Merit
Do Catholics think we earn heaven?
Main teaching: De fide
The big question
Many Protestants believe Catholics think they can earn heaven by good works. Catholics do speak of “merit”. But if salvation is a free gift (Lesson 8.1), how can anyone deserve anything from God?
What the Church teaches
The good works of the justified truly merit an increase of grace, eternal life, and an increase of glory (Trent, Session VI, ch. 16 and canon 32; DH 1545–1549, 1582; CCC 2006–2011).
This merit is itself God’s gift. It rests on God’s free promise and on grace, not on any strict right we have over God (Trent, Session VI, ch. 16; CCC 2007–2008).
No one can merit the first grace, nor, strictly, the gift of final perseverance (Trent, Session VI, ch. 8 and canon 22; DH 1532, 1572; CCC 2010, 2027).
How sure is this? De fide. See CCC 2006–2011.
Where it comes from
Scripture. Jesus constantly speaks of reward: “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Matthew 5:12). Even “a cup of cold water” given in his name will not lose its reward (Matthew 10:42). At the judgement the King says to the just, “Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you”, because of what they did for “the least of these” (Matthew 25:34–40). God “will render to every man according to his works” (Romans 2:6). St Paul looks forward to “the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day” (2 Timothy 4:8).
Yet the same Jesus teaches humility before God: “So you also, when you have done all that is commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty’” (Luke 17:10).
The early Church. St Augustine put the Catholic understanding in one phrase, which the Church still prays in the Preface of the Saints: in crowning our merits, God crowns his own gifts (CCC 2006).
How theologians explain it
A child’s present. Imagine a child who buys her father a birthday present with pocket money he gave her. The present is truly hers to give, freely chosen, and her father is truly pleased with it. But everything she gave came from him. Merit before God is like that. Our good works are truly ours, freely done, and God truly rewards them. But the grace that made them possible, the freedom that chose them, and the promise that attaches a reward to them all come from God.
Why merit is possible at all. Between God and creatures there is no strict justice, as there is between equals, because everything we have is God’s. So merit before God rests on God’s own free decision to reward what his grace produces in us (Summa I-II, q. 114, a. 1). And because a person in grace is united to Christ, as a branch to the vine (John 15:5), their works share in the worth of Christ’s own.
The conditions of merit. For a work to merit, Pohle and the manuals list these requirements:
| Condition | Why |
|---|---|
| The person is in a state of grace | Only works done in union with Christ share in his worth |
| The act is free | Merit belongs to free choices |
| The act is morally good | Evil cannot be rewarded |
| It is done in this life | After death, the time for meriting is over |
| God has promised a reward | Merit before God rests on his promise |
What can and cannot be merited.
| Can be merited | Cannot be merited |
|---|---|
| An increase of sanctifying grace | The first grace of justification |
| Eternal life (if one dies in grace) | Final perseverance, strictly (it is a special gift to be prayed for) |
| An increase of glory in heaven | Anything for those not in grace |
The saints’ attitude. The holiest people have the least sense of their own merit. St Thérèse of Lisieux wrote in her Act of Oblation that she would come before God at the end of her life with empty hands, asking him to count not her works but his own love (CCC 2011). That is not a denial of merit; it is merit understood correctly, as God’s gift.
Philosophy bridge
In the philosophy course, merit is a right to a reward, created by a free act done for another. Between equals this is a matter of justice. Between God and creatures there can be no strict justice, so merit before God depends entirely on God’s free promise. That is why Augustine can say God crowns his own gifts.
What the Church does not claim
- Not that we earn heaven by our own strength. Merit is only possible through grace.
- Not that we can merit our first conversion. That is always a free gift.
- Not that God owes us anything strictly. God rewards because he promised, not because he is indebted.
- Not that we should boast. “We are unworthy servants” (Luke 17:10).
Check your understanding
- What did the Council of Trent teach about merit?
Show answer
That the good works of those in grace truly merit an increase of grace, eternal life, and an increase of glory, and that this merit rests on God’s grace and promise.
- Explain Augustine’s saying that “in crowning our merits, God crowns his own gifts”.
Show answer
Our good works are truly ours, but the grace that made them possible and the promise that rewards them come from God. So when God rewards our merits, he is rewarding what he himself gave.
- Use the image of a child’s present to explain merit.
Show answer
A child buys a present with money her father gave her. The gift is truly hers and he is truly pleased, yet everything came from him. Our good works are truly ours and God truly rewards them, yet the grace and promise come from God.
- Name two things that cannot be merited.
Show answer
The first grace of justification, and (strictly speaking) final perseverance. Also, nothing can be merited by someone not in grace.
- Name three conditions for a work to be meritorious.
Show answer
Any three of: the person is in a state of grace; the act is free; it is morally good; it is done in this life; God has promised a reward.