Theology 3 Practice Exam

Salvation in Catholic teaching is a cooperative process between grace and human freedom. Grace is real and active in the person’s life, drawing them to God and healing the will so they can respond. When faith takes root, it is alive and expresses itself in charity, which moves a person to do good works. Those works are not the sole cause of salvation, but they are the proper fruits of grace and the visible transformation that faith working through love brings about. In this view, grace enables a person to cooperate with God; one’s freedom freely agrees with, cooperates with, and grows through that grace, producing ongoing transformation into Christ’s image. So the best statement captures this synergy: grace enables cooperation, and faith connected with charity and good works contributes to transformation. The idea that grace and freedom oppose each other, that works alone save, or that grace is irrelevant, doesn’t fit Catholic understanding of salvation.