Do the Catholics say salvation comes through the sacraments? Or do they say God imparts grace through the sacraments? That's a criticial difference.
As regards justification by works, the Catholics do not teach that. They teach that works are a necessary condition for salvation, because their use of the term "salvation" is not transactional, but is a process that takes a lifetime and includes the concept of sanctification. That does not make works a necessary element to justificiation.
Sola Ecclesia Romanus might one day be your signature friend
Ex ecclesia nulla salus has a better ring to it - and the endorsement of Cyprian ;-). But you mistake me. Just because I have found greater common ground between orthodox Roman Catholics and orthodox Reformed Christianity than you have found does not mean I ever intend to convert to Roman Catholicism. There are still too many deal-breakers. But, I go where the text tells me too, I read and cite as authority the Early Church Fathers and the ecumenical councils, and I subject myself to the authority of the Church Magisterium. I am a Magesterial Protestant. I define the Church more broadly than the Catholics, but still subject myself to its authority.
You mistake me as a Magesterial Protestant as showing precursors to conversion to Catholicism. I assure you that is not likely to happen.
..all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is hisBody: Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teachesthat the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation:... Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Churchwas founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.
It is in the Church that `the fulness of the means of salvation' has been deposited. It is in her that `by the grace of God we acquire holiness. Verification: Pg 218, #824
In her subsists the fulness of Christ's body united with its head; this impliesthat she receives from him the fulness of the means of salvation... Verification: Pg. 220, #830 Verification: Pg. 224, #846
1257 The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation. ... The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are "reborn of water and the Spirit." God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism..
980 It is through the sacrament of Penance that the baptized can be reconciled with God and with the Church: "Penance has rightly been called by the holy Fathers `a laborious kind of baptism.' This sacrament of Penance is necessary for salvation for those who have fallen after Baptism, just as Baptism is necessary for salvation for those who have not yet been reborn" (Council of Trent (1551): DS 1672; cf. St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio 39, 17: PG 36,356)..
1129 The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. ... The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Saviour.
Ex ecclesia nulla salus has a better ring to it - and the endorsement of Cyprian ;-). But you mistake me. Just because I have found greater common ground between orthodox Roman Catholics and orthodox Reformed Christianity than you have found does not mean I ever intend to convert to Roman Catholicism. There are still too many deal-breakers. But, I go where the text tells me too, I read and cite as authority the Early Church Fathers and the ecumenical councils, and I subject myself to the authority of the Church Magisterium. I am a Magesterial Protestant. I define the Church more broadly than the Catholics, but still subject myself to its authority.
You mistake me as a Magesterial Protestant as showing precursors to conversion to Catholicism. I assure you that is not likely to happen.
Jude I am will to take all bets on that . The truth is you do not know what you believe or why. You read the words men and ignore the words of Christ. Perhaps it is your assumption that no one understands the word of God and so the "magistrum" must do it for them and you . But if you can not find the truth in the word of God, what makes you think you can discern doctrinal truths?
I submit myself to Jesus Christ and the elders of MY CHURCH as his representatives.
Sola Ecclesia Romanus