Evangelicals who teach that “people of Jesus’ Catholic and Protestant

time lived under the law; we live under views of justification

grace, therefore very few of Jesus’ sayings The Reformers saw justification, then, as a
apply to us” (sic). mere legal act by which God declares the sinner
to be meriting heaven even though he remains,
Catholics speak of heaven as our “hope”. in fact, unjust and sinful. It is not a real
Evangelicals speak of knowing (being eradication of sin, but a covering of non-
“assured”) that one is saved. Although imputation. One’s sins are covered, as it were,
Scripture uses both terminologies, Catholics by a blanket, the “dungheap” of sin remaining Justification by Grace:
are actually using the more common biblical underneath. It is not an inner renewal and a
language, for faith, hope, and charity are the real sanctification, only an external application Not by Faith Alone
three virtues of 1 Cor 13:13. Our hope is in of God’s justice.
Christ, and His promise of heaven. Hope that The Catholic Church understands justification The Catholic Church has always affirmed
is seen (assurance) is not hope at all; it as a true eradication of sin and a true that salvation is a free gift that God freely
actually nullifies faith (See Rom 8:25-35). sanctification and renewal. The soul becomes offers to mankind. God “desires all men to be
Catholics pray for the “grace of objectively pleasing to God and so merits saved and to come to the knowledge of the
perseverance” in their faith, of which it is heaven. Scripture conceives of the forgiveness truth” (1 Tim 2:4). God is the Savior of all
written, he that “shall persevere to the end, of sin as a real and complete renewal of man. men, especially of those who believe.”(1 Tim
shall be saved” (Mt 10:22, 24:13). The words used are “blot out” (Ps 50:3), “clears 3:10). Human beings cannot save
away” (Ps 102:12), “takes away” (Jn 1:29). The themselves. Nor does mankind deserve
few times the Bible mentions “covering” sins, it eternal life, any more than we “deserved” to
Have you been saved?
refers not to the forgiveness of sins by God, but be created in the first place. Nothing that a
Evangelicals will sometimes ask a Catholic:
to the forgiveness of one man’s sins by another. person has ever done or ever could do on his
“Have you been saved?” A Catholic’s answer Since only God really forgives, the best we can
would be threefold: own can merit or earn eternal life; God must
do is overlook, or “cover” them. offer it or confer it.
1. I have been saved. It is an objective Fundamentalism’s notion that God “covers” our
fact that Jesus Christ has died and been sins, but does not actually remove them is an
raised to save me from my sin. Salvation has We can only be saved
unfortunate misreading of the Bible that found
already begun to take effect in the life of by Jesus Christ
its origin in Martin Luther.
everyone who has accepted Jesus Christ and The Catholic Church does not teach and
“Are you saved?” asks the fundamentalist. “I
has been baptized (2 Cor 5:17). am redeemed”, answers the Catholic, “and like has never taught that a person can be saved
2. Secondly, I am being saved; I am still the apostle Paul, I am working out my salvation by anyone else other than Jesus Christ. No
running the race and, we all, with unveiled in fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12) – with a firm one is saved by Buddha, Mohamed or the
face, beholding the glory of the Lord are hope but not with a false assurance – and I do leaders or gods of any other religions. Nor do
being changed into His likeness from one all this as the Church has taught, unchanged, Catholics believe that anyone is saved by the
degree of glory to another (2 Cor 3:18). from the time of Christ”. Pope, the Virgin Mary, the saints or any other
3. I hope to be saved. “I hope that I member of the Church. Jesus alone is the
may arrive at the resurrection from the dead Written by John Lee and Frank Bompa Savior of man: “…. There is salvation in no
Printed with ecclesiastical approval one else for there is no name under heaven
…. I am racing to grasp the prize, if possible,
since I have been grasped by Jesus Christ” given among men by which we can be saved”
Pope John Paul II Society of Evangelists
(Phil 3:11-13). P.O. Box 5584, Bakersfield, California 93388 (Acts 4:12).
E-mail: info@pjpiisoe.org Phone: 661 393-3239
www.pjpiisoe.org Pamphlet 068
 Both works and faith are not saved by faith alone. maintain that a man is justified by faith apart
play a part in salvation from observing the law” (the Torah). Paul
Many Evangelicals will say they believe Justification is incomplete uses the word as a verb rather than a noun,
Christians are saved by faith, and that without sanctification probably due to his continued struggles with
Catholics believe they are saved by works. Some Evangelicals have likened Catholic the “party” of the circumcision. In Phil 2:12
Both statements are fundamentally justification to Evangelical justification and he exhorts his converts to “work out your
inaccurate. Both Protestant and Catholic sanctification rolled up into one A Catholic salvation with fear and trembling”. Why work,
Christians accept the official starting tenet of would respond that justification is not why fear, why trembling, if faith is all that is
soteriology that we are all saved by grace. complete without complete sanctification: necessary?
This is not a point of disagreement between “Justification entails the sanctification of In Eph 2:8-10 “For it is by grace that you
Protestants and Catholics. This is one of our (man’s) whole being”) (CCC 1995). have been saved …. Not by works” Paul is
glorious agreements! Scripture clearly teaches that “graced” not pitting faith against works. He is pitting
The Catechism of the Catholic Church works are involved in the “by” of justification. works of the law (the Torah) against grace
puts it this way: “Since the initiative belongs James 2:26 is the most obvious passage: “…. (through faith in Jesus Christ WORKING IN
to God in the order of grace, no one can You see that a person is justified by what he LOVE – Gal 5:6).
merit the initial grace of forgiveness and does and not by faith alone.” An Evangelical apologist once said that all
justification” (CCC 2010). Is it any wonder that some of the the cults started by tampering with the words
Evangelicals and others however define Reformers attempted to put James into an of Scripture to make it say what they want.
justification as an act of God whereby He “appendix” to the Bible rather than in its Catholics unashamedly start with the
declares the Christian righteous. It happens historically accepted place? gospel and base their soteriology on Jesus’
at one moment in time and is made possible teachings. The rest of the New Testament is
by the Christian’s faith alone (sola fide: The teaching of Jesus on justification looked at as an expansion on Jesus (which it
justification by faith alone - Latin). Most important: this is also the gospel of is) and must be understood in the light of His
Jesus. His ideal was that of a life of (graced) teachings. Evangelicals start their study of
good works flowing from a vibrant inner faith. soteriology with the Pauline epistles. All the
Justification continues
See Mt 7:24-27, the two sons (Mt 21:28-32), rest of the Bible is a “footnote” to Paul,
throughout our lives
the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37), the talents including the teaching of Jesus. A check of
Catholic Christians believe that
(Mt 25:14-30), the sheep and the goats (Mt evangelical literature will bear this out.
justification starts at a moment in time but
25:31-46) and other texts to teach a unity of This approach to Scripture bears an
continues throughout a person’s life.
faith and works for salvation. How much more uncanny resemblance to the heresy of
Justification, for Catholics, is made possible
explicit could Jesus have been in the Marcion, the 2nd century Gnostic, who
by faith working in love (Gal 5:6). It is an
following: “Not everyone who says to Me relegated all of the Old Testament and most
error to think that Catholics do not have a
‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, of the New Testament to second place under
place for faith in justification.
but only he who ‘does the will of My Father in the Pauline epistles. He taught Old Testament
The unscriptural belief of justification by
heaven’” (Mt 7:21). was lived under an entirely different economy
faith alone only arose with Martin Luther in
It is important to keep in mind that Paul to the New (that will sound familiar to most
the 15th century. In order to substantiate this
uses the word “works” in a very different way Evangelicals,particularly “dispensationalists”).
man-made claim, Luther deliberately added
from either James or the Catholic Church. Because Marcion led the first major split in
the word “alone” to his German translation of
Paul is usually referring to Jewish the Church of Jesus Christ, Polycarp, a
Rom 3:28. In reality, the only time “alone”
obligational “works of the law”, as opposed to disciple of St. John, referred to him as “the
appears with the word “faith” in the original
“graced works”. Look at Rom 3:28: “For we first-born of Satan”. There are some
Greek text is in James 2:24 where it says we