The New Pope & Evangelicals and Catholics Together?

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/

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[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.