These fresh working translations were made directly from the enacted Latin and reviewed against both the Latin and the older English translation. Scripture embedded in the conciliar text is italicized, with references supplied as editorial aids. DH numbers are locators and are not part of the enacted text.
Session V — Decree Concerning Original Sin The proem, all five canons, and the Marian declaration (DH 1510–1516).
Proem — DH 1510
In order that our Catholic faith, without which it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6), may, once errors have been purged away, remain whole and undefiled in its own purity, and that the Christian people may not be carried about by every wind of doctrine (Eph 4:14)—since that ancient serpent, the perpetual enemy of the human race, amid the many evils by which the Church of God is troubled in these our times, has stirred up concerning original sin and its remedy not only new but also old dissensions—the sacred and holy, ecumenical and general Council of Trent, lawfully assembled in the Holy Spirit, the same three legates of the Apostolic See presiding therein, wishing now to proceed to recall those who err and to strengthen those who waver, and following the testimonies of the sacred Scriptures, of the holy Fathers, and of the most approved councils, as well as the judgment and consent of the Church herself, establishes, confesses, and declares the following concerning original sin itself.
Canon 1 — DH 1511
If anyone does not confess that the first man, Adam, when he had transgressed the commandment of God in paradise, immediately lost the holiness and justice in which he had been constituted; and that, through the offense of this transgression, he incurred the wrath and indignation of God, and consequently the death with which God had previously threatened him, and, together with death, captivity under the power of him who thereafter held the dominion of death, that is, the devil (Heb 2:14); and that the whole Adam, through the offense of that transgression, was changed for the worse according to body and soul: let him be anathema.
Canon 2 — DH 1512
If anyone asserts that Adam’s transgression harmed himself alone and not his descendants; that the holiness and justice received from God, which he lost, he lost for himself alone and not also for us; or that, defiled as he was by the sin of disobedience, he transmitted to the whole human race only death and bodily punishments, but not also sin, which is the death of the soul: let him be anathema, since he contradicts the Apostle, who says: “Through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death; and so death passed into all men, in whom all sinned.” (Rom 5:12)
Canon 3 — DH 1513
If anyone asserts that this sin of Adam—which is one in origin and, transmitted to all by propagation, not by imitation, is present in each as his own—is removed either by the powers of human nature or by any remedy other than the merit of the one mediator, our Lord Jesus Christ, who reconciled us to God in his blood, having been made unto us justice, sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor 1:30); or denies that the merit of Christ Jesus himself is applied both to adults and to infants by the sacrament of baptism rightly conferred according to the form of the Church: let him be anathema.
For there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12). Hence that word: “Behold the Lamb of God; behold him who takes away the sins of the world.” (John 1:29) And that other: “All you who have been baptized have put on Christ.” (Gal 3:27)
Canon 4 — DH 1514
If anyone denies that newborn infants are to be baptized, even if born of baptized parents; or says that they are indeed baptized for the remission of sins, but derive from Adam no original sin that must be expiated by the laver of regeneration for the attainment of eternal life—from which it follows that in them the form of baptism “for the remission of sins” is understood not as true but as false: let him be anathema.
For what the Apostle says—“Through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death; and so death passed into all men, in whom all sinned” (Rom 5:12)—is not to be understood otherwise than as the Catholic Church, spread everywhere, has always understood it. For, by reason of this rule of faith derived from the tradition of the Apostles, even infants, who have not yet been able to commit any sins in themselves, are therefore truly baptized for the remission of sins, so that what they contracted by generation may be cleansed in them by regeneration. For unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5).
Canon 5 — DH 1515
If anyone denies that the guilt of original sin is remitted through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ conferred in baptism; or even asserts that the whole of that which has the true and proper nature of sin is not taken away, but says that it is only erased or not imputed: let him be anathema.
For in those reborn God hates nothing, because there is no condemnation in those (Rom 8:1) who are truly buried with Christ through baptism into death (Rom 6:4); who walk not according to the flesh (Rom 8:1), but, putting off the old man and putting on the new, who is created according to God (Eph 4:22, 24; Col 3:9–10), have become innocent, immaculate, pure, guiltless, and beloved sons of God; heirs indeed of God and coheirs with Christ (Rom 8:17), so that nothing whatever holds them back from entering heaven.
The holy Synod confesses and holds, however, that concupiscence, or the fomes, remains in the baptized. Since it has been left for the struggle, it has no power to harm those who do not consent but resist manfully through the grace of Christ Jesus. Indeed, “he who has striven lawfully will be crowned.” (2 Tim 2:5)
This concupiscence, which the Apostle at times calls sin, the holy Synod declares that the Catholic Church has never understood to be called sin in the sense that it is truly and properly sin in the reborn, but because it is from sin and inclines to sin. But if anyone holds the contrary: let him be anathema.
Marian declaration — DH 1516
The same holy Synod declares, nevertheless, that it is not its intention to include in this decree, where original sin is treated, the blessed and immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God; but that the constitutions of Pope Sixtus IV, of happy memory, are to be observed, under the penalties contained in those constitutions, which it renews.
Session VI — Decree on Justification The proem and all sixteen doctrinal chapters (DH 1520–1550).
Proem — DH 1520
Since at this time a certain erroneous doctrine concerning justification has been disseminated, not without the loss of many souls and grave detriment to the unity of the Church, the sacred, holy, ecumenical, and general Synod of Trent, lawfully assembled in the Holy Spirit—there presiding in it, in the name of our most holy father and lord in Christ, Paul III, by divine providence Pope, the most reverend lords John Mary de Monte, Bishop of Palestrina, and Marcellus, cardinal-priest of the title of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, cardinals of the Holy Roman Church and apostolic legates a latere—intends, to the praise and glory of almighty God, the tranquillity of the Church, and the salvation of souls, to set forth for all Christ’s faithful the true and sound doctrine of justification: that doctrine which Christ Jesus, the “Sun of Justice” (Mal 4:2) and the “author and finisher of our faith” (Heb 12:2), taught; which the Apostles handed down; and which the Catholic Church, under the prompting of the Holy Spirit, has perpetually retained. It strictly forbids anyone henceforth to dare to believe, preach, or teach otherwise than is established and declared by the present decree.
Chapter I
On the Inability of Nature and of the Law to Justify Men — DH 1521
First, the holy Synod declares that, for the doctrine of justification to be understood rightly and soundly, each one must acknowledge and confess that, since all men had lost innocence through Adam’s transgression, becoming “unclean” (Isa 64:6) and, as the Apostle says, “by nature children of wrath” (Eph 2:3), as it set forth in the decree on original sin, they were so thoroughly “servants of sin” (Rom 6:20) and under the power of the devil and of death that not only the Gentiles by the power of nature, but not even the Jews by the very letter of the law of Moses, could be liberated or rise from that condition, although free will was by no means extinguished in them, albeit weakened and bent in its powers.
Chapter II
On the Dispensation and Mystery of Christ’s Advent — DH 1522
Hence it came to pass that the heavenly Father, the “Father of mercies and the God of all consolation” (2 Cor 1:3), when that blessed “fullness of time” (Gal 4:4) had come, sent to men Christ Jesus, his Son, who had been declared and promised to many holy fathers both before the Law and in the time of the Law, that he might redeem the Jews who were under the Law, that “the Gentiles who did not pursue justice might attain justice” (Rom 9:30), and that all might “receive the adoption of sons” (Gal 4:5).
“God set him forth as a propitiator through faith in his blood for our sins” (Rom 3:25), “and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).
Chapter III
Who Are Justified Through Christ — DH 1523
But although he “died for all” (2 Cor 5:15), not all receive the benefit of his death, but only those to whom the merit of his Passion is communicated. For just as men would not in truth be born unjust unless they were born by propagation from the seed of Adam—since through that propagation they contract from him, when they are conceived, injustice as their own—so, unless they were born again in Christ, they would never be justified, since in that new birth there is bestowed upon them, through the merit of his Passion, the grace by which they are made just.
For this benefit the Apostle exhorts us always to give thanks to the Father, “who has made us worthy to share in the lot of the saints in light, and has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, in whom we have redemption and the remission of sins” (Col 1:12–14).
Chapter IV
A Description of the Justification of the Impious and Its Manner in the State of Grace Is Set Forth — DH 1524
By these words a description of the justification of the impious is set forth: that it is a translation from the state in which man is born a son of the first Adam into the state of grace and of the “adoption of the sons” (Rom 8:15) of God through the second Adam, Jesus Christ our Saviour. After the Gospel was promulgated, this translation cannot take place without the “laver of regeneration” (Titus 3:5) or the desire for it, as it is written: “Unless one be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).
Chapter V
On the Necessity of Preparation for Justification in Adults, and Whence It Comes — DH 1525
The Synod further declares that, in adults, the beginning of justification itself must be taken from God’s prevenient grace through Christ Jesus, that is, from his calling, by which they are called without any merits existing on their part. Thus those who had been turned away from God through sins may, through his awakening and assisting grace, be disposed to turn themselves toward their own justification by freely assenting to and cooperating with that same grace. In such wise, when God touches the heart of man through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, man himself does not remain wholly inactive while receiving that inspiration, since he can indeed reject it; yet neither can he, of his own free will and without the grace of God, move himself toward justice in God’s sight.
Hence, when it is said in the sacred writings, “Turn to me, and I will turn to you” (Zech 1:3), we are admonished of our freedom; when we answer, “Turn us, O Lord, to you, and we shall be turned” (Lam 5:21), we confess that God’s grace goes before us.
Chapter VI
The Manner of Preparation
DH 1526
They are disposed to that justice when, awakened and assisted by divine grace, conceiving faith “from hearing” (Rom 10:17), they are freely moved toward God, believing to be true the things divinely revealed and promised, and this above all: that the impious is justified by God through his grace, “through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24). And when they understand that they are sinners, by turning from the fear of divine justice, by which they are salutarily shaken, to consider the mercy of God, they are raised up to hope, trusting that God will be propitious to them for Christ’s sake; they begin to love him as the fountain of all justice; and for that reason they are moved against sins by a certain hatred and detestation, that is, by that penitence which must be performed before Baptism. Lastly, they resolve to receive Baptism, to begin a new life, and to keep the divine commandments.
DH 1527
Concerning this disposition it is written: “He who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him” (Heb 11:6); and, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven you” (Matt 9:2); and, “The fear of the Lord drives out sin” (Sir 1:27 [1:21]); and, “Do penance, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38); and, “Going therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19–20); finally, “Prepare your hearts unto the Lord” (1 Sam 7:3).
Chapter VII
What the Justification of the Impious Is, and What Its Causes Are
DH 1528
Justification itself follows this disposition or preparation. It is not the remission of sins alone, but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward man through the voluntary reception of grace and of the gifts, whereby man from unjust becomes just, and from an enemy becomes a friend, that he may be “an heir according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7).
DH 1529
The causes of this justification are these: the final cause is the glory of God and of Christ and eternal life; the efficient cause is the merciful God, who “washes and sanctifies” (1 Cor 6:11) gratuitously, “sealing and anointing with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the pledge of our inheritance” (Eph 1:13–14; cf. 2 Cor 1:21–22); the meritorious cause is his most beloved Only-begotten, our Lord Jesus Christ, who, “when we were enemies” (Rom 5:10), by reason of “the exceeding charity with which he loved us” (Eph 2:4), merited justification for us by his most holy Passion on the wood of the Cross and made satisfaction for us to God the Father; the instrumental cause, moreover, is the Sacrament of Baptism, which is the sacrament of faith, without which faith no one has ever obtained justification.
Lastly, the sole formal cause is the justice of God: not that by which he himself is just, but that by which he makes us just; namely, that justice with which, being endowed by him, we are “renewed in the spirit of our mind” (Eph 4:23), and are not only reputed just, but are truly called just and are just, receiving justice within us, each his own according to the measure which the “Holy Spirit apportions to each as he wills” (1 Cor 12:11), and according to each one’s proper disposition and cooperation.
DH 1530
For although no one can be just unless the merits of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ are communicated to him, this nevertheless takes place in the justification of the impious when, by the merit of that same most holy Passion, “the charity of God is poured forth by the Holy Spirit in the hearts” (Rom 5:5) of those who are justified and inheres in them. Hence, in justification itself, together with the remission of sins, man receives through Jesus Christ, into whom he is grafted, all these gifts infused at once: faith, hope, and charity.
DH 1531
For unless hope and charity are added to faith, it neither unites man perfectly with Christ nor makes him a living member of his body. For this reason it is most truly said that “faith without works is dead and idle” (Jas 2:17, 20, 26), and that “in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision, but faith which works through charity” (Gal 5:6). In accordance with the tradition of the Apostles, catechumens ask this faith of the Church before the Sacrament of Baptism, when they ask for faith which bestows eternal life—a life which faith cannot bestow without hope and charity.
Hence they also hear at once the word of Christ: “If you would enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matt 19:17). Therefore, upon receiving true and Christian justice, immediately after being born again they are commanded to preserve it white and spotless, as the first robe given to them through Christ Jesus in place of that which Adam by his disobedience lost for himself and for us, so that they may carry it before the judgment seat of our Lord Jesus Christ and may have eternal life.
Chapter VIII
How It Is to Be Understood That the Impious Is Justified by Faith and Gratuitously — DH 1532
But when the Apostle says that man is justified “by faith” (Rom 3:28) and “gratuitously” (Rom 3:24), those words are to be understood in the sense which the perpetual consent of the Catholic Church has held and expressed: namely, that we are therefore said to be justified by faith because faith is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation and root of all justification, “without which it is impossible to please God” (Heb 11:6) and to come into the fellowship of his sons; and that we are therefore said to be justified gratuitously because none of those things which precede justification—whether faith or works—merits the grace itself of justification. “For if it is grace, it is no longer from works; otherwise,” as the same Apostle says, “grace is no longer grace” (Rom 11:6).
Chapter IX
Against the Vain Confidence of Heretics
DH 1533
Although it is necessary to believe that sins are not forgiven, and never have been forgiven, except gratuitously by the divine mercy for Christ’s sake, nevertheless it must not be said that sins are forgiven or have been forgiven to anyone who vaunts his confidence and certainty concerning the forgiveness of his sins and rests upon that alone. For such confidence can exist among heretics and schismatics; indeed, in our own time it does exist and is preached with great vehemence against the Catholic Church—this confidence which is vain and far removed from all piety.
DH 1534
Neither is it to be asserted that those who have truly been justified ought, without any doubt whatsoever, to determine within themselves that they are justified; or that no one is absolved from sins and justified except one who believes with certainty that he is absolved and justified; or that absolution and justification are accomplished by this faith alone—as though one who does not believe this were doubting the promises of God and the efficacy of Christ’s death and resurrection.
For just as no pious person ought to doubt the mercy of God, the merit of Christ, or the power and efficacy of the sacraments, so each person, when he considers himself and his own weakness and indisposition, may entertain fear and apprehension concerning his own grace, since no one can know with the certainty of faith, in which falsehood can have no place, that he has obtained the grace of God.
Chapter X
On the Increase of Justification Received — DH 1535
Thus justified and made friends (John 15:15) and members of the household of God (Eph 2:19), advancing from virtue to virtue (Ps 83:8 [84:7]), they are renewed, as the Apostle says, day by day (2 Cor 4:16). That is, by mortifying the members of their flesh (Col 3:5) and presenting them as instruments of justice unto sanctification (Rom 6:13, 19), through the observance of the commandments of God and of the Church, they increase in that very justice which they have received through the grace of Christ, faith cooperating with good works (Jas 2:22), and they are justified still further. Thus it is written: “He that is just, let him be justified still” (Rev 22:11); and again: “Be not afraid to be justified even unto death” (Sir 18:22); and again: “You see that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.” (Jas 2:24)
Holy Church asks for this increase of justice when she prays: “Give us, O Lord, an increase of faith, hope, and charity.”
Chapter XI
On the Observance of the Commandments, and on Its Necessity and Possibility
DH 1536
No one, however much justified, ought to think himself free from the observance of the commandments. No one ought to employ that rash saying, forbidden by the Fathers under anathema, that the commandments of God are impossible for a justified man to observe.
For God does not command impossibilities; rather, by commanding, he admonishes you both to do what you can and to ask for what you cannot, and he aids you that you may be able. His commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5:3); his yoke is sweet and his burden light (Matt 11:30). For those who are sons of God love Christ; and those who love him, as he himself testifies, keep his words (John 14:23), which with divine help they are certainly able to do.
DH 1537
For although in this mortal life men, however holy and just, sometimes fall into at least light and daily sins, which are also called venial, they do not thereby cease to be just. For that prayer of the just, “Forgive us our debts” (Matt 6:12), is both humble and true.
Hence the just themselves ought to feel all the more bound to walk in the way of justice, because, having now been freed from sin and made servants of God (Rom 6:22), they are able, by living soberly, justly, and piously (Titus 2:12), to advance through Christ Jesus, through whom they have obtained access to this grace (Rom 5:2). For God does not forsake those whom he has once justified by his grace, unless he is first forsaken by them.
DH 1538
Therefore no one ought to flatter himself with faith alone, thinking that by faith alone he has been made an heir and will obtain the inheritance, even though he does not suffer with Christ, that he may also be glorified with him (Rom 8:17). For even Christ himself, as the Apostle says, although he was the Son of God, learned obedience from the things he suffered; and, having been made perfect, he became the cause of eternal salvation for all who obey him (Heb 5:8–9).
For this reason the same Apostle admonishes the justified, saying: “Do you not know that those who run in the race all indeed run, but one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty; I so fight, not as one beating the air. Rather, I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps, after preaching to others, I myself should become reprobate.” (1 Cor 9:24–27)
Likewise Peter, the prince of the Apostles, says: “Labour the more to make your calling and election sure by good works; for in doing these things you shall not sin at any time.” (2 Pet 1:10)
DH 1539
It is therefore clear that those oppose the doctrine of orthodox religion who say that the just man sins at least venially in every good work, or—what is still more intolerable—that he merits eternal punishments. The same is true of those who maintain that the just sin in all their works if, in those works, while stirring themselves out of their own sluggishness and encouraging themselves to run in the race, they look also to the eternal reward, together with this purpose: that God be glorified above all. For it is written: “I have inclined my heart to perform all your justifications for the reward” (Ps 118:112 [119:112]); and the Apostle says of Moses that “he looked to the reward.” (Heb 11:26)
Chapter XII
Rash Presumption Concerning Predestination Is to Be Avoided — DH 1540
No one, moreover, for as long as he lives in this mortal state, ought so far to presume concerning the hidden mystery of divine predestination as to determine with certainty that he is assuredly numbered among the predestined, as though it were true that a justified man either can sin no more or, if he sins, ought to promise himself a certain repentance. For, except by a special revelation, it cannot be known whom God has chosen for himself.
Chapter XIII
On the Gift of Perseverance — DH 1541
Likewise, concerning the gift of perseverance, of which it is written, “He who shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved” (Matt 10:22; 24:13)—a gift which can be had from no one except him who is able to establish the man who stands (Rom 14:4) so that he may stand perseveringly, and to restore the man who falls—let no one promise himself anything as certain with absolute certainty, although all ought to place and repose a most firm hope in God’s help.
For unless they themselves fail his grace, God, as he has begun the good work, will also perfect it (Phil 1:6), working in them both to will and to accomplish (Phil 2:13).
Nevertheless, let those who think themselves to stand take heed lest they fall (1 Cor 10:12), and let them work out their salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12), in labours, in watchings, in almsgiving, in prayers and oblations, in fastings and chastity. For they ought to have fear in view of the combat that remains with the flesh, with the world, and with the devil, knowing that they have been born again unto the hope of glory, but not yet unto glory. In this combat they cannot be victorious unless, with the grace of God, they obey the Apostle, who says: “We are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die; but if by the Spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live.” (Rom 8:12–13)
Chapter XIV
On the Fallen and Their Restoration
DH 1542
Those who by sin have fallen away from the grace of justification received can be justified again when, God arousing them, they seek through the sacrament of Penance, by the merit of Christ, to recover the grace they have lost.
For this manner of justification is the restoration of the fallen, which the holy Fathers aptly called “the second plank after the shipwreck of lost grace.” Indeed, for those who after Baptism fall into sins, Christ Jesus instituted the sacrament of Penance when he said: “Receive the Holy Spirit: whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.” (John 20:22–23)
DH 1543
Hence it must be taught that the penitence of a Christian after his fall is very different from baptismal penitence, and that it comprises not only a cessation from sins and detestation of them, or “a contrite and humbled heart” (Ps 50:19 [51:17]), but also the sacramental confession of those sins—at least in desire and to be made in due time—and priestly absolution, as well as satisfaction by fasts, alms, prayers, and the other pious exercises of the spiritual life. This satisfaction is not for the eternal punishment, which together with the guilt is remitted either by the sacrament or by the desire for the sacrament, but for the temporal punishment. As sacred Scripture teaches, temporal punishment is not always wholly remitted, as it is in Baptism, to those who, ungrateful for the grace of God which they received, have grieved the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30) and have not feared to violate the temple of God (1 Cor 3:17).
Of this penitence it is written: “Be mindful whence you have fallen; do penance, and do the first works” (Rev 2:5); and again: “The sorrow that is according to God works a steadfast penitence unto salvation” (2 Cor 7:10); and again: “Do penance” (Matt 3:2; 4:17); and: “Bring forth fruits worthy of penance.” (Matt 3:8)
Chapter XV
That Grace Is Lost by Every Mortal Sin, but Faith Is Not — DH 1544
Against the cunning minds of certain men, who “by pleasing speeches and good words seduce the hearts of the innocent” (Rom 16:18), it must also be maintained that the grace of justification received is lost not only by unbelief, through which faith itself is also lost, but likewise by every other mortal sin, although faith is not lost.
In this way the doctrine of the divine law is defended, which excludes from the kingdom of God not only the unbelieving but also the faithful who are fornicators, adulterers, the effeminate, those who have intercourse with males, thieves, the covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners (1 Cor 6:9–10), and all others who commit mortal sins. From these sins they can abstain with the help of divine grace, and on account of them they are separated from the grace of Christ.
Chapter XVI
On the Fruit of Justification, That Is, on the Merit of Good Works and the Nature of That Merit
DH 1545
Therefore, before men justified in this manner—whether they have preserved without interruption the grace received or have recovered it after losing it—there must be set the words of the Apostle: “Abound in every good work” (2 Cor 9:8), “knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor 15:58); “For God is not unjust, that he should forget your work and the love which you have shown in his name” (Heb 6:10); and: “Do not lose your confidence, which has a great reward.” (Heb 10:35)
Therefore, to those who work well unto the end and hope in God, eternal life is to be proposed both as a grace mercifully promised to the sons of God through Christ Jesus and as a reward which, according to the promise of God himself, is to be faithfully rendered to their good works and merits.
For this is that crown of justice which, after his combat and course, the Apostle said was laid up for him, to be rendered to him by the just Judge—and not only to him, but also to all who love his coming (2 Tim 4:7–8).
DH 1546
For since Christ Jesus himself continually pours his power into the justified, as the head into the members and as the vine into the branches, and since this power always precedes, accompanies, and follows their good works, without which those works could in no wise be pleasing and meritorious before God, it must be believed that nothing further is wanting to the justified for them to be reckoned, by those very works which have been done in God, to have fully satisfied the divine law according to the state of this life and truly to have merited eternal life, to be obtained in its due time—provided, however, that they depart this life in grace.
For Christ our Saviour says: “If anyone shall drink of the water that I will give him, he shall not thirst for ever; but it shall become in him a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life.” (John 4:14)
DH 1547
Thus our own justice is neither established as our own, as though it came from ourselves, nor is the justice of God ignored or repudiated. For that justice which is called ours because through its inherence in us we are justified is also the justice of God, because it is infused into us by God through the merit of Christ.
DH 1548
Nor indeed is this to be omitted: although so much is ascribed to good works in sacred Scripture that Christ promises that even one who gives a drink of cold water to one of his least ones shall not be deprived of his reward (Matt 10:42), and the Apostle testifies that what is at present momentary and light in our tribulation works for us, beyond all measure, an eternal weight of glory (2 Cor 4:17), nevertheless, far be it that a Christian should trust or glory in himself and not in the Lord (1 Cor 1:31; 2 Cor 10:17), whose goodness toward all men is so great that he wills those things which are his gifts to be their merits.
DH 1549
And because “in many things we all offend” (Jas 3:2), each one ought to keep before his eyes the severity and judgment of God no less than his mercy and goodness. Nor ought anyone to judge himself, even though he be conscious of nothing against himself (1 Cor 4:4), because the whole life of men is to be examined and judged, not by human judgment, but by God’s. He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of hearts, and then each one shall have praise from God (1 Cor 4:5), who, as it is written, “will render to each one according to his works.” (Matt 16:27; cf. Rom 2:6)
Bridge to the Canons — DH 1550
After this Catholic doctrine on justification—which, unless each one receives it faithfully and firmly, he cannot be justified—it has pleased the holy Synod to append the following canons, so that all may know not only what they ought to hold and follow, but also what they ought to avoid and shun.
Session VI — Canons on Justification The complete series of thirty-three canons (DH 1550–1583).
The Council’s Introduction to the Canons — DH 1550
After this Catholic doctrine on justification—which, unless each one receives it faithfully and firmly, he cannot be justified—it has pleased the holy Synod to append the following canons, so that all may know not only what they ought to hold and follow, but also what they ought to avoid and shun.
Canon 1 — DH 1551
If anyone says that man can be justified before God by his own works, which are done either by the powers of human nature or through the teaching of the Law, without divine grace through Jesus Christ, let him be anathema.
Canon 2 — DH 1552
If anyone says that divine grace through Jesus Christ is given only for this purpose: that man may be able more easily to live justly and to merit eternal life, as though by free will without grace he could do both, albeit laboriously and with difficulty, let him be anathema.
Canon 3 — DH 1553
If anyone says that, without the prevenient inspiration of the Holy Spirit and his assistance, man can believe, hope, and love, or repent, as he ought, so that the grace of justification may be conferred upon him, let him be anathema.
Canon 4 — DH 1554
If anyone says that man’s free will, moved and aroused by God, cooperates in no way by assenting to God as he arouses and calls, so that it may dispose and prepare itself to obtain the grace of justification; and that it cannot dissent if it wills to do so, but, like something inanimate, does nothing at all and bears itself merely passively, let him be anathema.
Canon 5 — DH 1555
If anyone says that man’s free will was lost and extinguished after Adam’s sin, or that it is a thing existing in name alone—indeed, a name without a reality—and, finally, a fiction introduced into the Church by Satan, let him be anathema.
Canon 6 — DH 1556
If anyone says that it is not within man’s power to make his ways evil, but that God works evil deeds as he does good deeds, not merely permissively, but also properly and of himself, so that the betrayal by Judas is no less God’s own proper work than the calling of Paul, let him be anathema.
Canon 7 — DH 1557
If anyone says that all works done before justification, in whatever manner they may be done, are truly sins, or merit God’s hatred; or that the more earnestly anyone strives to dispose himself for grace, the more gravely he sins, let him be anathema.
Canon 8 — DH 1558
If anyone says that the fear of hell, whereby, in sorrowing over our sins, we flee to God’s mercy or refrain from sinning, is a sin or makes sinners worse, let him be anathema.
Canon 9 — DH 1559
If anyone says that an ungodly person is justified by faith alone, in such wise as to mean that nothing else is required whereby he may cooperate toward obtaining the grace of justification, and that it is in no respect necessary for him to be prepared and disposed by a movement of his own will, let him be anathema.
Canon 10 — DH 1560
If anyone says that men are justified without the justice of Christ, through which he merited justification for us, or that by that very justice they are formally just, let him be anathema.
Canon 11 — DH 1561
If anyone says that men are justified either by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ or by the sole remission of sins, to the exclusion of the grace and charity which is poured forth in their hearts through the Holy Spirit and inheres in them; or even that the grace by which we are justified is only God’s favour, let him be anathema.
Canon 12 — DH 1562
If anyone says that justifying faith is nothing other than trust in the divine mercy which remits sins for Christ’s sake, or that this trust alone is that by which we are justified, let him be anathema.
Canon 13 — DH 1563
If anyone says that, in order to obtain the remission of sins, it is necessary for every man to believe with certainty, and without any wavering due to his own weakness and indisposition, that his sins have been remitted to him, let him be anathema.
Canon 14 — DH 1564
If anyone says that man is absolved from sins and justified because he believes with certainty that he is absolved and justified; or that no one is truly justified except one who believes that he is justified, and that by this faith alone absolution and justification are accomplished, let him be anathema.
Canon 15 — DH 1565
If anyone says that a man who has been reborn and justified is bound by faith to believe that he is certainly among the number of the predestined, let him be anathema.
Canon 16 — DH 1566
If anyone says that he will assuredly possess that great gift of perseverance unto the end, with an absolute and infallible certainty, unless he has learned this by a special revelation, let him be anathema.
Canon 17 — DH 1567
If anyone says that the grace of justification comes only to those predestined to life, while all the others who are called are indeed called but do not receive grace, since they are predestined to evil by divine power, let him be anathema.
Canon 18 — DH 1568
If anyone says that the commandments of God are impossible to observe even for a man who is justified and constituted in grace, let him be anathema.
Canon 19 — DH 1569
If anyone says that nothing is commanded in the Gospel besides faith; that all other things are indifferent, neither commanded nor forbidden, but free; or that the Ten Commandments in no way pertain to Christians, let him be anathema.
Canon 20 — DH 1570
If anyone says that a man who is justified, however perfect he may be, is not bound to observe the commandments of God and of the Church, but only to believe, as though the Gospel were a bare and unconditional promise of eternal life, without the condition of observing the commandments, let him be anathema.
Canon 21 — DH 1571
If anyone says that Christ Jesus was given by God to men as a Redeemer in whom they should trust, but not also as a legislator whom they should obey, let him be anathema.
Canon 22 — DH 1572
If anyone says either that the justified man can persevere in the justice he has received without the special help of God, or that with this help he cannot persevere, let him be anathema.
Canon 23 — DH 1573
If anyone says that a man once justified can sin no more and cannot lose grace, and that therefore the man who falls and sins was never truly justified; or, conversely, that throughout his entire life he can avoid all sins, even venial sins, except by a special privilege of God, as the Church holds concerning the Blessed Virgin, let him be anathema.
Canon 24 — DH 1574
If anyone says that the justice received is neither preserved nor even increased before God through good works, but that those works are only the fruits and signs of the justification attained, and not also a cause of its increase, let him be anathema.
Canon 25 — DH 1575
If anyone says that in every good work the just man sins at least venially, or—which is still more intolerable—mortally, and therefore merits eternal punishments; and that he is not condemned solely because God does not impute those works unto condemnation, let him be anathema.
Canon 26 — DH 1576
If anyone says that the just ought not, for the good works that have been wrought in God, to expect and hope for an eternal recompense from God through his mercy and the merit of Jesus Christ, provided that they persevere to the end in doing good and keeping the divine commandments, let him be anathema.
Canon 27 — DH 1577
If anyone says that there is no mortal sin except the sin of unbelief, or that grace once received is not lost by any other sin, however grave and enormous, except the sin of unbelief, let him be anathema.
Canon 28 — DH 1578
If anyone says that, when grace has been lost through sin, faith is always lost together with it; or that the faith which remains is not true faith, although it is not living faith; or that a man who has faith without charity is not a Christian, let him be anathema.
Canon 29 — DH 1579
If anyone says that a man who has fallen after baptism cannot rise again through the grace of God; or that he can indeed recover the justice he has lost, but by faith alone, without the sacrament of Penance, contrary to what the holy Roman and universal Church, instructed by Christ the Lord and his Apostles, has hitherto professed, observed, and taught, let him be anathema.
Canon 30 — DH 1580
If anyone says that, after the grace of justification has been received, the guilt of every penitent sinner is so remitted and the liability for eternal punishment so blotted out that no liability remains for temporal punishment to be discharged, either in this world or in the world to come in purgatory, before entrance into the kingdom of heaven can lie open, let him be anathema.
Canon 31 — DH 1581
If anyone says that the justified man sins when he does good with a view to an eternal reward, let him be anathema.
Canon 32 — DH 1582
If anyone says that the good works of a justified man are the gifts of God in such a way that they are not also the good merits of the justified man himself; or that the justified man, by the good works which he performs through the grace of God and the merit of Jesus Christ, of whom he is a living member, does not truly merit an increase of grace, eternal life, and the attainment of eternal life itself—provided, however, that he dies in grace—and also an increase of glory, let him be anathema.
Canon 33 — DH 1583
If anyone says that this Catholic doctrine on justification, set forth by the holy Synod in this present decree, detracts in any respect from the glory of God or the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, rather than illustrating the truth of our faith and, finally, the glory of God and of Christ Jesus, let him be anathema.