Note: This content of this post was originally distributed as a handout guide for IBF's monthly theology discussion. It is a speaking document and not intended as a concise argument or to be an exhaustive treatment of the topic.
Evangelicals
and Catholics Together?
How
should we think about the Roman Catholic Church and the new pope?
Immanuel
Bible Fellowship Theology Coffee - April 20, 2013
Galatians 1:8 “But even in we or an angel from heaven
should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we have preached to you, let
him be accursed.”
Evangelicals
and Catholics Together Movement
1. Growing
out of movements, such as the moral majority, in the 80’s that focused on
social issues and political action a spirit of political cooperation was forged
between some politically active evangelical leaders and some conservative
catholic leaders (especially in the U.S).
This spirit of political and social cooperation morphed into a
cooperative spirit concerning world missions culminating in the Evangelicals
and Catholics Together statement of 1994.
2. Key
evangelical signers included Chuck Colson, Bill Bright (Campus Crusade), Mark
Noll (Historical Theology – Wheaton College), J.I. Packer, Richard Land (SBC
Religious Freedom and Ethics Committee, editor Christian Post), Larry Lewis
(SBC Home Mission Board).
3. Key
Statements – “As we are bound together by Christ and his cause, so we are bound
together in contending against all that opposes Christ and his cause.” “All
who accept Christ as Lord and Savior are brothers and sisters in Christ.
Evangelicals and Catholics are brothers and sisters in Christ. We have not
chosen one another, just as we have not chosen Christ. He has chosen us, and he
has chosen us to be his together. (John 15) However imperfect our communion
with one another, we recognize that there is but one church of Christ. There is
one church because there is one Christ and the Church is his body. However
difficult the way, we recognize that we are called by God to a fuller
realization of our unity in the body of Christ.” [1]
4.
Since
the original statement was ratified more statement have been produced most
importantly the Manhattan Declaration.
The Manhattan Declaration was ratified in 2009 and focused on
cooperation on social issues.
a. Key
Statement of Manhattan Declaration “We
are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial
differences to affirm our right—and, more importantly, to embrace our
obligation—to speak and act in defense of these truths.[2]
b. Key Signers: Jim Daly (Focus on the
Family) Bryan Chapell (Covenant Theological Seminary), James Dobson, J. Ligon
Duncan (Alliance Confessing Evangelicals),Jonathon Falwell, Wayne Grudem, Tim
Keller, Erwin Lutzer, Al Mohler, Tony Perkins, Chuck Swindoll, Joni Eareckson
Tada, Ravi Zacharias.[3]
Evangelical Reaction/Response to
Papal Election
Many
prominent “evangelical” leaders showed a great deal of interest in the election
of the new pope and in the person of the new Pope Francis I
“Join
me today in fasting and prayer for the 115 cardinals seeking God’s will in a
new leader” Rick Warren via twitter
And
following some immediate negative response on twitter, he added “Not everything
that is different is demonic. Learn to
appreciate the differences. Obviously #Godlovesvariety!”
“You
know he knew God the father personally. The way he prayed, the way he talked to
the Lord, was of a man who knows Jesus Christ and was very spiritually intimate
with the Lord.” – Luis Palau[4]
“Around the world, there are
millions of people who don't grasp the differences between Protestants and
Catholics, to them, Christians are Christians and the pope speaks for
Christians." – Leith Anderson President National Association of
Evangelicals.
It seems to me that it is not just
unbelievers who don’t grasp the difference between Protestants and Catholics. It is also those who look to popular
evangelical leaders undiscerningly for understanding.
“I’m
very concerned because what this does is it confuses the average
evangelical. Right now, the Body of
Christ doesn’t know whether to evangelize Roman Catholics or to join hands with
them to go out and evangelize the world, [and] it’s because of people like Rick
Warren who either don’t know how exclusive the Gospel of grace is, or he’s not
aware of the false and fatal Gospel of the Roman Catholic religion.” – Mike
Gendron proclaiming the gospel ministries.
What is the Biblical Gospel?
“For by grace you have been
saved through faith and it is not your own doing; It is a gift from God not a
result of works, so that no one may boast” – Ephesians 2:8-9
“If
you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that
God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.” – Romans 10:9
The biblical Gospel is that salvation is
by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone.
What is the Roman Catholic Gospel?
I.
Salvation is not by grace through
faith alone. It does not come through the imputation of Christ’s righteousness
to the sinner.
Council
of Trent, Canons on Justification, Canon 9: “If anyone says,
that by faith alone the impious is justified . . . let him be anathema.”
Council
of Trent, Canon 11: “If anyone says that men are justified either
by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ or by the sole remission of
sins, excluding grace and charity which is poured into their hearts by the Holy
Spirit and inheres in them, or also that the grace which justifies us is only
the favor of God, let him be anathema.”
II. Good
works are necessary for salvation. They are not merely the fruits of
salvation, they are actually the root of it. They are meritorious and will be
rewarded with eternal life.
Council
of Trent, Canon 20. If anyone says, that the man who is
justified . . . is not bound to observe the commandments of God and of the
Church, but only to believe; as if indeed the Gospel were a bare and absolute
promise of eternal life, without the condition of observing the commandments;
let him be anathema.
Note:
in context, the “commandments” are the Ten Commandments (being so defined in the
previous canon.)
Council
of Trent, Canon 24. If anyone says that the justice [or
justification] received is not preserved and also not increased before God
through good works but that those works are merely the fruits and signs of
justification obtained, but not the cause of the increase, let him be anathema.
Council
of Trent, Canon 32. If anyone says that the good works of the
one justified are in such manner the gifts of God that they are not also the
good merits of him justified; of that the said justified, by the good works
which he performs through the grace of God and the merit of Jesus Christ, whose
living member he is, does not truly merit increase of grace, eternal life, and
the attainment of that eternal life . . . let him be anathema.
These
are not just ancient and disused doctrines.
The Council of Trent is still the official doctrine of the Roman
Catholic church. Additionally the
current Roman Catholic church articulates these same beliefs.
The
Catholic Encyclopedia, in an article entitled Sanctifying Grace, states that
the sinner “is formally justified and made holy by his own personal
justice and holiness” such that “over and above faith other acts are
necessary for justification” including acts of charity, penance with
contrition, and almsgiving.
The Catholic Answers apologetics website states:
Even though only God’s grace
enables us to love others, these acts of love please him, and he promises to
reward them with eternal life (Rom. 2:6–7, Gal. 6:6–10). Thus good works are
meritorious. When we first come to God in faith, we have nothing in our hands
to offer him. Then he gives us grace to obey his commandments in love, and he
rewards us with salvation when we offer these acts of love back to him (Rom.
2:6–11, Gal. 6:6–10, Matt. 25:34–40). .
. . We do not “earn” our salvation through good works (Eph. 2:8 – 9, Rom.
9:16), but our faith in Christ puts us in a special grace-filled relationship
with God so that our obedience and love, combined with our faith, will be
rewarded with eternal life (Rom. 2:7, Gal. 6:8–9).[5]
The Catholic Catechism teaches:
The Council of Trent teaches
that the Ten Commandements are obligatory for Christians and that the justified
man is still bound to keep them [fn, Cf. DS 1569–1570]; the Second Vatican
Council confirms: “The bishops, succors to the apostles, receive from the Lord
. . . the mission of teaching all peoples, and of preaching the Gospel to every
creature, so that all men may attain salvation through faith, Baptism and the
observance of the Commandments” [6]
We
can therefore hope in the glory of heaven promised by God to those who love him
and do his will. In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the
grace of God, to persevere 'to the end' and to obtain the joy of heaven, as
God's eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ[7]
Moved
by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for
others the graces needed for our sanctification[8]
Roman
Catholic theologian, Ludwig Ott:
The Council of Trent teaches
that for the justified eternal life is both a gift or grace promised by God
and a reward for his own good works and merits. . . . According to Holy
Writ, eternal blessedness in heaven is the reward . . . for good works
performed on this earth, and rewards and merit are correlative concepts[9]
As God’s grace is the
presupposition and foundation of (supernatural) good works, by which man merits
eternal life, so salutary works are, at the same time gifts of God and
meritorious acts of man. . . . By his
good works the justified man really acquires a claim to supernatural reward from
God. . . . A just man merits for himself
through each good work an increase in sanctifying grace, eternal life (if he
dies in a state of grace) and an increase of heavenly glory.
Catholic
theologian John Hardon:
Habitual or sanctifying
grace is a supernatural quality that dwells in the human soul, by which a
person shares in the divine nature, becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit, a
friend of God, his adopted child, and able to perform actions meriting
eternal life[10]
Are the sacraments necessary
for salvation? According to the way God has willed that we be saved the
sacraments are necessary for salvation.
The Roman Catholic Gospel is that
salvation is not through grace alone and not by faith alone but that salvation must
be earned through obedience to the commandments of Scripture and of the (Roman
Catholic) church and observance of the sacraments.
Synthesis
The
Gospel as preached by the Roman Catholic church is diametrically opposed to the
Gospel as presented in Scripture.
Therefore there can be no theological affinity between evangelicals and
Roman Catholics or cooperation in ministry.
“Do not be unequally yoked with
unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what
fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what
portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?” – 2
Corinthians 6:14-15
Moreover
we must understand the Roman Catholic church not merely as neutral but as an
enemy of the true gospel.
“Whoever is not with me is against me,
and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” – Mathew 12:30
Therefore
we can conclude that not only should we not cooperate with the Roman Catholic
Church in ministry, we have to regard them as enemies of biblical truth. But we must always remember that we are
called to love our enemies (Luke 6:35) and treat rank and file Catholics
gently. We must also be mindful that
there are likely attenders of Catholic churches who are saved, but they are
saved in spite of the teachings of the RC church, not because of it. Roman Catholics are the mission field not our
brothers and sisters in Christ.
Catholic
leaders, teachers, priests and the Pope are a different. They are ravenous wolves (Acts 20:29) and
false prophets ad teachers (2 Peter 2:1) who are actively in the service of the
kingdom of darkness and leading people to destruction. The will of God for the cardinals is unless
they repent and believe in Christ alone is their destruction (2 Peter 2:1-2). It is appropriate to pray for their
repentance and their silence and their destruction, but never for the success
of their false religion. God does not celebrate the differences between false
gospels and the true Gospel.
Suggested Resources
Proclaiming the
Gospel Ministries – An evangelistic and apologetic outreach to North American
Roman Catholics, run by theologically trained former Catholics. http://proclaimingthegospel.org/
Reasoning From the Scriptures with Catholics by Ron Rhodes – This
is a very helpful book to prepare for witnessing encounters with Roman
Catholics
“Evangelicals and
Catholics Together” in The Masters
Seminary Journal Spring 1995 Available for free download at http://www.tms.edu/tmsj/tmsj6a.pdf
Sermon “Usurping the
Seat of Christ” http://www.gracechurch.org/media/7676/usurping_the_seat_of_christ/
[1]
Full Text at http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft9405/articles/mission.html
[2]
Full text at http://manhattandeclaration.org/man_dec_resources/Manhattan_Declaration_full_text.pdf
[3]
Full list at http://manhattandeclaration.org/man_dec_resources/list_of_religious_leaders.pdf
[4] http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/march-web-only/luis-palau-pope-francis-drinks-mate-evangelicals-bergoglio.html
[5]
For further information see http://www.catholic.com/search/content/justification
[6] p 2068
[7] P
1821
[8] P
2010
[9] Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma [Rockford: Tan, 1974], 264.
[10] John Harden The Question and Answer Catholic Catechism [Garden City: Image,
1981], Question #1074.
