Justified now, forgiven now, saved now, saved with a certainty (The Bible’s condemnation of the Roman Catholic view of Justification)

Posted by Gary on May 17, 2012

John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”

1 John 5:13 “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

John 10:28 “and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”

I spent some time today reading the sixth section of The Council of Trent, the Roman Catholic Church’s response to the Protestant Reformation. The sixth section outlines Rome’s position on “Justification” or what the layman might call, “forgiveness”. I was formerly a Catholic and have many family and friends who are. I love them and believe that some of them have a genuine faith in the Lord Jesus. But if they are saved it must be said that it is in spite of what Rome has taught them, not because of it.

The Bible teaches us that at the moment a person receives Christ as their Savior with genuine repentance and faith, their sins are forgiven and they have eternal life never to perish. Jesus has said it above in John 5:24, please notice the tense… “has eternal life” and “has passed out of death into life”. Not, “might have eternal life” or “can hope he has eternal life”. Notice also, not, “will have eternal life” or, “will pass out of death into life”. But, “has”, now!

On what does Jesus make these wonderful assurances contingent? Believing. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me”…But Rome says something different:

Section 6: Canon 12.
If anyone says that justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in divine mercy, which remits sins for Christ’s sake, or that it is this confidence alone that justifies us, let him be anathema.

Section 6: Canon 14.
If anyone says that man is absolved from his sins and justified because he firmly believes that he is absolved and justified, or that no one is truly justified except him who believes himself justified, and that by this faith alone absolution and justification are effected, let him be anathema.

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Salvation

Posted by Gary on December 4, 2010

If you are to have salvation and spend eternity with God, you must humble yourself and believe that salvation is His work; that you and I contribute nothing to salvation and must receive it as a gift through faith. A great many religious people will never enter the gates of heaven for their religion is their pride, they offend God by refusing to believe what He has said. God saves those who acknowledge they can do nothing to save themselves, that Christ has done all for them and they are forgiven simply by believing.

“But” you insist, “this sounds to good to be true”. “The Gospel” means “The Good News”. Can a salvation that is partially God’s work and partially yours be good news? How do you know when you have done enough? If you must perform enough good works to get to heaven then perhaps too many bad works will cause you to forfeit heaven. What a treadmill you are on and all the while offending God by refusing to believe His good news and pridefully insisting that you have goodness in yourself that can earn His forgiveness.

Will you be forever proud? Will you never humble yourself? Will you continue to point to something you have done (baptism, giving, church attendance) when God declares that “by the works of the law no flesh will be justified””:

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Galatians 2:16 “nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.”

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