Session Six is the council's declaration of the nature of justification and its anathemas toward those who would teach otherwise.
First, I want to note that the council seems to be bolstering its claim to authority at the beginning of this session as this is the first time it references so many higher ups in the church including the pope. It just seems like an appeal to authority, which is why authorities were declared as both the Scripture and the Church in earlier sessions.
Second, the very first claim made about justification is one that acknowledges and affirms the previous session's declaration concerning original sin but now adds to it the claim that "although free will, attenuated as it was in its powers, and bent down, was by no means extinguished in them." It seems clear, then, that Trent is attempting to argue that free will is not a part of Adam's fallenness "when he had transgressed the commandment of God in Paradise, immediately lost the holiness and justice wherein he had been constituted." I can only imagine that "free will" here must be the ability to make a choice between good and evil since the previous statement declared that neither Gentiles with natural law nor the Jews with revealed law were able to move themselves out of the state that Adam put them in. If that is the case, there would be no disagreement at this point on the nature of "free will," since "free will" would just mean that one can choose, and cannot mean "one has the spiritual and willful ability to do good." If it means the latter, it contradicts the other statements made thus far by Trent.
The council states that Christ died for all, so it rejects limited atonement (although it may be anachronistic to say that), but only those who have his merit transferred to them receive the benefit thereof of course. "So, if they were not born again in Christ, they never would be justified; seeing that, in that new birth, there is bestowed upon them, through the merit of His passion, the grace whereby they are made just. For this benefit the apostle exhorts us, evermore to give thanks to the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light, and hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love, in whom we have redemption, and remission of sins."
Hence, Trent's definition of justification is as follows:
By which words, a description of the Justification of the impious is indicated,-as being a translation, from that state wherein man is born a child of the first Adam, to the state of grace, and of the adoption of the sons of God, through the second Adam, Jesus Christ, our Saviour. And this translation, since the promulgation of the Gospel, cannot be effected, without the laver of regeneration, or the desire thereof, as it is written; unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God."
Again, Protestants should agree with this. Some might say that justification is merely a declaration of all of these things that have not actually taken place but this would contradict Scripture. Justification may be a declaration of these things but because they have actually taken place. The believer is now in a state of grace (Rom 5:1-3). He has been adopted as sons of God (Rom 8:15-17). He has been regenerated by grace (Eph 2:4-6).
I would add to this that Trent has already stated on its declaration concerning original sin the following:
"If any one denies, that, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is conferred in baptism, the guilt of original sin is remitted; 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 rased, or not imputed; let him be anathema. For, in those who are born again, there is nothing that God hates; because, There is no condemnation to those who are truly buried together with Christ by baptism into death; who walk not according to the flesh, but, putting off the old man, and putting on the new who is created according to God, are made innocent, immaculate, pure, harmless, and beloved of God, heirs indeed of God, but joint heirs with Christ; so that there is nothing whatever to retard their entrance into heaven."
Now, if baptism stands in for faith then this statement is essentially a statement that justification is by grace through faith alone. I only say this because the soteriological system that Trent is going to assume contradicts these statements.
"The Synod furthermore declares, that in adults, the beginning of the said Justification is to be derived from the prevenient grace of God, through Jesus Christ, that is to say, from His vocation, whereby, without any merits existing on their parts, they are called; that so they, who by sins were alienated from God, may be disposed through His quickening and assisting grace, to convert themselves to their own justification, by freely assenting to and co-operating with that said grace: in such sort that, while God touches the heart of man by the illumination of the Holy Ghost, neither is man himself utterly without doing anything while he receives that inspiration, forasmuch as he is also able to reject it; yet is he not able, by his own free will, without the grace of God, to move himself unto justice in His sight. Whence, when it is said in the sacred writings: Turn ye to me, and I will turn to you, we are admonished of our liberty; and when we answer; Convert us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall be converted, we confess that we are prevented by the grace of God."
Here is where the heresy of the semi-Pelagianism condemned in the Council of Orange is established as official, and here is where I would argue is the beginning of Roman Catholicism. The Church before was one that rejected semi-Pelagianism, and even the council here expressly condemns it, and yet it now sneaks it in the backdoor. Not only does it refer to some prevenient grace that makes one alive, with which Reformed Protestants would agree, but it refers to this grace as non-effectual without the assistance of the individual's free assent and cooperation with this grace. Hence, God's grace that is said to be necessary for salvation is not the deciding factor in justification but rather the free will decision of the individual. As Luther rightly noted in his work The Bondage of the Will this is the crux of the issue in Roman Catholic soteriology as the statement that one can gain justification through no merit of one's own is contradicted by the act of "doing" something, which is cooperating with this grace, making his actions more meritorious, having gained Christ's merit through it than that of one who does not cooperate with said grace. Hence, this grace moves but is not the sole cause of the individual's faith and subsequent justification.
Yet, by the council's own words in Session Five, those who argue that the remedy of original sin is through any human merit other than the merit of Christ alone, are anathema.
"If any one asserts, that this sin of Adam,–which in its origin is one, and being transfused into all by propagation, not by imitation, is in each one as his own, –is taken away either by the powers of human nature, or by any other remedy than the merit of the one mediator, our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath reconciled us to God in his own blood, made unto us justice, sanctification, and redemption; or if he denies that the said merit of Jesus Christ is applied, both to adults and to infants, by the sacrament of baptism rightly administered in the form of the church; let him be anathema."
Roman Catholics may think my pushback means that man is forced into salvation but that is not at all the case. The will of the individual is simply and completely changed by God alone to submit to Christ in faith. This makes it both the individual's joyful will to receive Christ and God's work alone in saving the individual. Hence, no merit is attributed to the individual since the change of the will is effectual, leading to faith and justification. This is consistent with the Council of Orange, and in this regard, Trent here has not only instituted an innovation but a heretical one according to the church's tradition itself.
Orange stated in Canons 5-8:
"CANON 5. If anyone says that not only the increase of faith but also its beginning and the very desire for faith, by which we believe in Him who justifies the ungodly and comes to the regeneration of holy baptism -- if anyone says that this belongs to us by nature and not by a gift of grace, that is, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit amending our will and turning it from unbelief to faith and from godlessness to godliness, it is proof that he is opposed to the teaching of the Apostles, for blessed Paul says, "And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6). And again, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8). For those who state that the faith by which we believe in God is natural make all who are separated from the Church of Christ by definition in some measure believers.
CANON 6. If anyone says that God has mercy upon us when, apart from his grace, we believe, will, desire, strive, labor, pray, watch, study, seek, ask, or knock, but does not confess that it is by the infusion and inspiration of the Holy Spirit within us that we have the faith, the will, or the strength to do all these things as we ought; or if anyone makes the assistance of grace depend on the humility or obedience of man and does not agree that it is a gift of grace itself that we are obedient and humble, he contradicts the Apostle who says, "What have you that you did not receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7), and, "But by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10).
CANON 7. If anyone affirms that we can form any right opinion or make any right choice which relates to the salvation of eternal life, as is expedient for us, or that we can be saved, that is, assent to the preaching of the gospel through our natural powers without the illumination and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who makes all men gladly assent to and believe in the truth, he is led astray by a heretical spirit, and does not understand the voice of God who says in the Gospel, "For apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5), and the word of the Apostle, "Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God" (2 Cor. 3:5).
CANON 8. If anyone maintains that some are able to come to the grace of baptism by mercy but others through free will, which has manifestly been corrupted in all those who have been born after the transgression of the first man, it is proof that he has no place in the true faith. For he denies that the free will of all men has been weakened through the sin of the first man, or at least holds that it has been affected in such a way that they have still the ability to seek the mystery of eternal salvation by themselves without the revelation of God. The Lord himself shows how contradictory this is by declaring that no one is able to come to him "unless the Father who sent me draws him" (John 6:44), as he also says to Peter, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 16:17), and as the Apostle says, "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:3)."
Trent makes faith and justification dependent upon the free will of the individual who must cooperate with it, giving credit not simply to the Holy Spirit and His grace but to the individual for having cooperated with the Spirit and said grace. This simply contradicts the statements in Scripture that we were made alive and seated with Christ while we were dead in our sins (Eph 2:4-6), that all who the Father gives the Son come to Him and are raised up on the last day to glory (John 6:37-45), and that those who are predestined and called are both justified and glorified (Rom 8:29-30). There is no other group that is given and called that is not justified and glorified. In Ephesians 2:8, Paul states that Christians "have been saved by grace through faith and this not of yourselves." The demonstrative τοῦτο this in the phrase τοῦτο οὐκ ἐξ ὑμῶν this not of yourselves is neuter but χάριτί and πίστεως are feminine and σεσῳσμένοι is masculine. What this means is that the this that is not of themselves is the entire thing, including each of its elements. So none of the salvation that is by grace through faith is of them. They had no part in it. They had not part in the grace, the salvation, or the faith. Both Scripture and church tradition rejects Trent's understanding of faith as dependent upon the individual's cooperation with some prevenient grace.
Trent attributes justification as something "whereby He maketh us just, that, to wit, with which we being endowed by Him, are renewed in the spirit of our mind, and we are not only reputed, but are truly called, and are, just, receiving justice within us, each one according to his own measure, which the Holy Ghost distributes to every one as He wills, and according to each one’s proper disposition and co-operation."
The problem now is that if the human will is involved in receiving justification, Trent will now go on to argue that the human will must cooperate with the Spirit to maintain that justification, and thus, the entire Roman Catholic system of soteriology is born. We'll discuss that next time.