gift of the Holy Spirit.

Dearly beloved, taking all care to write unto you concerning your common salvation,
I was under a necessity to write unto you: to beseech you to contend earnestly
for the faith once delivered to the saints.
Jude 1, 3

Tradition is the work of God through which He continues to reveal in greater measure to His Church what has been revealed and worded in the Scriptures. Hidden implications in the inspired sacred writings come to light through the handing down of Tradition. The Church's fundamental doctrines have developed over time with deep reflection and pondering of the heart under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The word of God isn't altered or fabricated but rather better understood in time through timeless Tradition with the guaranty of the promised Paraclete. The deposit of faith was planted by the apostles in the form of a seed from which one and the same flower has continued to grow and blossom from one mysterious aspect to another. The definition of an article of faith resembles an entire work of mosaic art pieced together by one tile at a time. 

St. Paul forcefully stated that he was passing on something that was “handed on” to him (1 Cor 11:23). He knew and appreciated that the community of believers whom he was addressing had a strong sense of what was important enough to be passed on to the next generation of believers, who in turn would abide by and preserve the Faith. He believed the Holy Spirit would help the entire communities understand in unison what in their experiences and practices should really be held on to in light of their vision of God’s plan of redemption. This would include the virgin birth, which Paul never mentioned in any of his writings. And it must have included the Assumption of Mary into heaven as well among many other articles of faith that have been declared dogma by the Universal Magisterium. 

The apostle called the Church a “mystery” which meant that, as the kingdom of God in our midst, it could not be understood by reason alone (Eph 5:32). The power to "bind and loose" or interpret divine revelation and define dogma lies with the Universal Magisterium in union with the Vicar of Christ. God’s infinite wisdom, which is revealed through His unwritten and written word, is a hidden mystery for all ages that can be made known with absolute certainty and more fully over the passage of time only through the magisterial teaching authority of the one true Church founded by Christ on Peter and the Apostles (Mat 16:15-18; Eph 3:9-10). The Three Pillars of Faith are Scripture, Tradition, and Magisterium. Neither pillar can support the one true faith on its own. Nor can the one true faith be infallibly preserved and transmitted if one of the pillars is removed. The Holy Spirit operates in all three pillars combined.

EARLY SACRED TRADITION

“Since, therefore, the tradition from the apostles does thus exist in the Church, and is permanent among us, let us revert to the Scriptural proof furnished by those apostles who did also write the Gospel, in which they recorded the doctrine regarding God, pointing out that our Lord Jesus Christ is the truth, and that no lie is in Him.”
St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3,5,1
(inter A.D. 180-189)

"But in learning the Faith and in professing it, acquire and keep that only, which is now delivered to thee by the Church, and which has been built up strongly out of all the Scriptures ... Take heed then, brethren, and hold fast the traditions ye now receive."
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 5:12
(A.D. 350)

"But beyond these Scriptural sayings, let us look at the very tradition,
teaching, and faith of the Catholic Church from the beginning, which the
Lord gave, the apostles preached, and the Fathers kept."
St. Athanasius, Four Letters to Serapion of Thumius 1:28
(A.D. 360)

“I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth;
for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak,
and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”
John 16, 12-13

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living  God.” Jesus said  to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but  my heavenly Father. And so I  say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the  netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will  give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be  bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall  be loosed in heaven. ”
Matthew 16, 16-19

In Roman Catholic theology, papal infallibility is the doctrine that the pope, acting as the supreme leader or shepherd under extraordinary circumstances, cannot err when he teaches matters in faith and morals. This doctrine is based on the belief that Jesus entrusted his Church with a teaching mission whose mandate required that it remain faithful to Christ's teaching under the guidance of the Holy Spirit who guarantees that what the Church teaches is always absolutely true and can be accepted with absolute certainty without any shadow of a doubt. The charism of papal infallibility ensures that the Church teaches only that which Christ has taught without the least taint of adulteration in his teachings. Meanwhile, this doctrine is related to but distinguished from the concept of the Church's indefectibility, viz., The doctrine that the grace Jesus has promised his Church assures his preservation of the faith until our Lord returns in glory at the end of time.

The definition of the First Vatican Council (1869-70) states the conditions under which the pope has spoken infallibly or ex-cathedra ("from his chair" of supreme teacher): 1. "The Roman pontiff speaks;" 2. "He speaks ex-cathedra;" 3. "defines the following;" 4. "That doctrine concerning faith and morals;" 5. "must be held by the whole Church." We have an example of a Pope speaking ex-cathedra and with infallibility in the Apostolic Constitution, Benedictus Deus, of Pope Benedict Xll in AD 1336.

1 (The Roman Pontiff speaks) "The Apostolic Constitution, Benedictus Deus, of Pope Benedict Xll"
2 (Speaks ex-cathedra) "with apostolic authority"
3 (We pronounce, declare, and define) "define the following"
4 (That doctrine concerning faith and morals) Pope Benedict declares ex-cathedra that each soul will be especially judged immediately after death
5 (Must be held by the whole church) "which is to remain in force forever."

Thus, with the definition of the First Vatican Council, it is more accurate to say that papal infallibility is a "dogma" of the Catholic Church that states, in virtue of Jesus' promised to Peter, the Pope, when appealing to his universal primacy of authority (Extraordinary Magisterium) as the supreme leader or as the head shepherd, is preserved or safeguarded by the Holy Spirit from the possibility of committing an error of the first down in the deposit of faith: Scripture and Tradition.

The pope isn't only the visible head of the Church but also the head of the episcopal college. When Jesus founded the Twelve, "he constituted them in the form of a college or permanent assembly, at the head of which he placed Peter, chosen from among them." Just as Peter and the Apostles constitute a single apostolic college, likewise the Roman Pontiff (Peter's apostolic successor) and the bishops in the entire world (successors of the rest of the apostles) are associated with each other in a leap of unity (Catechism of the Catholic Church , 880).

Jesus made Simon, who he would name Peter, alone the "rock" of his Church. He gave Peter the "keys" of his Church and established him as shepherd of the flock entire. The office of "binding and loosing" was given to Peter and was also assigned to the college of apostles united to its head (CCC, 881). Bishop Vincent Ferrier Gassier explains the importance of this prerogative that our Lord conferred on Peter. "The purpose of this prerogative is the preservation of truth in the Church. The special exercise of this prerogative occurs when there arise somewhere in the Church scandals against the faith, ie, dissensions and heresies which the bishops of the individual churches or even gathered together in the provincial council are unable to repress so that they are forced to appeal to the Apostolic See (in Rome) regarding the case, The Gift of Infallibility: Ignatius Press, 2008). This pastoral office of Peter and the other apostles belongs to the Church's very foundation and is continued by the bishops who are united to the pope under his universal primacy of authority.

The bishop of Rome, who is the pope in a universal capacity as Peter's successor in the divine office, "is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful" (CCC, 882 ). The Roman Pontiff, by reason of being the Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church, has "full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power that he can always exercise unhindered" (CCC, 883). Thus, the college of bishops has no authority or power to teach with infallibility unless it is united with the pope since he has succeeded Peter as head of the entire Church, both clergy and laity. As such, the college has "supreme and full authority over the universal Church; but this power cannot be exercised without the agreement of the Roman Pontiff. " The college of bishops exercises icts authority in a formal and solemn Manner in an ecumenical council. But" there never is an ecumenical council qui is not confirmed or at least Recognized As Such by Peter's successor "(CCC, 884). On the occasion of an ecumenical council in which we have the college of bishops defining matters of faith and morals in union with the pope, there is the exercise of what we call the Universal Magisterium.

Since the Roman Pontiff is believed to be graced with the charism of infallibility in virtue of being the apostolic successor of Peter, we must turn to the New Testament to see if Jesus had, in fact, established the apostle as the visible head of the Church and bestowed on him the gift of infallibility. To make this determination, we must examine the meaning of the words "rock" and "keys" and the power to "bind and loose" while, in the meantime, uncover the ancient Jewish roots of Peter's unique office that lends it credibility and establishes its validity.

Scriptural support for the pre-eminence of Peter in the nascent church and his unique role of head shepherd is found in the fact that his name is mentioned no less than 191 times in the New Testament. Next in line is the beloved disciple John who is mentioned 48 times. If this isn't strong enough evidence, however, we can turn to the list of the apostles in the Gospel of Matthew to support the Church's tradition. We read in Chapter 2, Verse 1: "The names of the twelve apostles are these: First, Simon called Peter," The Greek word for "First" that describes Peter is protos (πρῶτος). Methodist theologian and professor James H. Strong defines the word "before, principal, most important" (Strong '  Hendrickson, 2009. Entry 4413. Protos). In other words, among the apostles, Peter is "first and foremost" or "primary first." Peter's description as being "first" is not "an arbitrary detail numerical" or a "chronological indicator" of when Peter became an apostle. We see in John 1:41 that Peter's brother Andrew was the first one chosen by Jesus to be an apostle of his. Peter's name appears first in the list of apostles because he is the "primary" apostle within the entire college (John Salza, The Biblical Basis for the Papacy: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, 2007).

Other New Testament writers use protos to describe the pre-eminence of individuals. Luke uses protos to describe Publius as "the chief (protos) man on the island" (Acts 28: 7). He was the chief magistrate of the island of Melita and a man of authority. Paul also describes himself as a sinner "of whom I am the chief (protos). Other translations have Paul humbly describe himself as the" foremost "sinner (1 Tim 1:15). In the Septuagint (Old Testament), protos is also used as a title of pre-eminence. The sacred author describes the "chief (protos) singers appointed, to praise with canticles, and give thanks to God "(2 Ezra 12:45; 2 Neh in the RSV-CE). So, Peter is described as" the first "of the apostles because he is the" chief " or "foremost" among them. He holds a pre-eminent place in the apostolic college (The Biblical Basis for the Papacy).

This fact becomes more obvious by seeing how Jesus and Peter relate to each other while they are together during our Lord's three-year public ministry. To begin, Peter is the first apostle to profess the divinity of Christ. Jesus tells him that he has received this divine knowledge by a special revelation from God the Father (Mt 16: 16-17). As we have noted, Jesus builds his Church only on Peter, the rock, with the other apostles as the foundation and Jesus as the cornerstone or head (Mt 16:18). And the keys that represent authority over the entire Church (clergy and laity) are given only to Peter (Mt 16:19). Further, a tax collector approaches Peter for Jesus' tax payment because he must be aware that the apostle is our Lord's spokesperson (Mt 17: 24-25). This incident illustrates what Catholics mean about the pope being the vicar of Christ. He speaks for Christ, and our Lord speaks through him, on the occasion of making a declaration ex-cathedra. In fact, Jesus pays the half-shekel tax with one shekel for both himself and Peter (Mt 17: 26-27) since he is our Lord's representative on earth.

We have an example of Peter assuming a leadership role among the apostles when he asks Jesus to explain the rules of forgiveness for all to understand (Mt 18:21). He actually speaks on behalf of all the apostles, besides himself, when he assures Jesus that they have left everything to follow him (Mt 19:27; cf. Mk 10: 8). In the Garden of Gethsemane, at the start of our Lord's passion, Peter and the apostles are sound asleep while Jesus is praying. But our Lord asks no one else but Peter why he was sleeping at this hour. This is because Peter is accountable to Jesus in a special way above the rest of the apostles. Since he has been appointed as their leader, he should be awake or alert and set a good example to the others (Mk 14:37).

What is also intriguing is that Jesus chooses to preach from Peter's boat (Lk 5: 3). In biblical typology, a boat may metaphorically represent the Church. Such is the case with Noah's Ark in the Old Testament. This verse implies that Jesus guides his Church in all truth through his vicar. It's on Peter's boat of all boats where Jesus instructs Peter of all the apostles to lower his net again for a catch of fish. What follows is a miraculous catch (Lk 5: 4, 10). Jesus recognizes Peter as the chief "fisher of men." Without Jesus, he couldn't have caught such an extraordinary number of fish at a time when they weren't active. Peter's divine office remains on the authority of Jesus the Head and his exercise of office relies on his grace to be fruitful.

Moreover, in the Gospel, it's Peter who answers on behalf of the apostles after Jesus has asked who touched his garment (Lk 8:45). It appears none of the other apostles ever dared to speak first because they saw Peter as their leader and doing otherwise would have been disrespectful or insubordinate of them. Peter not only speaks first but also speaks on behalf of the rest. He does so at our Lord's transfiguration, after being the first apostle to reach the mountain height (Lk 9:28, 33) and when he seeks clarification of a parable (Lk 12:41).

Finally, Jesus prays for Peter alone, that his faith may not fail, and he charges Peter to strengthen the apostles in the event their faith is shaken (Lk 22: 31-32). Since Peter holds a primacy of authority, it's imperative that his faith does not fail so that he can preserve the faith in the apostolic college and its unity. Peter is assigned a greater measure of responsibility for making sure the other apostles hold true to the faith in communion with him. Our Lord's grace is designed to keep Peter free from teaching error, and it's that same grace Our Lord bestows on the other apostles but with Peter's collaboration.

In the Gospel of John, at the Last Supper, Jesus thing to wash the feet of Peter to set an example of what he took for him to be the servant of servants (Jn 13: 6-9). Peter could even have washed the feet of the other apostles in emulation of our Lord who "did not come to be served but to serve" (Mt 20:28) though it is not recorded. Indeed, Jesus asks Peter in front of the apostles whether he loves him more than them (Jn 21:15). This is because he has been appointed the visible head of the apostolic see. His allegiance is first and foremost to Christ without any compromise. Soon before he leaves to return to the Father, Jesus charges Peter to "feed [his] lambs" and "feed [his] sheep" (Jn 21: 15-17). Thesislambs mean or all people including the apostles.

Peter's unique position as "the first" of the apostles is clearly spelled out in Matthew 16: 13-19. Simon Peter's supernatural ability to intuit divine knowledge from God (a fundamental Christological truth) and communicate it without error to the apostles who are present illustrates what the Catholic Church understands about the concept of papal infallibility. The pope isn't infallible by nature but by the operation of the Holy Spirit who guides his thoughts. As soon as Simon pronounces the first papal infallible decree in Church history, Jesus changes his name to Peter, in Greek Petros. The name 'Cephas' (also spelled Kepha) is a Greek transliteration of the Aramaic word "rock" (See Jn 1:42; 1 Cor 1:12; 3:22; 9: 5; 15: 5; Gal 2: 9 ).

The Greek text is a translation of Jesus' words, which were actually spoken in Aramaic. Aramaic only had one word for rock, kepha which explains why Peter is often called Cephas in the Bible. The word kepha in Aramaic means "huge rock." The Aramaic word for "little stone" is even and Peter isn't called "Evna." In Aramaic, Jesus said "You are Peter ( Kepha) and upon this rock The metaphor works well in Aramaic where nouns are neither feminine nor masculine, but in NT Koine Greek, the noun "rock" is feminine and thus an unsuitable name for Peter. This is why the Aramaic word kepha has been translated to the male name Petros when it refers to Peter, and to the feminine noun petra when it refers to the rock (The Biblical Basis for the Papacy).

DA Carson explains, "... the words petros and petra were synonyms in first-century Greek. They meant" small stone "and" large rock "in some ancient Greek poetry, centuries before the time of Christ, but that distinction had disappeared from the language by the time Matthew's Gospel was rendered in Greek. The difference in meaning can only be found in Attic Greek, but the New Testament was written in Koine Greek - an entirely different dialect. In Koine Greek, both petros and petra simply meant "rock." If Jesus had wanted to call Simon a small stone, the Greek lithos would have been used " (The Expositor's Bible Commentary [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984], Frank E. Gaebelein, ed., 8: 368).

In the kingdom of David, the king who ascended to the throne delegated his royal authority to a chief steward who would rule and govern in his absence. The king would formally invest his chief steward with this authority by presenting him with the keys to the kingdom. As the keeper of the keys, the chief steward (vizier or vicar) was said to be "over the house" of the king, viz., The house of David. He would be second only to the king and would have plenary power over the palace and the authority to pass judgments over the king's subjects. Jesus came into the world to restore the kingdom of David in a new dimension, so like his royal ancestors on the throne of David, he presented his chief steward or vicar the keys to a visible kingdom, namely the Church.He appointed Peter over "the house of God" (cf. 2 Cor 5: 1; 1 Tim 3:15;

The Hebrew Scriptures mention "keys" only once, and that is in the context of the authority of the Davidic king's chief steward. Around 715 BC, Hezekiah was the king of the Southern Kingdom, and Shebna was his chief steward or vice-regent. God reveals through the prophet Isaiah that He will remove Shebna from his office and replace him with Eliakim, to whom he will give the "key to the house of David." 

This is what the Lord, the Lord
Almighty, says: Go, say to this steward,
to Shebna the palace administrator:
What are you  doing here and who gave you permission
to cut out a serious for yourself here,
hewing your grave on the height
and chiseling your resting place in the rock?
"Beware, the Lord is about to take firm hold of you
and hurl you away, you mighty man.
He will roll you up tightly like a ball 
and throw you into a large country.
There you will die and there the trolleys you were so proud of
will become a disgrace to your master's house.
I will depose you from your office,
and you will be ousted from your position.

"In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. I will clothe him with your dress and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. ​​I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a seat of honor for the house of his father.
Isaiah 22, 15-23

So, God gives Eliakim the key to the house of David which was previously held by Shebna. This office is transferrable by appointing successors. Having custody of the key to David's kingdom, whatever Eliakim opens, no one will shut, and whatever he shuts, no one will open. In other words, his final judgment is indisputable and irrevocable since he represents the king in his absence and speaks for the king in accordance with his will. Eliakim will be known as a "father" to Israel in the exercise of his office. Just as God was directly involved in the administration of his kingdom in the Old Dispensation, so He is in charge of the administration of His kingdom in the New Dispensation.

That God should choose the reign of King Hezekiah to reveal the succession of the chief steward is significant. We read in Isaiah 7, 14:

Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign:
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son,
and shall call His name Immanuel.

The "great sign" John sees in heaven is that of the restoration of the Davidic Messianic kingdom in the person of the Blessed Virgin Mary herself giving birth to the Messiah King (Rev 12: 1-5). The nativity of Christ is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophetic signs of the restoration (see Micah 5: 1-3). In ancient Judaic tradition, Hezekiah prefigured the Messiah more closely than the other Davidic kings had. In a Christian context, Hezekiah resembles Christ more closely than the others do. God decrees Hezekiah's sickness unto death and then promises to raise him up or heal him on the third day.

In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, "This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you won't recover." Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, "Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes." And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: "Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, 'This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord.

By raising Hezekiah on the third day, God made him the most important Messianic figure among the kings who inherited David's throne. Since the king prefigures the Messiah, his kingdom prefigures the kingdom of our Lord and King in the house of David. Just as Hezekiah had a succession of chief stewards, so, too, Jesus would also have a succession of chief stewards. Linus was the first successor to Peter in AD 67 (See 2 Tim 4: 1). Just as Eliakim would be known as a "father" to Israel in the kingdom of Judah, so, too, Peter and his estates would be known as "holy fathers" in the new kingdom or house of Israel, which is the Church. Thus, we have a biblical precedent for the appointment of Peter as the steward or vicar of Jesus' kingdom on earth.Now, let's turn to the topic of binding and loosing.

As we have seen, just as Eliakim had the authority to "open and shut," so, too, Peter is given the authority to "bind and loose." Since this authority is derived from possessing the keys to the kingdom, Jesus confers this authority on Peter alone and not also on the Twelve. John Salza explains what the terms binding and loosing mean in a Jewish context. "'Binding and loosing' (Heb. Asar ve-hittar ) were common rabbinical terms used by the Jewish religious authorities of the day. These terms described their legislative and judicial authority to 'forbid' or 'permit.' This included rules of conduct (halakah) for God's people, as well as issuing definitive interpretations of Scripture, oral tradition,In short, the terms described the Pharisees' authority over doctrinal and disciplinary matters " (The Biblical basis for the Papacy). 

We have an example of Peter exercising this authority in Acts 15, 12-17. At the general council in Jerusalem, he resolves the first doctrinal and disciplinary issue on whether the Gentiles should be circumcised after they have been baptized. None of the apostles in attendance question or dispute with Peter but remain silent. Only after Peter issues his statement, in the capacity of Christ's chief steward or vicar on earth, do Paul and Barnabas (bishops) respond in support of Peter's definitive declaration. Finally, James, who has presided over the council as Bishop of Jerusalem, gives his assent.

Further, in the time of Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees were successors of Moses and the appointed religious teachers of Israel. The "chair of Moses" Jesus refers to in Matthew 23: 2-4 means their authority to interpret and expound the Mosaic law. The chair was placed in the middle of a synagogue on which the official teacher of the Law would sit to read the Scriptures and address the congregation. The Jews based this tradition on Exodus 18, where God says, "And the next day, Moses sat to judge the people" (v. 13). Moses rendered God's judgments from the chair he was sitting on.'And Moses answered him: "The people come to me to seek the judgment of God. And when any controversy (extraordinary circumstance) falls out among them, they come to me to judge between them, and to show the precepts of God,  ( The Biblical Basis for the Papacy). The Chair stood for the divine office which presupposes there should be successors.

Jesus himself acknowledged the scribes and Pharisees to be legitimate successors to the chair of Moses, and taught with his authority, despite their personal shortcomings and imperfections. Our Lord told the apostles to observe "everything" (panta hosa ) they said while sitting on the chair (Mt 23: 5-7). And although Jesus harshly criticized them for abusing their divine authority and exercising it in pride and contempt towards the common Jew, notably the marginalized (Mt 23: 5-7, 13), he acknowledged their authority to "bind" and "loose" and to "open" or "shut" in the kingdom of God in matters of faith and morals in accordance with the Torah.

Jesus uses terms familiar to the Jews when he addresses Peter. By this, he is inaugurating a new ruling and teaching authority in his Church. There is to be a transfer of power and authority of the teachers of the Law to the teachers of the Law of Christ (Gal 6: 2). The New Covenant of grace and charity (agape) will replace the Law of the Old Covenant with all its civil and ceremonial prescriptions under the curse of the law. As a result, the chair of Moses will be replaced by the chair of Peter. Not unlike Moses, Peter will have the authority to "render the judgment of God" (Ex 18:15) and shall be the official interpreter of God's word (See 2 Peter 3:16). Peter will have the power Eliakim had to "open" what none can "shut" (Isa 22:22).And with the authority of the Sanhedrin of his time, Peter shall be able to “shut the kingdom of heaven against men who separate themselves from his teaching (Mt 23:13). Only Peter and his successors in the papacy have the plenary authority to excommunicate heretics and schismatics from the Church whether they be clergy or laity.

Hence, there is the biblical and ancient traditional support for papal infallibility and the universal primacy of papal authority in the Church that Christ has established. What Peter binds on earth, heaven binds. What Peter looses on earth, heaven looses. Heaven's reciprocal binding (estai dedemenon) and loosing (estai lelumenon) are in the passive voice. This could be translated as "shall be bound" or "shall having been bound" (The Biblical Basis for the Papacy). Heaven is receiving the binding and loosing from Peter and ratifying his decisions. At the same time, the Holy Spirit ensures that Peter makes the right decision in accordance with divine revelation.Just as God revealed to Peter a fundamental Christological truth of salvation, God will now confirm all of Peter's official teachings on salvation, and those of all his successors on the chair.

The future tense ("shall be bound") indicates that heaven's ratification of Peter's decisions will have occurred at the time he has made them. Heaven will ratify what heaven has guided him to say through the Holy Spirit and not by any private judgment of his (flesh and blood) that would amount to an arbitrary theological opinion. "The Holy Spirit's unique use of the future tense with the passive voice to describe heaven's reciprocal binding and loosing underscores that Peter truly speaks for heaven just as he did when he confessed the divinity of Christ. Peter's binding and loosing decisions are ordained by God.

The gift of papal infallibility basically means that God has protected Peter and protects all his estates who speak from his chair (ex-cathedra ) from teaching error in matters of faith and morals. The Holy Spirit guarantees that what they have declared and taught is part of God's revelation. Since Jesus has promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against his Church and has promised to send the Holy Spirit to guide the Church in all truth (Jn 16: 12-13; cf. 1 Tim 3:15) until his glorious return , papal teachings from the flesh of Peter will always be free from error. Any ex-cathedra pronouncement is a definitive teaching on faith or morals and is intended to be infallible and be believed by the entire Church without question because of the seal of the Holy Spirit.

EARLY SACRED TRADITION

“The church of God which sojourns at Rome to the church of God which sojourns at Corinth…
But if any disobey the words spoken by him through us, let them know that they will involve
themselves in transgression and in no small danger.”
St. (Pope) Clement of Rome
1st Epistle to the Corinthians, 1.59: 1
(c. AD 96)

“And he says to him again after the resurrection, 'Feed my sheep.' It is on him that he builds the Church, and to him that he entrusts the sheep to feed. And although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single Chair, thus establishing by his own authority the source and hallmark of the (Church's) oneness. No doubt the others were all that Peter was, but a primacy is given to Peter, and it is (thus) made clear that there is but one flock which is to be fed by all the apostles in common accord. If a man does not hold fast to this oneness of Peter, does he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he deserts the Chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, has he still confidence that he is in the Church? This unity firmly should we hold and maintain, especially we bishops, presiding in the Church, in order that we may approve the episcopate itself to be the one and undivided. ”
St. Cyprian of Carthage
The Unity of the Church, 4-5
(AD 251-256)

”The reason for your absence was both honorable and imperative, that the schismatic wolves might not rob and plunder by stealth nor the heretical dogs bark madly in the rapid fury nor the very serpent, the devil, discharge his blasphemous venom. So it seems to us right and altogether fitting that priests of the Lord from each and every province should report to their head, that is, to the See of Peter, the Apostle.”
Council of Sardica, To Pope Julius
(A.D. 342)

“You cannot deny that you know that in the city of Rome the Chair was first conferred on Peter,
in which the prince of all the Apostles, Peter, sat…in which Chair unity should be preserved by all,
so that he should now be a schismatic and a sinner who should set up another Chair against that unique one.”
St. Optatus of Mileve
The Schism of Donatists, 2:2-3
(c. A.D. 367)

“Philip, presbyter and legate of the Apostolic See, said: There is no doubt, and in fact it has been known in all ages, that the holy and most blessed Peter, prince and head of the apostles, pillar of the faith, and foundation of the Catholic Church, received the keys of the kingdom from our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Redeemer of the human race, and that to him was given the power of loosing and binding sins: Our holy and most blessed Pope Celestine the bishop is according to due order his successor and holds his place…Accordingly the decision of all churches is firm, for the priests of the eastern and western churches are present…Wherefore Nestorius knows that he is alienated from the communion of the priests of the Catholic Church.”
Council of Ephesus, Session III (A.D. 431)

“Wherefore the most holy and blessed Leo, archbishop of the great and elder Rome, through us, and through this present most holy synod together with the thrice blessed and all-glorious Peter the Apostle, who is the rock and foundation of the Catholic Church , and the foundation of the orthodox faith, hath stripped him of the episcopate, and hath alienated from him all hieratic worthiness. Therefore let this most holy and great synod sentence the before mentioned Dioscorus to the canonical penalties. ”
Council of Chalcedon, Session III (AD 451)

But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not:
and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren.
Luke 22, 32

And such some of you were, but you are washed, but you are sanctified,
but you are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6, 1

Protestants of the classical reformed persuasion mistakenly think Catholics have the wrong idea of ​​what it means to be declared just or righteous by God, having differentiated the Biblical concept of sanctification from justification. They see the person who is declared justified by God as merely being synthetically just, but not inherently made righteous by the power of divine grace that is infused into the human soul through the work of the Holy Spirit; justification does not involve a genuine renewal of being and supernatural transformation of the soul that effects interior holiness within the believer.Thus, in accordance with the logic of this Protestant conviction, God declares a person just or righteous even when they are sinful, only because of their faith in the redemptive merits of Christ ( sola Christo ). 

In this branch of Protestantism, the divine perfection that meets God's standards can never be attained by us in this life, but only in the life of glory that is to come once we have been released from the bonds of the flesh with its warring members. When God declares a person to be righteous or just, therefore, He considers the believer as such only by having come into a right relationship with Him. Justification involves a change of relationship with God, not an ontological change or genuine spiritual renewal in the person. Only by being covered with the extrinsic or "alien righteousness" of Christ by faith in him can believers be declared justified. Intrinsic righteousness of our own by the sanctifying grace of God has no bearing in their justification which is strictly forensic.

However, St. Paul uses the terms justification and sanctification interchangeably indicating a symbiosis between the two. We can better understand how justification and sanctification relate to each other in the apostle's theology by examining the metaphysics of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. He postulated that all created things exist on the principle of four causes: efficient, material, formal, and final. Our concern lies with formal causality since the Council of Trent defines sanctification as "the only formal cause ( causa formalis) of justification" in the instrumental application of our redemption ( Decree on Justification , Chapter Vll).The formal cause of all things consists of the elements of a conception or thing conceived to be what it is or the idea of ​​a formative principle in cooperation with matter. In other words, each thing is composed not only of matter but of form. Form is the principal determination that accounts for something being what it is (oak tree or justification). The substantial form of something accounts for its belonging to the species or category to which it belongs. 

Justification (a concept or state) could not substantially be what it is or is supposed to be according to God's design without its principal determination, namely sanctity. However, neither justification nor sanctification could acquire their forms unless they were determined by the principle of efficient causality, which puts something into effect. In this case, the efficient cause is grace bestowed by God in the forms of both Divine favor and Divine persuasion with practical results. Justification and sanctification are the results of the one Divine initiative, and so they function inter-dependently like two sides of a single coin: redemption. Thus neither state can fruitfully exist on its own in the Divine plan of redemption (final cause). 

Unless we are justified, by first receiving the initial grace of forgiveness, our sanctification through regeneration is moot. And unless we are sanctified, we cannot be justified before God when he personally judges the state of our souls. Anyway, in philosophical jargon, the final cause of something is its end or purpose. Justification is a process whose purpose is to free us from all guilt in our relationship with God and whose end is our predestination to glory. Without its principal determinant, the element of sanctity, the process of justification could not accomplish its purpose and achieve its end. Unless our righteousness (not Christ's alien righteousness) surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, we will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Mt 5:20).

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing;
it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are
what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
Ephesians 2, 8-10

In Catholic theology, justification is declarative and forensic in some sense or to some degree to the extent God has decreed to really make us righteous in his sight by the means of His efficacious grace and the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit produced for us strictly by Christ's redeeming merits. In other words, we are reconciled to God through the initial grace of forgiveness and justification by no natural merit of our own. Our renewal in spirit ultimately rests upon the redemption Christ achieved for all humanity strictly by his just merits in his passion and atoning death on the Cross. Christ alone has merited the gift of our salvation in strict justice by Divine decree. Indeed, the entire human race has fallen from perfect friendship with God.By nature, we are "children of wrath" being descendants of Adam and Eve. 

Only God can take the first step in reconciling us to Him and deliver us from our miserable state of sin and death. And so, God sent His Son to free the world from bondage by paying a ransom for us with his blood and making atonement on our behalf. Yet by his passion and death on the Cross, Christ became the principle of grace and human merit that allows us to actively participate in our redemption through self-denial and spiritual sacrifice which involves good works done in charity and grace by the prompting of the Holy Spirit. What God has willed should be brought to fruition with our cooperation and collaboration (subjective redemption).The elect has the privilege to help determine the final destiny of their souls with the help of God's saving grace in competition with what God has decreed and our free will.

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when
you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who
is now at work in those who are disobedient . All of us also lived among them at one time,
gratifying the cravings of our flesh, and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest
we were deserving by nature of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God who is rich
in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by
grace you have been saved.
Ephesians 2, 1-4

Hence, what lies at the root of the disagreement between Protestants and Catholics is not the question of whether the justification of a person is declarative or creative, nor whether justification is a single event or an on-going process in the life of an individual. It is more a question of how they differ in perceiving justification as naturally forensic. In Protestant theology, God does not declare a person just by effecting a genuine change in their nature, and so their justification is exclusively restricted to the legal sphere. In Catholicism, however, the forensic nature of justification is not so absolute. There is more thought given to how God declares a person just or righteous than there is on the Divine declaration itself.Both Divine action and human response have a role in the justification process. In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

Meanwhile, faithful Catholics have never believed that an individual can reckon himself as righteous by appealing to his natural moral works outside the influence of divine grace. Still, God's declaration of righteousness is seen as something more than a simple decree. By going a step further, Catholics see it as an effect in that whatever God declares to be, it is what it is produced to really be. A person can be declared just because they have been made intrinsically just by the sanctifying grace of God. They are a new creation in Christ who actually "conform" to the divine image by renouncing their old natural self (2 Cor. 5:17). The righteousness credited to them is not a fictional one, since it is produced by God with the individual's willing cooperation.By God's merciful standard, they have relatively reached a level of divine perfection in their finite humanity that is pleasing and just in His sight.

1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, [b] weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit… If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies [e] through His Spirit who dwells in you. 12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you [f] must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God… 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ , if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
Romans 8, 1-17

In Romans 3:28, St. Paul says, “For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.” What Paul means is that we aren't justified by observing the external ceremonies of the Old Covenant such as circumcision, kosher, and ritual washings after having made contact with unclean things. On the other hand, St. James would add that good works done in charity and grace are necessary for our salvation since it is by our faith in Christ and devotion to him that we are made just or righteous by fulfilling the spirit of the moral law .Having faith in Christ is primary since it is by having faith in him that we receive the Holy Spirit who justifies us by making us able to do with a renewed interior disposition what is pleasing and just and fulfill the moral requirements of God's law. 

Once we have been made just by grace through faith in Christ, we must follow the Spirit and live holy lives. The Holy Spirit enables us to live our lives pleasing to God but not without our cooperation and steadfastness in faith. St. Paul makes it clear in Romans 8: 1-17 that the “just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us” provided we “walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” We are given the chance to choose eternal life with God or eternal separation from God, “for if [we] walk according to the flesh, [we] will die (the second death), but if by the Spirit [we] put to death the deeds of the body, [we] will live. ” The apostle adds in V.16 that it's the Spirit Himself who is bearing witness to our spirit that we are children of God.We who choose to live by the flesh and disobey God are hostile to Him, while we who choose to live by the Spirit are sons and daughters of our heavenly Father, “and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified in Him. ” We must overcome our selfish desires regardless of how painful it might be if we hope to be reckoned as just and worthy of inheriting our eternal reward.

Therefore, as we have borne the image of the earthly,
let us bear also the image of the heavenly.
1 Corinthians 15, 49

Thus, we are justified by faith and not external works of the Old Dispensation because it is through faith in Christ and our love for Him that we receive the Holy Spirit who enters our lives and enables and empowers us to do what is just in God's sight . We shall be judged for the works that the Spirit has enabled us to do by giving us the strength to put the deeds of the body to death. Faith in Christ grants us the Holy Spirit to work in our lives so that we fulfill the moral law (love of God and neighbor) and be truly pleasing to God and judged worthy of being with Him eternally. 

St. Paul tells us that we must cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God (2 Cor 7: 1). The state of holiness must do with our internal being, originating from God who is the giver of sanctifying grace by the activity of the Holy Spirit. This holiness isn't merely a fabrication or a synthetic justification because of the stain of original sin and its effects on our human nature. Concupiscence constantly plagues us, but it isn't a sin. The truth is that, despite our sinful inclinations, Christ himself is in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord's indwelling brings about an internal transformation that renders us just and pleasing to God provided that we do not receive His grace in vain (2 Cor 3:15).God is hard at work in us, and He is so powerful, He can actually transform us by re-creating us and renewing our nature through His Holy Spirit (Phil 2:13).

God is not distant making impersonal, external declarations about us like a judge in a courtroom towards a defendant who needs to be bailed out by someone who can pay his debt for him without asking for anything in return. The view that God merely declares us righteous by covering us up with Christ's external righteousness, while pretending not to notice our inherent unrighteousness, denigrates the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives, who continues the work of the resurrected Christ for our justification infusing His sanctifying grace into our souls and thereby changing our interior being notwithstanding the bumps along the road to heaven because of our wounded nature. The gist of Romans 5:19 is that there isn't just a change of relational status between God and us,but an objective transformation of our human nature however gradual the process may be. God does not just declare us righteous but makes us righteous by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us. God said, “Let there be light,” and there was real light (Gen 1: 3). What God declares to be is an objective reality. 

So, "if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 Jn 1: 7). Jesus did not come into the world only to make atonement for sin but also to produce the sanctifying grace it takes for us to live holy lives and be righteous as he is righteous in his sacred humanity by applying his righteousness in our lives daily in cooperation with his saving grace and in collaboration with the Holy Spirit (1 Jn 3: 7). We are called to actively participate in the removal of guilt and forgiveness of our sins as to be just in God's sight. This is what God has declared should be if we hope to be saved in and through the merits of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

EARLY SACRED TRADITION

“So likewise men, if they do truly progress by faith towards better things, and receive the Spirit
of God, and bring forth the fruit thereof, shall be spiritual, as being planted in the paradise of
God. But if they cast out the Spirit, and remain in their former condition, desirous of being of
the flesh rather than of the Spirit, then it is very justly said with regard to men of this stamp,
‘That flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God… …For when men sleep, the enemy
sows the material of tares; and for this cause did the Lord command His disciples to be on the
watch. And again, those persons who are not bringing forth the fruits of righteousness, and
are, as it were, covered over and lost among brambles, if they use diligence, and receive the
word of God as a graft, arrive at the pristine nature of man–that which was created after the
image and likeness of God.”
St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 5:10,1
(A.D. 180)

“You are mistaken, and are deceived, whosoever you are, that think yourself rich in this world.
Listen to the voice of your Lord in the Apocalypse, rebuking men of your stamp with
righteous reproaches: ‘Thou sayest,’ says He, ‘I am rich, and increased with goods, and have
need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind,
and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white
raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear in
thee; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see.’ You therefore, who are rich
and wealthy, buy for yourself of Christ gold tried by fire; that you may be pure gold, with your
filth burnt out as if by fire, if you are purged by almsgiving and righteous works. Buy for
yourself white raiment, that you who had been naked according to Adam, and were before
frightful and unseemly, may be clothed with the white garment of Christ. And you who are a
wealthy and rich matron in Christ’s Church, anoint your eyes, not with the collyrium of the
devil, but with Christ’s eye-salve, that you may be able to attain to see God, by deserving well
of God, both by good works and character.”
St. Cyprian, On Works and Alms,14
(A.D. 254)

"He from the essence of the Father, nor is the Son again Son
according to essence, but in consequence of virtue,
as we who are called sons by grace."
St. Athanasius, Defense of the Nicene Creed, 22
(A.D. 351)

“You see indeed, then, how the strength of the Lord is cooperative in human endeavors,
so that no one can build without the Lord, no one can preserve without the Lord, no one
can build without the Lord, no one can preserve without the Lord, no one can undertake
anything without the Lord.”
St. Ambrose, Commentary on Luke, 2:84
(A.D. 389)

" 'To declare His righteousness.' What is declaring of righteousness? Like declaring of His
riches, not only for Him to be rich Himself, but also to make others rich, or of life, not only that
He is Himself living, but also that He makes the dead to live; and of His power, not only that
He is Himself powerful, but also that He makes the feeble powerful. So also is the declaring
of His righteousness not only that He is Himself righteous, but that He doth also make them
that are filled with the putrefying sores 'asapentas' of sin suddenly righteous.”
St. John Chrysostom, Romans, Homily Vll: 24, 25
(A.D. 391)

“All His saints, also, imitate Christ in the pursuit of righteousness; whence the
same apostle, whom we have already quoted, says: ‘Be ye imitators of me, as I am also of
Christ.’ But besides this imitation, His grace works within us our illumination and justification,
by that operation concerning which the same preacher of His [name] says: ‘Neither is he that
planteth anything, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.’ For by this grace
He engrafts into His body even baptized infants, who certainly have not yet become able to
imitate any one. As therefore He, in whom all are made alive, besides offering Himself as an
example of righteousness to those who imitate Him, gives also to those who believe on Him the
hidden grace of His Spirit, which He secretly infuses even into infants… ”
St. Augustine, On the merits and forgiveness of sins, 1: 9
(AD 412)

For I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the scribes
and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:20

Even though we were dead because of our sins,
he gave us life when he raised Jesus from the dead.
It is only by God's grace that you have been saved.
Ephesians 2, 5

St. Paul perceived salvation as embracing the threefold dimension of time: past, present, and future. In the original Greek, the statement "By grace you have been saved" reads χάριτί ἐστε σεσῳσμένοι ( chariti este sesōsmenoi ). χάριτί or "grace" comes from  chairo  which means "graciousness, of manner or act." The present indicative active - 2nd person plural - existential perfect verb form ἐστε or "have been" indicates a collective "ongoing existence" that has resulted from a past event. What has resulted from the past and continues to exist in the present is being "saved" or σεσῳσμένοι. The present indicative active verb carries with it the affirmation that "You exist"The perfect participle σεσῳσμένοι literally means "saved, delivered, or shielded." Thus, the persons who are saved or delivered through God's gracious act (grace or favor) continue in this state of existence as a result of a past event that is safeguarded from being nullified.

With respect to the past result that continues in the present, Paul is referring to the reason for our salvation and its condition: removal from guilt and the remission of sin. Christ's formal redemption of the world continues. The grace of justification and forgiveness which our Lord alone has merited for humanity is the permanent result of his passion, death, and resurrection. God has reconciled the world to Himself through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Rom 5: 10-11).

For we are the aroma of Christ to God
among those who are being saved
and among those who are perishing.
2 Corinthians 2:15

It is when we are baptized that we actively receive the grace of justification and forgiveness for our own interior renewal. This grace has been merited for us by Christ alone in strict justice and not by any preceding merit of ours. (2 Tim 1: 9; Titus 3: 5). The ongoing and dynamic process of justification and sanctification begins here in our journey of faith. By the redeeming merits of Jesus Christ, we are transformed internally from the state of being born a child of Adam into the state of being reborn in the Spirit.What happens here isn't a single event in our life of faith, which is now complete and eternally guarantees our individual salvation from that point on, but the beginning of an on-going process of growing in holiness and striving for spiritual perfection despite the occasional falls from grace and acts of contrition following one's baptism (2 Cor 7: 1).

By reading, “those who are being saved” in English, we might have the impression that St. Paul is addressing a community of believers who are in the act of being saved, but haven't conclusively been saved yet, or that to be saved is an ongoing number of actions in sequences of time rather than an acquired and existing state that is ongoing because of a single act. We mustn't confuse the ancient Greek present tense with the modern English present continuous tense. The present tense verb in NT Greek doesn't necessarily mean a continual or objective kind of action (saving someone from drowning) that is momentarily continuing within a restricted time frame until it concludes (Aktionsart).As we saw above, the grace of justification and forgiveness which our Lord alone has merited for humanity is the permanent result of his passion, death, and resurrection. Christ paid the ransom for sin once-for-all and reconciled humanity to God at a moment in time that occurred in the past with a complete and lasting effect. 

Therefore, the verb that Paul uses (“being saved”) is in the present tense. In koine Greek, we have σωζομένοις ( sōzomenois ). The apostle is addressing those who are “saved or rescued and safeguarded.” Still, when reading the NT in the original Greek, we must consider the author's vantage point on the action or on “being saved” (aspect). Greek verb tenses indicate the subjective portrayal of that action or state by the writer, which is called aspect. The aspectual tense mark of a Greek verb helps us see what the subjective portrayal of the action is but not without the aid of the analogy of Scripture. Let's proceed to see what Paul is saying to those who are saved and how their salvation might not be without any qualifications or conditions. By doing so, we will discover that Christ has formally saved us all in a collective sense but instrumentally our salvation is still something we must “work out” for ourselves and finally attain in a distributive sense. work out your own salvation with fear and trembling '(Phil 2:12). In other words, we must co-operate with our Lord by saving ourselves from drowning with his principal help now that he has taken charge of our eternal destiny by his single self-sacrifice.

Writing in the present tense, what Paul has in mind is the ongoing process of being made holy and righteous as opposed to habitually living in the state of sin like those who are "perishing" (Present participle: ἀπολλυμένοις / apollymenois “are destroyed” or “Do destroy”) in their obstinacy. Their baptismal commitment marks the next life-long stage of their justification and sanctification. In their journey of faith, the Corinthians who have received the grace of justification and forgiveness in their baptism may merit by right of friendship with God as a reward more grace and an increase in sanctification and charity as they grow towards a more perfect image of God in the conduct of their lives through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. 

Sanctification is the essence of justification. For us to be just before God we must be inherently holy and righteous. We couldn't be the "aroma of Christ" or Christ-like as members of his mystical Body unless our righteousness personally belonged to us by the infusion of sanctifying grace into our souls (2 Cor 13:15).

To be just in God's sight is to be intrinsically holy by the power of the Spirit who dwells in our souls. Thus, if we commit a mortal sin (ie, the act of adultery or bearing false witness against our neighbor), we risk forfeiting the salvation Christ gained for us since our souls would no longer be in the state of sanctifying grace until we confess our sins and make an act of contrition and do penance through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. For this reason, we must repent of our post-baptismal sins to be restored to friendship with God. 'We must look to ourselves that we lose not the things which we have wrought (a meritorious increase in grace or bearing fruit) but that we receive a full reward' (1 Jn 2: 8). 

Certainly, Paul didn't believe that justification is a static, single event in the lives of Christians which happened in the past and was completed by their baptism through faith in Christ. For him, it was an on-going process that required human collaboration with the work of God in the Holy Spirit and involved constructive transformations of the soul and daily renewal (2 Cor 3:18; 4:16; Eph 4: 22-24 ; Phil 2:13). Our own salvation is something we must faithfully “work out in fear and trembling” lest we fall from grace and revert to our former sinful ways at the cost of our salvation. We should have no reason to fear eternal condemnation and tremble by the thought if all we had to do was simply put our faith in Christ's redeeming merits and accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior.

Indeed, Peter concurs that we obtain our salvation as the outcome of our faith and implies that working out our salvation is a life-long process. 'Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not even see Him now, you believe and trust in Him and you greatly rejoice and delight with inexpressible and glorious joy, receiving as the result [the outcome, the consummation] of your faith, the salvation of your souls' ( 1 Pet 1: 8-9). First Peter is a powerful and encouraging letter to persecuted and suffering Christians in Rome who face the prospect of martyrdom. It is a reminder that they have hope in the midst of their suffering and impending death. The consummation of their faith, however, isn't hoping in God's promise and trusting in Jesus but in offering their suffering and death to God in participation with Christ in his passion and death out of love for him. Only then, can they hope to attain the goal of their faith, viz., Eternal life with God.

Faith must be put into action for the salvation of our souls. So, it's imperative that all baptized members in the Body of Christ persevere in faith to their last day. Jesus himself warns us that we must endure to the end if we hope to be saved now that he alone has produced for us at one time the gift of salvation. (Mt 10:22; 24:13; Mk 13:13). We mustn't allow ourselves to be destroyed or to destroy what Christ has gained for us.

This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running
out. Wake up for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
The night is past and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the
works of darkness and put on the armour of light.
Romans 13, 11

In his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul speaks of salvation as pending future attainment that's approaching ever nearer from the time his flock first professed their faith in Christ. Salvation, therefore, is something they must continually hope for in their pilgrimage of faith. It isn't something they have already obtained individually in their personal lives and can't ever lose notwithstanding the conduct of their lives. The apostle is concerned that they continually apply the Gospel truths in their daily lives to ensure that they finally receive what they hope for. Apparently, some members of the Roman church have reverted to their pre-baptismal sinful habits and behaved unworthily as disciples of Christ. 

Thus, Paul is exhorting these lapsed members to conform once again to their renewed way of life and persevere in grace before it's too late. Their particular judgment may arrive at any moment when it's least expected; so, it's time for them to "wake up" and stop deceiving themselves so that they won't be caught off guard and lose the salvation they hope for. There is no need for Paul to exhort the Roman Christians if they've already been assuredly saved upon their initial profession of faith in Christ (1 Cor 6: 9-11). By calling them to "put on the armor of light" Paul means that they should continue to persevere in grace so that they might be reckoned as righteous and saved at the time of death. The apostle understood very well that one's own salvation as instrumentally applied isn't guaranteed but is hoped for despite the formal redemption of all the descendants of Adam. (1 Cor 4: 4).

EARLY SACRED TRADITION

​​“And pray ye without ceasing in behalf of other men;
for there is hope of the repentance,  that they may attain to God.
For ‘cannot he that falls arise again, and he may attain to God.'”
Ignatius of Antioch, To the Ephesians, 10
( A.D. 110)

 ​“But He who raised Him up from the dead will raise up us also, if we do His will,
and walk in His commandments, and love what He loved, keeping ourselves from
all unrighteousness, covetousness, love of money, evil speaking, false witness;
not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing,’ or blow for blow, or cursing for
cursing, but being mindful of what the Lord said in His teaching: ‘Judge not, that
ye be not judged; forgive, and it shall be forgiven unto you; be merciful, that ye
may obtain mercy; with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you
again; and once more, “Blessed are the poor, and those that are persecuted for
righteousness’ sake, for theirs, is the kingdom of God.'”
Polycarp, To the Philippians, 2
(A.D. 135)

 “And as many of them, he added, as have repented, shall have their dwelling in
the tower. And those of them who have been slower in repenting shall dwell
within the walls. And as many as do not repent at all, but abide in their deeds,
shall utterly perish…Yet they also, being naturally good, on hearing my
commandments, purified themselves, and soon repented. Their dwelling,
accordingly, was in the tower. But if any one relapse into strife, he will be cast
out of the tower, and will lose his life.”
Hermas, The Shephard, 3:8:7
(A.D. 155)

“We have learned from the prophets, and we hold it to be true, that punishments,
and chastisements, and good rewards, are rendered according to the merit of
each man’s actions. Since if it be not so, but all things happen by fate, neither is
anything at all in our own power…But this we assert is inevitable fate, that they
who choose the good have worthy rewards, and they who choose the opposite
have their merited awards. For not like other things, as trees and quadrupeds,
which cannot act by choice, did God make man: for neither would he be worthy
of reward or praise did he not of himself choose the good, but were created for
this end; nor, if he were evil, would he be worthy of punishment, not being evil of
himself, but being able to be nothing else than what he was made.”
Justin Martyr, First Apology, 6
(A.D. 155)

“Whoever dies in his sins, even if he profess to believe in Christ, does not truly
believe in Him, and even if that which exists without works be called faith, such
faith is dead in itself, as we read in the Epistle bearing the name of James.”
Origen, Commentary on John, 19:6
(A.D. 232)

“He, in administering the righteous judgment of the Father to all, assigns to each
what is righteous according to his works….the justification will be seen in the
awarding to each that which is just; since to those who have done well shall be
assigned righteously eternal bliss, and to the lovers of iniquity shall be given
eternal punishment. And the fire which is un-quenchable and without end
awaits these latter, and a certain fiery worm which dieth not…But the righteous
will remember only the righteous deeds by which they reached the heavenly
kingdom, in which there is neither sleep, nor pain, nor corruption”
Hippolytus, Against Plato, 3
(ante A.D. 235)

“For both to prophesy and to cast out devils, and to do great acts upon the earth
is certainly a sublime and an admirable thing; but one does not attain the
kingdom of heaven although he is found in all these things, unless he walks in
the observance of the right and just way. The Lord denounces, and says, ‘Many
shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and
in Thy name have cast out devils, and in Thy name done many wonderful works
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that
work iniquity.’ There is need of righteousness, that one may deserve well of God
the Judge; we must obey His precepts and warnings, that our merits may receive
their reward.”
Cyprian, On the Unity of the Church, 16
(A.D. 251)

“Say not, none seeth me; think not, that there is no witness of the deed. Human
witness oftentimes there is not; but He who fashioned us, an unerring witness,
abides faithful in heaven, and beholds what thou doest. And the stains of sin also
remain in the body; for as when a wound has gone deep into the body, even if
there has been a healing, the scar remains, so sin wounds soul and body, and the
marks of its scars remain in all; and they are removed only from those who
receive the washing of Baptism. The past wounds therefore of soul and body God
heals by Baptism; against future ones let us one and all jointly guard ourselves,
that we may keep this vestment of the body pure, and may not for practicing
fornication and sensual indulgence or any other sin for a short season, lose the
salvation of heaven, but may inherit the eternal kingdom of God; of which may
God, of His own grace, deem all of you worthy.”
Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 18:19,20
(A.D. 350)

“But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved.”
Matthew 24,13