|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
One of the most often-used and erroneous mischaracterizations of the teaching of the Catholic Church is that the Church teaches “salvation by works,” whereas Protestantism “correctly” teaches salvation by grace through faith alone – or, “justification by faith alone.” In order to correct both errors (the error that the Catholic Church teaches salvation by works, and the error that we are saved by “faith alone,”) here is an example of a typical conversation between a well-taught Catholic and someone who is trying to get a clear answer about the Catholic teaching on justification.
Q: Do Catholics believe in “Justification by Faith”?
A: Yes. Period. Full stop. Read the Catechism in sections 1987-1995 to get the whole enchilada. But here is the definition of justification provided in the glossary in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
JUSTIFICATION: The gracious action of God which frees us from sin and communicates “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ” (Rom 3:22). Justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man (sections 1987–1989). [1]
Q: Do Catholics believe in Justification by “faith alone”?
A: No. Period. Full stop. And why would they? Where are those words found in the affirmative anywhere in the Bible? Putting the word “alone” at the end of the phrase “justified by faith” is not only unbiblical, it’s anti-biblical. We are not free to add words to the Bible as Luther did. In fact – the opposite idea “*not* by Faith alone” is actually explicitly the only proper biblical view (see James 2:24 for a biblical repudiation of the false doctrine of faith alone). The Catholic Church teaches exactly what the Bible says. To add the word “alone” (as in “sola fide”) is actually a heresy. It is tampering with the text of the Bible, and the truth of the Gospel — and both mistakes are dangerous to souls — especially to the soul of the person who does it!
Q: But what about Paul’s insistence that “we are justified by faith apart from the works of the Law” (Rom. 3:28)? That seems to indicate Luther’s idea of faith alone, doesn’t it?
A: That we are justified by faith apart from “the works of the law” is the unequivocal teaching of the Catholic Church too! Those words (which are different from “faith alone”) are right there in the Bible. But again, that’s different from “faith alone.” The “works of the Law” that Paul is discussing with his Gentile audience in Romans are not the same as living in obedience to Jesus Christ. “Works of the Law” are the works of the Torah in the Mosaic law. Paul’s letters to the Romans and the Galatians repudiate the error that a person can be saved through adherence to the law codes in the Mosaic law. But — that’s different from a life of obedience to Christ’s Lordship. “Faith apart from the works of the law” is not synonymous with “faith alone,” and so the Catholic Church does not confuse the two ideas.
Q: What if my church teaches that we are saved by faith alone?
A: Anyone who teaches people that they do not have to obey Jesus Christ in order to be justified is not fulfilling the great commission (“Going, disciple all nations…baptizing them…and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded” – Mat. 28:19-20). That is because obedience to Jesus is the best definition of the word faith. Jesus said that it is a deception to call him “Lord, Lord,” and then not do the things that he commanded (Lk. 6:46). In fact the important little phrase “the *obedience* of faith” bookends the entire book of Romans (c.f. Rom. 1:5, 16:26).
Q: Are you using the correct definition for the word faith? Isn’t faith simply believing in Jesus without any reference to my lifestyle or actions or choices?
A: Obedience to Jesus *is* the Biblical, and therefore, the Catholic understanding of what it means to have faith in Jesus. Conversely, “Works of the law” (the Torah and the Mosaic legal codes, etc.) can be done and are done to this day (as they were in Paul’s day when he wrote the letter to the Romans) without reference to Jesus at all. Thus, they are not what saves or justifies (makes a person rightly related to God). Obedience to Jesus (which is what faith is) is what justifies us (sets us right with God). That’s why this is what the Catholic Church teaches (instead of Sola Fide – faith alone). The Catholic Church teaches exactly what the Bible teaches — and what Romans teaches. We are justified by faith (which is obedience to Jesus Christ) apart from keeping the Mosaic law codes. We are, however, not justified by “faith alone.” There is no such thing affirmed in the Bible.
Q: Well, I don’t know. Didn’t Martin Luther teach that Romans 3:28 really teaches the idea of faith alone?
A: Yes, he did. And as I said, that is heresy. Faith alone is different from “faith apart from the works of the law.” Catholics believe, along with Paul, that we are justified by faith (which needs to be defined biblically) apart from the works of the law. But take a listen to Luther’s own words in which he discusses why he felt that it was appropriate for him to add a word (and, therefore a heretical theological idea) to the Bible that is not even there.
If your Papist makes much unnecessary fuss about the word [Sola], say straight out to him, Doctor Martinus Luther will have it so … thus I will have it, thus I order it, my will is reason enough. For we will not be the scholars or the disciples of the Papists, but their masters and judges. This is my answer to your first question; and as to their unnecessary noise about the word Sola, I beg of you not to give … any other or further answer, but simply this much: Doctor Martinus Luther will have it so, and says he is a Doctor above all Doctors. [2]
Martin Luther didn’t like the Pope (or papists – his pejorative word for faithful Catholics) very much, and didn’t feel that the Catholic Church had the magisterial authority to teach the truth or confront his errors. But it’s interesting to listen to him talk about his own authority to just change the Bible — and by implication — the meaning of the words of the Apostle Paul, and his reference to himself as “Doctor above all Doctors.” And remember, he can’t close the door behind him. If a wayward German Catholic priest can just change the Bible when he wants to, why shouldn’t you be able to? Why shouldn’t I? You have to choose. Is Luther your authority on this count? After all — it’s Luther who created the doctrine of faith alone when he added it to the Bible because he felt it should be there. If you won’t have one Pope or one teaching authority, then you will have ten thousand. And that, my dear protesting friend, is exactly what this kind of thinking has created.
As for the Catholic Church, we simply believe exactly what Paul taught in his own words (not the words that Luther added to the Bible where they do not appear). We are justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Period. Full stop. But we are not justified by faith alone (or any kind of so-called “faith” that exists apart from obedience to Jesus Christ as Lord).
——-