Roman Catholic Catechism Quotes #2

Quotes from the Roman Catholic Catechism, taken from the Vatican's website. 

The Gravity of Sin: Mortal and Venial Sin

874 To choose deliberately - that is, both knowing it and willing it - something gravely contrary to the divine law and to the ultimate end of man is to commit a mortal sin. This destroys in us the charity without which eternal beatitude is impossible. Unrepented, it brings eternal death.

1875 Venial sin constitutes a moral disorder that is reparable by charity, which it allows to subsist in us.

Justification

Justification includes the remission of sins, sanctification, and the renewal of the inner man.

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Justification is being seen "right" or "just" in the sight of God.  Lutherans understand that justification occurs the moment a person has faith in Christ.  This is instantaneous - we are declared just on account of Christ.  An acrostic for "grace" is "God's riches at Christ's expense."  We are declared just in God's sight on account of Christ's holiness.  His holiness is creditted to us and our sinfulness is creditted to him.  This is sometimes called, "The Great Exchange".  

Lutherans then see that sanctification is distinct and separate from justification.  Sanctification begins the moment a person is justified, but unlike justification, sanctification is a process!  Instead of being "declared" holy, in sanctification we are "being made" holy.  This will never complete this side of heaven.  Because sanctification is a process, Christians should be viewed as being both sinful, because we still sin, and saints, because we are declared holy for the sake of Christ's work, death, and resurrection.  

Justification remains as long as a Christian has faith in Christ for salvation.  Faith, of course, involves repentance.  Repentance means to "change one's mind".  This is two-fold.  First, repentance involves contrition of sin.  Secondly, repentance includes, not only turning from sin, but turning to Christ for forgiveness.  Many people can have contrition, but not have repentance that leads to salvation! 

Roman Catholics, as you see from the catechism quote, believe that sanctification is a part of justification.  There isn't a distinction.  The process of being made holy is mingled with being seen "just" in God's eyes.  This also lends to a system of categorizing sin.  Scripture is very clear - sin, any sin, original or actual, brings eternal death.  There's no escaping this fact - for anyone!  That's a heavy dose of God's law.  It shows us our sins, and shows us that we can't live up to his standard.  Thus, all sins are mortal sins!  All sins warrant and deserve eternal punishment.  There should be no distinction between mortal sins and venial sins.  This only comes when the gravity of sin is lessoned and our works and our process of becoming holy is inserted into salvation. 

Question:  Does this mean that a Roman Catholic will ever have certainty of salvation?  

Who is the judge that we've progressed enough in the realm of sanctification to be justified before God?  Only God.  So is there any certainty? 

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It certainly may seem that I am trying to bash on or bag on Roman Catholic doctrine.  I don't do this out of hate. I do this out of extreme concern.  Our works should not be mingled into our salvation.  I should cite verses to support these statements, instead, I'd like to simply cite two books of the Bible, Romans and Galatians.  Read them and see what conclusion a clear reading of Scripture brings, concerning justification, by faith in Christ alone. 

Roman Catholic Catechism Quotes #1

I've pulled some quotes from the Catholic Church's Catechism found on the Vatican's site, www.vatican.va.

I've made some of the sections bold. 


The Relationship between Scripture and Sacred Tradition

80 "Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together, and communicate one with the other. For both of them, flowing out from the same divine well-spring, come together in some fashion to form one thing, and move towards the same goal."

82 As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, "does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence."

83 Tradition is to be distinguished from the various theological, disciplinary, liturgical or devotional traditions, born in the local churches over time. These are the particular forms, adapted to different places and times, in which the great Tradition is expressed. In the light of Tradition, these traditions can be retained, modified or even abandoned under the guidance of the Church's Magisterium.

85 "The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ." This means that the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome.

87 Mindful of Christ's words to his apostles: "He who hears you, hears me", The faithful receive with docility the teachings and directives that their pastors give them in different forms.

97 "Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God" (DV 10) in which, as in a mirror, the pilgrim Church contemplates God, the source of all her riches.

100 The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with him.

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In short, the Bible is not the Word of God according to Roman Catholic teachings.  The Word of God is the Bible and Sacred Tradition combined.  Tradition of course arises from sinful humanity and is therefore not infallible or inerrant.  Tradition also according to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church can be changed, modified, retained, or removed.  This would then mean that the Word of God is always in a state of movement - it is never fixed or unchangeable.  In fact, when one looks at the history of the Roman Catholic Church, there has been contradictions in the teachings from various popes in history.  

Finally, only the Pope and his Magisterium can properly interpret the Word of God according to Roman Catholic teachings.  This means that the faithful laity in the Church should always accept blindly, without any use of reason, what the Church teaches.  

Questions:  How does this make you feel?  What do you think when you hear these teachings from the Roman Catholic Church?  

Scripture alone should be the guiding principle of our theology and that the interpretation of the Bible is not limited to one, sinful man in the world.  We need to be like the Breans, who even though they were receiving instructions from Paul the apostle, would still check the Scriptures to verify that what Paul was teaching was in accord with the Word of God (that's Scripture alone, not Scripture + Tradition).