Fact a Day: March 9th

The Facts on Roman Catholicism (Harvest House, 1993), pp. 18-20

What does the Catholic Church teach concerning salvation?

The majority of Catholic priests deny the biblical doctrine of salvation because as priests—loyal to the Pope—they are required to reject the idea that divine authority resides only in the Bible. For them, divine authority resides in the Catholic Church and Tradition. Priests, therefore, look primarily to the Church for answers to religious questions because they believe only the Catholic Church can infallibly determine proper doctrine through its interpretation of the Bible. Thus, a study of Catholic history will show that it is the Church, and not the Bible, which has developed Catholic doctrine over the years. These doctrines are, in part, upheld by the unique definition Rome gives to biblical words….

It is crucial to realize that once terms such as “faith,” “grace,” “salvation,” “redemption,” and “justification” are interpreted through larger Catholic theology, they become so altered that they lose their biblical meaning. (For example, the words used in Canons 1 and 3 of the Council of Trent concerning justification sound completely biblical*—until they are interpreted in light of larger Catholic theology. Then they mean something entirely different than what the Bible means.)

In sharp contrast to the Bible, the Catholic doctrine of salvation teaches or implies that actual forgiveness of sins comes not only by faith in Christ, but also through many or all of the following: a) the sacraments, such as baptism and penance, b) participation in the Mass, c) the help of the virgin Mary, d) the recitation of the rosary, and e) purgatorial suffering after death. Because the true merit of man, achieved through these and other means, is in some sense responsible for salvation, Catholicism cannot logically deny that it teaches a form of salvation by works.

*For full documentation, please see The Facts on Roman Catholicism.