Expert: Sal - 6/15/2009

Question
Hi Sal,

My first question concerns salvation.  As you know, many Protestants claim that only Christians can be saved, but the Catholic church does not.  How do we know that not only Christians can be saved?  The Book of Jude is one book that Martin Luther wanted to take out of the Bible.  Is it because it mentions Korah's rebellion in 1:11 and Martin Luther himself started a rebellion?  Concerning Baptism, if a person is never baptized, can he/she obtain salvation?  Finally, I've heard that three of the first five popes are in the Bible.  Is this correct and if so, can you tell me which ones?  

Sorry for asking so many questions, but I'm very curious.

Thank you!

Answer
Dear Les:

Nice to hear from you. I hope everything is well with you.

The first Pope, St. Peter, is mentioned numerous times in the New Testament (see Matt. 16:18, for example). No other Pope is clearly mentioned in the New Testament. However, the second Pope, St. Linus, is believed to be the Linus mentioned by St. Paul in 2 Tim. 4:21. The third Pope, St. Cletus (a.k.a. Anacletus), is not mentioned. The fourth Pope, St. Clement, is thought by some to be the Clement mentioned in Phil. 4:2-3. The fifth Pope, St. Evaristus, is not mentioned.

I’m not sure what was Martin Luther’s motivation for attempting to remove the Letter of Jude from the New Testament. He claimed that he considered removing it because it was a disputed letter that was most probably not written by the Apostle Jude. He did not consider that letter important to salvation and so it could be removed without great harm. Your idea that the reason might be related to the rebellion of Korah (Num. 16) mentioned in v. 11 of the letter is interesting. No doubt Luther would want to remove that story from the arsenal of Catholic apologists as he did with purgatory and 2 Macc. 12:38-46. One could easily see an analogy between Korah’s rebellion and Luther’s own rebellion against God’s chosen authority. I’m sure that Catholic apologists would bring the analogy up to Luther and his proponents.

We know that non-Christians can be saved, firstly, because God’s Church has clearly said that very thing. Secondly, we can know this because we recognize that God wants all men to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4), and consequently He has put a desire to know God into the hearts of all men.  So even though we have many different religions they are all seeking to know God. The God that we know is fair and just. Therefore, He would never condemn those who do not know Him (cf. Rom. 2:14-16).

Baptism is usually necessary for salvation (Jn. 3:5). However, God makes exceptions as per above. People who do not understand that it is God’s will are not punished for their ignorance.  

God Bless You,
Sal