I've been forced to comment on this video due to the fact that many of the comments for this YouTube vid simply don't fully explain the Catholic position. Far too often Protestants make HUGE assumptions at what they personally believe to be Catholicism: "They pray to Mary!", "They worship a cookie!", "They practice necromancy with the help of the saints!", "The Pope is the anti-Christ!", etc., etc., ad nauseam...give me a break.
The truth is that most anti-Catholic Protestants have no inkling of what Catholicism is. They think they know what it is but in reality they don't; most have been force fed lies in order to validate their invented heretical theology. Therefore, I will endeavor, over the course of the next 2 posts, to decimate these anti-Catholic scholars as well as all of the other anti-Catholic commentators of this video and maybe, just maybe, you'll see at just how wrong Sproul and McArthur really are about what Catholicism teaches.
@0:00- 0:16, An audience member asks: "My family is still Roman Catholic and they still pray to Mary and the saints. Will this cause them to be kept out of heaven even though they claim to trust Christ for their salvation?"
R.C. Sproul: "Maybe."
Maybe? Maybe? In other words, this anti-Catholic CANNOT say with 100% certainty that "praying to Mary" isn't a condemnable sin - not that we Catholics "pray to" anyone save God but, if we did, according to R.C. Sproul there's a possibility that Catholics will still get to heaven. That response just turned the whole argument on it's head, by allowing a sense of doubt - a sense that if you "pray to Mary" - you're not going against God's will, Sproul has officially endorsed the Catholic point of view of our communion with the saints and, as we shall shortly see, God is okay with the Catholic notion of praying with the Saints.
@0:17-0:22, "It's a gross act of idolatry to be praying to Mary and the Saints, that's a very serious matter."
Let's clear this up once and for all: CATHOLICS DO NOT "PRAY TO" MARY NOR THE SAINTS, we pray WITH and THROUGH the angels, saints and Mary! What do we mean by this? Well, simply put, since Catholics are part of Christ's one true Church here on earth (ecclesia militans) and the Saints and Mary are part of Christ's one true Church in heaven (ecclesia triumphans), we both share in the eternal body of Christ. Basically, if you're alive in heaven and you're alive on Earth, as a member of Christ's Body (the Church) and specifically because of his mediation, we are able to be in communion with Mary and the Saints. Therefore, since we all are joined through Christ and by Christ and we are all part of the same body of believers, we are afforded the benefaction of being able to ask the Saints and Mary to pray for us in the same exact manner that any Protestant would gladly ask a fellow member of their congregation to pray for them. When we ask a Saint to pray for us we are doing just that, asking a fellow member of our Catholic family to pray for us and - thanks to Christ - our communion with them is not impeded. [ NOTE: We "pray" to Mary in the sense that we ask her to offer up our petitions to God the Father through Christ and as we shall see later on, asking the Saints and angels to give up our prayers to Christ IS WHOLLY SCRIPTURAL.]
This idea naturally sets up a series of Protestants rebuffs, head among those is the charge of necromancy. To begin with necromancy is the use of dead spirits in order to foretell the future and future events. CATHOLICS DO NOT DO THIS, we DO NOT ask the Saints to reveal to us future happenings and we DO NOT ask for Mary's intercessory prayers in order to give us next weekend's lotto numbers. Asking a spirit to forecast the future is strictly prohibited from Scripture and all through out Christian history! However, the bible itself does lend credence to the Catholic view of communing with the Saints, and the best Scriptural example for this Catholic position can be found in 1 Samuel 28:3-20. In these verses we see that Saul has employed the aid of the witch/medium at Endor in order to conjure up the spirit of the prophet Samuel so that he may ask the spirit what to do against the advancing Philistine army. The spirit/ghost of Samuel replies that Saul has fallen out of favor with God and that he will surely die.
Now, let's analyze what takes place in this occurrance. First, Saul is aided by a spiritual medium to bring up the spirit/ghost of Samuel. Second, the spirit/ghost of Samuel appears and, lastly, the spirit/ghost of Samuel predicts the future for Saul. This is exactly what transpires in this exchange, never once does the biblical text state that the apparition wasn't Samuel nor does the bible ever refer to the spirit/ghost of Samuel as a demon; the reason why I state this is because Protestants are quick to infer that something demonic happened in this biblical passage, to those Protestants that hold this position I ask that you show where we can make such an assumption, because clearly, this biblical passage states that it was in fact the spirit of Samuel that came back to speak with Saul. And so now I must ask some pivotal question: If Samuel was simply a dead human, how was his spirit/ghost able to bring itself back into the realm of the living under its own power? Was the prophet Samuel so strong in death that he had the ability to travel from the realm of the dead and into the living? Or, does it make much more sense that God ALLOWED the spirit/ghost of Samuel to come back to Saul?
I think we all know the answer to that question. Clearly God had to of let Samuel's spirit visit Saul because if in fact a soul can come and go from the realm of the dead to that of the living, what point is there in having a heaven or hell? If a spirit can go to and fro from hell to earth - under its own power - why would God even set up hell as a form of punishment for the damned? Indeed, why stay in hell at all if a soul/spirit can escape? Conversely, if a spirit can go to heaven and then back to earth under its own volition, is heaven really such an awesome place that a spirit can choose to leave it at any time? What kind of reward is heaven if a spirit can decide to leave the reward for earthly confines?
You can therefore see that the thought of a spirit being able to willfully travel to the temporial sounds rather ridiculous. Therefore I will make the conclusion that only God can permit such a thing to happen and, if God is the only being that can decide if a spirit can leave heaven or hell - for whatever reason He has - it would only makes sense that it was God who authorized Samuel's spirit/ghost make contact with Saul. In other words, God ALLOWED this to happen. God allowed the spirit of Samuel to communicate with Saul in order to reveal to him just what Saul's sin had wrought upon him, as if Saul didn't already know, right?
This now brings up an even more crucial question that the Protestant has to wrestle with: If God did allow the spirit of Samuel to visit Saul to tell him the future, then didn't God aid in facilitating Saul to sin if necromancy is in fact a sin??? In Leviticus 19:31, God states the following:
Do not turn to mediums or seek out spirits, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God
In Deuteronomy 18:10-12, God states the following:
Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire,who practices divination or sorcery,interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord...
So, did God go against His own word when He helped Saul to fall deeper into sin by letting the spirit of Samuel appear and predict the future to Saul? Well, if you're Protestant who believes that communicating with the dead is necromancy, then congratulations! You have officially declared God to be an agent of sin due to the fact that GOD HELPED SAUL TO SIN by providing the spirit of Samuel to be used in a sinful manner! If God detests such communication with the dead, the surely it would've been impossible for a sinless God to have done such a thing, right?
The only way that we can reconcile this issue is if we realize two things: 1) Saul sinned when he went in search of a spiritual medium to contact the spirit of Samuel to forecast the future and 2) God let Saul communicate with the spirit/ghost of Samuel due to the fact that IT WASN'T A SIN TO DO SO. That's right, God let a human being contact a spirit because He did not - nor will He ever - see this communication as a bad thing; because if in fact communicating with the spirit of the dead was a sin, then clearly, by helping in this communication, God became and accessory to sin and therefore God Himself sinned. Since God cannot be something He is not, He can never sin, therefore, humans communing with the saints is permitted by God.
A perfect example of this is seen in Jesus' Transfiguration where Christ is seen speaking to Moses and Elijah by 3 of His Apostles (See Matt. 17:1-6 & Luke 9:28-36), how was it that Jesus was able to talk to the dead? He willed it so because He is God and He did not sin because communicating with the dead through Himself, that is, through Christ, IS NOT A SIN. Therefore, unlike Saul who went to a medium to contact a spirit, Catholics turn to the power of the one and only mediator who - by His death and resurrection - allows us to be constantly in communion with the angles and Saints. Through Christ, we can ask for prayers from our dearly departed brothers and sisters and, through Christ, they listen to us on the other side of death, how do we know this? Well in Revelation 8:3-4, we read the following:
Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a gold censer. He was given a great quantity of incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the holy ones, on the gold altar that was before the throne.
Revelation 8:3-4 states that the incense that the angel was an offering were the prayers of those who belong to Christ. We also see the same thing Revelation 5:8, it states in part:
...the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones.
IN CONTEXT, we know that these "holy ones" are Christ's faithful because Revelation 11:18 states that they are part of the people who will be rewarded by God. In Rev. 13:10, 14:12 and 16:6 we see that the "holy ones" remain faithful during their persecution. Therefore, the Saints and angles in heaven offer up our earthly prayers to God per the biblical account of St. John's visions. If the Protestant notion is correct and we cannot communicate with the dead, then how is it possible that the prayers of the holy people of God are not only heard by the angels and Saints in heaven but offered up to God? Doesn't this explicitly prove beyond doubt that the angels and Saints intercede and take our prayers to God? If the Protestant concept is that Mary and the Saints are dead and therefore cannot do anything for us, how is that St. John sees angels and saints actually giving up our prayers before an altar to God?
Another time in Scripture that we see spirits communicating with the living is at the time of Jesus' death when the veil in the sanctuary is torn. Matthew 27:51-53, states the following:
Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
Here too again we see that God ALLOWED spirits to visit some people in Jerusalem! He allowed it specifically due to the fact that Christ had broken the chains of death through His miraculous resurrection and, it is precisely because of His passion and raising from the dead that we are able to be united to our heavenly family in the celestial court. Hence, God is not against the notion that humans can communicate with the Saints and Mary through the mediation of Christ. Therefore, us offering up our prayers to the Saints in heaven, as well as Mary, is not unbiblical; the idea that such a thing is somehow against true Christian thinking, however, is.
@0:23-0:38 "...I think there are thousands, perhaps millions, of people within the Roman Catholic Church who are really trusting in Christ and Christ alone for their salvation and not trusting the way of salvation their own Church teaches."
Where do we explicitly find in the Bible that the belief in "Christ and Christ alone" is necessary for salvation? Indeed, Scripture NEVER mentions this as the only means of salvation! Let's go through the laundry list of necessary things for salvation per the Bible:
John 3:5, 1 Peter 3:21 & Titus 3:5 state that what is needed for salvation is baptism!
Acts 2:38-41 & 2 Peter 3:9 state that salvation comes by repentance!
1 Timothy 2:4 & Hebrews 10:26 state that we must come to the knowledge of truth!
Romans 2:6-7 & James 2:24 mention works!
Acts 15:11 & Ephesians 2:8 say that what is needed is grace!
Romans 5:9 & Hebrews 9:22 say that we are saved by His blood!
2 Corinthians 3:6 states that it comes by the work of the Spirit!
Romans 5:17 state that we are saved by His righteousness!
Ephesians 2:16 & Colossians 2:14 mention that we are saved by His Cross!
Luke 12:8 & Romans 10:9 state that one is saved by declaring it with our mouths!
Matthew 19:16-17 states that in order to get salvation, one must keep the Commandments!
And of course,
John 3:16 & Acts 16:31 state that salvation comes from believing in Christ!*
And, lest we forget,
John 6:53-54 states that salvation comes from the Eucharist!
Whew! It would seem that simply believing in "Christ and Christ alone" as the sole path to salvation is not only unbiblical but, anti-biblical. Sorry Mr. Sproul! Only the Catholic Church recognizes ALL of these as means of salvation since the beginning of it's foundation close to 2,000 years ago!
@0:51-1:58, R.C. Sproul states that the Catholic Church denies the Gospel of Jesus Christ...due to the fact that we're not Protestants.
Having read and listened to numerous writings and recordings of R.C. Sproul over the last 3-1/2 years, I can unambiguously state that, Sproul has a HUGE issue with the fact that the Catholic Church does not believe in the wholly Protestant heretical invention of sola fide, that is faith alone. As noted above, the notion that only a belief in Christ is needed for salvation doesn't hold water, and Sproul - like many Protestants - has convinced himself that sola fide is the means by which we are saved. Not believing in sola fide (along with several other solas) is the biggest bugaboo that Sproul always likes to cite and he uses the Council of Trent as the springboard from which to sling these ill-conceived and historically inaccurate lies.
To begin with, Session 6 of Trent laid out the Catholic Church's unwavering position on Justification. In a nutshell, Justification is what we, as sons and daughters of God, must do in order to be made righteous before God; Justification is an important theological concept because, once we are justified, we can attain salvation for we are within God's good graces. While I won't be getting into the topic of Justification either, there are some points that need to be made from the Council of Trent, first among those is the fact that the Catholic Church believes that faith justifies man. That's right, man is made righteous through faith! As Chapter 8 of the Sixth Session at Trent states (my emphasis added):
But when the Apostle says that man is justified by faith and freely (Rom. 3:24 & Rom. 5:1), these words are to be understood in that sense in which the uninterrupted unanimity of the Catholic Church has held and expressed them, namely, that we are therefore said to be justified by faith, because faith is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation and root of all justification, without which it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6)...
As the Catholic Church explains, faith is the beginning, foundation, and root of all justification, hence, faith is an integral part of Justificatioin. Now, how does this not jive with the Protestant invention of sola fide that Sproul holds to? Simply put, the Catholic Church believes in fide without the sola, that is, faith is an indispensible and prominent ingredient in justifying the individual but, IT IS NOT sufficient in order to make a person righteous before God in and of itself. As Chapter 9 and 10 continues on to say (my emphasis added):
...it is necessary to believe that sins neither are remitted nor ever have been remitted except gratuitously by divine mercy for Christ's sake, yet it must not be said that sins are forgiven or have been forgiven to anyone who boasts of his confidence and certainty of the remission of his sins...
Moreover, it must not be maintained that they who are truly justified must, without any doubt whatever, convince themselves that they are justified and that no one is absolved from sins and justified...by this faith alone - as if he who does not believe this, doubts the promises of God and the efficacy of the death and resurrection of Christ....
...Wherefore, no one ought to flatter himself with faith alone, thinking that by faith alone he is made an heir and will obtain the inheritance, even though he suffer not with christ, that he may be glorified with him (Rom. 8:17).
As Canon #9 of Trent so bluntly puts it:
If anyone says that the sinner is justified by faith alone, meaning that nothing else is required to cooperate in order to obtain the grace of justification...let him be anathema.
In other words, faith is needed but, faith alone ain't gonna cut it. And why can't faith - in and of itself - not be enough to merit the grace of justification? Simply put, people of faith fall into sin and, when a person of faith falls into sin they lose the grace that God has bestowed upon them and must therefore regain justification again in order to get back into God's good graces.
This is the raison d'etre for so many Protestant denominations and this is the main reason why Sproul states that the Catholic Church is apostate. For many Protestants, being justified before God is a one-time event that never goes away nor fades. It can be as simple as "accepting Him as your Lord and Savior," or by "giving yourself up to the Lord" or, responding to the altar call or, by saying a simple prayer like the "Sinners Prayer." This one-time event magically credits you and your belief in Christ - whatever it may be - as just before God. How sophomoric and how insulting to God; to think that by simply believing in Jesus and saying a few words which acknowledge that you believe in Him automatically confer salvation and, to top it all off, this salvation cannot be undone. This erroneous position is not only anti-Scriptural but goes against the first 1600 years of Christian history!
For the average Protestant like Mr. Sproul, the simple thought that they can lose salvation through their own fault is too shocking an idea to even entertain therefore, they have invented a belief system in which belief itself is the only necessary thing needed in order to be saved and, once you've accepted and believe in the power of Christ, you're assured of your eternal salvation regardless of the heinous sins that you may commit thereafter; losely stated, once you believe, truly believe, in Christ, nothing can disinherit you from the Kingdom of God. Oh, if it were only that easy!
Most Protestants simply cannot wrap their minds around the fact that a person can not only fall out of God's good graces but, they can - in fact - totally lose their heavenly reward. As the Bible states and I will now demonstrate, ANYONE can fall out of salvation even if they are/were justified, NOT BECAUSE GOD REJECTS THE PERSON but, BECAUSE THE PERSON REJECTS GOD'S SANCTIFYING GRACE. Additionally, Eternal Assurance is not - NOR HAS IT EVER BEEN - backed up by the Scriptures. One need only look at what Christ says in the Book of Revelation in order to prove that NO ONE is assured of salvation.
In the 2nd and 3rd chapter of Revelation, Christ is telling St. John to record and relay several messages to the 7 churches in Asia Minor, among those messages is a very telling passage that makes absolutely no sense if one holds to the "nothing can unsave me because I believe" mentality. In Revelation 3:5 Christ says the following:
"He that overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels."
In other words, Jesus "will not blot out" the names of those who already believe and - here's the kicker - REMAIN faithful. This statement itself is sufficient enough to prove that those who do not persist in the faith won't be named in the book of life but, of even more importance, is what Jesus infers here. He states that he "will not blot out" the faithful's name, meaning, that if He has the capacity of not blotting out names of those who think themselves to be faithful Christians, He also has the ability to blot out the names of the very same people; keep in mind who Jesus is talking to here: He's not talking to pagans, atheists or unbelievers, HE'S TALKING TO THE 7 CHURCHES OF ASIA MINOR!!! He's talking to the Churches filled with people who believe in Him and He is telling them that they must not only believe but REMAIN faithful and repent in order to receive the reward of Heaven! Think about those early Christian believers in those 7 churches which, sacred Tradition holds that St. John himself was the bishop of, and then think about the fact that even the members of those churches, who are being shepherded by the Apostle who stood at the foot of the Cross, that even those early believers in Christ aren't assured of their salvation unless they persist in the faith constantly and continually! How is it possible then that these early believers of Christ are told BY CHRIST HIMSELF that they may be "blotted out" of salvation if, according to sola fide Protestants, all they ever needed was to believe in Christ and Christ alone? According to the words of Christ they weren't really saved, and yet, modern day sola fide Protestants are? Gimme a break.
Still think that by simply believing, a Christian is saved and cannot lose their salvation? Well in John 15:5-6, Jesus states otherwise. He says (my emphasis added):
"I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him - this one bears much fruit, for apart from me you are not able to do anything. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and dries up, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned."
In other words, Jesus is stating that if someone who, at one point, believed and abided within Him loses faith and no longer believes, that person is cast out regardless of the fact that they, at one point, believed. This message is the same as the previous one mentioned in Revelation: one must believe but one must stay steadfast and faithful, if not, they risk falling out of the graces of God. In Matthew 13:18-23, Jesus interprets the parable of the Sower and the Seed and, in verses 20-21, we hear Jesus state the following (my emphasis added):
"But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles."
So, some Christians receive the Word of God with great joy and, for a time, they believe. However, when things get difficult, they stop believing and they fall away. So, what happens to the seed that lands upon "the stony place?" According to Christ, in verse 6 He states that they will be "scorched" and will "wither away." The Alpha and Omega explicitly states that you can indeed lose your faith and, if you do, your destiny is not in heaven but in hell, where you will be scorched and wither away. In Matthew 5:13, Christ is addressing the crowd at the Sermon of the Mound and he says:
"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men."
Jesus Christ, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, states here that those who believe in Him and His words are "the salt of the earth" but, what happens if this belief is lost? Then those who were once "seasoned" are good for nothing and to be thrown out! In Matthew 25:1-13, Jesus tells us the parable of the 10 Virgins who were awaiting the bridegroom in order to enter into the wedding feast. In this parable, the oil represents the Holy Spirit, the virgins represent Christians, the lighted lamp represents the faith, hope and belief we have in Christ and, the bridegroom naturally represents Jesus. Here we see that half of the young maidens didn't bring enough oil as they awaited the bridegroom in order to enter the wedding party together. His delay causes them all to fall asleep and, at midnight, the bridegroom finally starts to make his way toward the party at which point the 5 lazy virgins realize that they don't have enough oil and cannot trim their lamps. They plead with the other 5 virgins who brought enough oil for themselves and are told that there is not enough oil for all of them and that they should go and buy some more oil from the merchants and, when they come back, the door to the party is locked; at verses 10-13 we read:
And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, "Lord, Lord, open to us!" But he answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you."
Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
As you can see, the lazy maidens - at one point - where filled with belief in the bridegroom (Jesus) and His feast but, as they sat around waiting, they fell asleep and, their faith faded. They then weren't burning for His love as they once were and, as a result, they were left out of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Again, we see the same motif, you once had faith and believed but, you lost your belief and lost your salvation along with it. Our Blessed Lord says you can lose your salvation, Protestants say otherwise, who are we to believe?
Still think your salvation is assured? St. Paul begs to differ. In 1 Corinthians 15:1-2, we read (my emphasis added):
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you - unless you believed in vain.
Basically, St. Paul states that IF you hold firmly to the word he has preached, you are saved. IF you don't then you believed in vain and are not saved. So, if one believes in what St. Paul is teaching and accepts the Gospel of Christ but doesn't remain faithful, then that person, according to St. Paul, loses salvation even though they once believed. In Romans 11:22, St. Paul says (my emphasis added):
Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
Translation: continue to do God's work and believe in Him if not, you're cut out of His good graces; that little word "if" has a huge implication if someone loses sight of Jesus' message, doesn't it? Finally we see in Philippians 2:12 St. Paul says:
Therefore, my beloved, as you 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;
Wait, what? "Work out" your salvation? Why didn't Paul just tell the Church at Philippi, that has always obeyed according to him, not to worry because, after all, they're saved! They're obeying and they're believing, right? So why doesn't Paul simply state that they should rejoice for they are all saved since they believe? Again, I have to ask, who should we believe, sola fide Protestants or the Apostle Paul? Okay so maybe those crazy Philippians weren't saved but, surely, St. Paul himself had to of been saved, right? I mean he was ship wrecked, beaten and stoned as well as imprisoned and suffered martyrdom for Christ; if anyone merited salvation, it was Paul and yet, this is what he says in 2 Timothy 4:7:
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Why did St. Paul even boyher to say this toward the end of his life if he was assured of his salvation? If he was already saved, why did the Holy Spirit inspire him to even mention this? Boy, St. Paul sure was dumb, wasn't he? He could've learned a couple of things from modern day Protestants, don't you think? After all that Paul went through and even he wasn't assured of his own salvation, how can any Protestant claim otherwise? How prideful and arrogant.
Lastly, let me address the "once saved always saved" Protestant retort from John 10:27-29, which states:
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.
For the Protestant who believes in Eternal Assurance via sola fide, this passage would seem to vindicate that teaching. While nothing OUTSIDE of the believer can remove them from Christ, who is to say that the believer cannot REMOVE THEMSELVES from Christ? In other words, nothing can take you away from Christ except yourself - you can forfeit salvation by your actions and, if there be any doubt, St. Paul tells us the following in Hebrews 10:26-27:
For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation...
And, my personal passage that proves that once you believe you are not saved, Romans 13:11:
"...for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed."
I would really like to know how to reconcile that verse with the Protestant notion of sola fide; how is it that we can get closer to salvation if in fact all we need is a one-time belief-event that justifies and saves us? If in fact we believe and are saved, why did Paul state that salvation was nearer then when he first believed? Did Paul not really believe in the beginning of his ministry and only later come to truly believe and therefore found salvation closer then it was before? Were the believers of the church at Rome already saved when Paul wrote this, if so, why even mention that salvation is now closer then it was before if they were already saved? These are the tough questions that faith alone Protestants must answer if they subscribe to the sola fide as the primary virtue that attains salvation for the believer.
As for the Catholic Church, she has always held what the bible has taught in terms of being saved and that is, that not all are saved regardless of their belief in Christ (see Matthew 7:13-14, Matthew 22:14, Luke 13:22-27, Romans 9:27). She has always stated that one must not only have faith but, continue to be sanctified in order for us to become perfect as Christ commanded us to do in Matthew 5:48, hence the need for the Sacraments - remember, the Sacraments DO NOT SAVE, they sanctify us in order to be more Godly and attain salvation (see CCC #1123). In order to demonstrate that this was, and has always been, the teaching of the Catholic Church, here are some quotes from just a few famous Catholics pre-Council of Trent:
"The majority of men shall not see God, excepting those who live justly, purified by righteousness and by every other virtue."
-St. Justin Martyr, 150 A.D. Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 4
"The following words of the Gospel, 'many are called, but few are chosen' cannot but inspire us with terror; for many receive the light of faith, but to a few only is granted the happiness of heaven."
- Pope St. Gregory the Great, 570 A.D. Homily on Matthew 20:1-16.
"Christ's flock is called 'little' (Luke 12:32) in comparison with the greater number of reprobates."
- St. Bede the Venerable
"Faith is indeed great and brings salvation, and without it, it is not possible ever to be saved. Itsuffices not however of itself to accomplish this, but there in need of a right conversion...after they had accomplished the most part of the journey, when they were at the very doors, at the haven itself, they were sunk into the sea. This I fear for you also. This [the meaning of] after the same example of unbelief."
- St. John Chrysostom, 360 A.D. Sermon on Hebrews 4:11-13
"It is certain that few are saved."
- St. Augustine, 418 A.D. Sermon 61 On The New Testament
"I exhort you, therefore, not to faint in your afflictions, but to be revived by God's love, and to add daily to your zeal, knowing that in you ought to be preserved that remnant of true religion which the Lord will find when He comes on the earth."
- St. Basil the Great, 360 A.D. 257th Letter
"One day, St. Macarius found a skull and asked it whose head it had been. "A pagan's!" it replied. "And where is your soul?" he asked. "In Hell!" came the reply. Marcarius then asked the skull if its place was very deep in Hell. "As far down as the earth is lower than Heaven!" "And are there any other souls lodge even lower?" "Yes! The souls of the Jews!" "And even lower than the Jews?" "Yes! The souls of bad Christians who were redeemed with the blood of Christ and held there privilege so cheaply!"
- Blessed James of Voragine, 1260 A.D. Golden Legend, The Life of St. Marcarius
"Those who are saved, are in the minority."
- St. Thomas Aquinas, 1265 A.D. Summa Theologica, Prima Pars, question 23
END OF PART 1
*Note that these two passages when read in context refer to baptism as a means of salvation through the belief in Christ. In John 3:1-8, clearly demonstrates that water baptism is needed in order to be "born again" and attain salvation; the same thing is noted again in John 3:22-23 when Jesus and company go baptizing and, in the latter verses, we see that St. John the Baptizer states that it is the belief in Christ which saves. In other words, John 3 has a certain motif: baptism (verses 1-8), salvation (verses 12-18), baptism (verses 22-26), salvation (verses 27-36). In Acts 16 we see that, here too, baptism plays a role within the context of believing in Christ, in verses 30-33 we see that the belief is accompanied by baptism.
