July 1, 1996
Dear brother or sister in Christ,
The last several months I have been listening to the popular
Evangelical radio broadcast of the Christian Research Institute,
called "The Bible Answerman." Although I am a 25 year old usually
a Catholic youth minister and youth counselor, lately I have felt
a deep urgency to attempt some Catholic apologetics. In the last
three months, I have called The Bible Answerman to pose questions
about the differences between the Roman Catholic view and the
Evangelical view on the issue of Christ's justification of sinners.
After each of my attempts to interact with these Evangelical
scholars regarding the Catholic understanding of this doctrine,
I felt I needed to state my scriptural defenses much more
succinctly in order to be effective in conveying to the Evangelical
masses that Catholics are the original Bible Christians.
After reflecting upon these interactions, I thought it would
be unwise for me to remain a catholic hermit apologist. I hope to
share my reflections with other budding catholic apologists out
there in the realm of orthodoxy. The Lord hasn't given you that
"burning itch" inside, normally referred to as faith, to remain
hidden and dormant, right?
I believe it would be necessary to emphasize three very simple
distinctions of essential Roman Catholic doctrine regarding
justification to be able to break through some of the common
Evangelical misconceptions of this doctrine and seemingly rock-
solid theological barriers which keep Evangelicals from accepting
the Catholic view that a believer is justified by faith working in
love (Galatians 5:6), and not by faith alone (James 2:24). As John
Calvin quipped, this is one of the foundational Christian doctrines
upon which "the Church stands or falls."
The three points are:
1) Dispel the misunderstanding of "works" salvation by accentuating
the Catholic doctrine of salvation being effected by grace alone
(possibly quote Ephesians 2:8-10 or, better yet, Titus 3:5-7).
Point out there is not any contradiction in our living the
Christian life of faith, hope, & charity after being given the
"Spirit of sonship" (Romans 5:15) and the grace of regeneration.
Actually, these are the supernatural effects of being made a child
in God's family - we mature and we produce these fruits. As God's
grace increases in our lives, so does the Holy Spirit, and so do
the theological virtues which the Holy Spirit empowers or enables
us to actualize. It's not grace vs.faith/hope/love/works/obedience, it's grace therefore . . .
2) Quote St.Paul, St.John, St.Matthew and St.James to show that
the Bible does not teach salvation by faith alone (see Rom.2:6-13,
I Cor.13:2,& 2:13, Jn.15:9-13, Jam.2:17-26, & Matt.19:16-17);
it teaches faith must "work in love" (Gal.5:6) if it truly is a
real, active, and living faith. Christ said: "If you wish to enter
into life, keep the commandments (Matthew 19:16-17). Our faith in
Christ & our growing in holiness by keeping the commandments go
hand-in-hand (Rom.1:5 & 16:26). It's not faith vs.love/works/obedience, it's faith therefore . . .
3) Affirm the ubiquitous doctrinal understanding of Christ's
accomplishment of redemption. Then, emphasize the real difference
lies in the understanding of what grace is and how God applies the
infinite grace of the redemption to our souls. The question is:
Does God merely declare us righteous or Does God make us righteous?
In other words, does God simply impute Christ's righteousness to us
in a legal sense or Does God infuse his own righteousness into our
souls, transforming the objective state of our souls intrinsically?
Quote 1 Jn.3:1-7 to accentuate the fact we are not merely declared
to be God's children when we're justified, we actually become his
children. Also, Rom.5:19 is clear in stating that in Christ, the
second Adam, we are made righteous (this seems to be a good
paraphrase of the Council of Trent's declaration on justification).
Finish by asking them if the Evangelical view of justification
would line up with 2 Pet.1:4, which states that we "become
partakers of the divine nature?" This relates to the distinction
between the Catholic and the Protestant definition of grace.
Is it Unmerited life or is it Unmerited favor?
Grace of Christ to you,
JohnD'Arcy