“This is a different thing than magical salvation-in-a-box practiced by once-saved-always-saved communions of faith. They instill false certainty, a belief that one will be saved regardless of one’s acts. Such belief is a vice that moves the person deceived away from God, it is called presumption (hopes for salvation without doing anything to deserve it),”
“This is why the doctrine of salvation by faith alone is contrary to scripture. We are saved by faith and good works.”
Those statements fly in the face of the clear teaching of scripture.
Gal 2:16, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”
Hope is “confident expectation of its fulfillment”. This is hope:
Rom 5:1-2, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
And this:
2Ti 4:8, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
That is not “presumption”, but confidence in the finished work of Jesus.
Hope is grace given at the moment of regeneration when the Holy Spirit brings the spiritually dead to life by trusting in Jesus for salvation by faith alone.
Eph. 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” No works involved in salvation since God is no man’s debtor and works put God under obligation.
Rom 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
“The point is, however, to answer your question, how does one know that he is saved? — and the answer is one does not know, one hopes”
That is not hoping; that is wishing; keeping one’s fingers crossed. It is impossible to have “hope” for salvation if salvation is dependant on our works now and one has to wait for the judgment to see if one measures up. It has to be a fearful looking for judgment since we sin daily and by nature and convenience do not exploit all of the opportunities sent our way.
“show that you don’t know what purgatory is. Purgatory is the cleansing of the soul from the imperfections of his inferior works”
Purgatory is a man made construct built on false premises in order to keep man spiritually enslaved. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that purgatory is a place of intolerable suffering and agony. Cardinal Bellarmine said “the pains of purgatory are very severe, surpassing any endured in this life.” Death is not the disciple of the Risen Christ joyfully going home to be with his Savior but the fearful soul going to a place of unspeakable horror and suffering. This suffering is supposed to make satisfaction for the unrepentant guilt. Here they suffer the pain and anguish resulting from the fact that they are excluded from the presence of the Lord and endure the “punishment of the senses”, that is, suffers positive pains which afflict the soul. The duration as well as the intensity of the suffering varies according to the degree of purification still needed
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that this suffering can be shortened and alleviated by the prayers and good works of the faithful on earth and especially the sacrifice of the mass. The Pope is supposed to have the jurisdiction over purgatory. It is his peculiar prerogative to grant indulgences lightening the suffering or even terminating them.
The doctrine of purgatory offers the false hope that man has a chance to be saved after death.
It rests on the false doctrine that justification is progressive.
1. Man is justified only in such measure as he is sanctified,
2. Justification is a matter of degrees, so the Council of Trent declared it to be,
3. Since justification is a continuous process, the redeeming death of Christ, on which it depends, must be a continuous processes also; hence its prolonged reiteration in the sacrifice by the Mass,
4. Since sanctification is obviously never completed in this life, no man ever dies completely justified; hence the doctrine of purgatory.
Justification is instantaneous, complete, and final,
1. Instantaneous, since otherwise there would be an interval during which the soul was neither approved nor condemned by God (Matt. 6:24),
2. Complete, since the soul, united to Christ by faith, becomes partaker of his complete satisfaction to the demands of the law (Col. 2:9, 10),
3. Final, since the union with Christ is indissoluble (John 10:28-29).
It rests on the false premises of,
1. Man must add something to the work of Christ,
2. That the “good” works of man are meritorious in the strict sense of the word,
3. That man can perform work in excess of the command to do his duty,
4. The Roman Catholic Church’s power of the “keys” is absolute in a judicial sense.
We can do nothing beyond what we are called to do that merits anything. It is our duty to do “good” works so how can anything we do redound to the benefit of anyone else except the recipient of the work? Luke 17:7-10, “But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.”
The use of 2 Macc. 12:43-45 for the doctrine flies in the face of Roman Catholic doctrine. Judas Maccabeas is praying for soldiers who were killed because they were idol worshippers. Idolatry was a capital crime in Israel and there was no salvation for one caught worshipping idols. It is a mortal sin in Roman Catholicism. How then can the soldiers be in purgatory which is the place for “believers” to be purified, and how cans any prayer or “good” works save them? The use of Luke 23:43 to somehow make paradise, purgatory is shown to be false by 2 Cor. 12:4 where Paul says he was caught up into the same place and saw wonderful sights too glorious to mention. He did not say he saw intolerable suffering, in fact nowhere in the scriptures is there mentioned a place where believers go after death where they are exposed to intolerable suffering out side the presence of God who has said He would never leave us or forsake us.
When we die we (believers) are present with the Lord (Phil. 1:23, Luke 23:43, John 14:3, Matt. 28:20, 1 Thess 5:10. 2 Cor. 5:6-9, “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.”
Believers will not suffer the wrath of God because of sin. John 5:24, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. John 3:36, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”
“If that groups, the sheep, who get saved, are non-beleivers, what does it do to your doctrine, false that it is, of salvation by faith alone?”
Matt. 25 is a “millennial” parable, which is why there is no mention of the church. It explains how God will deal with the nations during the Millennium at the end of the age.
Amen. Great post, BD.
Gal 2:16
... contains the Catholic teaching that works of the law -- generally any works produced for temporal reward -- are not salvific. In dispute is the false doctrine of salvation by faith alone, which is in no way supported by your quote. See my previous post for some elaboration.
That is not “presumption”, but confidence in the finished work of Jesus.
St. Paul certainly did not encourage the vice of presumption, and Catholics do have peace with God and "confidence in the finished work of Jesus". But we do not consider outselves saved by any single act of faith; that is presumption, regrettably taught throughout Protestantism. "Hope" of course, inherently means that the outcome, in this case, of salvation, is conditional on something that we may or mey not be able to do. It is useful to think of your sanctification as building a temple out of yourself. You have all the materials on hand; you have money that the owner of the temple put in the bank. You know that if you follow the architect's plan you will complete the construction. But that is a big if: you yourself is but a humble builder who has frailties. This is why your hope in the success of the enterprise is moderated with the sobering thought that you are not at the end of the project yet. We "work out our salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12) even though it is truly God Who is "working within us" by providing us with, metaphorically, plans and funds. Neither is it "wishful thinking" as we know what we need to do and are in principle capable of completing the project.
The confidence one may feel in his salvation, similar to the one so eloquently expressed by St. Paul on his way to martyrdom should not automatically apply to us who did not have such a severe test of our faith.
Purgatory is a man made construct
Since we see the essentials of it in 1 Cor. 9-15, you cannot say that. You can disagree with particular assertion of "intolerable suffering and agony"; some Catholics do as well. Since the pain of Purgatory is not of this world, we cannot describe it in clinical terms. But pain it is, hence the analogy of fire used by St. Paul; this pain is to be expected in one whose enter into heaven that he longs is delayed.
this suffering can be shortened and alleviated by the prayers and good works of the faithful on earth
Yes. Of course. We see multiple examples of people praying for others in the scripture, -- why do you find this particular form of intercession for our brother in Christ objectionable?
The doctrine of purgatory offers the false hope that man has a chance to be saved after death.
No; the soul in Purgatory has already been saved. This is why it is in Purgatory. Again, I invite you to first study the doctrine you attempt to criticize.
Justification is instantaneous, complete, and final
You mean particular judgment at death. Yes, it is, and the soul enters purgatory only if residual venial sin remains and after the particular judgment has been pronounced. It is a transitory state.
It rests on the false premises
These are not false promises as any student of scripture should know. For example, indeed man must add somethign to the work of Christ, that is what St. Paul teaches in Col. 1:24.
2 Macc. 12:43-45
My understanding is that it simply shows that praying for the dead was a Jewish practice, not that necessarily that particular prayer was eficacious. I did not bring that episode up, nor Luke 23:43. However, your objections are not based on correct understanding of what Purgatory is, and where you do have a limited grasp of it, you simply point out that the doctrine of purgatory contradicts Protestant theology, which it inarguably does. So abandon Protestant theology and listen to reason and to the Gospel.
Matt. 25 is a “millennial” parable, which is why there is no mention of the church. It explains how God will deal with the nations during the Millennium at the end of the age.
Calling a parable "millenial" does not negate its message, unless it is your belief that Christ justifies some group of people by faith alone, and also at the Millenium justifies some other group of people by their works in contradiction to the former. No matter where you want to place the second coming of Christ on your calendar, the judgment described in Matthew 25:31-46 is judgment by the works and applies to everyone. There is no mentioning of the Church because everyone, not only the Christians are thus judged.