Proestants vs. Roman Catholics - How we differ

Are We Together?

A Protestant Analyzes Roman Catholicism

R.C. Sproul

 Introduction: At Stake the Gospel

·        The Reformers believed and taught that we are justified by faith alone. Faith, they said, is the sole instrumental cause for our justification. The Roman communion also taught that faith is a necessary condition for salvation. At the seminal Council of Trent (1545-1563) which formulated Rome’s response to the Reformation.

·        That is faith is the beginning of justification. But Rome held that a person can have true faith and still not be justified, because there was much more to the Roman system.

·         In reality, the Roman view of the gospel, as expressed in Trent, was just justification is accomplished through the sacraments. Initially the recipient must accept and cooperate in baptism, by which he receives justifying grace. He retains grace until he commits a mortal sin. Mortal sin is mortal because it kills the grace of justification. The sinner then must be justified a second time. That happens through the sacrament of penance.

·        According to Roman Catholic doctrine, justification depends on a person’s sanctification. By contrast, the Reformers said justification is based on the imputation of the righteousness of Jesus.

·        Through the Council of Trent made many fine affirmations of traditional truths of the Christian faith, it declared justification by faith alone to be anathema (to put under the ban, curse, detest), ignoring many plain teachings of Scripture, such as Romans 3:28: “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”

Misunderstanding and Confusion

·         There are greater differences between Protestants and Catholics now than at the time of the Reformation.

 

·         The Reformation was simply a commitment to Biblical truth, and as long as there are departures from biblical truth, we have to be involved in the task of the reformation.

 Chapter 1 – Scripture

·        The major division between Protestants and Roman Catholics is the doctrine of justification. The Protestant position stresses justification by faith alone. But there is an even more fundamental issues that divides Protestants and Roman Catholics, the issue of Scripture and authority.

·        The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century was so called because it involved a protest against various teachings and practices of Roman Catholicism.

·        In identifying the key issues involved, historians often point to the material clause and the formal cause of Reformation. The material clause was the question of justification, and how a person because redeemed by Jesus Christ. The formal issue, which was the underlying issue, specifically the question of authority of Scripture.

o   Material issue- justification issue

o   Formal issue- question of the authority of scripture.

·        Martin Luther tacked ninety-five theses to the church door at Wittenburg, inviting disputation concerning some abuses that he saw in this program of indulgences. Luther denied that either church councils or the pope was the highest authority; he said Scripture is the highest authority.

·         Luther said, “unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason – I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other – my conscience is captive to the Word of God.” The most significant portion of this statement was Luther’s insistence on being “convicted by Scripture”. He saw the Bible as the ultimate authority. So, the doctrine of scripture was immediately elevated as a central point for all Protestant bodies of the sixteenth century.

·        To clarify, the Roman Catholic Church has a very high view of scripture. However there is a difference between Roman Catholic approaches to scripture and Protestant views.

Positional Differences

·        The first and most obvious issue is in respect to the Canon. The Roman Catholic Bible contains certain books that are not found in Protestant editions of the Bible. The apocryphal books are included in the Catholic Bible. These books are denied canonical status by Protestants. The historical evidence is overwhelming that the Jewish canon did not include these apocryphal books. I would also assert with confidence that the vast majority of Roman Catholic historians would grant that these books were not contained in the Jewish canon. The Westminister Confession of Faith stated, “the books commonly called the Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the Canon of Scripture; and therefore are of no authority in the Church of God.”

·        The Protestant view of scripture is sola Scriptura, that is “Scripture alone.” God’s special revelation comes only in the Scriptures. But the Roman Catholic Church historically recognizes two sources of revelation, Scripture and tradition. The council of Trent ruled that God is found partly in Scripture, and partly in tradition. That clearly indicated that there are two sources of revelation. 

·       Thus the disagreement over Scripture in the sixteenth century persists today, forming an insurmountable barrier between to union between Protestantism and Rome. If Protestants and Roman Catholics could agree that there is but one source of revelation, the Scriptures (minus the apocryphal books), we could then sit down and discuss the meaning of biblical texts. 

·        In response to the Protestant claim of private interpretation of the Bible, Rome declared at the Fourth Session of Trent that Rome’s interpretation of Scripture is the only correct interpretation. When a Protestant presents a different interpretation from Rome’s official interpretation, further talk is pointless, because the Roman Catholics simply say Protestant is wrong.

Chapter 2- Justification

·        The core issue of the Reformation is how a sinner finds justification in Christ. Martin Luther asserted that the doctrine of justification by faith alone is the article upon which the church stands or falls.

·        As we saw in the previous chapter, the formal cause of the Reformation was the question of Scripture, but the material cause was the question of justification.

·         Part of the disagreement over the justification stems from the meaning of the word justification itself. The early Latin fathers, who studied Scripture by means of the Vulgate (the fourth-century Latin translation of the Bible) rather than the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) and the Greek New Testament, developed their doctrine of justification based on their understanding of the legal system of the Roman Empire. In the development of the doctrine of justification in Rome, the idea emerged that justification occurs after sanctification.

·         The Protestant Reformation focused attention on the Greek meaning of the concept of justification means to declare righteous rather than to make righteous. So, in Protestantism, justification was understood to come before the process of sanctification. Therefore, from early on, there was a completely difference of understanding regarding the order of salvation between two communions.

Grace received, lost, regained

·         From the Roman perspective, justification takes place primarily through the use of sacraments. Rome has a very high view of the efficacy of baptism to bring a person into a state of grace. This is because, in the sacrament of baptism, grace is said to be infused or poured into the soul. Protestants however believe that a person is justified when the righteousness of Christ is imputed or credited to his account.

·        When Roman Catholics speak of their sacramental theology, they use quantitative terms with respect to grace. However, a baptized person can lose some of his infused grace. In fact, it may be lost entirely, removing the person from a state of justification and putting him or her under the threat of damnation. This loss of saving grace takes place when the person commits a particular type of sin- a mortal sin. Roman Catholic theology distinguishes venial sins and mortal sins, with mortal sins more egregious. Mortal sin is so named because it is serious enough to cause the death of justifying grace that was infused to a person at baptism.

·        In the sixteenth century, John Calvin said that all sin is mortal and deserved death. Ezekiel comments on sin:  Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die. – Ezekiel 18:4. This means that even the smallest sin is an act of treason against God’s sovereign rule and therefore deserving of death. 

·        According to Roman Catholic theology, if a person who has been baptized and has received the infused grace of justification commits a mortal sin and thereby destroys that justifying grace, all is not lost. There is a way by which a person’s justification is restored. This restoration of justification also happens via a sacrament. In this case, the sacrament of penance, which the Roman Catholic Church in the sixteenth century defined as “a second plank” of justification. Those who have committed mortal sins lost the grace of justification. The sacrament of penance was at the heart of the problem that erupted in the sixteenth century.

·         So while Rome does require faith to be justified, justification also requires faith plus works, grace plus merit. Protestants view justification as faith alone. Martin Luther believed that people should never be taught that any work they can do can add in any way to the satisfaction for our sins that was accomplished by Christ. Nevertheless, Rome continued to teach works are involved in justification.

Decrees and condemnations

·        If the Reformation articulation of the biblical doctrine of justification was correct (and I, of course, believe that it was), to anathematize it was to anathematize the gospel. If any communion claims to be Christian but denies or condemns an essential truth of Christianity, at that point that organization shows itself to be apostate and no longer a true or valid church. Someone is right and someone is wrong. Paul said in Galatians: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.” – Galatians 1:8. So, one side or other, Protestantism or Roman Catholicism deserves to be anathema of God.  

·         So according to Rome, faith is not a sufficient condition. The council of Trent taught that faith is not sufficient in and of itself to yield the result of justification.

·        The Bible says: “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” – Romans 3:22-24. So therefore the Bible teaching that we are justified by his grace clearly contradicts with what Rome teaches.

The importance of imputation

·        If any word was the center of the firestorm of the Reformation controversy and remains central to the debate even in our day, it is imputation. We cannot really understand what the Reformation was about without understanding the central importance of this concept.

·         When Paul explains the doctrine of justification, he cites the example of the patriarch Abraham. Paul writes: “For what does the scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness’” – Romans 4:3.  Moses also writes: “And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to his as righteousness” – Genesis 15:6. In other words, Abraham had faith, and therefore God justified him. Abraham was still a sinner. The rest of the history of life of Abraham reveals that he that he did not always obey God. Nevertheless, God counted him righteous because he believed in the promise God had made to him. This is an example of imputation, which involves transferring something legally to someone’s account, to reckon something to be there.

 

·        So, Paul speaks of God counting Abraham as righteous or reckoning him as righteous, even though, in and of himself, Abraham was not yet righteous. As noted above, the Roman Catholic idea that grace is infused into the soul of a person at baptism, making the person inherently righteous. But the Reformers insisted that we are justified when God imputes someone else’s righteousness to our account, namely, the righteousness of Christ.

·        Therefore Luther was saying that in our justification, we are the same time righteous and sinful. If I have to trust in my righteousness to get into heaven, I must completely and utterly despair of any possibility of ever being redeemed. The good news is simply this: I can be reconciled to God. I can be justified, not on the basis of what I do, but on the basis of what has been accomplished for me by Christ.

Paul vs. James

·         James says: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?  If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,  and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?  So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. – James 2:14-17. James is speaking of a “dead” faith, not a living faith. The absence of works are proof positive that justification has not occurred.

Chapter 3- The Church

·        The Roman Catholic Church is usually described as an institution that is sacerdotal, a term which means “priest.” Sacerdotalism is a school of thought that teaches that salvation is mediated through the functions of the priesthood, namely the sacraments. The great emphasis in Protestant churches is the preaching of the Word of God.

 

·       The pulpit in Protestant churches is placed at the front and center, the focus of attention. However, in the Roman Catholic tradition, the center of attention is the altar. The Mass, the sacrament of the Eucharist, is seen as the heart of the liturgy rather than the sermon, which is usually very short homily.

·        If salvation is sacerdotal, if redemption comes through the means of grace that are dispensed by the priest and controlled by the church, what happens to a person who is not a member of the sacerdotal communion of the Roman Catholic Church? From Rome’s perspective, can a person outside of the Roman Catholic Church be saved? 

·        While there is no doubt in some respects, the Roman Catholic Church seems to have softened its stance that it alone is the one true church. However at other times it seems to reassert that idea. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1995), Rome states, regarding the affirmation that “outside the church there is no salvation.” Pope Penedict in 2007 released a document that said churches that did not preserved the Eucharistic mystery cannot be called churches. This document sparked a firestorm of criticism, as it seemed to reassert the old Cyprian (early church father died 258 AD) formula that there is only one true church.

·        If justification is not by faith or trust in Christ alone, but occurs primarily by means of the sacraments, most importantly the sacraments of baptism and penance, which require the function of a priest to perform, then Protestant churches cannot  provide salvation, and Rome must be the only true church. But if Protestants are correct in their doctrine of justification, Rome is not a true church at all. Rome cannot have it both ways.

Chapter 4- The Sacraments

·        The Roman church identified seven ecclesiastical rites as sacraments. The rationale for the different sacraments and the selection of seven was seen as analogous to the medieval concept of the seven stages of life. Thus, there is a sacramental grace for people at every stage of their lives.

o   Initial stage- sacrament of baptism

o   Childhood/young adult- sacrament of confirmation

o   Marriage – sacrament of matrimony

o   Conclusion of life – sacrament of extreme unction

·         Three special sacraments:

o   Sacrament of Holy Orders (for those going into ministry)

o   Sacrament of Penance (gives assistance for the whole life after baptism)

o   Sacrament of Lord’s Supper (Eucharist)

Sacrament of Baptism

·        First sacrament administered. When a person is baptized, he is born again of the Spirit, leaving him justified in the sight of God. By contrast, Protestantism teaches the instrumental cause for justification is faith. According to Rome, sins that are committed after baptism, especially mortal sins, destroy the justifying grace of baptism, which makes it necessary for a person to be justified again. The sacrament of penance is designed to solve this problem.

Sacrament of Confirmation

·        Confirmation is administered when a child reaches the “age of discretion,” the age when he can understand the rite (usually taken to be around the age of seven).  It is seen as a growing of grace.

Sacrament of Matrimony

·         Special grace given to a couple at marriage.

Sacrament of Extreme Unction

·        Is administered to people whose lives are thought to be in danger due to illness or old age. It’s the final anointing of grace to strengthen penance, lest a person die with mortal sin in his life and therefore go to hell, the mortal sin having killed the grace of justification. Roman Catholic Church believes it as a gift of grace.

Sacrament of Holy orders

·         Is the ordination of a priest, bishop, or deacon. It also gives infusion of grace, which confers special powers to those who receive it. The two special powers given to a priest in ordination are the power of absolution and the power of consecration. Absolution is the power to forgive sins as a part of the penance, allowing the recipient to receive the sacraments without sin. Consecration is the act by which the bread and wine used in the Lord’s Supper are set apart, and according to Roman Catholic belief, transformed into the body of blood of Christ. 

Sacrament of Penance

·        The sacrament of penance is crucial to the division between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. The sacrament of penance was instituted by the church to help people who commit mortal sin. It is for those who have their grace through the justification of baptism destroyed. However a person can be restored to justification through penance. The form of the sacrament of penance is absolution where the priest absolves sin. While there should be no issue with confessing sin among Protestants, this is not the issue. There are three dimensions to the sacrament of penance- contrition, confession, and satisfaction.

o   Contrition means turning away from our sin.

o   Confession is the act of confessing one’s sin. Protestants have no issue with contrition and confession.

o   The issue is the third dimension of penance, which is satisfaction. Roman Catholics teach that for the sacraments to be complete, it is necessary for the pertinent believer to do “works of satisfaction,” which satisfy the demands of God’s justice. So, a sinner is not off the hook when he confesses his sins; he still must do works of satisfaction. These works may be very small. But if his sins are especially severe, he may be required to make a pilgrimage. One of the favorite methods of doing works of satisfaction in the church has been the giving of alms. As noted earlier, Rome teaches that a work of satisfaction gives a pertinent sinner congruous merit. Therefore no matter how much faith and trust he has in the atonement of Jesus Christ, he cannot be justified. So, he must do works of satisfaction in order to gain merit.

 

·        The Reformation debate on justification grew out of a practice that was inseparably related to the sacrament of penance, specifically to works of satisfaction, almsgiving and the sale of indulgences. An indulgence is a transfer of merit. In order to gain heaven, a person must have sufficient merit. If a person dies lacking sufficient merit to go directly into heaven, he goes to purgatory, the purging place. Purgatory is not hell; it is the place where goes to receive enough merit to get into heaven. The Roman Catholic Church came to believe it had the power to give merit to those who lacked it. Where did the church get this merit?

 

·        I believe there is no concept within the Roman Catholic Church more repugnant to Protestants that the concept of the treasury of merit. A person who believes in justification by faith alone weeps at this notion. Protestants also believe in merit- merit of the Son of God. According to Protestantism, justification happens on the basis of Christ’s merit credited to His people. For Rome, we are never finally saved until we have sufficient merit of our own.

Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper

·        In the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, according to the Roman Catholic tradition we have the miracle of the Mass, which is known as transubstantiation. In the Eucharist, there is bread and wine. According to Rome, in the miracle of the Mass, at the prayer of consecration, the substance of the elements is transformed supernaturally into the substance of the body and blood of Christ. The bread still looks like bread, tastes like bread, feels like bread, and smells like bread. The substance of it, the essence it of it, as the supernaturally transformed to the body, the flesh, of Jesus Christ. Likewise, the substance of wine has been transformed to the substance of the blood of Christ.

·        Why do Roman Catholics kneel before sitting down? On the alter of every Roman Catholic church there is a holy vessel called the tabernacle. Sometimes it is a simple square box. People kneel in veneration and adoration because of the presence of the tabernacle. But it is not the box that people are acknowledging; it is what is inside the box. The tabernacle contains the consecrated host, the bread and wine have been transformed into the body and blood of Christ. Roman Catholics are convinced that the real body and blood of Christ are in that box. He is there substantially, physically.

·         The celebration of Mass is described in the Catechism of the Catholic Church as the “Holy Sacrifice.” That has prompted Protestants to argue that if the bread is the real body of Christ and if the priest breaks it, the church is ripping and tearing the body of Christ again when the scriptures tell us he was broken for us once and for all, that He was the final, full, sufficient sacrifice for the sin of his people.  Paul adds in Hebrews: He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself – Hebrews 7:27.

·        Paul also adds: But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.  For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. – Hebrews 10:12-14. Is Christ’s body being mutilated again in the Mass? Are we not inflicting torment on the One who finished His work of sacrifice?

·         The two sacraments that are the most significant in the Roman Catholic Church and most divisive in terms of Rome’s relationship with Protestantism are penance and the Lord’s Supper, or the Eucharist.

Roman Catholic and Protestant affirmations

·        Rome has reaffirmed many of its traditional stances on the sacraments in the recent edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1995)

o   The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation (Section 1129)

o   The sinner must still recover his full spiritual health by doing something more to make amends for the sin; he must make “satisfaction for” or “expiate” his sins. This satisfaction is called penance. (Section 1459)

o   An indulgence is obtained through the Church, who, by the virtue of the binding and loosing granted her by Jesus Chris, intervenes in favor of individual Christians and opens for them the treasury of the merits of Christ.

·         Rome’s view of the sacraments remains riddled with errors and superstitions.

Chapter 5- The Papacy

·        In July 1870, as part of the ecumenical council known as Vatican I, the Roman Catholic Church formally defined the doctrine of papal infallibility. So the formal proclamation of papal infallibility is a relatively recent development. Vatican I also included anathemas.

·        The council at Vatican I defined the primacy of Peter, declaring that he was not simply one of the Apostles, but that Jesus gave him primacy over all the other Apostles of the early church. The council declared that if anyone says that the blessed Peter the apostle was not appointed by Christ as the lord as prince of all the apostles, let himself be an anathema. 

The definition of infallibility

·        There are two key concepts of this definition. First, papal infallibility is restricted to those utterances of the pope on faith and morals. Therefore, Vatican I is not saying that if we encountered the pope on the streets of Rome and asked him for directions to the nearest pizza parlor, we could assume that he would give impeccably accurate directions. He might send us to the wrong street or even to the wrong section of the city. The pope is eminently fallible with respect to everyday matters. In other words, the pope did not proclaim an infallibility of person, merely an infallibility of office when the pope speaks on matters of faith and morals.

·        Second, papal infallibility is not intrinsic; rather it comes through the divine assistance promised to the pope in Peter. He can be infallible when speaking on faith or morals because of special divine assistance. A group of Roman Catholics withdrew from the communion and formed what has come to be known as the Old Catholic Church. By 1950, there were more than a hundred thousand adherents in this group.

Clarifications at Vatican II

·        Vatican II took place in the early – mid 1960’s. They ruled that there are limits on papal infallibility. There are certain things that, by canon law, the pope may not do. For example, he cannot unilaterally abolish the episcopacy or usurp the office and ministry of the bishops. Second, the power of the pope is not arbitrary. Vatican I referred to the pope as the head of the body of Christ or head of the church. But if Christ is head of the church, how can the pope be head of the church?

Chapter 6- Mary

·        Many Roman Catholic teachings on Mariology were not formally defined until well after the Reformation. In fact, in the case of Mary, most of the definitions were laid down in 1854 and again in 1950.

Hail Mary, full of Grace

·        One of the aspects of the Roman Catholic veneration of Mary is the series of prayers that make up the Rosary. The “Hail Mary” is at the heart of the Rosary. Its traditional wording is as follows: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and the blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners. Mary is full of grace and blessed according to scripture: (Luke 1:28, Luke 1:42).

·        Protestants do not have a problem calling Mary holy. We also can accept that Mary is the mother of God because Jesus is God and Mary is his mother. The problem is the petition for Mary to “pray for us sinners.” Attributing intercessory work to Mary draws objections from the vast majority of Protestants. They argue that viewing Mary as one who intercedes for us either now or at our deaths makes Mary a kind of mediator of our redemption. Protestantism insists that Jesus is the sole Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5), although the Holy Spirit also intercedes for us (Romans 8:26).

Pronouncements about Mary

·        The pronouncements regarding the official teachings of Mary are very recent, but they did not happen suddenly.

·         Let me begin with the doctrine of immaculate conception, which was just referenced. The doctrine of immaculate conception has to do with Mary’s own conception. It is the belief that Mary was not infected with original sin at her conception, so she lived a sinless life.

·         One problem is that if Mary was sinless, she did not need a Redeemer. This doctrine has fueled the view in Roman Catholic circles that Mary is our Co-Redemptrix, that she participated in the redemptive process. This title has not been officially sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church, and it is much disputed in Rome, but may hold this view of Mary. The supreme theologian of the Roman Catholic Church, Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) repudiated the notion of the sinlessness of Mary in his day. How did the church respond? Rome noted that Thomas was speaking before the doctrine was defined.

·         In contemporary Roman Catholicism, there is a debate in reference to Mary and her framework of redemption. Some believe she should be called the Co-Redemptrix, and some view Mary not as Co-Redemptrix, but as the supreme model of Christian faith. However both groups hold the view that Mary held a sinless life.

Mariology or Mariolotry?

·         To worship a human being, no matter how exemplary, faithful and righteous he or she may be, is to engage in idolatry. Officially the Roman Catholic Church does not sanction worship of Mary- but it comes very close.

·        The biggest issue in the whole Mariology debate is the sufficiency of Christ. In truth, this is the issue with the Roman Catholic theology from beginning to end. It is the issue with Rome’s doctrine of Scripture, its doctrine of justification, and even here, its doctrine of Mary. Is Christ alone our perfect sacrifice? Does He offer Himself for the sins of His people or is He offered by His mother? Protestants believe that Christ alone is our justification.

Conclusion: How Should We Proceed?

·        I believe that as individuals, we should reach out to Roman Catholics. We should love our neighbors who are in the Church of Rome. We should befriend them and spend time with them. By doing so, we earn the right to lovingly critique their views.

·         As churches, we must stand for the biblical gospel.