Is it possible for a fallen, sinful human to gain merit with God? The answer depends on what is meant by the word “merit.” Catholic theology recognizes three types of merit:

Strict Merit

Strict merit is the type in which a thing is earned by the exchange of something of equal value. For example, when I work, I merit my salary in the strict sense, because I have given my employers something of value. Thus, as a matter of justice, my employers are obligated to pay me because I have given them a work product that has intrinsic value.

When Protestants think of “merit,” this is usually the type of merit they have in mind. So, when they hear Catholics speak of gaining merit with God, they naturally think that these Catholics are talking about earning spiritual goods by performing deeds that are intrinsically valuable, and for which God is therefore obligated to repay them. 

Protestants often claim that Catholics believe they can even earn their own salvation by “being good.” But that is not what Catholics believe. On the contrary, the Catholic Church teaches that only Christ can merit anything in the strict sense. No one else can “earn” anything from God, for “who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?” (Romans 11:35). According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “With regard to God, there is no strict right to any merit on the part of man. Between God and us there is an immeasurable inequality, for we have received everything from him, our Creator.”¹

When Catholics speak of merit, they have in mind one of the two other types of merit:

Congruent Merit

Congruent merit is the type in which we perform an action that may be rewarded, but there is no obligation to reward it. For example, when Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac, God rewarded Abraham, saying,

I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me (Gen. 22:16-18).

God chose to reward Abraham for his faith-filled action, but He was under no moral obligation to do so, because He had not promised Abraham that He would do so. There are many other examples in the Bible where God rewards someone for doing something that pleases Him, and for which He had not expressly promised a reward. For example, in 2 Kings 10:30, we read: 

The LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in accomplishing what is right in my eyes and have done to the house of Ahab all I had in mind to do, your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.”

Likewise, when Solomon asked God for wisdom instead of riches or long life, we read, 

The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for–both riches and honor–so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings (1 Kings 3:10-13).

Obviously, the concept of “congruent merit,” being expressly biblical, is not a concept to which Protestants would object, though they generally don’t use the word “merit” to describe such a situation.

Condign Merit

Condign merit is the type in which we perform an action that has a promised reward. In this case, there is a moral obligation to give the reward, even if the action has little or no intrinsic value. For example, if I were wealthy and I promised you a million dollars if you wore a red shirt to work tomorrow, I would be obligated to pay you the money if you did wear a red shirt to work tomorrow. Obviously, wearing a red shirt is not intrinsically worth a million dollars; it’s not worth anything at all. But you could merit that money, in the condign sense, by performing the action I had promised to reward.

It is the same with God. Moved by His grace, we can perform acts that please Him, acts that He has promised to reward. Even a casual perusal of the Bible will show that man may merit condignly from God. For example:

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you (Matthew 6:3-4).

For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done (Matthew 16:27).

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked (Luke 6:35).

[Y]ou know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free (Eph. 6:8).

But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous (Luke 14:13-14).

Surprisingly, the Bible says that even eternal life itself can be merited in this sense, because God has promised it as a reward:

A time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out – those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned (John 5:28-29).

Let them do good, that they be rich in good works … storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life (1 Timothy 6:18-19).

God will give to each person according to what he has done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life (Rom. 2:6-7).

The Lutheran Book of Concord acknowledges this: “We grant that eternal life is a reward because it is something that is owed – not because of our merits but because of the promise.”² A reward given on the basis of a promise is precisely the definition of “condign merit.” So, it is not wrong to speak of gaining merit with God, as long as we understand that all we’re talking about is the biblical concept of “reward.” As St. Augustine wrote, “The Lord made himself a debtor not by receiving something but by promising something. One does not say to him, ‘Pay for what you received,’ but ‘Pay what you promised.’”³