“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…
>>They are not in heaven<<
Oh really?
Revelation 8:2 And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. 3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
Revelation 9:13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
I suppose in your world God is not in heaven either? Following that guy who changes scripture is not making you look intelligent.
Nobody is yet “saved” because that salvation lies in the spiritual rebirth Yeshua described to Nicodemus in John Ch 3, which rebirth enables the re-born to travel invisibly through our present dwelling place like the wind, as described clearly in verse 8:
John 3:
[6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
[7] Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
[8] The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
1Peter 1:
[9] Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
Hebrews 4:
[1] Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
[2] For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
11] Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Philippians 2:
[12] Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
We can “know that we will be saved” if we so endure.
To that end, Yeshua writes his commandments “on the fleshly tables of their hearts.”
.
Again, you insert your own non-scriptural placement of “under” the altar.
Your interpretation creates a vast number of contradictions in scripture, thus must be discarded as false.
.
Revelation 9:13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
>>Your interpretation creates a vast number of contradictions in scripture, thus must be discarded as false.<<
LOL Says the guy who listens to the apostate who changes the Greek word woman to fire to make up a false narrative.
Why don't you go back and re-read my comment? Your answer is there already.
I wasted the time on this video...The guys is extremely short on bible and very long on the human philosophy of Lewis and himself...Matter of fact, this guy never once mentioned a bible verse that I can remember...And that's really easy to understand why...
That is NOT a broad biblical basis for anything...They all say the same thing...Just one repeating the next one...
And they all go back to the same verse to prove something that isn't true...
As is his style, Hahn is his video again perverts the scripture to try to make it prove something it doesn't say...That's called deception...
When he's done messing with it, he's got you Catholics convinced that you are purified by traveling thru some fire in purgatory when the verse says no such thing...
The verse says your works are purified by fire and the fire saves you by burning up any evidence of not so good works...
Pitiful as usual...
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.’
Joh 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.
And yet this verse (and many others) not only claims we WILL NOT come into condemnation but we have already passed the finish line...We are there...
So what then??? One group follows the scripture you posted and another follows the one I posted???
Or is my verse a metaphor??? There's only one answer to that...
2Ti 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
So then where are all those who were let out of Abraham's Bosom???
How did you miss the different parts to the first resurrection???
Another part you missed...Before Jesus 'went up', his body was glorified just as our will be...
1Co_15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
1Co_15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co_15:40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
While our terrestrial bodies contain the Spirit of God, we're still glued to the earth...When we die, or at the Rapture, our terrestrial bodies will change into celestial bodies as Jesus' body did just before he was risen...
Had Jesus not had his physical body changed, when he went to travel thru that wall, his body would have flattened out against the wall and slid down the wall just as cartoons depict...
>>> “OSAS” is nowhere to be found in scripture.
Neither is the word “Trinity”, but we understand the truth of it.
Actually, there are many truths that are not specifically spelled out for us in easy-to-read one-liners. Some truths are left for us to seek and find in scripture with the council of the Holy Spirit.
I’m having a really hard time with your argument, which is why I took so long to respond...
You say that NOBODY is yet saved, but then claim Jesus was describing how the re-born are enabled to travel invisibly through our PRESENT dwelling place like the wind. This is a self contradicting statement. We become saved during our life on earth, or we do not. If NOBODY is yet saved, then salvation must come after death.
Jesus said in the passage you referenced that we must be born again to be saved. That is what is clear and relevant... so the question becomes “When are we born-again?” When you say that NOBODY is yet saved because salvation lies in spiritual rebirth, I can only surmise that what you are saying is that we are not reborn until after we die, OR that we cannot know that we are saved until after we die.
>>> We must “endure to the end,” as Yeshua plainly stated in Matthew 24, and as repeated by all of the apostles numerous times in the various epistles.
Chuck Missler made the observation that there is more in the bible about end times than any other subject in the bible, including the subject of Jesus’ ministry on earth.
Such is the case with Matthew 24 in which Jesus is responding to a question about the end of days. We are currently living in the age of Grace. While the Holy Spirit resides here on earth, salvation is promised to those who repent and believe in Jesus. Once the Holy Spirit lifts His hand from the earth, the age of grace ends, and what begins is testing and judgment of the nations. Salvation at that point takes on an additional requirement, namely that believers NOT take the mark of the beast. “Enduring to the end” is a tribulation era reference only. By applying this phrase to the church age, you must also define specifically WHAT is to be endured... because Jesus specifically lays out in Matt 24 what is to be endured DURING THE TRIBULATION in order to be saved.
>>> We can “know that we will be saved” if we so endure.
How can one know that they will endure?
Peter did not believe he would deny Christ 3 times, and yet Jesus knew that he would.
It is impossible for anyone to know that they will succeed or fail in anything.
Endurance is a work.
Salvation is by Grace not by works.
The sacrificial blood of Christ cannot be mingled with the filthy rags of man’s works.
Neither do I. Nice synopsis of the Biblical reasons why there will NOT be some place called "Purgatory" or the need to suffer after physical death for "temporal" punishments due our "minor" sins. If the blood of Christ cleanses us from ALL sin - and God clearly says it does - then what possible purpose would there be for such an intermediate place? I don't see that there is one.
What you missed that the necessary change happens specifically at the last trump, and no other time.
If we turn away we lose, for eternity. That is what Hebrews 6 and 10 say in plain words. There is no ace in the hole for salvation, but to endure to the end.
Hebrews 6:The words are there in several epistles, by different authors, and there is no room for OSAS in any of them.
[4] For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
[5] And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
[6] If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
Salvation is at the last trump; that is why Yehova made his most distinctive appointed day, Yom Teruah, to watch for it.
That is why Yeshua said in Revelation 3:
[3] Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
And Paul assured the Thessalonians that Yeshua would not come to them as a thief, because they diligently kept his feasts.
Its all there in the book for those who care enough to want to know. If you prefer to 'know' something that really is not there, you're on your own, for eternity
>> “ If NOBODY is yet saved, then salvation must come after death.” <<
.
You’re just figuring that out?
For all but the final generation, that is the undeniable fact that Yeshua and his apostles were trying to get across.
Nobody will experience the stated fact of John 3:8 and continue living in this life. It happens at the last trump, the end of the trib, when Yeshua and his angels appear in the cloud to gather his elect, and all that remain stand watching in dread of what they suddenly realize is to come.
When you yank verses out of their context, all manner of error can slip in. What was John talking about here regarding a "sin unto death"? Here's the passage:
If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. 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.
We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. (I John 5:13-20)
John's talking about praying for someone who is in habitual sin, that they will repent and be freed from that sinful lifestyle. For some Christians, their backsliding might bring God to take them from this life so that they do not cause shame on the name of Christ. The "sin unto death" would be the kind of sin that a person refuses to turn from and our praying for them will not always bring about their reconciliation with God. But, NOWHERE in this passage does the subject of condemnation to HELL come up. Some people read into that passage that a saved person can become unsaved by a sinful act but that isn't what it says. In fact, it says the opposite. God disciplines us as His children and sometimes that discipline might mean He takes us home if we remain in unrepented sin. We don't stop being His children when we have been born again. he doesn't remove the Holy Spirit from those He has sealed until the day of redemption.
We are saved by grace through faith and not by our works. To say someone can LOSE something they didn't do anything to get is negating that it was a gift of grace. God's grace is so infinite and complete that we cannot snatch ourselves out of His hands - NO ONE can.
Let's post the WHOLE thing...
2 Peter 2
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell,[a] putting them in chains of darkness[b] to be held for judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6 if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless 8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— 9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. 10 This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh[c] and despise authority.
Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings; 11 yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from[d] the Lord. 12 But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish.
13 They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.[e] 14 With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! 15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer,[f] who loved the wages of wickedness. 16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
17 These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” 20 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. 21 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. 22 Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,”[g] and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”
It mattereth not who the THEY are, for if THEY (Verse 20)
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.
Are you trying to make the point that ONLY 'false teachers' will be 'worse off'?
I find that an improper interpretation of the passage.
They're "cherry-picked" and "misunderstood" and "unscriptural" because they go against your OWN cherry-picked, misunderstood and unscriptural verses.
You CAN lose what you DO have!
1 John 5:13
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.
Take your argument up with JOHN!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.