On Grace and Merit

Some people (see especially the comments there) seem to think that they understand Catholic doctrine better than even knowledgeable Catholics. I don't pretend to be a knowledgeable Catholic, but to pretend that the Church teaches legalism is absurd.

If it's not already obvious from the fact the Church condemned Pelagianism, and from the fact that The Angelic Doctor explicitly affirms that we cannot do any good without grace, and that we cannot keep the law without grace, and that we cannot merit eternal life without grace, and that we cannot prepare ourselves for grace without grace, and that we cannot stop sinning without grace, and that we cannot avoid sin without grace, and that we cannot persevere in doing good without grace, the Council of Trent doesn't leave it up to a mere question of theological opinion (although they thought quite highly of St. Thomas): "...it is necessary to believe that sins neither are remitted, nor ever were remitted save gratuitously by the mercy of God for Christ's sake" (Decree on Justification, Chapter IX).

And it's not like this is only dusty old theology, either. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says the same thing: "Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God" (#1996). And: "Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him" (#153). And: "Believing is possible only by grace and the interior helps of the Holy Spirit" (#154).

Does anything more really need to be said?

Of course, the Catholic denies sola fide. But denying this and professing legalism are really two separate things. Without question one can acknowledge the necessity of obeying God because we are Christians, not because we suppose that our obedience by itself earns us anything: "He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing" (Jn. 15:5). "When you have done all that is commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty'" (Lk. 17:10).

On top of all this, it seems to me that legalism is irrational: if someone supposedly merits something from God, it means that God owes it to him. But how can such an absurd position arise? God didn't need to make us; how on earth then would it be possible that we could be in a position to demand salvation from him? The very idea is silly, even assuming that we didn't deserve the exact opposite on account of our sins.

The long and short of it is that the Catholic Church has never condoned legalism, and those Protestants who pretend otherwise simply do not understand what we believe.