Discernment Part 21  Denominations 2        Roman Catholicism Pt.2       3-10-2002

Merit

The question came up last time about whether or not we and the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) are all that different on the question of merit.  We both agree that we cannot earn initial justification (Ro.4), and we both agree that afterward we do receive “wages” from God (Mt. 5:12,46; 6:1,5,16; 10:41ff; 20:8; Mk. 9:41; Lk. 6:23, 35; 10:7; Jn. 4:36; 1 Co. 3:8, 14; 9:17f; 2 Jn. 1:8; Rev. 11:18; 22:12).

But there is a serious difference.  In the RC system, throughout your life, your position of right standing before God, which enables you to be saved, is dependent upon you earning it.  The only thing you don’t earn is the initial inpouring of enablement.  

We believe that from the moment you are born again until eternity, never is there a moment when you can earn your salvation or be deserving of it.

We do earn rewards, but the ability to do that is totally dependent upon our right standing before God in Christ which is not earned or deserved by us in any way. 

“Is it within the bounds of the Gospel to believe that you are initially saved by grace alone through faith alone, but afterwards you maintain your salvation by good deeds or rituals?”

No.

TT Ro.4

Ro.3:20-31
Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. 21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. 
28For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

4:1-5:8
What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? 2If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about-but not before God. 3What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."  
4Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. 

You cannot make it both.  You cannot say, “I earned it, but I also believe in salvation by grace because it was God who graciously enabled me to earn it.  Paul is clear that it is either earned or graciously given, but not both.

5However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. 

To be saved you must not only trust God, but you must also not work.  As long as you are working for it you are disqualified.

Then in v.9 he addresses the question of ritual.  You can’t earn this salvation, but is it obtained by means of religious ritual?

9 Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before!

What about our current standing before God?  Were we initially justified by grace alone but now we maintain peace with God and continue to stand in grace by means of good deeds or rituals?

5:1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.

It’s still by faith alone – to this day.

I told you last week that the RC gospel is very similar to the Judaisers of the first century who were teaching that even after having been saved by grace alone through faith alone, you maintain your right standing before God through religious ritual.  

They had influenced the Galatian church, and so Paul wrote the book of Galatians to combat that error.  

And it is not treated as a minor issue.  The Corinthian church had a lot of problems, but when Paul wrote them he started the letter with a lot of gracious, kind words of greeting, as was his custom even in a letter of rebuke.  

Listen to how he begins the letter to the Galatians: after a short greeting:

Gal.1:6-
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel- 7which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! 

2:16 we know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ…17"If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. 19For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"  

3:1You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 

That’s a rhetorical question.  He knows their answer.  Their answer would be “By believing, of course!  The initial entrance into salvation is by grace alone.”

3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?

However it worked at the very beginning, that’s how it works throughout life.

You see, salvation is not something that happened in your past.  It’s something that began in the past, but Scripture is clear that you are being saved at this very moment.  If something happened at this moment that canceled your right standing before God, you would utterly lost.

Every moment of your Christian life you are saved by grace alone through faith alone. 

You have the Holy Spirit in you right now, at this moment, because of faith alone.

5 Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard? 

“But don’t I contribute something to my salvation by obeying the law?”  The only thing you contribute by doing that is an occasion for God to curse you.

10 All who rely on observing the law are under a curse

In v.24 he puts it another way:
24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. 

5:1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. 2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised (fill in any religious ritual done in order to be saved), Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. 
(That’s the only role good works play – they are the expression of faith)

Can you earn reward as a Christian?  Yes.  Is your salvation in any way dependent upon that?  No.

God’s Word

We found that part of the essentials is a responsiveness to God that is reflected in a responsiveness to His Word.

Most of the cults teach that the Bible is the Word of God, but only insofar as it is interpreted by church officials.  That is exactly what the RCC does.

The Catechism: 
“Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together and communicate one with the other…As a result the Church…does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.”

“The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magesterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with him.”

There are so many points at which the Judaizing Pharisees’ errors were similar to the RC errors.  They also focused on ritual for salvation because of their traditions.

Mk 7:3-15    The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions…
5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with `unclean' hands?"  6He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "`These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  7They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'  
8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men." 9 And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! …
13 you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that." 
Mary

While the RCC has seemed to soften many of it’s most significant errors in recent years, the trend regarding the doctrine of Mary has been in the other direction.  The present Pope seems to be emphasizing Mary more and more.

There are many unbiblical beliefs about Mary in RC doctrine, but in the area of the essentials of the faith there are two major concerns: 
1.	Mary’s involvement in the work of Christ (are we saved through Christ’s work alone, or through the work of Christ in combination with the efforts of Mary?)
2.	Veneration of Mary.  The Catholics insist this is not worship, and therefore not idolatry, but it seems to have all the ingredients of worship.

Mary’s Role in the Atonement

During the past forty years, each pope has done his part to increase Mary's influence in the Roman Catholic Church. 

In the August 28, 1975, issue of the official Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Paul VI, speaking of the ceremony celebrated the day before in honor of the Assumption of Mary, said, "Her venerate image…was carried in procession…as part of the Holy Year ceremonies, so that the overflow crowd of pilgrims…could see it and thus increase their devotion to her. In this way we should all be reminded of the meaning and practice of the cult of Mary, inseparable from the unique and central cult of Christ ... Let us pray to her with humble, trusting and childlike faith."

John Paul II has taken the motto Totus Tuus (“all yours”) to dedicate himself completely to Mary. 

In his first message immediately after being elected pope he said, 'At this difficult hour, full of fear, we must turn our thoughts with filial devotion to the Virgin Mary who always lives in the midst of Christ and exists as his mother. We must repeat the words, Totus Tuus which 20 years ago were inscribed into our heart and soul.'"

He has visited many of the shrines to Mary.  He attributed his escape from death after the assassination attempt as well as the overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe to the intervention of Mary.

“while in the most Blessed Virgin the Church has already reached that perfection whereby she exists without spot or wrinkle, the faithful still strive to conquer sin and increase in holiness.  And so they turn their eyes to Mary: in her, the church is already the ‘all-holy’.” (829)
“Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race." (494)
"In a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the Saviour's work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace." (968)
"... Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us gifts of eternal salvation. ... Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix." (969)

The premier issue of the Roman Catholic publication Catholic Heritage displayed a front page with the title: "Mary, Mother of the Church." In a Question and Answer column the question is asked, "At the foot of the cross, Mary shared in the mystery of the passion. True or False. Answer: True. Mary united her sorrows to those of her Son. The sorrowful and immaculate heart of Mary bled with her Son for all of mankind. For this reason, we invoke her under the title of Co-redemptrix."

We understand that it is essential to believe God is our Savior, but is it essential to believe that He alone is our Savior?  Is it idolatry to think perhaps He shares that title with someone else?

Isa.43:10-12 understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.  11 I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.  12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed--I, and not some foreign god among you.

Ac 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." 

Veneration of Mary

"The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship." The Church rightly honours "the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. ..." The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an "epitome of the whole Gospel," express this devotion to the Virgin Mary. (971)

Catholics will argue that veneration is not worship.  It’s not always idolatry to bow before someone, because it’s done before kings throughout Scripture.  

The problem is, bowing before someone in a religious context is worship.  in fact, that’s the meaning of the word “worship.”  Both the Hebrew word (hx'v') and the Greek word (proskune,w) literally mean “to bow down.”

So what the Bible says about bowing down and what it says about worship are one in the same.

In Mt.4:10 Jesus said, “Bow before the Lord your God and serve Him only.”

The RCC gives caveats about the fact that they don’t technically worship Mary or place her above God in their doctrinal statements, but the result of their teaching seems to be that many Catholics pray to Mary for frequently than they pray to God!

The Pope said since we are I perilous times we must look to Mary.  Why?  Why not look to Christ Himself?  Is Mary more powerful than Christ?  Is she more merciful than Christ?

If the answer to either question is yes, we have crossed the line into idolatry.  If the answer to both is no, why would we look to her when we are in trouble instead of to God?

Veneration of Images
Catholics also bow before relics & images not only of God but of Mary and Saints.  This is thought to be permissible, because when Christ became incarnated, He changed the rules on images.

They believe that any honor given to an image is given to the person the image represents.

But in Ex.32:5 we see that the golden calf the Israelites worshipped while Moses got the 10 Commandments was intended to represent YHWH.  But they were still punished for idolatry.

Necromancy
Scripture speaks in very harsh terms regarding the practice of attempting to communicate with the dead.
Dt.18:10-12
Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD

In 1 Sam.28 Saul was facing extremely difficult circumstances.  He was in great distress.  The Philistines were attacking him, there were no prophets, and he was at a loss to know what to do.  

So he sought guidance from a departed saint by the name of Samuel.  That was not an innocent mistake.  God made Saul pay with his life the very next day.