No Salvation Outside the Church

Catholic Answers ^ | 12/05 | Fr. Ray Ryland

[bdeaner]

Why does the Catholic Church teach that there is "no salvation outside the Church"? Doesn’t this contradict Scripture? God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:4). "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). Peter proclaimed to the Sanhedrin, "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

Since God intends (plans, wills) that every human being should go to heaven, doesn’t the Church’s teaching greatly restrict the scope of God’s redemption? Does the Church mean—as Protestants and (I suspect) many Catholics believe—that only members of the Catholic Church can be saved?

That is what a priest in Boston, Fr. Leonard Feeney, S.J., began teaching in the 1940s. His bishop and the Vatican tried to convince him that his interpretation of the Church’s teaching was wrong. He so persisted in his error that he was finally excommunicated, but by God’s mercy, he was reconciled to the Church before he died in 1978.

In correcting Fr. Feeney in 1949, the Supreme Congregation of the Holy Office (now the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) issued a document entitled Suprema Haec Sacra, which stated that "extra ecclesiam, nulla salus" (outside the Church, no salvation) is "an infallible statement." But, it added, "this dogma must be understood in that sense in which the Church itself understands it."

Note that word dogma. This teaching has been proclaimed by, among others, Pope Pelagius in 585, the Fourth Lateran Council in 1214, Pope Innocent III in 1214, Pope Boniface VIII in 1302, Pope Pius XII, Pope Paul VI, the Second Vatican Council, Pope John Paul II, and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Dominus Iesus.

Our point is this: When the Church infallibly teaches extra ecclesiam, nulla salus, it does not say that non-Catholics cannot be saved. In fact, it affirms the contrary. The purpose of the teaching is to tell us how Jesus Christ makes salvation available to all human beings.

Work Out Your Salvation

There are two distinct dimensions of Jesus Christ’s redemption. Objective redemption is what Jesus Christ has accomplished once for all in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension: the redemption of the whole universe. Yet the benefits of that redemption have to be applied unceasingly to Christ’s members throughout their lives. This is subjective redemption. If the benefits of Christ’s redemption are not applied to individuals, they have no share in his objective redemption. Redemption in an individual is an ongoing process. "Work out your own salvation in fear and trembling; for God is at work in you" (Phil. 2:12–13).

How does Jesus Christ work out his redemption in individuals? Through his mystical body. When I was a Protestant, I (like Protestants in general) believed that the phrase "mystical body of Christ" was essentially a metaphor. For Catholics, the phrase is literal truth.

Here’s why: To fulfill his Messianic mission, Jesus Christ took on a human body from his Mother. He lived a natural life in that body. He redeemed the world through that body and no other means. Since his Ascension and until the end of history, Jesus lives on earth in his supernatural body, the body of his members, his mystical body. Having used his physical body to redeem the world, Christ now uses his mystical body to dispense "the divine fruits of the Redemption" (Mystici Corporis 31).

The Church: His Body

What is this mystical body? The true Church of Jesus Christ, not some invisible reality composed of true believers, as the Reformers insisted. In the first public proclamation of the gospel by Peter at Pentecost, he did not invite his listeners to simply align themselves spiritually with other true believers. He summoned them into a society, the Church, which Christ had established. Only by answering that call could they be rescued from the "crooked generation" (Acts 2:40) to which they belonged and be saved.

Paul, at the time of his conversion, had never seen Jesus. Yet recall how Jesus identified himself with his Church when he spoke to Paul on the road to Damascus: "Why do you persecute me?" (Acts 9:4, emphasis added) and "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting" (Acts 9:5). Years later, writing to Timothy, Paul ruefully admitted that he had persecuted Jesus by persecuting his Church. He expressed gratitude for Christ appointing him an apostle, "though I formerly b.asphemed and persecuted and insulted him" (1 Tim. 1:13).

The Second Vatican Council says that the hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church and the mystical body of Christ "form one complex reality that comes together from a human and a divine element" (Lumen Gentium 8). The Church is "the fullness of him [Christ] who fills all in all" (Eph. 1:23). Now that Jesus has accomplished objective redemption, the "plan of mystery hidden for ages in God" is "that through the Church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places" (Eph. 3:9–10).

According to John Paul II, in order to properly understand the Church’s teaching about its role in Christ’s scheme of salvation, two truths must be held together: "the real possibility of salvation in Christ for all humanity" and "the necessity of the Church for salvation" (Redemptoris Missio 18). John Paul taught us that the Church is "the seed, sign, and instrument" of God’s kingdom and referred several times to Vatican II’s designation of the Catholic Church as the "universal sacrament of salvation":

"The Church is the sacrament of salvation for all humankind, and her activity is not limited only to those who accept her message" (RM 20).

"Christ won the Church for himself at the price of his own blood and made the Church his co-worker in the salvation of the world. . . . He carries out his mission through her" (RM 9).

In an address to the plenary assembly of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (January 28, 2000), John Paul stated, "The Lord Jesus . . . established his Church as a saving reality: as his body, through which he himself accomplishes salvation in history." He then quoted Vatican II’s teaching that the Church is necessary for salvation.

In 2000 the CDF issued Dominus Iesus, a response to widespread attempts to dilute the Church’s teaching about our Lord and about itself. The English subtitle is itself significant: "On the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church." It simply means that Jesus Christ and his Church are indivisible. He is universal Savior who always works through his Church:

The only Savior . . . constituted the Church as a salvific mystery: He himself is in the Church and the Church is in him. . . . Therefore, the fullness of Christ’s salvific mystery belongs also to the Church, inseparably united to her Lord (DI 18).

Indeed, Christ and the Church "constitute a single ‘whole Christ’" (DI 16). In Christ, God has made known his will that "the Church founded by him be the instrument for the salvation of all humanity" (DI 22). The Catholic Church, therefore, "has, in God’s plan, an indispensable relationship with the salvation of every human being" (DI 20).

The key elements of revelation that together undergird extra ecclesiam, nulla salus are these: (1) Jesus Christ is the universal Savior. (2) He has constituted his Church as his mystical body on earth through which he dispenses salvation to the world. (3) He always works through it—though in countless instances outside its visible boundaries. Recall John Paul’s words about the Church quoted above: "Her activity is not limited only to those who accept its message."

Not of this Fold

Extra ecclesiam, nulla salus does not mean that only faithful Roman Catholics can be saved. The Church has never taught that. So where does that leave non-Catholics and non-Christians?

Jesus told his followers, "I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd" (John 10:16). After his Resurrection, Jesus gave the threefold command to Peter: "Feed my lambs. . . . Tend my sheep. . . . Feed my sheep" (John 21:15–17). The word translated as "tend" (poimaine) means "to direct" or "to superintend"—in other words, "to govern." So although there are sheep that are not of Christ’s fold, it is through the Church that they are able to receive his salvation.

People who have never had an opportunity to hear of Christ and his Church—and those Christians whose minds have been closed to the truth of the Church by their conditioning—are not necessarily cut off from God’s mercy. Vatican II phrases the doctrine in these terms: Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their consciences—those too may achieve eternal salvation (LG 16).

Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery (Gaudium et Spes 22).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:

Every man who is ignorant of the gospel of Christ and of his Church but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity (CCC 1260).

Obviously, it is not their ignorance that enables them to be saved. Ignorance excuses only lack of knowledge. That which opens the salvation of Christ to them is their conscious effort, under grace, to serve God as well as they can on the basis of the best information they have about him.

The Church speaks of "implicit desire" or "longing" that can exist in the hearts of those who seek God but are ignorant of the means of his grace. If a person longs for salvation but does not know the divinely established means of salvation, he is said to have an implicit desire for membership in the Church. Non-Catholic Christians know Christ, but they do not know his Church. In their desire to serve him, they implicitly desire to be members of his Church. Non-Christians can be saved, said John Paul, if they seek God with "a sincere heart." In that seeking they are "related" to Christ and to his body the Church (address to the CDF).

On the other hand, the Church has long made it clear that if a person rejects the Church with full knowledge and consent, he puts his soul in danger:

They cannot be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or remain in it (cf. LG 14).

The Catholic Church is "the single and exclusive channel by which the truth and grace of Christ enter our world of space and time" (Karl Adam, The Spirit of Catholicism, 179). Those who do not know the Church, even those who fight against it, can receive these gifts if they honestly seek God and his truth. But, Adam says, "though it be not the Catholic Church itself that hands them the bread of truth and grace, yet it is Catholic bread that they eat." And when they eat of it, "without knowing it or willing it" they are "incorporated in the supernatural substance of the Church."

Extra ecclesiam, nulla salus.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR



Fr. Ray Ryland, a convert and former Episcopal priest, holds a Ph.D. in theology from Marquette University and is a contributing editor to This Rock. He writes from Steubenville, Ohio, where he lives with his wife, Ruth.

[bronxville]

The Church that Jesus Christ established on earth, it has one Body. It does not have 2, 3 or 30,000 different (bodies) religions. “There is one Body...” [Ephesian 4:4]

Jesus prayed to the Heavenly Father for each and everyone of those who do not belong to the true Body of Christ, that they may be united as one as Jesus and the Father are One. “The glory that you have given Me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one. [John 17:22]

Not only did Jesus die for your salvation, He also prayed specifically for you that you may allow the Holy Spirit to show you the way home.

[PugetSoundSoldier]

If he pays enough I will let him off the hook for his good works. I call this invention an “indulgence”. Money is a great way to buy yourself out of trouble... After all, God is all about the money - cathedrals and monasteries aren’t cheap to maintain!

[bronxville]

“I know your corruption of Catholicism is heretical...”

And you would know that because...?

[PugetSoundSoldier]

Is the body all lung, or all big toe? There are different parts of the body, each with their own function. A liver does a poor job as an elbow, and the jaw is a terrible eye!

Different churches are different parts of the body. Or are all Protestant churches to be cut out and removed from the Body of Christ?

[Marysecretary]

Yes, He established His church, the Body of Believers, the Bride of Christ. We are His body, no matter what ‘religion’ we are. Those who have received the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour are the Body of Christ. It’s not an institution, it’s a living Body of believers. The HS doesn’t have to lead me home. He indwells me and I’m already home.

[cva66snipe]

We try to bring those in captivity to salvation. Not everyone on these posts is Christian. They may be zealous and they may be church goers, but do they know Christ? Some do not. That’s why many of us are here, to show them error that could lead them straight to hell after they die. We all need to know the truth of the gospel.

I wouldn't begin to try and decide who is and who isn't. That tain't my job. If someone says they are I take them at their word. The Holy Spirit will bring the change in a person if needed belonging in any sect. IF they don't listen to The Holy Spirit then there is no hope. But arguing and condemning likely has never won converts either :>}

[PugetSoundSoldier]

Ask Petronski. He’s the one that refuses to answer any questions straight-forward, rather preferring to just say “you’re wrong” or some variant on that.

So I will refer to the same claim; he is wrong because I say he is wrong. What other reason is needed?

[bdeaner]

In the Catholic Church, we believe the Truth is coincident with logic and reason.

Description of Straw Man
The Straw Man fallacy is committed when a person simply ignores a person's actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position. This sort of "reasoning" has the following pattern:

Person A has position X.
Person B presents position Y (which is a distorted version of X).
Person B attacks position Y.
Therefore X is false/incorrect/flawed.
This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious because attacking a distorted version of a position simply does not constitute an attack on the position itself. One might as well expect an attack on a poor drawing of a person to hurt the person.





"It is not, in fact, real authority if it does not coincide with that truth discovered in the power of reason, even if it is a recommended authority transmitted for the use of the successors of the Church Fathers...no authority should ever distract you from what helps you understand the persuasion or true rational contemplation. In fact authentic authority never contradicts true reason neither can the latter ever contradict true authority. Both, without doubt, originate from the same source that is divine wisdom. Therefore we see the courage of reason that results in the certainty that true authority is reasonable, because God is the creator of reason”
-- Pope Benedict XVI, 6/11/09

[bronxville]

The true Church of Christ consists of one membership, one belief, one liturgy, one government. It doesn’t have one Church that condemns divorce while another associated Church approves of it. It does not have one Church condemning gay marriages while another associated Church approves of it. It does not have one Church condemning abortion while another associated Church approves of it. The true Church has one faith that is guided by one Spirit, the Spirit of God.

[Marysecretary]

It IS our job to take the gospel to the uttermost corners of the world, and that means HERE on FR and in America.

[bdeaner]

I guess there will be a lot of PO’d Catholics in heaven when they find out I will be there as well!

Absolutely not, Sister! I want you in Heaven with me. We do not wish for anyone to be unjusty punished with eternal damnation. Our Church is calling for unity in Truth through Jesus Christ. That is our mission in this age of secularization in which Satan is having his way with the world. Read the article posted here, and read it carefully. That is the message. There is ONE Truth, and Christ will lead us there, more surely, if we pursue it together in Unity.

God bless.

[PugetSoundSoldier]

It wasn't a strawman; it was reductio ad absurdum...;) That 4 years of Latin at Bishop O'Dea high school comes in handy sometimes!

But to answer the question, can a person can be a Protestant, not partake in communion, and not recognize the papacy's claim of apostolic succession and still be saved?

[bronxville]

Oh, I thought maybe you were some kind of Catholic theologian or something...so you were just namecalling?

I see...

[bdeaner]

God is not particularly pleased with religious people (see pharisees) but He loves having a relationship with us.

Jesus is not critical of religion. He is critical of HYPOCRISY among religious leaders. Christ told His Disciples to obey the Pharisees, just before He roundly critized the Pharisees for their hypocrisy -- for not practicing what they preached -- not for the preaching itself.

[bdeaner]

God is not particularly pleased with religious people (see pharisees) but He loves having a relationship with us.

Jesus is not critical of religion. He is critical of HYPOCRISY among religious leaders. Christ told His Disciples to obey the Pharisees, just before He roundly critized the Pharisees for their hypocrisy -- for not practicing what they preached -- not for the preaching itself.

[PugetSoundSoldier]

Well, he refused to acknowledge the fallibility of many of the Catholic Church’s teachings until a fellow Catholic confirmed my position. And he refused to ever answer any questions asked.

Now, come to think of it, this whole thread posits that - as a Protestant - I will not be saved, so if you want to get into the namecalling thing...

[redgolum]

The purpose of the Nicene Creed was to nail down the nature of who Jesus the Christ was.

There were a few main groups at the time. The Arians, who said that Jesus was created, a group who said Jesus was only God and not man, a group that said Jesus was in fact two people (God, and Man).

The issue is that for the theology of Salvation to make any sense both with the Bible and with logic, Jesus had to be both God and Man, but not two person but one.

So that is why the Nicene Creed is very important. Most major Western Christian groups believe what it teaches.

[bronxville]

I’ve see more than one poster ask you to read the article. But why would you do that when you can plead ignorance thereby giving yourself permission to bash Catholics.

Nice hook.

[cva66snipe]

It IS our job to take the gospel to the uttermost corners of the world,

True enough but mainly to those who have not heard it. You can't force feed it to someone either. It will be bitter to them forever if tried.

[bdeaner]

It is really sad to think Catholics won’t use the Bible as their authority but would rather say their church fathers have the truth. Very sad.

This statement is highly offensive. The Catholic Church CANONIZED the Bible. There is nothing in Catholic teaching that is NOT totally consistent with Scripture. At every Mass, the entire first half of the service is the LITURGY OF THE WORD, dedicated to FOUR different readings of the Bible, both OT and NT, always a Gospel reading. Over the course of three years, a daily communicate will have heard the entire Bible read in Church. We do not pick and choose which verses to focus on -- but read the WHOLE of the Scriptures in our services. The rest of the service, from beginning to end of Mass is entirely based in Scripture.

See: Scripture in the Order of the Mass

The Mass is a perfect reflection of the Heavenly Liturgy described in St. John's Book of Revelations.