Five Truths All Christians Share- Part I

And How and Why We Separated

In the current Ecumenical effort among those professing to follow Christ, this material is an invitation to pause and become better acquainted with five key truths that all Christians share and why we came to differ in the Faith we profess about these truths.  An example of a truth that all who follow Christ believe, acknowledge, and profess is that Jesus is “… the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through [Him]” (John 14: 6).

Undergirding the Ecumenical effort, all true Christians can acknowledge and seek to implement the truth that “… bearing with one another through love

we are called to make every effort “to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace:  one body and one Spirit, as [we] were also called to the one hope of [our] call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4: 1-5).

And all who seek to follow Christ must strive to avoid and remain clear of the snares, deceits, and traps of the devil who

was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks in character, because he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8: 44).

May all who read this material heed the warning that Jesus gave in His explanation of the parable of the sower:

‘Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path’ (Matt 13: 18-19).

1)  All Christians believe that

by grace [we] have been saved through faith, and this is not from [us]; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast.  For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them (Ephesians 2: 8-10).

Following the opinions of Martin Luther and the other authors of the 16^th century Reformation, the diverse group known as Protestants traditionally adds the word “alone” to this central element of the Christian faith, insisting that we are “saved by grace ” alone”.

However, are we saved by “grace alone” as Martin Luther and the “Reformers” taught or are we saved by “grace through faith” as Scripture teaches?  “Grace alone through faith” is simply a self-contradictory absurdity, which many – including me – refuse to profess.

The diverse groups known as Protestants do not all believe in a single faith.  Many practicing Protestants would not insist on or support the use of the word “alone” where the “Reformers” inserted it.  But even where a particular individual or group of Protestants omit the explicit word “alone” its effect can still be seen throughout the Protestant heritage.

The Reformers began with the valid goal of reforming serious and widespread moral lapses by members of the historic Christian Church and the result of their effort is known to this day as “The Reformation”.  The Reformation these men started became a Re-Formation of the Gospel message that repudiated much of the revelation of God as presented by the existing Catholic Church, which has historically taught one consistent faith since the time of Christ.  As identified by His example of the mustard plant, our understanding of details of that faith has grown in a way that is consistent with its original revelation by Jesus through the Apostles and Scripture.

The fundamental reasons for Protestantism’s existence and rejection of Catholicism were the five denials of the existing Catholic Faith identified herein.  Many Protestant writers even today heatedly stress this.

For clarity, it is important to note that there are many ways in which Catholics, Orthodox, and some other professed Christians share one faith that we jointly profess and believe is revealed by God.  In what follows, I have no intention of excluding their independent witness to the truth of our common beliefs. The material that follows is explicitly intended to identify clearly where the Catholic expression of this common faith agrees with the faith of those known today as Protestants and precisely where it is different.  Hereafter, I will only refer to the Catholic Church and the Catholic Faith to simplify what I say and to avoid any suggestion that I am speaking for these other groups concerning what they do or do not believe.  I am fully aware and do wish to acknowledge that there are other non-Protestant Christian groups that do share the Catholic beliefs affirmed in this chapter.

The Catholic Church rejects adding the word “alone” which occurred in the 16^th century.  Holding firmly to the statements of Jesus, Catholics reject adding the word “alone: after saved by grace, because of its conflict with these things that Jesus said:  And he said to the woman, Ýour faith has saved you; go in peace.’”  (Luke 7: 50)  “… you will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10: 22)  And especially His final command to the Apostles:

He said to them, ‘Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;  whoever does not believe will be condemned (Mark 16: 16).

It is the Catholic Faith that is affirmed in its every detail by a careful reading of that very Scriptural statement, which all Christians profess to believe:

by grace [we] have been saved through faith, and this is not from [us]; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast.  For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them (Ephesians: 2: 8-10).

The Scripture statement that we have been saved by grace through faith directly and explicitly contradicts the “Reformers” novel idea “that we are saved by grace alone”.  Yet, many Protestants actually quote this Scripture in the belief that it supports their core theory.  They fail to see that their “proof” lies totally in the assumed context they bring to and insert into the statement.  The tragic fact is that those Protestants unconsciously insert the words “being saved”, “salvation, or “any similar sense” into this Scriptural quote:                                                      [being saved]

by grace [we] have been saved through faith, and this                   is not from

                                                                        [grace and faith]

[us]; it is the gift from God; it is not from works, so no one may boast.

As identified, “grace and faith” is the obvious referent of the word this.  In their effort to exclude and deny any role or effect of works in our salvation, Protestants generally do not include the final sentence from this passage when they quote it:

For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.

Consider the people’s response to the incident in Acts 2: 24-27 where Peter gives a summary of Christ’s active ministry and death plus a prophecy about the Messiah by David to the crowd that had witnessed the miracle of Tongues.

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they asked Peter and the other apostles, “What are we to do, my brothers? (Acts 2: 37).

Pause a moment for an important self-test:  “How would you answer that question?”  Please pause and write your answer down in a permanent form.  I ask you to do this so that you can compare your natural answer arising out of your faith to the answer that Scripture records that Peter gave based upon his faith.  See Acts 2: 38 for Peter’s answer to the question, “What are we to do?”

Is it fair to say that if your first answer is substantially the same as Peter’s complete answer, then your faith is substantially the same, but if your answer differs significantly from Peter’s answer, then your faith is different from Peter’s faith?

Also notice that everyone who affirms that we are saved by grace alone, or any variation of the addition of the word “alone” to the Scriptural statements, also affirms that salvation depends upon our acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.   But “acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior” is a human addition to what Scripture explicitly teaches.  Recognize that asserting the necessity of that personal response to God’s gifts is something in addition to God’s gift of grace and of faith!

So in fact, if not in conscious acknowledgment, Protestants do recognize that we must respond in some way to God’s gifts in order to be saved.  Thus, the real dispute between Protestants and Catholics is about the nature of that response, which each person must make to be saved.  You can read the Catholic belief clearly stated in James 2:14, 17 and James 2: 20 – 26, paying special attention to James 2: 20, 22, 24 & 26.  Notice also the crucial bit of information in James 2: 23

2) All Christians believe: “… that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the [Jewish] law.”
Romans 3: 28

This truth is so important that Paul expressed it in other places; here is one in expanded form:

We … know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified (Galatians 2: 16).

Protestants however typically add the word “alone” and omit the words “of the [Jewish] law”, thus totally changing the meaning of Paul’s thought.  Martin Luther introduced and promoted this Protestant view with his concept that “a person is justified by faith alone apart from works.”

Martin Luther did this despite Scripture’s plain statement in Rev. 2: 23:  “Thus shall all the churches come to know that I am the searcher of hearts and minds and that I will give each of you what your works deserve.”

The Catholic Church rejects inserting the word “alone” into Paul’s Scriptural statement and also rejects generalizing from Paul’s “works of the [Jewish] law” to the vastly broader concept of all “works”.

Paul himself did not leave any doubt about his intended meaning: “…no human being will be justified in his sight by observing the law; for through the law comes consciousness of sin.” (Romans 3: 20).

And again, “For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love.”(Galatians 5:  6)

These statements by Paul directly contradict and absolutely repudiate and exclude the error that is inherent in the phrase “justified by faith alone”:

They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus (Romans 3: 24).

How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath (Romans 5: 9).

Another very important reason that Catholics reject adding the word “alone” to our acknowledgment that we are justified by faith is because of statements like this by Jesus:

By your words, you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned (Matthew 12: 37).

This and similar statements by Jesus explicitly contradict the theory that “faith alone” justifies.

But the most important reason that Catholics reject adding the word “alone” to our acknowledgment that we are justified by faith is because changing Paul’s statement to “faith alone” would cause Paul to contradict what Jesus proclaimed in His final commission of the Apostles in Mark 16: 15-16:

Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Put bluntly, anyone who denies the necessity of baptism inescapably does not believe this statement by Christ and its warning of the dire consequences of that unbelief!  We must not pick and choose what part of Christ’s revelation we are willing to believe.  That is Heresy.

A computer search of the three words, justified, faith, and works identified only four quotes.  Two of the quotes, Rom 3: 28 and Gal 2: 15-3: 6, incontrovertibly explain that “works of the Jewish Law” do not produce justification and are not an essential requirement for justification.

Before examining the third quote from Paul in his full context, we need to read and understand the fourth quote; because another computer search of the words, justified, faith, and alone, turned up only that same quote from James 2: 24.  James 2: 24 is also the only passage in Scripture that explicitly includes the unmodified word “works” together with the other three words at the center of this controversy. This quote plainly and explicitly denies the human tradition of “Justified by faith alone” that was introduced in the 16^th century.

See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Notice that James does not say that a person is justified by works “alone”, just as Paul did not say that a person is justified by faith “alone” in Rom 3: 28.  With that crucial fact firmly in mind, let’s examine the actual context of this statement by James.

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?  You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by the works.  Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he was called ‘the friend of God.’  See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone (James 2: 21-24).

Here is a word-by-word translation from Greek:

You see that faith was working with the works of him and from(by) the works faith was made complete. And was fulfilled the scripture saying believed and Abraham God and made it accounted to him for righteousness ( James 2:22).

YOU SEE THAT FAITH WAS WORKING WITH THE WORKS OF HIM AND FROM(BY) THE WORKS THE FAITH WAS MADE COMPLETE.  AND WAS FULFILLED THE SCRIPTURE SAYING BELIEVED AND ABRAHAM GOD AND IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” (James 2: 22)