Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 3/25/2009

Question
Pastor Don Carpenter,

I am writing in response to your answer to a question referring to the differences between Catholics and Baptist believes. In your response you stated that Catholics believed that they are saved through rites and works and not by faith alone. I would like to know where you received this information from. I am a devout Catholic and while I am by no means an expert I do believe that I can talk intelligently about my faith. As a Catholic I believe that I am saved by the grace of God. "I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end". No where in the Catholic faith does it state that we are saved by what we do. There is nothing any human can do to deserve salvation. It is only through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior, that we are saved. While there are some differences between our different faiths the most important belief is the same. If you would like to discuss this in more detail I am more than willing to continue a dialogue with you. I just believe that I need to clarify this misunderstanding of the Catholic faith.

May God bless you and your family.
Bruce

Answer
Hi Bruce,

Thank you for your question/ statement.  I know that the Roman Catholic Church has recently been adjusting their wording regarding salvation, but historically they have rejected the teaching that Salvation comes by grace through faith alone.  Another term for the doctrine of salvation without works is "Sola fide" or faith alone.  Roman Catholicism has rejected this doctrine for 2000 years.  Here is a simple quotation from Wickapedia on this subject:

Roman Catholic view
The Roman Catholic view tends to exclude sola fide as grounds for justification, holding instead that good works are also necessary for salvation, Matthew 25:31-46; that is, by God's grace through faith (also a favour given by him, Matthew 16:17), Ephesians 2:8-10, and the Christian's response to it in God's grace Galatians 5:6, as faith perfected by good works, James 2:22. An Economy of Salvation is taught involving the sacraments, management, and accountability on the part of the Church. [2] Although sola fide tends to be used in a positive manner exclusively by Protestants, personal faith in Jesus Christ is not. The Catholic Mass, as with the Greek Divine Liturgy, includes the Nicene Creed (or in some countries, the Apostles' Creed), which is both a personal affirmation of baptismal belief and a communal confession of faith in "one Lord Jesus Christ." The witness of personal affirmation as faith in one Lord Jesus Christ, as it is understood by most Evangelicals, is seen in the Catholic term 'devotion' to Christ (and his saints) in private prayerlife and in active moral, spiritual and political engagement:

"Where sin has perverted the social climate, it is necessary to call for the conversion of hearts and appeal to the grace of God. Charity urges just reforms. There is no solution to the social question apart from the Gospel" CCC 1896.

The following is one of explanation given by Trent on justification:

In what manner it is to be understood, that the impious is justified by faith, and gratuitously. And whereas the Apostle saith, that man is justified by faith and freely, those words are to be understood in that sense which the perpetual consent of the Catholic Church hath held and expressed; to wit, that we are therefore said to be justified by faith, because faith is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation, and the root of all Justification; without which it is impossible to please God, and to come unto the fellowship of His sons: but we are therefore said to be justified freely, because that none of those things which precede justification-whether faith or works-merit the grace itself of justification. For, if it be a grace, it is not now by works, otherwise, as the same Apostle says, grace is no more grace.

The Catholic position is not one of works alone. The Catholic Church has opposed that position well over one thousand years prior to the Reformation in the Councils of Carthage and Orange. The Church rejects "works of debt" and works of our "own righteousness" because these works are not done in grace, works are only good if they are done in grace.

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The following is taken from a Catholic doctrinal explanation from "Children of God for Life, a Catholic site:

Differences in Catholics/Protestants viewpoint

1) Catholic/Orthodox teaching says certain works (rituals or sacraments are needed to be saved. Protestants say sincere faith is all that is needed.



2) Catholic/Orthodox teaching emphasizes the process of salvation.  Protestants emphasize salvation as an event.



3) Catholic Orthodox doctrine speaks little or not at all about assurance of salvation.  Protestants teach that we can be sure we are saved.



4) Catholics often treat justification and sanctification as one thing. Protestants treat them separately.



5) Catholic/Orthodox leaders say that other things may be required to be saved such as membership in their churches, use of icons, priests and gifts and prayers for the dead.  Protestants do not believe these are required to be saved.



Bruce, you may personally have come to trust in Jesus Christ alone plus nothing, but that is not what has been historically tought by the Roman Catholic Church.

I hope that this helps you.

In Christ
Pastor Don