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.

[PugetSoundSoldier]

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

See this post, most recently.

I will answer your question about Baptists

THANK YOU!

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.

See my post 1406. But just try this statement:

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

Can you accept that statement?

[Quix]

Love your posts.

Thx.

[Marysecretary]

And where does it say you have to do it over and over again?

[PugetSoundSoldier]

If I may interject, why should he become Catholic?

[Iscool]

Ultimately they have nothing more than faith to rest upon; however, we are not granted the same foundation. Our faith is suspect because it is not their faith.

Over time, you will realize that whenever they speak of faith, or the Catholic faith, it is never faith in Jesus Christ...It is faith in their religion...

[stfassisi]

God kept the Bible intact. He may have allowed them the privilege

What you're saying is that God used heretics to give you inspired scripture and you are the true interpreter of scripture.

Problem with this is that there are thousands of others who think like you and disagree with your interpretations.Thus you have many self professing truths that resemble Buddhism ,not Christianity

[cva66snipe]

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

No instead we speak the Gospel and let The Holy Spirit do the rest. Constantly putting someone on the defensive will accomplish nothing. Putting fellow Christians on the defensive over theology over and over again solves nothing either. Mankind is given Freewill. I don't worry much about someone in a church yes even Roman Catholic who personally acknowledges Christ as Lord and Savior. I'm far more concerned about a person who has never done so. Most persons are in the Roman Catholic Church because GOD led them there the same with other churches.

I know who Christ brothers and mother is and are as well as He himself stated. Look let me put it this way. If Catholic were praying to the moon goddess whatever for intercession I would see it as blasphemy as I would any church. Some verses in the Bible hint at intercession prayer in a few passages. One is a man in hell asking Abraham to has his servant bring him something to drink. Of course Abraham says so.

The Roman Catholics I know personally most of which is family acknowledge Christ as their Lord and Savior.

[bdeaner]

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.

Ok, let's talk about Sola Scriptura. I hold, as the Catholic Church holds, that Sola Scriptura is a self-refuting doctrine.

Let's start with the most obvious reason why: the doctrine of Sola Scriptura is not taught anywhere in the Bible.

Think about that. There is not one verse anywhere in the Bible in which Sola Scriptura is taught, and it therefore becomes a self-refuting doctrine.

How do resolve this problem in your mind?

[Marysecretary]

No, they pray to Mary. That’s as bad as a moon goddess. I know many born again Catholics as well. They’re good people. But there are many who don’t really have a clue.

[Marysecretary]

God has used many people throughout the ages for His purposes, even Balaam’s ass.

[bdeaner]

And where does it say you have to do it over and over again?

First of all, I cannot be held to the standard of Sola Scriptura, because I reject that doctrine as self-refuting. The Church interprets Scripture to say, whether implicitly and explicitly, that we take the Eucharist every week, or more, and we are obligated to do so for the process of santification of our bodies and souls.

But, just for the sake of argument, even taking Sola Scriptura for granted, you actually have an even greater obligation: to receive the Eucharist EVERY DAY. In the early Church at Jerusalem the faithful received every single day! (Acts 2:46). That's what your Bible says. Why aren't you doing it?

[Marysecretary]

The Holy Spirit is the true interpreter, not any one church. I will trust HIM to show me the truth I need to see.

[stfassisi]

God has used many people throughout the ages for His purposes, even Balaam’s ass.

Perhaps He is using you to bring others to the Catholic Faith based on you elevating your interpretations of scripture above the Saints who gave us Bible canon

[PugetSoundSoldier]

Let's start with the most obvious reason why: the doctrine of Sola Scriptura is not taught anywhere in the Bible.

Please see 2 Timothy 3:15-17:

15: and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16: All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
17: so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

The sacred writings at the time Paul wrote to Timothy were considered:

1. To contain the wisdom required to lead a man to salvation;
2. For reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
3. Equip a man of God for every good work.

Nothing more is needed than the Scriptures to reach salvation, to correct our brothers in Christ for righteousness, and to be equipped to preach the Good News.

[CTrent1564]

PugetSoundSoldier:

I will conjecture here. Because redgolum understands, as G.K. Chesterton once said that “Tradition is the democracy of the dead. It refuses to submit to an arrogant oligarchy who merely happen to be walking around”. More specifically, by embracing the Creeds and early Councils of the CHurch (i.e. Nicea), redgolum implicitly recognizes that God has acted in human history, and whether or not all of you folks whose ancestry is from Northern Europe, he acted in the context of a Roman and Greek world.

As Pope Benedict put it (Spirit of the Liturgy, p. 224), as to why the sacraments are celebrated using coomon elements of Mediterranean life, which are documented in Psalm 104 [Bread, wine and oil] “Incarnation does not mean doing as we please. On the contrary, it binds us to the history of a particular time. Outwardly, that history may seem fortuitous, but is is the form of history willed by God, and for us it is the trustworthy trace he has imprinted on the earth, the guarantee that we are not thinking up things for ourselves, but are truly touched by God and come into touch with him. Precisely through what is particular adn once-for-all, the here and now, we emerge from the “ever adn never” vagueness of mythology. It is with this particular face, with this particular human form, that Christ comes to us, and precisely thus does he make us brethren beyound all boundaries. Precisely thus do we recognize him “It is the Lord: (c.f. John 21:7).”

Pope Benedict further notes that Liturgical Rites of the Church, as expressed by the Fathers and the Creeds of the Church, that developed in Rome, Antioch and Alexandria (all cited as the Primary Churches of Christendom in Canon 6 at Nicea) are not just products of culture, they are part of the history of the Christian faith, that can never be separated from soil of sacred events, from the choice made by God, who wanted to speak to us, to become man, to die and rise again, in a particular time. Thus, the Church prays in such a way that ties us to the place and time God chose. So, the Rites, ways of worship, the Creeds, the teachings of the Fathers, are forms of the Apostolic Tradition and thus are part of God’s plan.

So once on understands Incarnational theology seriously, and its implications, one is moving towards the Historic Church of the first millenium, which is Catholic in the fullest sense, both Roman and Latin West and Greek/Byzantine East.

Regards

[Marysecretary]

I rather doubt that one, LOL.

[stfassisi]

The Holy Spirit is the true interpreter, not any one church. I will trust HIM to show me the truth I need to see.

By rejecting the Saints who gave you the canon you're saying the Holy Spirit resides in you and not them to interpret scripture

[bdeaner]

it is never faith in Jesus Christ...It is faith in their religion...

Pffft. There is no difference between faith in Jesus Christ and faith in the Church He founded authoritively through his Apostles. They are one and the same.

As for certain others on this thread, time seem to tell that they have no real doctrines to speak of, but their entire theology seems to be rejecting whatever the Catholic Church says.

REACTION FORMATION:
A defense mechanism where an individual acts in a manner opposite from his or her unconscious beliefs.

[Marysecretary]

I don’t do it because my Bible says to do it in remembrance of Him and not every day or every week or every 10 minutes. We do not partake of his actual body and blood.

[bdeaner]

That's not what your Bible says. You seem to be using your own authority "outside" of the Bible to make that determination. Your statements do not live up to your doctrine of Sola Scriptura. The BIBLE says in Acts 2:46 to partake of the Eucharist EVERY DAY. That's what the Apostles did! Why are you avoiding doing what the Scripture tells you to do? Do you REALLY mean it when you assert the doctrine of Sola Scripture, or not?