A coworker said he can’t recognize Catholics as Christians because the
Council of Trent condemned salvation by faith alone. What should I say?
by Steven O'Keefe, CAA Staff Apologist
The curious thing about the Council of Trent is that it does not actually condemn a doctrine of “faith alone.” Canon 9 of Session 6 reads: “If anyone says that the sinner is justified by faith alone, meaning that nothing else is required to cooperate in order to obtain the grace of justification, and that it is not in any way necessary that he be prepared and disposed by the action of his own will, let him be anathema.”

Notice that the Council didn’t condemn the slogan “faith alone.” Rather, it condemned a certain understanding of that slogan. Imagine a person who says, “I believe in Jesus. I know all my sins are forgiven. Therefore, I can do whatever I want!” Such a person has a type of “faith,” but both you and your coworker would agree that this hypothetical person lacks a true saving faith. He trusts Jesus, but there is something missing. He lacks an openness to God’s love which turns us away from evil.

Your friend likely knows of this attitude as “antinomianism.” No matter what you
call it, that was the idea which Trent condemned. You can be a faithful Catholic and believe you’re saved by “faith alone.” However, that “faith” cannot be limited to the acceptance of revealed truths and the trust that your sins have been forgiven. A true saving faith is a total giving over of yourself to God and His transforming love. This is why Pope Benedict XVI said in 2008, “Luther’s expression ‘sola fide’ is true if faith is not opposed to charity, to love.”