'Implicit Faith in Christ' Does Not Suffice for Justificatio

By Brother André Marie (from  https://catholicism.org/ )

 

FATHER Thomas Crean, O.P., Dr. Alan Fimister, and Dr. John Joy have authored a twenty-five-page scholarly article, written in the scholastic format, in the pages of the theological journal, Divinitas. Called “Can a Person Be Justified by ‘Implicit Faith in Christ’?,” the article is available for purchase as a download from the Divinitas website (at $4.28, it’s a bargain).

The article’s abstract gives the scope of the work of these three scholars:

In this article the question is treated whether explicit faith in Christ is necessary for justification. The introduction specifies the state of the question, lays out the thesis that is being defended, and gives the reasons for the scholastic format of the article. The objections are then stated. The arguments stem from both speculative and positive theology involving all possible sources: Scripture, Magisterium, Church Fathers, etc. The respondeo affirms explicit faith in Christ as a necessity of means for justification, insisting on the gratuity and supernaturality of salvation. The contrary opinions of some later theologians are then briefly exposed. Lastly the objections are each answered individually.

The authors opted to use the scholastic format, first stating the objections to their thesis (eighteen of them!), then a sed contra (“on the contrary”), then the detailed development of their own thesis, followed by answers to the objections. All this is in the fashion of Saint Thomas Aquinas and other mediaeval scholastic theologians. Crean, Fimister, and Joy adopt this method not as an exercise in creative anachronism, but, as they say, in order to separate their own positive statement of the thesis they are upholding from their replies to objections against it.

Fr. Barron please read: Saints on the Few that are Saved

'Lord, are they few that are saved? But he said to them: Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able.'

Luke 13:23-24

'For many are called, but few chosen.'

Mark 20:16

'Behold how many there are who are called, and how few who are chosen! And behold, if you have no care for yourself, your perdition is more certain than your amendment, especially since the way that leads to eternal life is so narrow.'

St. John of the Cross, Doctor of the Church

'The saved are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are: yet amongst those few I wish to be!'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, Doctor of the Church

'The more the wicked abound, so much the more must we suffer with them in patience; for on the threshing floor few are the grains carried into the barns, but high are the piles of chaff burned with fire.'

Pope St. Gregory the Great, Doctor and Father of the Church

The Fewness of Those [Catholics] who are Saved

The Fewness of Those [Catholics] who are Saved

by St. Leonard of Port Maurice O.F.M. (A.D. 1751)

This sermon is logically divided into two parts. The first, demonstrates that most Catholics are damned, and is based on revelation, tradition, the opinion of learned theologians, as well as "reason, experience and the common sense of the faithful". The second is more speculative, in which St. Leonard advances the proposition, which I have not infrequently heard, (and which I have, indeed, stated myself,) that people are only damned if they want to be. I consider that to be possibly erroneous. The second also contains an evidently false proposition, at least in an obvious reading. Therefore, although it contains much that is admirable, I have omitted that part of the discussion. Anyway, it should be noted when reading the text, that the Saint is only concerned to discuss Catholics here, as it is of the faith that all who die as non-Catholics are damned; thus, when he uses the word "Christian", one should be aware that he is referring only to Catholics. I have added the paragraphing to assist readers. --