Are Catholics our brothers and sisters in Christ?

What are our two rules for Bible Study?

We are here to hear everyone out, not taking over the conversation. If you have shared, allowed several people to talk before you sharing again.

If discussions get off topic we reel things back in.

Before we go any further, know that we are still on track to discuss the points that we talked about previously.

If all goes well we can start discussing patience for the next 2 or 3 weeks and then we will start the fasting discussion.

We will begin the study on Fasting on the 11th or the 18th of October. I will have an outline for what that looks like as we get closer to those days

What is the topic for today?

Are Catholics our brothers and sisters in Christ?

This may seem random, why are we going through this? There have been a few statements made in the last couple of weeks which I believed required me to address this.

At the end of this discussion I want us to be able to answer the question, are Catholics our brothers and sisters in Christ?

Before I even jump in I want to stress the seriousness of this discussion. We should not dismiss any person or group of people as not believers just because they dont agree with us. This also applies to including people or assuming them as believers because we do like them.

There are specific items that are listed in the Bible which are above non-negotiable. They are items that are at the core, like a foundation of a house. If the foundation or these core beliefs are false then the rest crumbles down.

Non Foundational like windows, plumbing or electrical etc while important are not required for the house to stand, without them the house is not as great but at least it isn't falling apart.

The Roman Catholic Church

Back in the 1500’s the only major organization running that claimed to be rooted in the Bible was the Roman Catholic Church. This was back when literacy was low and commoners did not have a bible to be able to read Gods word for themselves. The Gutenberg Press was just starting to print out Bibles but even so the reading of these Bibles was initially was not recommended and sometimes condemned and it would still take time for people to learn how to read.

The main source that people got their information about what the Bible says was from a Catholic Priest.

A german monk and priest (He himself was Catholic) by the name of Martin Luther was reading his Bible saw some things that were being taught and he noticed that they do not align with what the Bible taught so he went on and wrote out a list of 95 of those things and he went to his local Catholic Church in Wittenberg Germany and nailed that list to the Church door and expecting the church leaders to change their views and stop teachings on these items. The Catholic Church did not do that and persecuted Luther for his views. This is the start of where the reformation of the church started.

This period was very violent, lots of wars, killing etc. I bring this up to state that the differences in views here are foundational to the faith. Compare this to the start of different Christian denominations, to my knowledge no wars were started by the creation of new denominations.

To make it easy to remember the differences

The 5 Solas

Meaning the 5 Only’s - Its a few statements that capture the essential differences between the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and what the Bible teaches.

Sola Sciptura meaning Scripture alone

The dispute with Rome was not over the inspiration or inerrancy of Scripture. Rome affirmed both doctrines. The problem, instead, was due to the fact that over the course of many centuries, Rome had gradually adopted a view of the relation between the church, Scripture, and tradition that effectively placed final authority somewhere other than God. Tradition was conceived of as a second source of revelation, and the pope and Roman magisterium were viewed as the final authority in matters of faith and practice.

The Catholic church not only has the Bible, but they have additional books that they have added to the Bible called the Apocrypha. They view this as equal to the Bible.

Additionally the Catholic Church views church tradition as important as God’s word.

Lastly, the Pope is seen as the interpreting authority of God’s word. Historically Popes has changed their view on topics in the Bible.

Revelation 22:18–19 ESV

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

This verse specifically is for the Book revelations

Deuteronomy 4:1–2 ESV

“And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.

Proverbs 30:5–6 ESV

Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.

We also see in the New Testament that Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for creating 613 individual laws that they created from the old testament.

Sola Fide meaning Faith Alone

The Catholic church maintains that you are saved by Faith plus good works are needed and baptism.

Romans 3:28 ESV

For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Romans 5:1 ESV

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

During this time the Roman Catholic Church was also selling indulgences, this was one of the main points for the reformation. If you sinned in the 1500’s you could pray for forgiveness, confess to the Priest but additionally you could buy extra forgiveness for sins that you have committed.

The Catholic Church has outlawed the selling of indulgences

Sola Gratia meaning Grace Alone

The Catholic Church teaches that a sinner is saved by a combination of what God does and what that sinner themselves do so it is a joint effort. This is in opposition to what scripture teaches.

Ephesians 2:8 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

Similar to Sola Fide but the difference here is that the faith itself was a gift from God

A good illustration is that their view is this

The fallen sinner is not a drowning man who merely needs to do his part by reaching out to grab the life preserver tossed by God. No, the sinner is in a far more serious condition. He cannot grab a life preserver because he is not merely drowning. He is a cold, dead, lifeless corpse on the bottom of the sea. If he is to be saved, he will not be able to cooperate with God. His salvation will be an act of pure grace, and grace alone, on the part of God

Solus Christus meaning Christ Alone

This ties into what was already said but the point is that the Catholic Church setup a complex system of confession, through the priests, sacraments through the church and additional things that obligated believers to do to be saved.

These requirements took away from the work that Jesus did on the cross.

If anything additional is needed on top of the cross then the power of the cross is stripped away.

1 Corinthians 2:2 ESV

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Acts 4:12 ESV

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

The idea is that our prayer should be Christ centered, our preaching should be Christ centered, our lives should be Christ centered and the Traditions and teaching of the Catholic Church has slowly turned into man centered religion.

Soli Deo Gloria meaning To God Alone be the Glory

This last point is not necessarily a counter to what the Roman Catholic Church was teaching but it acts like bookend to all of the other points.

The overall message for all of the other Sola’s is that all of them are for the purpose of of God’s glory alone, not for ours.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

1 Peter 4:10–11 ESV

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

To clarify, there are several other areas that Christians and Roman Catholics disagree on but those are not foundational. If there existed a christian denomination that tool the Biblical stance on the points above but still believed in some of the other Catholic views such as Praying to Mary, or the Saints, infant baptism etc we could with less reservation include them in the overall Christian Church.

So the big question is. Are Roman Catholics considered Bible believing Christians? Can we consider them as brothers and sisters in Christ?

Overall the answer is no. Anyone who denies the core teachings of scripture. Mainly if they use any other authority in addition to God’s word then they are not a believer, if they teach that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone then they are not a believer. If they teach that Jesus sacrifice needs something in addition to be saved then they are not saved.

We know that there are Catholics that have positively affected the Christian Chrurch, the most obvious is Thomas Aquinas