JUSTIFICATION
Catholics say: You can’t earn it, but it’s possible to blow it once you have it. (1)
Evangelicals say: You can
never lose it once you have it.
HERE IS THE CATHOLIC
POSITION
1. Salvation is by grace
alone (Evangelicals agree).
2. One cannot earn salvation (Evangelicals agree).
3. There is no work an
unjustified man could possibly do to become justified (Evangelicals agree).
4. Once justified, it is
possible to lose justifying grace, which is needed for salvation. (Evangelicals
disagree, saying not even the worst imaginable sin could cause one to lose
their saving grace, even for one moment)
No need to
repeat the contents of the articles listed below, but note that the
Early Church, including Augustine and the other Church Fathers, agreed with the
2,000-year-teaching of the Catholic Church that it is, indeed, possible to lose
one’s gift of salvation through mortal sin. (Bible: "There is a sin unto death: I do not say that
he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death." - 1
John 5:16-17) (also see www.catholic.com/library/Mortal_Sin.asp
)
On the justification topic,
three must-reads are: 1) Salvation
Controversy by James Akin
2) Born
Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic by David Currie 3) A
Biblical Defense of Catholicism, by Dave Armstrong.
Oh, one more
thing…..Evangelicals hold that justification and sanctification are completely
separate things, with justification happening at one instant in time, and
sanctification occurring gradually afterwards. Catholics, on the other hand,
have never separated justification & sanctification, believing they are
virtually interchangeable.
What many Evangelicals do
not realize is that separating justification and sanctification, as they do,
goes against all Christian teaching from the first 1,500 years of Christianity.
This is admitted even by noted Protestant scholars such as Alister
McGrath who calls the separating of justification and sanctification a
“theological novum” of the Reformation.
www.ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/JUSBYFAI.htm Justification by Faith
www.catholicculture.org/docs/most/getchap.cfm?WorkNum=212&ChapNum=20 Do We Contribute to Our Salvation?
http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/mischedj/ct1_salvation.html salvation & justification
http://library.saint-mike.org/Apologetics/Justification.html justification debates
www.cin.org/users/james/files/justcath.htm Justification in Catholicism
www.cin.org/users/james/files/james2.htm Justification
www.cin.org/users/james/files/christ_a.htm Justification by Christ Alone
www.cin.org/users/james/files/grace_al.htm Justification by Grace Alone
www.cin.org/users/james/files/faith_al.htm Justification by Faith Alone
www.cin.org/users/james/files/loss.htm Possible to Lose Salvation?
www.cin.org/users/james/files/pastpres.htm Salvation: Past, Present, Future
www.cin.org/users/james/files/temporal.htm Temporal and Eternal Salvation
www.cin.org/users/james/files/paul_law.htm Paul and the Law
www.cin.org/users/james/files/work-law.htm The works of the Law
www.cin.org/users/james/files/cooperat.htm Resisting and Cooperating with God
www.cin.org/users/james/files/penance.htm Doing Penance
www.cin.org/users/james/files/boasting.htm Jewish and Christian Boasting in Romans
www.cin.org/users/james/files/abraham.htm The Justifications of Abraham
http://matt1618.freeyellow.com/justif.html Justification…..in-depth
www.catholic-legate.com/qa/sanctification.html
justification/sanctification
The Root of Luther’s Mistake (by Rev. Wm. G. Most)
“Luther taught justification by faith - but did not know what St. Paul meant by that word faith. He thought it meant confidence that the merits of Christ apply to me -- there is no scholarly support at all for this. Instead Paul means: 1) belief in God's revelation' 2) confidence in “His promises; 3) obedience to His commands (Rom 1:5) , all done in love. Very different from Luther. So the very basis of his church is gone.Luther rejected the teaching authority of the Church. Luther taught, in "Epistle" 501: "Even if you sin greatly, believe still more greatly." One need not do anything if he has sinned, just believe it is all paid for. These are not small or honest errors. Objectively all outside have an obligation to investigate and find the truth.” (Rev. William G. Most: http://www.ewtn.com/library/SCRIPTUR/SCHRECK.TXT)
SOURCE
WORK: To
read the full chapter in which the blue excerpt appears, go to:
http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/most/getchap.cfm?WorkNum=212&ChapNum=18
To
read the entire book online, go to:
http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/most/getwork.cfm?worknum=212
Footnote
#1: Fr. William G. Most: (“The Most Theological Collection”)
************************************************************************