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There has been a loss of discernment
concerning the nature of Roman Catholicism, what
it means to be a Protestant, and the need to be
vigorously Protestant. Today too few Christians
really understand why the Reformation took place
and what is at stake if it is reversed — and the
Reformation is being reversed in our
time. This loss of discernment is the direct
result of the loss of discernment regarding
church history.
Because of this, most Christians
do not understand that the spread of false
teachings such as Federal Vision theology, the
Purpose-Driven Church philosophy, and the
Emergent Church philosophy means the reversal of
the Reformation and the return to a spiritual
Dark Age. Allowed to spread, and carried to
their logical ends, these anti-Scriptural
agendas will wipe out all that was recovered by
the Reformers in the sixteenth century. False
teachers, and many Evangelicals generally,
increasingly shun the name Protestant. Brian
McLaren, a principal spokesman for the Emergent
Church movement, has invented a revisionist
definition of "Protestantism" that allows even
Roman Catholics to come under a "Protestant"
umbrella.
Most nominal Protestants do not
realize that Rome’s centuries-old position,
which is diametrically opposed to authentic
Biblical Christianity on the central issues of
Scripture and salvation, remains unchanged — as
these passages from contemporary Catholic
writings demonstrate:
[From The Catholic
Encyclopedia] Protestants claim the
following three qualities for justification:
certainty, equality, the impossibility of ever
losing it. Diametrically opposed to these
qualities are those defended by the Council of
Trent:
-
uncertainty [no one can be
sure he is justified]
-
inequality [some are more
justified than others]
-
amissibility [justification
can be lost].
Since these qualities of
justification are also qualities of sanctifying
grace, see [the entry on] Grace.1
[And so, from The
Catholic Encyclopedia's entry on "Grace"]
Every adult soul stained…with original
sin...must, in order to arrive at the state of
justification, pass through a short or long
process of justification, which may be likened
to the gradual development of the child in its
mother's womb….
The Catholic idea maintains that
the formal cause of justification does not
consist in an exterior imputation of the justice
of Christ but in a real, interior
sanctification…. Although the sinner is
justified by the justice of Christ, inasmuch as
the Redeemer has merited for him the grace of
justification, nevertheless he is formally
justified and made holy by his own personal
justice and holiness.2
The reason for the uncertainty of
the state of grace lies in this, that without a
special revelation nobody can with certainty of
faith know whether or not he has fulfilled all
the conditions that are necessary for achieving
justification.3
…[O]ver and above faith other
acts are necessary for justification, such as
fear, and hope, charity, penance with
contrition, almsgiving…. Faith alone does not
justify.
The “justification by faith
alone” theory was by Luther styled the article
of the standing and falling [of the] church (articulus
stantis et cadentis ecclesiae), and by his
followers was regarded as the material principle
of Protestantism, just as the sufficiency of the
Bible without tradition was considered its
formal principle. Both of these principles are
un-Biblical…4
The range of false teachings on
Scripture and salvation plaguing the Evangelical
church today are essentially those of Rome
above. Men from across the ecclesiastical
spectrum including Norman Shepherd, N. T.
Wright, Chuck Colson, J. I. Packer, Rick Warren,
and Brian McLaren all readily admit that they
seek to reunite Evangelicals and Roman
Catholics. Since justification by faith alone
and the authority of Scripture over church
tradition were the basis of the sixteenth
century break, it is their view that
Evangelicals and Catholics must reach an
understanding on these points that will
facilitate re-union.
But Antichristian Rome is
patiently intransigent while Evangelicals are
increasingly eager suitors; the ever more
one-sided “compromises” in the Evangelicals
and Catholics Together documents demonstrate
this clearly. Reaching an “understanding” with
Rome by definition means the surrender of
authentic Biblical Christianity recovered at the
Reformation, and Rome will not be satisfied
until the surrender is complete. Thus the
displacement of Protestantism in Reformed and
Evangelical churches is a most welcome
development to the Papists. The conditions that
Martyn Lloyd-Jones observed in the United
Kingdom forty-five years ago are the conditions
in much of the Reformed church around the world
today:
What of the state of the
church?...We are going back to the
pre-Reformation position.
What about the state of doctrine
in the church? Before the Reformation, there was
confusion. Is there anything more characteristic
of the church today than doctrinal confusion,
doctrinal indifference — a lack of concern and a
lack of interest? And then perhaps the most
alarming of all, the increase in the power,
influence, and numbers of the Church of Rome,
and the Romanizing tendencies that are coming
into and being extolled in the Protestant
church! There is no question about this. This is
a mere matter of fact and observation. There is
an obvious tendency to return to the
pre-Reformation position; ceremonies and ritual
are increasing and the Word of God is being
preached less and less, sermons are becoming
shorter and shorter. There is an indifference to
true doctrine, a loss of authority, and a
consequent declension….
I wonder, Christian people,
whether I am exaggerating when I suggest that at
the present time we are really engaged in a
great struggle for the very life of the
Christian church, for the essence of the
Christian faith? As I see the situation, it is
nothing less alarming than that.5
Five watchwords — the five solas
— summarized the
great truths reclaimed at the Protestant
Reformation. If these are lost, all that was
recovered at the Reformation is lost:
-
Sola Scriptura: Our
doctrine is from Scripture alone.
-
Solus Christus: We are
saved by Christ’s work alone.
-
Sola Gratia: Salvation
is by grace alone.
-
Sola Fide:
Justification is by faith alone.
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Soli Deo Gloria: The
glory belongs to God alone.
Today, both Reformed and
Evangelical churches frequently deny them all —
if not in words, most certainly in deeds.
The church exchanges Sola
Scriptura for man’s fallible perspectives on
Scripture; neo-liberals place their elastic
interpretations of confessional standards above
Scripture.
It exchanges Solus Christus
for Christ-plus-works; the sufficiency of the
imputation of His righteousness
to sinners is
not taught, or openly denied.
It exchanges Sola Gratia
for a view of “grace” which denies that God’s
favor will, in the end, be unmerited except
through the merits of Christ.
It exchanges Sola Fide for
justification by man’s faithfulness.
Thus the church in practice
denies Soli Deo Gloria: It removes Christ
from His throne; it removes Scripture from the
place of sole authority; human works and human
wisdom are in the ascendant. Increasingly the
Evangelical church suppresses the truth in
unrighteousness, exchanging the truth of God for
the lie (Romans 1:18, 25).
True Christians must oppose these
developments with all their being. They must
learn once again what it means to be truly and
vigorously Protestant. James R. White declares:
It is my firm conviction that
“Protestant” means absolutely, positively
nothing unless the one wearing the term
believes, breathes, lives, and loves the
uncompromised, offensive-to-the-natural-man
message of justification by God’s free grace by
faith in Jesus Christ alone. As the term
has become institutionalized, it has lost its
meaning. In the vast majority of instances today
a Protestant has no idea what the word itself
denotes, what the historical background behind
it was, nor why he should really care. And a
label that has been divorced from its
significance no longer functions in a meaningful
fashion. We need a Reformation in our day that
will again draw the line clearly between those
who embrace the gospel of God’s grace in Christ
and those who do not. And how one answers the
question “How is a man made right with God?”
determines whether one embraces that gospel or
not.6
The Holy Spirit calls us to be
Protestants. Scripture commands us in the most
unequivocal terms to be true to the unalloyed
Gospel and the unique authority of Scripture,
both long veiled in darkness by Rome but brought
back into the light at great cost by the
Reformers.
For you were once darkness, but
now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children
of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all
goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out
what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no
fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness, but rather expose them. For it is
shameful even to speak of those things which are
done by them in secret. But all things that are
exposed are made manifest by the light, for
whatever makes manifest is light.
Therefore He says: “Awake, you
who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will
give you light.” See then that you walk
circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,
redeeming the time, because the days are evil
[Ephesians 5:8-16].
Recommended Resources
Articles on our website:
References:
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“Justification” in
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 8,
www.newadvent.org/cathen/08573a.htm. See
also Dr. Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of
Catholic Dogma, (Rockford, Illinois: Tan
Books, 1974), pages 261-263. The cover
describes this book as “A one-volume
encyclopedia of the doctrines of the
Catholic Church, showing their sources in
Scripture and Tradition and their definition
by Popes and Councils.” The book bears the
imprimatur (mark of official approval) of
Rome.
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“Sanctifying Grace” in
The Catholic Encyclopedia, reproduced
at www.newadvent.org/cathen/06701a.htm. See
also Ott, pages 250-252.
-
Ott, Fundamentals of
Catholic Dogma, page 262.
-
Catholic Encyclopedia, entry on
“Sanctifying Grace.” See also Ott,
Fundamentals of
Catholic Dogma, pages 5-6,
253-254, 272-291.
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D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones,
“Remembering the Reformation,” in
Knowing the Times:
Addresses Delivered on Various Occasions
1942-1977
(Edinburgh: Banner of Truth
Trust, 1989), page 94.
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James R. White, The God Who Justifies
(Bloomington, Minnesota: Bethany House
Publishers, 2001), page
26. Emphasis in the original.
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