The event of justification The first thing to notice about Aquinas’ discussion of justification is how often he equates or links justification with other things. We noted above how he identifies justification with salvation, ‘for to be saved is the same as to be justified’.16 When describing the reference to ‘saints’ in Rom. 1:7, he speaks of the ‘grace of justification’ in terms of being ‘sanctified through grace and the sacraments of grace’.17 In a brief comment on the word ‘grace’ in Eph. 1:2,