The Biblical Foundations of Catholic Salvation
(Part 7)
Paul Newcombe
SALVATION CAN BE LOST
Many (but not all) non-Catholic churches teach that a person cannot lose his salvation. Many believe that once a person accepts Jesus as Savior — his salvation is secure despite any sins he may commit in the future. A popular phrase used for this notion is “once saved, always saved”. It is also known as “eternal security”. Catholics do not believe in the theory of “eternal security”. Instead, Catholics believe that scripture provides a constant warning to Christians not to fall away from the faith and lose their salvation:
Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in time of testing they fall away. (Luke 8:13).
If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. (John 15:6).
I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard… (Acts 20:29-31).
But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God; sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. (Romans 11:20-22).
These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! (1 Corinthians 10:11-12).
The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. (1 Timothy 4:1).
We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. (Hebrews 2:1).
A scheme of salvation devised by a Father is familistic by its very nature. Slaves are without freedom yet family members, not being bound by contracts, have the liberty to either embrace the family statues or repudiate them. Repudiation of either the Father or the covenant statues which define His family life is an abandonment of the inheritance itself. We are heirs to our heavenly inheritance so long as we do the will of the Father by embracing His family statutes and the moral laws which underpin them. Matthew pulls no punches in describing the obligation of an obedient faith and the very real possibility of losing one’s eternal inheritance:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me you evildoers.” (Matthew 7:21-23).
A PROOF TEXT FOR “ETERNAL SECURITY”?
Oftentimes non-Catholic churches will cite Romans 8:38-39 as a proof text in support of eternal security:
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present not the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, not anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39).
This list appears to have all the bases covered in regard to shutting down the possibility of anything disrupting our “saved” status before God. Except for one thing. There is one persistent element to the Christian journey that is not mentioned in St. Paul’s list of powerless barriers. The element of sin. The age-old vice which was present in Lucifer and is now present in every Christian person. All the impotent forces listed above by St. Paul are external to the individual and out of his control, however, sin is internal to the individual and is chosen freely by the individual and immediately places a blemish upon the soul. Serious sin, if left unrepented, most certainly has the ability to disrupt our status before God. Even if we still inform others that we are Christian and appear to be going through the motions of being Christian, if our soul is blackened by a willful embrace of mortal sin Christ will turn to us at our judgment and tell us plainly: “I never knew you. Away from me you evildoers” (Matthew 7:23). Scripture is clear in its warnings that we can become runaway children who repudiate the Father, leave the family home, and find ourselves disinherited from our intended place in the eternal life of God’s family.
WE WILL BE EITHER REWARDED, OR PUNISHED, ACCORDING TO OUR WORKS
Finally, it must be noted that God rewards His children who cooperate with grace and perform good works under the auspices of faith, hope and love. Likewise, God’s children are punished for their rejection of grace and their subsequent disobedience to the divine statutes that govern His family. Scripture describes this in abundant terms:
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body. (2 Corinthians 5:10).
Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense, to repay everyone for what he has done. (Revelation 22:12).
And whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. (Matthew 10:42).
For the Son of man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done. (Matthew 16:27).
Many times, these statements appear within the context of salvation as we see clearly in the sheep-goat judgment described in Matthew 25:
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then He will take His seat on the throne of glory. All the nations will be assembled before Him and He will separate men one from another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on His right hand and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, “Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.” Then the virtuous will say to Him in reply, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?” And the King will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brethren of mine, you did it to me”. Next, He will say to those on His left hand, “Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you never gave me food; I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink; I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, naked and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me.” Then it will be their turn to ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help?” Then He will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me”. And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the virtuous to eternal life. (Matthew 26:31-46).
God rewards us when we behave as a true family where the individual and the whole family unit are equally important. Conversely, He disciplines us when we turn His family into a selfish exercise where we exclusively elevate ourselves as all-important and our brothers and sisters are abandoned, uncared for, or mistreated. When God witnesses His children reaching out to each other in acts of kindness and love—He is truly glorified. Why? Because at that moment we manifest what He created us for—to be true children of God who know, love, serve and finally emulate our heavenly Father. When we become His hands, His heart, His voice, and His love in the world—our identity as His children is made real and heavenly rewards are prepared for us to celebrate our good works which echo in eternity.
END NOTE
Dr Michael S. Horton (editor-in-chief of Modern Reformation magazine), in a recent article: “Is Justification by Faith Alone?” demonstrates the common way of defusing Catholic dogma regarding salvation:
In Romans 4, Paul reaches the heart of his argument, appealing to the example of Abraham: "What then shall we say that Abraham our forefather discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about — but not before God. What does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’" In other words, a salary isn't a gift; the company owes it to you. Rome actually argues that we merit (de congruo) justification by cooperating with grace. But merit is precisely what Paul is excluding here. “However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.” In one fell swoop, Paul destroys every plank in the Roman doctrine of justification. Rome says that justification is merited; Paul says it is a gift.[1]
Dr Horton would like his readers to believe that the Catholic use of the word “merit” always refers to something that is paid, not gifted. This is a clear misrepresentation of the Catholic position. The Catholic Church always has and continues to constantly stipulate that grace precedes and energizes the works of charity involved in a living faith — it is pure gift (as discussed earlier).
Dr Horton continues:
Rome says that it [justification] is given to those who work for it; Paul says it is given to those who do not work for it. (Ibid).
Here Dr Horton lumps all “works” into one category (as Luther did). However, Paul has only one particular category of works in mind. He is clearly not dealing with works in the category of grace, since grace is antithetical to “debt” or “wages” as Romans 4:4 specifies. Instead, Paul is dealing with works that are associated with unaided human effort, which, the Catholic faith agrees cannot have any bearing upon man’s justification before God. Is Rome and Paul at odds with each other? Not at all.
Dr Horton continues:
Rome says that God only justifies those who are truly holy inherently; Paul says that God only justifies those who are truly wicked inherently. (Ibid).
Again, we have another clear distortion of Catholic doctrine. The Catholic Church has made it clear that God justifies the ungodly — that, in fact, His grace is more powerful than man’s sin. Mr Horton is enough of a textual critic to know what the Council of Orange and the Council of Trent say about this. Canon 5 of the Council of Orange (a Catholic Council before there were ever any Protestants) says: “...by which we believe in Him who justifies the impious, reforming our will from infidelity to faith, from impiety to piety.” Likewise, chapter 7 of the Council of Trent stated: “For although no one can be just but he to whom the merits of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ are communicated, yet this does take place in this justification of the ungodly.” Mr Horton has also had these things explained to him privately by Catholic apologists. Why he continues to persist in these misleading caricatures of Catholic doctrine is a mystery.
Dr Horton continues:
Rome says that justification is a process of attaining righteousness; Paul says that justification is a declaration of imputed or “credited” righteousness. (Ibid).
The verse Mr Horton points to regarding Abraham’s “imputed” righteousness (via his singular act of faith) is Genesis 15:6 — a verse we have already discussed as being a classical proof-texting tool for Protestant apologists hoping to establish justification by faith alone. However, when we stop proof-texting and start to look at the larger context of Abraham’s life we see instantly that scripture portrays justification as a process, too. That's why it says Abraham was justified in Genesis 15 (Romans 4:3) and Genesis 22 (James 2:21-24) and had the faith of justification in Genesis 12 (Hebrews 11:8); Genesis 15 (Hebrews 11:17); and Genesis 22 (Hebrews 11:17). Further, where does Paul say that justification is a “declaration”? Where does he say it is “imputed”? He doesn’t. Not only has Mr Horton misrepresented the Catholic religion on several points, he has also spliced in an entire doctrinal concept (imputed righteousness) that does not appear in the text under his consideration.
R. C. Sproul (another world-famous Protestant theologian from the Reformed tradition) makes similar statements to those of Dr Horton:
The [Catholic] Church concluded that there still remains this freedom that is intact in the human will and that man must cooperate with — and assent to — the prevenient grace that is offered to them by God. If we exercise that will, if we exercise cooperation with whatever powers we have left, we will be saved. And so, in the sixteenth century the Church reembraced semi-Pelagianism.[2]
Here Mr Sproul does well to mention the presence of “prevenient grace” which is supplied to man, however, he splits a very important hair by insinuating that Catholicism somehow requires unaided human effort to cooperate with prevenient grace. This is a misrepresentation of the Catholic faith and is no small issue for it immediately denies that Catholics are saved 100% by grace. Mr Sproul completely fails to tell his readers that Catholicism insists that even our desire and cooperation with grace is itself a product of grace:
Catholic Council of Trent, 1547 A.D
In adults the beginning of justification must proceed from the antecedent grace of God through Jesus Christ. …man… is not able, by his own free will, without the grace of God, to move himself into justice in His sight. [Catholic Council of Trent, Decree On Justification, 1547 A.D., Chapter 5]
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1994 A.D.
The preparation of man for the reception of grace is already a work of grace. This latter is needed to arouse and sustain our collaboration in justification through faith, and in sanctification through charity. [Section 2001].
Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification, at the beginning of conversion. [Section 2010].
Mr Sproul’s “Whatever powers we have left” is a distortive phrase that could mean just about anything his readers may choose to assume. R. C. Sproul is well known for his precision when writing papers and therefore we are left wondering why he suddenly chooses such a vague use of words which clearly lends itself to a concept of works-righteousness. This type of thing will simply not provide his audience with an accurate assessment of the Catholic position.
The almost universal ignorance or misrepresentation of Catholic justification is one of the most interesting phenomena in recent human history. With the abundance of official Catholic statements that have been consistently released to the whole world for twenty centuries it is hard to imagine how non-Catholic authors can claim invincible ignorance with regard to their inaccurate caricatures of Catholic justification. The enormous scale of the ongoing misrepresentation of the Catholic gospel is, without much doubt, quite indefensible. Historically, the papacy has been the loudest voice condemning the ghastly systems of Pelagian or semi-Pelagian works-righteousness. Yet the finger-pointing message of many authors is one that doggedly attempts to squeeze unaided human effort into Catholic dogma.
The fundamental slogan that Catholicism is “salvation by works” while Protestantism is “salvation by grace” is the easiest and most effective way to close the Protestant mind to the Catholic religion. Unfortunately, this staple remains as one of the planks for Protestant survival in the 21st century. Nevertheless (no matter how delicious it may sound to some) this slogan is, and always has been, completely fictitious. This needs to be frankly admitted.
Once the mind has been closed at this early stage, the rest of the Catholic gospel of salvation is rarely approached — much less understood or appreciated. The beautiful view of salvation as a family affair where adoption into God’s family life becomes the very heart of Christ’s message. Not merely as a legal declaration. No. The Catholic faith presses right through the ultimate limitations of legal strictures for the reason that it has always understood one thing — that we are children and God is our Father. This is the basic axiom of the New Covenant. With this fundamental truth as the backbone of religion the Catholic Church unavoidably views forensic imputations and legal contracts from a higher altitude. Inevitably Catholic dogma proceeds to immerse the human person into something infinitely more intimate and personal — divine sonship.
The free gift of God’s justifying grace which is extended (even to infants) is transformative — it does what God declares! Thus, when Catholics are “born again of water and the spirit” (John 3:5) they become nothing less than a “new creation” (Galatians 6:15). They receive nothing less than divine sonship in the fullest sense possible. They “are made partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:3-4). Christians are God’s creations and not divine, yet He transforms our souls, “cleanses us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9), and re-creates us as His very children. As St. Paul reminds us:
YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE SPIRIT OF SONSHIP. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” It is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that WE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD… (Romans 8:15-16)
Grace, therefore, in the Catholic sense, is a participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of Trinitarian life. As stated earlier by the Catholic Encyclopedia:
“Justification denotes that transformation in the soul by which man is transferred from the state of original sin to that state of grace and Divine Sonship through Jesus Christ our Redeemer.”
In complete agreement with St. Paul in Romans and Galatians, Catholicism continues to decree that salvation comes by faith in Jesus Christ. This living faith that works in love is, of course, made possible by the Holy Spirit who applies the life of Christ to every believer. Thus to St. Paul’s proclamation that we are not justified by works of the Jewish ceremonial law or, indeed, by works of the flesh — the Catholic Church says “Amen”. Nothing devoid of grace can contribute to salvation. To Paul’s insistence upon the “obedience of faith” the Catholic Church says “Amen”. To James salvific announcement that “faith apart from works is dead” the Catholic Church says “Amen”. And to Jesus’ constant depiction of salvation being dependent upon a faith that works, e.g., the parables of unfaithful servants, the ten virgins, the talents, and the sheep and the goats; the Catholic Church says “Amen”.
Conversely, neither Jesus nor St. Paul use the Protestant formula which dominates reformation theology — that man is “justified by faith alone”. Not once! Moreover, James specifically says we are not justified by faith alone. Yet Protestantism continues to teach that we are justified by faith alone. And in doing so, the central message of Christianity — divine sonship — is often neglected or completely absent.
Divine sonship is, beyond any doubt, the message of the New Testament. In fact, see how much emphasis a church places on divine sonship and you will know how much that denomination understands the New Testament. The Catholic Church knows God. She has always elevated the divine sonship of the Christian person to a degree unparalleled by any other form of the Christian gospel. It is a beautiful message which has been attacked and maligned, defaced and colored. Yet, the Father continues to reach His children through the family bonds of the New Covenant, and, despite the din of our modern age, the saving message of Christ continues to draw souls into the universal family of God. After twenty centuries of spiritual combat the Catholic Church waits quietly to be discovered.
Footnotes:
[1] Horton, Michael. Is Justification By Faith Alone?, in Catholic Apologetics International, http://www.catholicintl.com/epologetics/dialogs/justification/horton-rebuttal.html, access date 28 September 2005.
[2] Sproul, R. C. The Pelagian Captivity of the Church, www.modernreformation.org/rc01pelagian.htm, access date 28 September 2005.