“Return of the Prodigal Son” (detail) by Murillo
Posted on 11/16/2014 1:42:01 PM PST by NYer
“Return of the Prodigal Son” (detail) by Murillo
In Acts 4, St. Peter delivers a powerful sermon. He concludes by saying, “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.”
I have written before in these pages of the time when I was growing up in the southern part of the United States and how I would from time to time encounter young, protestant teens and adults who would excitedly take to the streets to witness for Christ.
Now for Catholics who may not be familiar with the phrase, “witnessing for Christ”, this was how they would refer to their efforts to evangelize and share their faith in Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior.
The conversation would often begin with me being asked, “Do you know Jesus?” or “Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?” But the conversation would also frequently begin with the question, “Have you been saved?”
What in the world was a young, Catholic boy to make of this?
Of course I knew Jesus. And whether I understood the phraseology of the questions, yes, I knew that Jesus was a person; I received him in Holy Communion at least weekly; and I prayed to him. I knew he had come to save us and I sure hoped that I would be saved.
But the questions were still somewhat foreign to me. It seemed as if we had different understandings of the words being used. Inevitably, the discussion would lead to, “Do you know what you must do to be saved?”
The answer, I would be told, was that I must accept Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior and believe in (on) him. Then out came the bibles to prove what was being asserted. Words such as justification, salvation, and believing faith would be tossed back and forth; and occasionally, sanctification.
Prior to third grade, I did not know many Protestants except for family members on my father’s side; he was a Southern Baptist, who with my Catholic mother was raising a Catholic family in 1950s Mississippi.
While the state was overwhelmingly Protestant, we lived in a city that was, to my experience, almost totally Catholic, populated with first- and second-generation Irish, French, Slavic and southern European Catholics. My father was able to help me understand where these questions were coming from and to help me form answers true to my Catholic beliefs.
In my ministry as a deacon today, I still hear non-Catholics speak these words and also of “justification” in connection to “being saved.” What does the Church teach about justification and salvation? What must I do to be saved?
Justification is wholly the action and work of God to cleanse a person of Original and Personal Sin, restoring him to friendship with God. Original Sin and Personal Sin separated us from that friendship. We could not restore the friendship, but Jesus Christ could and did. Not only is the justified person restored to friendship, he is adopted and made a child of God, a member of the family of God which is his Church. This action (a grace of the Holy Spirit) is merited for us by Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection. [cf. CCC 1987 – 1995 and 2017 – 2020]
Justification is the state of being in habitual grace freely given by God to man. This grace that justifies and places one in this state is called sanctifying (or deifying) grace. It is supernatural because it is totally dependent upon God and cannot be earned (initiated) by man. The justified person is said to be in a state of [sanctifying] grace. [cf. CCC 1996 – 1998, 2005, and 2021]
Justification presupposes man’s free act of will to accept and cooperate with this grace. God does not force this action or state on man. Human freedom is a secondary, but, essential element.
It is received by a person’s faith in Jesus Christ through which he freely accepts God’s forgiveness and righteousness. Justification makes possible cooperation between God’s grace and man’s freedom. [cf. CCC 2002 – 2004]
Justification is the beginning of the sanctification of the inner person. Man’s sins are not merely overlooked by God, as Martin Luther taught, rather, the human person is cleansed and by his cooperation with the grace is made truly holy. Through faith in Jesus Christ, man stands in this grace and merits increased (is strengthened in) grace and moves in charity by continued good works (the practice of the human virtues) toward perfection in Christ. Our good works, on our own initiative, do not directly save us, but they can strengthen our relationship with Christ and lead us to grow in holiness. [cf. CCC 1995, 1999, 2006 – 2016]
This grace is habitual because it endures and persists until we forfeit it. Man can lose this sanctifying grace by freely and knowingly committing a sin involving grave matter (referred to as being subjectively guilty of a mortal sin). [cf. CCC 1856, 1859, 2000]
The Protestant friends of my youth would tell me that once I was saved, there was nothing I could do, no matter how terribly sinful, that could separate me from God and cause me to lose my salvation. Their belief is the doctrine of some Protestants known as, “Once Saved, Always Saved”. But the New Testament Scriptures are filled with warnings that support the Catholic teaching that salvation can be lost.
St. Paul, writing to believers in 1 Corinthians 9:27 testifies, “…I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.”
That this speaks to his concern about losing his salvation is made obvious by the passage that immediately follows in 1 Corinthians 10 where he warns believers about giving in to sin and human confidence. In verses 12 and 13 he writes, “Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall. No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it.”
If this is not enough to convince us, he writes to the believing Gentile Christians in Romans 11:17-21, “But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place and have come to share in the rich root of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. If you do boast, consider that you do not support the root; the root supports you. Indeed you will say, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’ That is so. They were broken off because of unbelief, but you are there because of faith. So do not become haughty, but stand in awe. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.”
Thus, St. Paul teaches us in Philippians 2:12-13, “So then, my beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work.”
It is initially received at [the Sacrament of] Baptism.
This marks the beginning (not the end) of a person’s conversion and sanctification, man’s free response to the invitation to the Divine life from God where he turns from sin and toward God. Should a person lose the [sanctifying] grace of justification, it can be restored through sacramental confession (Sacrament of Reconciliation). [cf. CCC 1856, 1992, 2020]
The answer is so simple we often overlook it, so do not look for a long answer here.
The justified person attains salvation if he dies in a state of Sanctifying Grace.
“Yes, I believe in Jesus and received his justifying (sanctifying) grace when I was baptized into his Church. Jesus saved me. And at those times when I have sinned gravely and lost this grace, I returned to the Lord to be cleansed again by him in the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) where I again received his justifying grace.
“I am strengthened in my personal relationship with him by my worship of him and receiving him in Holy Communion at Mass; through my prayer, devotion and reading of the Scriptures; by my study of the teachings of the faith; and through my good works prepared beforehand by him for me to perform while in his grace.
“I have been saved, am being saved, and have supernatural hope that I will be saved. I believe this because the Church, established by Jesus, through which this grace flows to me, teaches me that this is so.”
Into the deep…
I don't.
Apples and oranges.What's hard to understand about REMAINING in Jesus versus doubting whether He has given you Eternal Life?
Scene: New York City, man is going to jump off the building. Up rushes good Irish cop. Cop yells up to the man “Don’t jump! Think of your father”
Man replies “Haven’t got a father; I’m going to jump.”
The copy goes through a list of relatives, mother, brothers, sister, etc. Each time man says “haven’t got one; going to jump.”
Desperate the cop yells up “Don’t jump! Think of the Blessed Virgin”
Man replies “Who is that?”
Cop yells “Jump, Protestant! You’re blocking traffic!”
Rev. 3:4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
Here God/Jesus is talking not to the unsaved, but to the “Churches.” When I walked away from the Catholic Church and embraced evangelical Christianity they preached what many here proclaim...once saved, once forgiven, you can do no wrong, Book of Life, you have been given a white robe...etc.
But I would suggest to many to read Revelation 2 and 3 very carefully. For God is not talking to the unsaved, he is talking to the ‘saved’ and those who ‘believe’ they are saved. And at each verse he reminds them to repent again AND have ‘good works.’
God clearly tells us that our ‘saved names’ can be blotted out of the Book of Life...because we defiled our robes, because we failed to have good works AFTER “believing” in His grace. Repentance is not a one time thing, for no man’s works are perfect.
God tells us as Christians we must overcome the coming trials and tribulations. Being ‘saved’ isn’t going to be enough to get the white robe, sit at the throne, or walk with Jesus in Heaven.
The sacrament of repentance, is not a one time thing, for every Christian can defile his robe...for we are but humble humans.
Revelation 6:9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
>>> HOW would this happen?
According to point 5 of the original post under “what Catholisism teaches”, it would happen in response to the committing of a mortal sin.
And, since God word states that if you are guilty of one sin, you are guilty of them all, I would submit that we would lose salvation daily if it could be lost.
John 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
“I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.”
Some sins lead to spiritual death, or eternal separation from God. Catholics call these sins, mortal. Other sins don’t lead to spiritual death. Catholics call these sins, venial
I do t doubt the Atonement, but the “once saved, always saved” doctrine. Is that your position?
>>> All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.”
This would suggest that God’s standard is something less than perfection.
What was Adam’s sin? How does his disobedience in consuming a fruit qualify it as a sin which leads to death?
Ah... Catholic teaching!
The Bible says that loss of FAITH is what does the deed.
>>> The Bible says that loss of FAITH is what does the deed.
So if you lose your faith you lose salvation?
Might be news to Peter.
Nope.
The Book clearly states that one can, indeed, lose their salvation due to lack of Faith.
The position of some evangelicals is that the person 'wasn't really saved to begin with".
I find that to be a tenuous JUDGMENT call on their part because they CLING to the OSAS mantra.
Now don't try to jump in with a Catholic AHHA! and state one can NOT know whether they are saved or not.
Did GOD really say...
1 John 5:16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.
"There is a sin, NOT "some sins" or "mutliple sins". Catholicism has to twist scripture to maintin it's beliefs.
Yeah; with his record, a LOT of stuff would be news!
2 Peter 2:20-21
If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
To be honest; so does some of Protestantism.
Yep! Of course it appears that Catholics believe that anything that isn't Catholicism is Protestant. But with that being said some of those Protestant organizations are certainly no better than Catholicism.
Your references from Colossians and Hebrews are identical, and speak of “What we believe”... not what we do or fail to do.
Your reference from 2 Peter however is quite different.
“They” needs to be defined, and we find that definition by bringing into context the previous verses starting in verse 9:
2:9 - “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government.”
Verses 10-19 further defines “they”, and as you read through it, it becomes very clear to whom God is referring;
Quite simply, “they” are those who are being preserved for judgment... those who are openly defiant of God and what He stands for. It is their knowledge of the truth that would make it better for them to have not been born to begin with, because their punishment is that much worse than those who simply failed to find the Truth.
I submit that those who are being defined as “they” are quite different than those who lose or lack faith.
Furthermore, the premise that “they had previously escaped the corruption of the world” refers to born again Christians is grammatically false when placed in context with the previous verse;
In verse 19 we see this: “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. “
“They” are the deceivers promising liberty to those (them) whom they seek to corrupt... and the following verse 20 which you referenced is a paradoxical argument which illustrates that “they” indeed have NOT escaped the pollutions of the world BECAUSE they are themselves servants of corruption.
They are not in heaven, and will not be until the "First Resurrection" in which ALL of the elect will be resurrected.
If your theory does not fit all of the word, it is a false theory; no exceptions.
You keep on cherry-picking misunderstood verses to base unscriptural theories upon.
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