Ephesians 2:8

Protestants often cite Eph 2:8 to support their view of Justification as a one-time, certain, and once saved, always saved type of Justification. But in fact Eph 2:8 reflects completely the Catholic view of Justification.

In fact, if you will ask me, the Protestants' interpretation of Eph 2 as an unequivocal endorsement of the Protestant view strikes me as a bit stretched. This is because of one tiny detail in Eph 2 “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”

You see, if we have to believe that one gets to heaven with his sins and all, we have to tear off quite a number of pages in Sacred Scripture, as Sacred Scripture is replete with passages which clearly show that to get to heaven, one must be without sin, e.g., Ps 50:30, Is 43:25, Is 44:22, Acts 3:19, 1 Cor 6:11, Acts 22:16, Heb 1:3, Mt 26:28, Eph 1:7, Ez 36:25, Is 1:16, 1 John 1:7, among many others.

Ez 36:25 - I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.

1 John 1:7 -But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Now please let me use an example from real life of what I mean.

Her life is a litany of woe: poor, homeless, uneducated, a runaway at 10, a drug user. Coming from a broken family, she spent several years in reform schools, married at 16, separated shortly thereafter. Her marriage ended abruptly after her husband beat her blue after learning she was pregnant. She actually wanted to keep the baby but her mother took the baby away.

Unhitched again, she had another child born out of wedlock with another man; this child she gave up for adoption. When again she got pregnant, she wanted an abortion. She was 21.

Then two feminist lawyers approached her. The rest is history. On June 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court, in the infamous Roe vs. Wade, opened the United States wide to abortion.
Our lady above is the Roe in Roe vs Wade.

But her story was to have an unexpected twist. Operation Rescue, an anti-abortion group, moved in next to an abortion clinic where "Jane Roe" worked. Now, an Operation Rescue volunteer Ronda Mackey has a daughter, Emily, who, in her childhood exuberance, befriended "jane Roe" for the person that she is. It was not easy for "Roe" to respond in kind because she had difficulty bonding with children. The child’s innocence, however, melted her heart away. “It just destroyed me when I realized that ‘my law’ had almost snuffed out Emily’s life”, she wrote. It seems that Emily was herself almost aborted under pressure from her Mom’s family and fiancé.

Shortly thereafter, she became an outspoken opponent of abortion. On June 15, 1998, she was baptized by a pastor. On August 17, 1998, she was accepted into the Catholic Church by Fr. Frank Pavone, International Director of Priests for Life.

Here’s how the Church would explain this phenomenon. Even while "Roe" was in a state of sin (she shared in the culpability in every abortion done after Roe vs Wade), God has been sending her antecedent grace.

We don’t know how many such grace have been sent before "Roe" started assenting to the workings of grace, what’s certain is that somewhere along the way, "Roe" said yes to one, which resulted in God sending her more, and more, and more, till she responded positively to the unqualified love shown her by Emily, which resulted in her realizing the wrong she has done, culminating at her being baptized in 1998.

Here’s an expanded Ephesians 2 (NIV)

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 sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects 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. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Please tell me which part of Eph 2 tells us that it could not possibly describe the case above.

“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 sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath”.- This is a fairly accurate description of "Roe" before she met Emily. Note, for instance, that she was working for an abortion clinic at the time, sharing in the culpability of every abortion done there.

“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.”- This is the antecedent grace the Church teaches us about. Note

Rev 3:20 “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”

John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”- “seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. . .” This describes what happened to "Roe" at her baptism, which as the Church teaches, "Roe" was made no less than a partaker in the divine nature, an adopted daughter of God, co-heir with Christ, as generation consists in the communication of the generator to the generated (Ps 8:1-6, John 10:34 ff, John 1:12 ff, John 3:5, 1 John 3:19, Titus 3:5, James 1:18, 1 Pet 1:2).

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”- Exactly. If you will notice, up until the time "Roe" met Emily, "Roe" was working in an abortion clinic. She was about her usual routine, in other words at the very least condoning abortion, although, of course, we can never be sure there have already been doubts in her mind. Unless further details will come out later, as when "Roe" will write an autobiography, we can say that "Roe's" conversion is almost Paul-like. The Church teaches: through Christ alone, through grace alone, through faith and works done in love, always by the Holy Spirit.