Posted on 11/30/2010 5:36:59 AM PST by kindred
This paper is written in two parts. The first explains and documents the Roman Catholic Church's position on justification. The second part presents the true gospel in contrast to the Catholic Church's position. If you want to go straight to the gospel presentation for Catholics, simply scroll down the page.
Because of the great emphasis on Sacred Tradition within the Catholic Church and because so many Roman Catholics appeal to the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, the Word of God is often placed after the Catholic Church itself in relation to authority. Because of this, many Catholics appeal to their works, in combination with the sacrifice of Christ as a means of being justified before God. The Council of Trent expresses this plainly:
"If any one saith, that man is truly absolved from his sins and justified, because he assuredly believed himself absolved and justified; or, that no one is truly justified but he who believes himself justified; and that, by this faith alone, absolution and justification are effected; let him be anathema." (Canon 14). Justification is the legal declaration by God upon the sinner where God declares the sinner righteous in His sight. This justification is based completely and solely on the work of Christ on the cross. We cannot earn justification or merit justification in any way. If we could, then Christ died needlessly. "I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly," (Gal. 2:21). Because righteousness cannot come through the Law (through our efforts of merit), the Bible declares that we are justified before God by faith:
•"Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law," (Rom. 3:28). •"For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness," (Rom. 4:3). •"But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness," (Rom. 4:5). •"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," (Rom. 5:1). •"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God," (Eph. 2:8). However, in Roman Catholicism, justification by faith is denied.
"If any one shall say that justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in the divine mercy pardoning sins for Christ's sake, or that it is that confidence alone by which we are justified ... let him be accursed," (Canon 12, Council of Trent). Which are we to believe? The Roman Catholic Church or God's word? Furthermore, the RCC states that justification is received not by faith, but by baptism. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says in paragraph, 1992, that "...justification is conferred in Baptism, the sacrament of faith." This means that faith is not the instrument of obtaining justification; instead, it is an ordinance performed by a priest in the Roman Catholic Church.
Furthermore, baptism is only the initial grace along the road of justification. The Roman Catholic is to then maintain his position before God by his efforts.
"No one can MERIT the initial grace which is at the origin of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit, we can MERIT for ourselves and for others all the graces needed to attain eternal life, as well as necessary temporal goods," (Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), par. 2027). The problem here is that the RCC is teaching us to "merit for ourselves and for others all the graces need to attain eternal life." You cannot merit grace. Grace is unmerited favor. Merit is, according to the CCC, par. 2006, "...the recompense owed by a community or a society for the action of one of its members, experienced either as beneficial or harmful, deserving reward or punishment..." CCC 2006. This means that merit is something owed. By contrast, grace is something not owed. Therefore, the RCC is teaching contrary to God's word regarding grace and justification.
The sad result is that in Roman Catholicism, justification before God is a process that is maintained by the effort and works of the Roman Catholic. This is a very unfortunate teaching since it puts the unbearable burden of works righteousness upon the shoulders of the sinner. By contrast, the Bible teaches that justification/salvation is by faith.
•"But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness," (Rom. 4:5). •"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," (Rom. 5:1). •"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God," (Eph. 2:8). The Gospel for Roman Catholics The Gospel for Roman Catholics is the same as for anyone else and it is obtained by grace through faith in believing and trusting in Jesus alone, who is God in flesh, for the forgiveness of sins. Salvation is not found in a true church. Salvation is not found in being good. Salvation is not found in good works. Salvation is not found in a sincere heart. Salvation is not found in making up for past sins by efforts of restoration, or penance, or indulgences. You can never do enough to please God.
Because God is so infinitely holy and righteous, and because we are sinners, we are incapable of pleasing God by anything that we do. In fact, our righteous deeds are considered filthy rags before God (Isa. 64:6). You can do nothing to earn forgiveness or keep forgiveness. Salvation before God is not administered to us through an earthly priest in the Catholic church by the sprinkling of water, or giving of penance, or recitation of formula prayers. Salvation for the Christian is not kept through the effort of the person who hopes and tries and worries about being good enough to stay saved.
Such error can only lead to despair and hopelessness and a desperate and unwarranted dependence on the Roman Catholic Church as the only means by which salvation can be distributed and maintained. In this error, people far too often seek to work their way to heaven by being good, by doing what the Catholic church teaches them to do, by prayers to Mary, by indulgences, by the Rosary, and by a host of other man-made works. Remember, in the RCC, salvation is through the Church and its sacraments, not through Jesus alone, by faith alone. This is exactly how the cults of Mormonism and the Jehovah's Witnesses work who both teach that true salvation is found only in their church membership and in following the revelation and authority of their church teachers and traditions.
Are you tired of the works requirement? In great contrast to the position of the Roman Catholic Church, if you want to be forgiven of your sins, once and for all, then you need to come to Christ (Matt. 11:28). You need to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior (John 1:12; Rom. 10:13). You need to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins (John 14:14), and trust in Him alone and in nothing that you can do. Remember, your good deeds have no merit before God (Isa. 64:6). Furthermore, if you have faith, it is because that faith is the work of God (John 6:28-29). If you believe, it is because God has granted that you believe (Phil. 1:29). It is not because you were baptized, or have been good, or have been sincere. It is all of God. The Lord must receive all the glory for salvation because it completely and totally rests in Him. Salvation rests in Christ alone and it is received by faith apart from works.
Please read the following scriptures carefully.
1."for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (Rom. 3:23). 2."For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord," (Rom. 6:23). 3."and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed," (1 Pet. 2:24). 4."He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him," (2 Cor. 5:21). 5."If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it," (John 14:14). 6."Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29"Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls," (Matt. 11:28-29). 7."But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name," (John 1:12). 8."I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly," (Gal. 2:21). 9."Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law," (Rom. 3:28). 10."For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness," (Rom. 4:3). 11."But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness," (Rom. 4:5). 12."These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life," (1 John 5:13). A suggested prayer This suggested prayer is not a formula, but a representation of biblical principles by which you might better understand the true gospel and receive Christ as your Lord and Savior. It is not a formula derived from Sacred Tradition or Stamped with the seal of the Roman Catholic Church's approval. Its principles are derived from scripture: we are sinners; God is Holy; we cannot earn salvation; salvation is a free gift; prayer to Christ; Jesus is the only way; receiving Christ; faith; etc.
"Lord Jesus, I admit that I am a sinner and that I have offended you by breaking your Holy Law. I confess my sins to you Lord and ask forgiveness from you and do not ask anyone else to be forgiven of my sins against you. I acknowledge who you are, God in flesh, creator, humble Lord, who bore my sins in Your body on the cross and I come to you alone and trust you alone, by faith, that you will forgive me completely of my sins so that I will have eternal life. I ask you Lord to come into my heart, to be my Lord, to forgive me of my sins. Lord I trust in you alone, in the work of the cross alone and not in any church, not in any saint, not in Mary, not in any priest, but in you alone. Lord, Jesus, I receive you, and come to you, and ask you to forgive me and justify me by faith as I trust in you alone. Thank you. If you are a Roman Catholic and have trusted in Christ alone for the forgiveness of your sins, then welcome to the body of Christ. Welcome to salvation and the free gift of forgiveness in Jesus.
Next, I strongly recommend that you read the Bible regularly, talk to Jesus daily in prayer, and seek to find a church that teaches and focuses on Jesus as Lord, Jesus as Savior, and sticks to the Bible alone.
Where God is, sin is not. On that you can depend. Is heaven a place of sin? Of course not. Can God and sin coexist in the same dwelling? No. Jesus came down from heaven and the womb of the Virgin became His dwelling. Could he be nourished, protected, and given life in the Virgin's womb by flesh which was corrupted by sin? Could corruption give rise to unblemished sinlessness?
Bear in mind that it is not Catholics who choose to give Mary a special place in the history of salvation. God himself did that. Only she is the Mother of the Savior. That makes her unique. God, being God, was under no obligation to dwell for nine moths in her womb or be subject to her at Nazareth. But that was God's plan. God's plan of salvation included a special role for her. Jesus could have come to us in a fiery chariot, a spaceship, or he could have come down the same way he ascended at the end of his earthly ministry; on a cloud. He had no need of human means.
Yet He came to us through Mary whose "yes" was freely given to the angel Gabriel.
Think about this in terms of the overall battle of good versus evil. A fallen angelic being who is above all proud (Satan), is defeated by the humble "yes" of a mere human, a poor Jewish girl, all the more to torture and vex him. Mary's participation in the plan of salvation makes Satan's defeat all the more dramatic and dismal. In a fight, it's one thing to be humbled by another spiritual being....but a human??
This is why Satan reserves a special hatred for the Virgin. Jesus doesn't have a problem with her like a lot of Protestants. She was/is His Mother. She always will be. He "was subject to them" as Scripture tells us, meaning Mary and Joseph. Horrors!! Cover your eyes! Stop your ears! Jesus was subject to Mary His Mother. Oh no!!
No, this isn't "brainwashing". It's historical, biblical fact. It's the way Jesus wanted it. The Holy Family; Jesus Mary and Joseph. There's a touch of Islam in much of the Protestant approach to God; "God's gonna get real mad if you (make your own list).................a) honor His Mother.......b) make images of either Him or His Mother and revere them (we can do that to members of our own families but not Jesus).........and He's gonna smite ya.......etc etc". It's an irrational, vengeful God who can be found only in Scripture and who operates only in the ways we say. As John says.........."but there are many other things which Jesus did; which, if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books that should be written."
Try not to put God in a box. The narrow, minimalist Protestant approach to Jesus misses so much.
“Where God is, sin is not. On that you can depend. Is heaven a place of sin? Of course not. Can God and sin coexist in the same dwelling? No. Jesus came down from heaven and the womb of the Virgin became His dwelling. Could he be nourished, protected, and given life in the Virgin’s womb by flesh which was corrupted by sin? Could corruption give rise to unblemished sinlessness?”
No disrespect intended, but Jesus Christ came into our sinful world and lived for some 30 years with sinful people. God cannot be corrupted under any circumstance.
God Bless
Not the same thing.
Mary's flesh became Jesus' flesh. The two were one flesh.
God cannot be corrupted under any circumstance.
How does his sinless human flesh derive from sinful human flesh?
We're not talking about "corrupting God". We're talking about the formation of a being, both Divine and human, from the flesh of another human.
The fact is that, despite their protestations to the contrary, many in the YOPIOS crowd don't actually believe this.
Absolutely true.
How does his sinless human flesh derive from sinful human flesh?
Because he is God.
We're not talking about "corrupting God". We're talking about the formation of a being, both Divine and human, from the flesh of another human.
You are implying Christ would be corrupted if he were born of sinful human flesh. Although fully human, Christ is unlike any other human because he was born without sin. Our savior is the only human who can claim perfection.
We're dancing here.
"Because he is God" does not mean that anything goes. God is light and light has nothing in common with darkness. There can be no evil where God dwells for God is all holy. To the extent that God is present, evil is not and vice versa. Think of it in the same way as one of the laws of physics.
Just "because he is God" does not mean that God can suspend His own Divine, holy nature to partake and receive sustenance from that which has been tainted by sin. To suggest otherwise is to infer that God's nature is not "all holy", which I think we're both agreed, is untrue. To do so would be to go against the fundamental nature of God.
People use the term "because he's God" unthinkingly to imply that God can do whatever. It's false. God does not sin, for example. Not only that, sin cannot exist in the presence of God. The two are incompatible.
That is why the womb which bore Jesus must have been sinless.
You wrote:
“The method you use above is not only a tried and true liberal democrat communist slander evil, it is also a lie.”
It is not a lie. It actually happened. I talked to him personally and arranged for Catholic Answers to send him materials. I even asked Slick if that was okay with him and he said yes.
“Did you ever consider that it may be you who does not understand the Words of Scripture, though you may be well versed in Roman Catholic doctrines mixed with a little Scripture teaching.”
No, I did not consider that because I already knew that to not be the case after years of study and prayer. Also, you are missing the obvious point. No matter how well versed in scripture Slick was or believed he was, he was attacking Catholic beliefs and yet did not know much about them, could not discuss them intelligently and clearly misunderstood them. I am not saying he didn’t agree with them - that’s obviously a given. What was strange to me was not that he didn’t agree with Catholic teachings - he was a Protestant so I didn’t expect him to agree. No, what was strange was that he was attacking the Catholic faith when he did not even know what it taught, what it believed or why.
“The devil Lucifer uses the same tactics as the first words out of his evil mouth were “Hath God said”...”
I’m sure there is a Godwin’s Rule violation there, but quite frankly your protestantions just seem to add proof to the fact that I am telling the truth. I distinctly remember making the call to him and then Catholic Answers. I found Slick to be quite cordial. I also found him to be profoundly wrong. He has gained in knowledge since then, but is no more correct than he used to be.
You wrote:
“Words with truth are lies.”
Everything I said is true. You not liking it won’t change that fact.
You wrote:
“Not everyone who disagrees with you is “mentally ill”.”
Where did I claim that that was the case? Way to make up a strawman, PM!
“To insist upon it just makes your position look weaker - i.e. you feel you have to demonize your opposition.”
No, I correctly assess people by their words and actions. Assessing people is part of my job. I do it every day and am quite good at it.
Wuttup PM!
Always nice to see you around brother.
“Because he is God” is not a statement declaring God has/can/or will ever suspend his divine and holy nature. As you rightly stated, this would go against the fundamental nature of God.
The rational mind concludes that if God’s Son was carried in the womb of a sinful woman, receiving genetic material from her, he would receive her sinfulness. But if you require that Mary had to be sinless to give birth to a sinless Son, then you would have to require the same of her mother, and her mother, etc. Not even Mary saw herself that way. Remember how she rejoices in “God my Savior” in Luke 1:47? If she was immaculately conceived without any sin herself, then she didn’t need a Savior!
This discussion is very similar to the following question:
If Jesus is true God, how could he die, for God cannot die?” These are questions we can’t answer but simply have to accept in faith.
The relationship a true christian should strive for is with Jesus not some self centered interpretation reflective of the sin of pride, an abomination to the Lord.
Wouldn’t you rather trust your own reasoned interpretation of Scripture rather than that of any other man? I certainly would.
God saved her from sin, doesn't that make Him her Savior? In the first chapter of Luke the Blessed Mother speaks of her Savior in the present tense, this indicates that her salvation is already assured and not based upon some future event.
For Mary to be "blessed among women" doesn't that mean that she has is at least as blessed as Eve? Don't you think that the mother of God would be superior to the mother of Cain? The confusion comes in when some people try to equate sinlessness with divinity, but being sinless DOES NOT make a person divine. Mary says that her soul MAGNIFIES the Lord; a soul that is stained with sin can only obscure the Lord, not magnify Him.
God told Noah EXACTLY how to build the Ark that would carry those who would be given God's first Covenant. God told the Israelites EXACTLY how to build the Ark that would carry God's Covenant of the Law. God's greatest Covenant was the Body and Blood of His Son, wouldn't the Ark that carried Him also be of EXACTING requirements?
James was saying the proof of the pudding is in the eating. That if we have truly been saved, then the good works will follow. Not that they are necessary for salvation
How did Mary get to be “sinless”, seeing that she was born of sinful woman?
Jesus Christ made it pretty clear that works ARE NECESSARY for salvation:
[31] And when the Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty. [32] And all nations shall be gathered together before him, and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats: [33] And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. [34] Then shall the king say to them that shall be on his right hand: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. [35] For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in:[36] Naked, and you covered me: sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me. [37] Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, and fed thee; thirsty, and gave thee drink? [38] And when did we see thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and covered thee? [39] Or when did we see thee sick or in prison, and came to thee? [40] And the king answering, shall say to them: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.
[41] Then he shall say to them also that shall be on his left hand: Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. [42] For I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink. [43] I was a stranger, and you took me not in: naked, and you covered me not: sick and in prison, and you did not visit me. [44] Then they also shall answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to thee? [45] Then he shall answer them, saying: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to me.
[46] And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting.
-- Matthew 25:31-46
You will notice here that both the saved and the damned seem surprised and not a single word is said about faith.
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