Sing4Him
June 23rd, 2008, 01:37 PM
WHAT DOES THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH TEACH ABOUT THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION?
In his book Reasoning from the Scriptures well respected Christian apologist Dr. Ron Rhodes points out:
According to the current ecumenical spirit of the times, it might not be “politically correct” to say that many [Roman] Catholics are lost and are in need of evangelization. I am aware of the controversial “Evangelicals and Catholics Together” document, signed by both evangelicals and Catholics. This document declares evangelical-Catholic unity, and its signers promise to refrain from evangelizing one another’s flocks, labeling this activity “sheep stealing”...
In this document we read; “Evangelicals and Catholics are brothers and sisters in Christ”... Certainly I concede that Catholics and evangelicals can work together for the betterment of society, actively cuntering secularism, moral relativism, societal decay, and the like. But I also believe there must be a line drawn when it comes to biblical doctrine. (17, 18)
And Dr. David Wells brings out another very important point in his book The Courage to Be Protestant when he reminds us:
At the time of the Reformation, this case [of the distinction between the church visible and the church invisible] was made against the Roman Catholics, who insisted that the only way one could belong to Christ was by belonging to the [Roman] Catholic Church, submitting to its teaching, and receiving the grace available through its sacraments. To be in the church was to be in Christ...
The Reformers countered that we come to be in Christ by faith. We are joined to Christ by faith alone, faith in his finished work on the cross whereby he took our sin, bore God’s judgment in our place, and now clothes [regenerated believers] in his righteousness. From first to last, God’s acceptance of us is by his grace, and so, too, is our capacity to believe in what Christ has done for us. (219, emphasis his)
The issue of whether or not to consider the Reformation over and now accept the Roman Catholic Church, which Dr. John MacArthur correctly called “a front for the kingdom of Satan,” as a Christian Church is really rather simple. The Church of Rome herself considers her dogma of Roman Catholicism infallible. It is because of this fact that the RCC cannot change her theology, e.g. as it relates to the Gospel and salvation.
So what an individual Roman Catholic, layman or theologian, thinks is irrelevant; the issue remains: What does the RCC herself say about the doctrine of justification, which was the issue at the very heart of the Protestant Reformation. Many people today think that Vatican II changed everything but those who do their homework will quickly find that the RCC teaches the exact same wrong view of justification today as she elucidated at the Council of Trent.
Now for your edification Apprising Ministries provides you with the links to a four part series on the essential doctrine of justification from the Ankerberg Theological Research Institute. Because the bottom line is: If a man seeks to be forgiven by God in a way other than that which God has specified then he will not be forgiven.
In Part One we read:
When we consider the differences that exist between the Catholic and Protestant view of justification by faith, there are six key terms on each side that represent the different positions...a look at those terms to help you understand the arguments each side raises... [Roman] Catholicism teaches that justification occurs by faith and works...
http://www.apprising.org/archives/2008/06/what_does_the_r.html
In his book Reasoning from the Scriptures well respected Christian apologist Dr. Ron Rhodes points out:
According to the current ecumenical spirit of the times, it might not be “politically correct” to say that many [Roman] Catholics are lost and are in need of evangelization. I am aware of the controversial “Evangelicals and Catholics Together” document, signed by both evangelicals and Catholics. This document declares evangelical-Catholic unity, and its signers promise to refrain from evangelizing one another’s flocks, labeling this activity “sheep stealing”...
In this document we read; “Evangelicals and Catholics are brothers and sisters in Christ”... Certainly I concede that Catholics and evangelicals can work together for the betterment of society, actively cuntering secularism, moral relativism, societal decay, and the like. But I also believe there must be a line drawn when it comes to biblical doctrine. (17, 18)
And Dr. David Wells brings out another very important point in his book The Courage to Be Protestant when he reminds us:
At the time of the Reformation, this case [of the distinction between the church visible and the church invisible] was made against the Roman Catholics, who insisted that the only way one could belong to Christ was by belonging to the [Roman] Catholic Church, submitting to its teaching, and receiving the grace available through its sacraments. To be in the church was to be in Christ...
The Reformers countered that we come to be in Christ by faith. We are joined to Christ by faith alone, faith in his finished work on the cross whereby he took our sin, bore God’s judgment in our place, and now clothes [regenerated believers] in his righteousness. From first to last, God’s acceptance of us is by his grace, and so, too, is our capacity to believe in what Christ has done for us. (219, emphasis his)
The issue of whether or not to consider the Reformation over and now accept the Roman Catholic Church, which Dr. John MacArthur correctly called “a front for the kingdom of Satan,” as a Christian Church is really rather simple. The Church of Rome herself considers her dogma of Roman Catholicism infallible. It is because of this fact that the RCC cannot change her theology, e.g. as it relates to the Gospel and salvation.
So what an individual Roman Catholic, layman or theologian, thinks is irrelevant; the issue remains: What does the RCC herself say about the doctrine of justification, which was the issue at the very heart of the Protestant Reformation. Many people today think that Vatican II changed everything but those who do their homework will quickly find that the RCC teaches the exact same wrong view of justification today as she elucidated at the Council of Trent.
Now for your edification Apprising Ministries provides you with the links to a four part series on the essential doctrine of justification from the Ankerberg Theological Research Institute. Because the bottom line is: If a man seeks to be forgiven by God in a way other than that which God has specified then he will not be forgiven.
In Part One we read:
When we consider the differences that exist between the Catholic and Protestant view of justification by faith, there are six key terms on each side that represent the different positions...a look at those terms to help you understand the arguments each side raises... [Roman] Catholicism teaches that justification occurs by faith and works...
http://www.apprising.org/archives/2008/06/what_does_the_r.html