Let us quote from the Roman Catholic Council of Trent: “If anyone says that justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in divine mercy, which remits sins for Christ’s sake, or that it is this confidence alone that justifies us, LET HIM BE ANATHEMA” (Sixth Session, Canon 12).
The Roman Catholic Church places an anathema, a divine curse to damnation in hell, upon anyone who says that justifying (saving) faith is confidence in the divine mercy of God to save a repentant sinner. Further they divinely curse anyone who says this appeal to God’s mercy alone justifies man. That is, the Catholic Church curses the biblical doctrine of saving faith apart from sacraments or works.
Justification is an act of God whereby He declares a sinner not guilty of sin and perfectly righteous in His sight. This is the sinner who repents from his sin (turns from sin to God with a change of mind and heart about sin resulting in a change of life) and who trusts in Christ alone and His finished atonement upon the cross as the full satisfaction for all his sin. God imputes (credits) the righteousness of Christ to the believer. Justification comes by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, and without sacraments or works. It is by the merit of Christ alone and His finished payment for the sin of mankind upon the cross.
Roman Catholic theology and doctrine denies salvation comes by God’s mercy upon sinners without sacraments and good works. But we read in Titus 3:5: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.”
Salvation is according to the mercy of God, through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit which is the new birth – being spiritually “born again” through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross as the full payment for our sin. Jesus said being spiritually born again is the requirement for heaven. (John 3:3, 7). It is at the moment of saving faith in the divine Person and finished sin-atoning cross-work of Christ that God justifies the repentant sinner. The person is spiritually reborn as a child of God and as a new creation in Christ Jesus. Further, he is indwelt by the Holy Spirit and sealed forever as an adopted member of the family of God. Once saved, the born again believer is eternally secure “in Christ” and can not lose his salvation. All this is the good news of the gospel.
Salvation has to be by the mercy of God towards sinners who claim the blood of Christ as the sole merit for their sin atonement. There is no sacrament, nor good work, nor righteous deed that we could do to become acceptable to God. Being sinners by nature, thought, and deed, we are all unclean in the sight of God. There is nothing we can do to change that – no good works and no sacraments can perfect us for heaven. God says we are unclean sinners, and nothing unclean can enter into His holy presence. All our attempts at righteousness deeds are tainted by sin and therefore considered as “filthy rags” before Him: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6)
Ephesians 2:8-9 says salvation is by God’s grace alone through faith without works: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Salvation is a gift of God from His love and mercy upon us. It is only by His mercy and because of His love, not through baptism, sacraments or the will or doing of man: “So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” (Romans 9:16)
If we contributed anything to our salvation, we would have something to boast about in heaven. But such is not the case for salvation is a gift from God by His grace (His love and mercy) which precludes any sacrament or good work we could do. In Roman Catholic theology, grace is some sort of supernatural help that is “infused” into the faithful through sacraments, which then supposedly enables people to perform works of merit before God. But “grace” in the Bible is God’s favor upon sinners apart from any merit in us. As we have seen, we are all unclean in His sight no matter how many sacraments or good works we can perform. Grace can not be mixed with works, for grace and works can not co-exist. Any attempt to add works (and sacraments are works) to grace, destroys grace. (Romans 11:6)
The Apostle Paul admonished the Galatians whom he called “foolish” for listening to certain Jews called “Judaizers” who were teaching the people they had to add the law (works) to the gospel of grace alone that had been preached to them. In Galatians Chapter 1, we have a biblical “anathema” (divine curse) against those who would deny the biblical Gospel of grace by attempting to add works. (Galatians 1:8 and 1:9) He says it twice, so we should pay attention. And we should trust only in the Bible, the only divinely inspired and authoritative Word of God, rather than trusting in the councils and catechisms of the Catholic Church which are the words of men. The fact is that the false gospel of Roman Catholicism that teaches salvation by sacraments and works is under God’s divine curse. Romans 4:5 clearly says that the righteousness needed for heaven comes “to him that worketh not, but believeth.”
The Bible is God’s divinely inspired, infallible, and only authoritative Word given to humanity. The Scriptures clearly teach salvation for sinners who repent and trust in Jesus and His finished atonement upon the cross for the satisfaction of all our sin. Our salvation is based on the merit of Christ alone and His shed blood. Sacraments, good works, or anything we could do play no part in our being saved. Salvation is by God’s grace alone, His unmerited favor towards undeserving sinners apart from sacraments or works. By contrast, the fallible words of men which is the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, the Catechism published in 1994, reveals what Rome teaches is necessary for salvation and heaven. Below is a partial list of Rome’s requirements for their “salvation by works gospel” from the Catechism. Here is just some of what Rome says is necessary for salvation:
1. Being a member of the Roman Catholic Church (CCC paragraph # 846)
(As Rome teaches a false Gospel of works salvation, those in the RCC actually remain lost and in bondage)
2. Rome teaches there is no salvation outside of the Roman Catholic Church (816)
(True biblical salvation is only outside the RCC)
3. The sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church are necessary for salvation (1129)
(Biblical salvation is not based on sacraments but on the grace of God through faith alone in Christ alone)
4. The seven sacraments are needed for salvation (15)
(The Bible has two sacraments: believer’s baptism which follows salvation and is not a cause of it, and holy communion which is a remembrance of the finished cross atonement, not a continuation of it where sins are expiated as the Mass falsely teaches)
5. Baptism is necessary for salvation (1257)
(Biblical baptism is for believers, not babies).
6. Priests are necessary for salvation (to dispense “grace”)
(987)
(There is no need for human priests as Jesus is our great high priest and His cross sacrifice ended the sacrificial system)
7. The Mass is necessary for salvation (1405)
(Christ is bodily present in heaven until He comes again, He does not appear as a wafer on the Catholic altar. The cross finished the sin atonement)
8. Penance is necessary for salvation. (980)
(Repentance is needed, penance profits one nothing)
9. Confession to a priest is necessary for salvation (1460)
(Only God can forgive sins, not man)
10. The intercession of Mary (969) and the intercession of the saints (1434) are necessary for salvation (Jesus is the only Mediator, not Mary, nor saints. Saints are living and dead believers)
11. Purgatory is necessary for salvation (1030)
(Purgatory is a 12th-century invention of Rome, there is no such place. At death, the saved immediately go to heaven; the lost immediately go to hell)
12. Obeying the Ten Commandments are necessary for salvation (2068)
(The law shows us our sin and brings us to Christ to be justified by faith (Gal. 3:24) “A man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. By the works of the law, shall no flesh be justified.” (Rom. 3:28, Gal. 2:16)
We could mention even more works required by Rome for salvation such as “prayer, an offering, works of mercy, service of neighbor, voluntary self-denial, fasting, almsgiving, reconciling with one’s neighbor, tears, the practice of charity”. (1460, 1434) “Communion with the dead” (958) even though the God forbids the practice of necromancy as such is a pagan practice of the occult. (Isaiah 8:19) We could also mention Rome’s demand of allegiance to her Pope to secure one’s salvation. As well as practices of pure superstition as indulgences, visits to holy shrines, saying the rosary, lighting candles, wearing scapulars, miraculous medals, prayer cards, statues, the sign of the cross, holy water, incense, etc. etc. etc.
Rome even teaches that men can attain for themselves their own salvation by “making one’s life holy” and “carrying out the mission entrusted to them by God.” (1477) This is how the so-called saints got to heaven, and in fact according to Catholic theology, they had an excess of merit that is available to all in a vast “treasury of merit”. This “treasury of merit” contains the “prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary” and those of the saints. The pope supposedly has the power to dispense the treasury’s overflowing merits of Mary and the “saints” to the faithful to help them shorten their time in so-called Purgatory. One wonders why the Pope if he is so caring, does not right this moment empty Purgatory by conferring this supposed excess merit of Mary and the saints to those suffering in the purgatorial flames? And why then if the Pope has such power, do all the Popes also supposedly go to Purgatory when the die? Why is the death of any Pope quickly followed by multiple Masses to help shorten his time in Purgatory?
Clearly, the whole idea of a “treasury of merit” besides being unbiblical, is purely fiction. It’s also interesting to note that many of the so-called “saints” of Roman Catholic history are also purely fictional, as are the often “miraculous” and mystical stories associated with these people who never really existed. As for those Catholic “saints” that did historically exist; well, sadly they are not in heaven as they were trusting in Rome’s false works system of salvation. A “saint” in the Bible, is a spiritually born again believer who has been saved by God’s grace without sacraments, through faith in the divine Person and finished atoning work of Jesus. A believer becomes a “saint” in God’s sight at the moment of salvation and are living believers. Paul addressed the living “saints” in the areas he was writing to. (Eph., Phil. 1:1)
So we have demonstrated how Roman Catholicism denies the biblical gospel of salvation by grace without sacraments, through faith without works, in Christ alone and His finished atoning work. Rome adds other mediators in Popes, Priests, Mary, “saints” and the church herself as the “dispenser of all graces.” Rome heretically denies the finished atonement of the cross, teaching it is perpetually continued in the sacrament of the Mass where it is claimed “the work of our redemption is carried on.” (1405) This is a blasphemy against heaven of course, as our Lord said He finished the redemption of mankind upon the cross (John 19:30, 17:4). To say that the atoning work of Christ continues in the Mass is to say that He did not rise from the dead and ascend into heaven, for the Lord’s resurrection from the dead was the evidence given to man that God the Father had accepted the perfect cross sacrifice of His Son for the sin of humanity. The Bible says Christ was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:25) He took all our sin upon Himself and His righteousness is now available to those who place their trust in Christ and His finished satisfaction for sin fully accomplished at the cross at Calvary. This is why Catholics are not saved. They are trying (in vain) to do by sacraments today what God has already done at the cross two thousand years ago.
Amazingly, Roman Catholic doctrine says that Jesus Christ, almighty God, the very Lord of glory, “bows His head in humble obedience” (see Note 1 at the end of this article for the full quote) to the command of a Catholic priest (a sinful man) and then He appears as a piece of bread on Catholic altars thousands of times a day all over the world. The “consecrated” wafers, now supposedly and mystically changed (by what Rome calls “transubstantiation”) into the body, blood and divinity of Christ (1373) are to be consumed by the faithful as a grace unto eternal life (1392) and to be actually worshipped by the people (1378). Unfortunately for Rome, these heresies of the Mass are easily contradicted by biblical truth.
The bread and wine do not become the real body and blood of Christ but are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus given for us on the cross. (1 Corinthians 11:23-25) Christ is bodily present in heaven having “offered one sacrifice for sins forever” (Hebrews 10:12-13), not “wholly and entirely in every fragment” of consecrated bread and wine in every Roman Catholic Church all around the world (1374). To worship a piece of bread can only be considered idolatry. God forbids the worship of any object, even those intended to represent Him. (Exodus 20:4-5, Isaiah 42:8).
Rome points to John Chapter 6 where Jesus says “Whosoever eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up the last day.” (John 6:54) But are those words to be taken literally or figuratively? If we put the verse in context we can see Jesus is presenting an illustration about trusting in Him for salvation. The day before, He had fed the crowd of five thousand by a miracle division of five loaves and two small fishes. So then he taught them the illustration: that as their forefathers had been fed in the wilderness by manna sent from heaven by God, He was the bread of life which came from heaven. Jesus uses the figurative language of eating and drinking, associating that physical need with the spiritual need of believing in Him for eternal life: “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35) He says clearly that those who believe on Him have everlasting life. (John 6:40, 47) Physical eating and drinking is useless, but the spiritual trusting in Jesus for salvation is what is in view here. He says “It is the spirit that quickeneth (gives life in the new birth); the flesh (eating and drinking) profiteth nothing.” He then says in the same verse that His words are to be taken spiritually: “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63)
It’s interesting to note that in John 4:14 Jesus says that “whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” So why does Rome take the words of Jesus in John 6 literally, but not His words in John 4? Why does Rome teach her people that they must eat Christ’s flesh and drink His blood to get eternal life, but they don’t have to drink His water? But then again, any study of Roman Catholic doctrine reveals that not only does Rome contradict the Holy Scriptures, but they often contradict their own teachings!
It doesn’t seem to bother Rome that they are teaching cannibalism if the wafer is the actual body of Christ. And the drinking of blood is not only of the occult and pagan, but forbidden by God. (Lev. 17:11) Obviously, God would not instruct something be done that He had already forbidden. If Catholics who so want to work themselves into heaven through sacraments and religious ritual would look a bit earlier in John Chapter 6, they would see that the people had asked Jesus that same question: “Then they said to him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” (John 6:28) The Lord’s reply is the same consistent teaching from Genesis to Revelation as to human responsibility in salvation: “Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” (John 6:29)
So clearly the wafer of the Mass is a false Christ which Jesus warned would come into the world. (Matthew 24:24) Consider also the warning of the apostle Peter who Rome erroneously claims was the first Pope. (There is no such person or office of Pope in the New Testament Church, nor any person nor office of priest, as Christ’s perfect, complete and finished sacrifice on the cross put an end to the need for human priests and further sacrifices. Hebrews Chapters 9 and 10). Peter warned of the coming Catholic Church which would rise in the latter 4th century: “There shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. (1 Peter 1:2) The Catholic Popes and magisterium are clearly “false teachers” who promote “damnable heresies” and they speak evil of the truth – the biblical doctrine of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in the finished work of Christ alone.
Remember as we began this article that Rome curses to hell anyone who says justifying faith is confidence in the mercy of God to save a repentant soul. I guess they are unfamiliar with the account in the Gospel of Luke where Jesus told of a man who placed his confidence upon the mercy of God: “The publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” (Luke 18:13)
Look what the Lord Jesus says about this man who put his confidence upon the mercy of God:
“I tell you, this man went down to his house justified.” (Luke 18:14)
Justified! This man was justified Jesus said! This man knew there was nothing he could do for salvation but cast himself upon the mercy of God, and God justified him on the spot! At that moment of justifying faith, God credited (imputed) the righteousness of Christ to the account of the man who repented (he “smote his breast”) and declared him not guilty, but righteous in His sight. The eternal destiny of the man was changed at that moment of salvation, from hell to heaven and he was now clothed in the righteousness of Christ! Salvation is not a lifetime of sacraments and good works and trying to be a good person, but happens in an instantaneous moment in time when a sinner repents and trusts in Christ alone for the forgiveness of all his sin.
An awful result, not only here, but concerning many other anathemas by Rome, is that Catholic theology has cursed the very Word of God, and God Himself. The Council of Trent directs over 100 anathemas (divine curses) at clear biblical doctrine. Here it is the Lord Jesus who repudiates Catholic teaching. Above we’ve quoted or referred to the biblical writings of Isaiah, Matthew, Luke, John, Peter and Paul. The divine Author of the Bible is the Holy Spirit. The Roman Catholic Church curses them all to hell fire damnation! It’s not easy to write those words, but what else can we conclude when the teaching of Jesus and the Bible directly contradicts the doctrinal Canons of the Catholic Church?
By way of conclusion, let’s briefly return to the passage in Luke 18 where Jesus tells of the man who was justified by trusting in the mercy of God. Jesus told this parable to the Pharisees who were the leading religious leaders of Israel and as Verse 9 says, they were men “which trusted in themselves, that they were righteous.” The Pharisees two thousand years ago; and Roman Catholics today, are trusting in themselves for salvation. They are trying to gain God’s acceptance by keeping the law, doing good works, going to church to receive sacraments and perform religious ritual, etc. But Jesus teaches that salvation is not to be found in religious ceremony. It is not a work of man, but a work of God. It is a spiritual work in the human heart when a sinner repents of sin and receives by faith alone the Person of Jesus as Lord and personal Savior, trusting in His finished atonement of the cross for the full forgiveness of his sin.
In the story, there were two men who went into the temple to pray, the Pharisee and the publican. The Pharisee stood listing all he was doing to gain God’s acceptance and go to heaven: “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.” (Luke 18:11-12) He considered himself a just man, not a sinner as other people, including the publican who was a tax collector working for Rome and therefore despised by the Jews. As religious ritual, he fasted and he gave money to try to please God. The Catholic Church sells salvation for money: by charity to the church, money given for Masses, and by selling indulgences which are supposed t o reduce the amount of time the Catholic must spend suffering in Purgatory after death. Such a doctrine is not biblical for upon death the believer is immediately in heaven and the lost are immediately in hell. (Luke 16).
In contrast to the Pharisee and Catholic who are seeking heaven by religious ritual, sacraments, law keeping, their own good works, charity, indulgences, etc., the publican repented of his sin and cast himself upon the mercy of God and he, said Jesus, was justified (saved). In their religious systems of good works, the Pharisees then, and Catholics today, are self righteous, trusting in what they are doing, rather than relying in faith alone in Christ alone. The Apostle Paul contrasts the seeking of righteousness (salvation) by the law (works) which is what the Jews were doing then, and what Catholics are doing today; to God’s righteousness which is by faith alone in Christ alone:
”But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” (Romans 9:31-32, 10:3-4)
Our prayer for Catholics is that they come to understand that only the Bible is infallible, not popes. Only faith in Christ without human effort or sacraments is the correct response to salvation freely offered by the grace (unmerited favor) of God. Justifying faith is exactly confidence in the divine mercy of God which does remit sins for Christ’s sake, as we have seen, and in direct opposition to Romans Catholic doctrine. Rome’s anathemas have no effect upon Bible believers, but she will be judged by the Word of God and her own curses will be heaped upon her own head for all eternity. Believing the biblical Gospel of salvation by God’s grace and mercy is the issue. Reject the Catholic false teaching of sacraments, ritual, penances, indulgences, pope s, priests, purgatory baptism, masses, etc. Works, water and wafers can not save. Only Christ can save the sinner. He is the end of all religious systems of law and works, and offers freely as a gift His righteousness to those who believe.
Notes:
(1) Amazing words of blasphemy which bear the Pope’s Imprimatur (seal of approval): “When the priest announces the tremendous words of consecration, he reaches up into the heavens, brings Christ down from His throne, and places Him upon our altar to be offered up again as the Victim for the sins of man. It is a power greater than that of saints and angels, greater than that of Seraphim and Cherubim. The priest brings Christ down from heaven, and renders Him present on our altar as the eternal Victim for the sins of man-not once but a thousand times! The priest speaks and lo! Christ, the eternal and omnipotent God, bows his head in humble obedience to the priest’s command.” (“The Faith of Millions – The Credentials of the Catholic Church) We’ve seen that Christ can not be offered up as a “Victim” by a Catholic priest as He “offered one sacrifice for sins forever and then sat down at the right hand of God.” Once He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He was once offered. (Heb. 10-12, 9:26, 28)
(2) There are only two religions: Biblical Christianity as presented in God’s Word which teaches salvation by God’s grace without human works. And that of Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. which all present the words of men and teach salvation by works. We’ve focused on Roman Catholicism in this article, but all people trapped in a system of works salvation need to hear God’s truth of biblical salvation as freely offered in His gospel of grace.
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For additional information and helps, please consider the following:
“The Gospel According to Rome” – James G. McCarthy, “Roman Catholicism” – Loraine Boettner
“A Woman Rides The Beast” – Dave Hunt, “Preparing Catholics For Eternity” – Mike Gendron
“Understanding Roman Catholicism” – Rick Jones, “Heresies Of Catholicism … The Apostate Church” – John Schroeder, “Is Rome The True Church?” – Norman L. Geisler & Joshua M. Betancourt
www.pro-gospel.org (Proclaiming the Gospel – Mike Gendron)
www.thebereancall.org (Dave Hunt)
www.reachingcatholics.org (Sharing biblical salvation)
www.gty.org (Grace to You – Dr. John MacArthur)