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.

[bdeaner]

Not everyone who attends a church is a Christian, not even Catholics. It’s an individual decision one makes regarding Jesus, not rites. Many go to church and have never asked Jesus to come into their lives to be their Lord and Saviour.

You are ABSOLUTELY correct. Any true Catholic would agree with you 100%.

At least once per week in Mass, we have an 'altar call,' and the ENTIRE congregation goes up to receive Jesus into their lives all over again. EVERY WEEK. We call it the Eucharist. Those who do so without true belief,--without faith--we are taught (infallibly) that they eat and drink judgment upon themselves.

[bronxville]

The Book of Revelation and the Mass:
http://www.scripturecatholic.com/the_eucharist.html#eucharist-IIf

:)

[stfassisi]

Learned it from the Catholic church? Not hardly.

Empty statement,dear sister.

Prove your case and back it up with early Christian writings that support non Catholic interpretations of Scripture?

[Marysecretary]

I’ll stick to reading the scriptures. You can have your early church fathers’ opinions.

[Marysecretary]

You only have to ask Jesus ONCE to come into your life. ONCE.

[PugetSoundSoldier]

I have. I reject the article's claim;

"the necessity of the Church for salvation".

Jesus said HE is the Way, that faith in Him is what is required. A church - or anyone else - is not necessary for salvation. A church may help, and definitely serve as a beacon of light to bring pre-Christians to Christ, but it is not necessary at all.

And I reject Pope John Paul's statement of:

"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).

The Church may serve as a way to introduce someone to Christ, but it is NOT a sacrament. I reject that. And I suspect most of the Protestants in this thread also reject that claim.

Lastly, the writer states that:

The Catholic Church is "the single and exclusive channel by which the truth and grace of Christ enter our world of space and time"

I reject that as well. The Catholic Church is not the single and exclusive channel. I did not come to Christ by the Catholic Church, even though I was raised in the Catholic Church. Does that mean my salvation - my relationship with Jesus - is invalid?

Apparently, it is the position of the author - and many Catholics in this thread - that indeed, I am not saved because I do not accept the gatekeeper role of the Catholic Church in salvation.

Oh, I read the article, and I found it wanting!

[Marysecretary]

But not just scripture. That would be fine, but you use a lot of writings that don’t have Biblical authority. Since you don’t believe in sola scriptura, I don’t see how you can have any authority outside of it.

[bdeaner]

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?

Reading comprehension, my friend ;) Read the article. YES. YES, if they truly believe that they are following Christ by doing so, how could the Lord refuse them? But for willfully rejecting a Truth, I think,--e.g. total unwillingness to listen to reason out of pride, for example-- there has to be at least temporal punishment for that, if not eternal damnation (purgation on earth or in the hereafter, as the case may be; that is, there are natural consequences for following error rather than Truth).

This is all in the article. This is the unfolding of the Deposit of Faith revealed in Vatican II. Many "conservative" Catholics left the Church and became schismatics as a result of this doctrine. But is it infallible doctrine.

[Marysecretary]

Believers ARE the Body of Christ, not the Catholic Church. We all differ in our ‘opinions’ but the answer lies in Jesus Christ and Him alone. The basics of the faith are pretty much alike, we differ on a few extra-biblical tenets but when you have received Christ into your life, you ARE the Body of Christ.

[Marysecretary]

Don’t forget annulments of your marriage either.

[Marysecretary]

So we just let them go to hell. Nice. I will not stand before God and say I didn’t try.

[stfassisi]

I’ll stick to reading the scriptures. You can have your early church fathers’ opinions.

Without Saint Athansisus and others you don't have a Bible.

You would have to sort through the Gnostic scriptures on your own

Like it or not,you trust the Church Fathers were guided by the Holy Spirit to give you Bible canon.

[bdeaner]

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!

This statement is a gross distortion of the Catholic conception of indulgences. It may describe abuses that were happening among individuals within the Church at certain points in history (we are all sinners), but DOES NOT reflect the infallible teaching on indulgences in the Deposit of Faith. Satan loves to take what is Good and corrupt it into Evil, which is how Satan used the Good and infallible doctrine of indulgences to undermine Christ working through the people of His Church. Satan plays similar tricks with sexuality. Satan takes what is essentially Good -- sex within marriage is for procreation and the expression of love that represents the Unity of the married couple -- and perverts it into Evil, e.g. objectification of women's bodies, pornography, adultery, etc.

To clarify for the moment, indulgences, as I have said earlier in this thread, are about remediation of temporal punishment -- reversing natural consequences that result from habitual sin. They do not save a person from mortal sin that results in Eternal punishment (nor any sin for that matter) and with them, a person cannot "work" themselves to Heaven. But they can 'work' to reverse the suffering that can result from the natural consequences of habitual sin.

Granted, this is a difficult concept that even a lot of Catholics don't understand, unfortunately.

[PugetSoundSoldier]

I read the article...;) See my response in post 1406. There are several fundamental points that I simply cannot accept. According to the author of that paper, I cannot be saved.

Let me ask you: if you replaced the word Catholic in that article with Baptist, would you accept it? Would you be fine if Baptists said that their Church was the only way to salvation, was the sacrament of salvation, and that only Baptists (note the capital letters) could be saved?

[CTrent1564]

redgolum:

Finally, an honest Protestant, a Lutheran I assume, or perhaps Traditional Angilican, who is willing to call out some of the “sola-meo” Protestants on this forum for outright rejecting the Nicene Creed. I have been on this forum long enough to know there are some Protestants who are not anti Nicene Creeds, or anti Apostolic Traditon as expressed in the Councils (Nicea 325 AD; Constantinopile 381 AD; Ephesus 431 AD and Chalcedon 451 AD) and the Patristic/Church Fathers. Again, glad to see one with enough integrity to call out some of the Protestants on this forum whose authority, i.e. dogmatic interpretation of scripture, is based what they see in the mirror each morning and night.

Kudos to you sir [or mam], from this Catholic.

[bdeaner]

You only have to ask Jesus ONCE to come into your life. ONCE.

Ok, let's put your Sola Scriptura to the test. Where does it say that in your Bible? Where does it say once is enough?

[Marysecretary]

God kept the Bible intact. He may have allowed them the privilege but HE and HE alone truly preserved it.

[bdeaner]

There are several fundamental points that I simply cannot accept.

I would appreciate if you would show me a particular quotation or two that you object to, and why.

I will answer your question about Baptists, but first I need to know your objections, so I can answer the question with a mutual understanding of what we are talking about here. My interpretation of the article seems to be quite different than yours.

[bdeaner]

Kudos to you sir [or mam], from this Catholic.

Kudos from this Catholic as well, my Brother/Sister in Christ.

[stfassisi]

redgolum:

Finally, an honest Protestant

I have thought the same of redgolum.

Dear redgolum,what is it that keeps you from becoming Catholic?