Five Truths All Christians Share-Part II

And How and Why We Separated.

Part I discussed the misconception that Christians are saved by faith alone.

Three statements from Scripture clearly and explicitly state the Catholic Faith:

For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; but only faith working through love (Galatians 5: 6).

Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me.  And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him…. Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me (John 14: 21-23)

You see that faith was active along with [Abraham’s] works, and faith was completed by the works (James 2:22).

Keeping all of this in mind, it is time to turn to that third quote about works by Paul.  Paul’s context is still teaching about the law and circumcision, but he does make a definitive statement about works that is easily misunderstood if his context is ignored.  Because here, it is clear from the context that Paul is speaking about natural works alone, totally apart from faith and grace.  Unlike James, Paul is not examining nor commentating upon the relationship between faith and grace-aide and empowered works that complete one’s faith.  Thus, as part of his overall argument, Paul states:

What then can we say that Abraham found, our ancestor according to the flesh?  Indeed, if Abraham was justified on the basis of his works, he has reason to boast; but this was not so in the sight of God.  For what does the scripture say?  Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’  A worker’s wage is credited not as a gift, but as something due.  But when one does not work, yet believes in the one who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness (Rom 4:1–5).

There is no contradiction between this statement of Paul’s and the statement of James because the works of James that are motivated by faith and aided and empowered by grace are necessary to complete the faith that both James and Paul affirm.  Do not ignore the fact that in James 2: 20 Scripture unambiguously affirms “that faith without works is useless” because it is not complete.

To avoid misunderstanding caused by a false context, it is necessary to recognize that Paul moves on to a related subject in verse 9.  Paul asks whether “this blessedness” described by David applies “only to the circumcised or to the uncircumcised as well?”  In verses 10 through 13, Paul makes the case that Abram’s faith preceded God’s covenant with its sign of circumcision, so that “this blessedness” applies to the uncircumcised as well because Abram was not circumcised until later.  But the faith of Abram prior to his circumcision that is identified here by Paul is not the faith that fulfilled the Scripture statement that “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness”, whose fulfillment Scripture explicitly identifies in James 2: 23 and explains in Heb 11:  17-19.  Incidentally, Hebrews 11 lists several of Abram’s earlier acts of faith.

Many who are unable to let go of the Protestant tradition that we are justified by “faith alone” that was introduced in the 16^th century insist that it is “faith alone” that justifies but that true justifying faith cannot be alone – it must produce works.  But that claim fails to solve the problem of their misinterpretation of Romans 3, 28 because Protestants do not claim that true justifying faith must produce works [of the Jewish] law as the logic of that theory would require when applied to Paul’s actual statement as it appears unedited in Scripture.

In contrast, Catholics believe that the Christian truth is that we are justified by a faith that is enabled and empowered by grace.  In addition, “…  the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them”, enabled and empowered by grace also have an indispensable role in our justification.  (See Ephes. 2: 10 and Rev 20: 12 – 15, 22: 15).  Do notice and ponder carefully that when the young man asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus did not say:  “have faith in me’; rather, Jesus did say:

‘You know the commandments: “You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.” ’  He replied and said to him, ‘Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.’ Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, ‘You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to [the] poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me’ (Mark 10: 17).

Consider also these statements by Paul:

But when the kindness and generous love of God our savior appeared, not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy, he saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the holy Spirit, whom he richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ our savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life (Titus 3: 4-7).

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).

3)  All Christians believe that:

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3: 16-17).

Since the 16^th century, however, the Protestant tradition has added the word “alone” to the teaching of Scripture, so many Protestants put their trust in and profess to accept only “Scripture alone” as their guide.  Protestants also tend to assume that every Catholic Tradition is automatically a human tradition.  Here again, the Catholic Church rejects adding the word “alone” to its affirmation of the role of the Bible in part because of the words of Jesus to those who earlier had made the same error of such excessive reliance on the Bible that they actually rejected Jesus.

‘You search the scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf.  But you do not want to come to me to have life.’ (John 5: 39-40).

The tragic error of rejecting any authority or guide except the Bible is critical because as Scripture states, Paul prays for the Ephesians:

that you may know … what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe, in accord with the exercise of his great might, which he worked in Christ, raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens, far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things beneath his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way (Ephes. 1: 20-23).

Paul expands upon and reinforces this message:

Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.  Some people God has designated in the church to be, first, apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then, mighty deeds; then, gifts of healing, assistance, administration, and varieties of tongues (Corinthians 12:27-28).

The Catholic Church affirms Paul’s description of God’s way in which Christ acts through His extended body, the Church.  This view is directly opposed to and repudiated by the Protestant theory of “the Bible alone” that was introduced in the 16^th century when Martin Luther added the single word alone to the Traditional Christian acknowledgment that the Bible is Inspired by God.

With Paul, Catholics know and accept in faith that:

And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ, so that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery, from their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming.  Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the body’s growth and builds itself up in love (Ephesians 4:11-16).

The conclusion regarding how God intends that we are to receive the faith is evident; and Paul sums it up this way:

‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’  But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed?  And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach?  And how can people preach unless they are sent?  As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring [the] good news!’  But not everyone has heeded the good news; for Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed what was heard from us?’  Thus faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ (Rom 10: 13-17).

The conclusion regarding the authority of the Church is also evident, and it was explicitly stated by Jesus Himself in this instruction:

‘If your brother sins [against you], go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.  If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.  If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that ‘every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’  If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.  Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven’ (Matthew 18: 15-18).

The Catholic Church also firmly accepts God’s Divine Oral Tradition in obedience to the instruction of Paul:

Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours (2 Thessalonians 2: 15).

Ignoring this explicit Scriptural command and witness to the existence of a valid Divine Oral Tradition, many Protestants defend their dismissal of Paul’s words on the grounds that they cannot personally hear the sound of his voice uttering those words of Oral Tradition.  The arbitrariness of that rejection of this Scripture lies in the fact that no living person has personally seen the very words that Paul wrote with his own hand.  Indeed, only a tiny fraction of Christians ever read Scripture in the original Greek.  Most of us, including me, are constrained to read Paul’s written Tradition as it is translated into our native tongue.

More importantly for those who are only willing to accept a statement from Scripture is that Scripture states God’s real plan and explicitly refutes the excuse of those who object that they have not (and cannot) personally hear Paul’s voice delivering the Divine Tradition in Oral form:

So you, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.  And what you heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will have the ability to teach others as well (2 Timothy 2: 1-2).

Here again, in direct defiance of this Scripture, many Protestants assert that despite their best efforts, accurately passing on the Divine oral teaching just couldn’t be done so now we must rely only upon Scripture.  But again, Scripture explicitly teaches us that the truth is otherwise:

I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions, just as I handed them on to you (1 Corinthians 11: 2).

Moreover, Scripture actually tells us, along with the Divine command, why the accuracy of the Divine Oral Tradition is both possible and assured:

Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.  Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us (2 Timothy 1: 13-14).

Paul’s teaching conforms to the message of Christ in His explanation of the parable of the sower:

The seed along the path is the man who hears the message about God’s reign without understanding it.  The evil one approaches him to steal away what was sown in his mind (Matt 13: 18-23).

Another important detail is to realize that Jesus repeatedly says, “hears” not “reads” and warns that even then, the message alone is not enough to prevent misunderstanding.  St. Peter also confirms this problem with Scripture alone, specifically in the writings of St.  Paul but also in the rest of Scripture:

There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.  You, therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, beware [guard yourself][3] that you are not carried away with the error of the lawless and lose your own stability (2 Peter 3: 16 -17).

What then, am I suggesting that Christians are to accept everything that someone tells us is from God?  Hardly.  Scripture does caution us:  “Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil”(1 Thessalonians. 5: 20-22).

Here then is what Catholics believe regarding Sacred Scripture and its place in Divine Revelation as set forth by the witness of some 2000 plus bishops at the Second Vatican Council:

In Sacred Scripture, therefore, while the truth and holiness of God always remains intact, the marvelous “condescension” of eternal wisdom is clearly shown, ‘that we may learn the gentle kindness of God, which words cannot express, and how far He has gone in adapting His language with thoughtful concern for our weak human nature.’  For the words of God, expressed in human language, have been made like human discourse, just as the word of the eternal Father, when He took to Himself the flesh of human weakness, was in every way made like men Sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture form one sacred deposit of the word of (CONSTITUTION ON DIVINE REVELATION, Chapter III,  #13).

God, committed to the Church. Holding fast to this deposit the entire holy people united with their shepherds remain always steadfast in the teaching of the Apostles, in the common life, in the breaking of the bread, and in prayers (see Acts 2, 42, Greek text), so that holding to, practicing and professing the heritage of the faith, it becomes on the part of the bishops and faithful a single common effort.

But the task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on, has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ.  This teaching office is not above the word of God, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously, and explaining it faithfully in accord with a divine commission and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it draws from this one deposit of faith everything which it presents for belief as divinely revealed.

It is clear, therefore, that sacred tradition, Sacred Scripture, and the teaching authority of the Church, in accord with God’s most wise design, are so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others, and that all together and each in its own way under the action of the one Holy Spirit contribute effectively to the salvation of souls (DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON DIVINE REVELATION, Chapter II,  #10).

The decision is up to you the reader of this material and I believe that the choice that you make is vitally important.  I urge you to consider, which view of the Christian Faith concerning “Scripture alone” more accurately conforms to Christ’s final command and implied commission:

And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.  The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned (Mark 16: 15–16).

And here are a few more of the basic details that they are to proclaim.

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28: 18–20).

And if all that I have identified this far does not convince you of the error in the Protestant doctrine of “The Bible Alone”, then prayerfully read, ponder, and believe Ephesians  3: 8-12 which states:

so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the principalities and authorities in the heavens.

Scripture explicitly teaches that the means of God’s revelation is “through the Church”, rather than by “Scripture Alone”.