Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Do Catholics claim the sole means of salvation?

During one of the many conversations that I had with a friend of mine during my journey to the Catholic faith, he mentioned to me that Catholics believed that Salvation can only be found through the Catholic Church. This really made me upset and frustrated. I couldn't believe that the Catholic Church, let alone any denomination would ever begin to claim such a thing. So I immediately started to do some research on this subject.

The first step that I made was Google. I searched for salvation is only through the catholic church and according to the first hit in the results, I found out that it was true...or so I thought.

Rick Jones, the author of this article quotes the following from the Decree on Ecumenism:

"The Second Vatican Council's Decree on Ecumenism explains: 'For it is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help toward salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained.'"

Wow. That was an eye opener. That is it. Enough of this Catholic stuff. Evidently this is not the Church that Jesus Christ founded. Being a Protestant all of my life, I cannot and will not deny the work of Jesus Christ happening within my church and happening within me. If the Catholic Church truly believed that it was the only means of salvation, then I did not want to hear any more of it.

However, after looking more closely to the quote, I noticed that it wasn't saying that at all. It was saying that the fullness of the means of salvation can only be obtained through the Church. After pondering that a little while, I decided to read the Decree on Ecumenism and found the following quote, that Rick Jones seemed to conveniently overlook:

It follows that the separated Churches(23) and Communities as such, though we believe them to be deficient in some respects, have been by no means deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation. For the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as means of salvation which derive their efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Church.

Regardless how you feel about the Catholic Church, she definitely does not teach that salvation is restricted to her members alone. She will always admit, that separated brethren do not have the fullness that is only attained within the her, but she has not denied that salvation can be achieved outside of her either.

Now, regarding the author's next statement, I had to consult the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Side note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church has to be one of the coolest aspects of Catholicism. Until this time, I have been part of many different Non-Denominational Fundamentalist Pentecostal style churches. I have never been a part of a faith that had an official book on everything that it believes. This is great. Any question that I may have on what the Church teaches, I can look to this book and get an answer...at least when I can understand what it is saying :)

Rick Jones only quotes partially from the Catechism. Here is the entire quote:

...it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body: Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.

Is Salvation made through the Catholic Church. Yes. She is the one that is responsible for protecting and defining the Holy Scriptures, defining the two natures of Christ both human and divine, as well as defining the Trinity - all necessary beliefs to be considered Christian. We do owe the Catholic Church for protecting and spreading our faith to all of the ends of the Earth. So we must agree, at least on this level, that salvation has been made possible through her.

Is Salvation made only through the Catholic Church. No. As a matter of fact, the only teaching that is taught regarding those who are outside of salvation are those who act knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it. This does not apply by any means to Protestants and their tradition of faith collectively. This would only apply to those individuals who know and believe the Catholic Church to be what she claims to be, and still turn away.

When I was a Protestant, technically I still am but I am sure that by now you know where I am headed, I didn't believe that the Catholic Church was all that she claimed to be. Now, I believe she is. If I choose to walk away from the Catholic Church and never enter into it, knowing what I know, the Church says that I am outside of salvation.

Ultimately, the point that I am trying to make is that Rick Jones, as well as others who promote the lie that the Catholic Church teaches salvation is only through her, are mistaken. The Catholic Church does not believe that it is the only means of salvation. She also does not teach that salvation cannot be attained outside of the Church.

3 comments:

Belteshazzar Mouse said...

Well Carlus, here it is three o'clock in the morning and I, whose normal bedtime is 9:30 pm, is up typing responses to more wonderful posts.

Bless you my brother....

Thanks for a good topic and great insight. Know that not everyone in the Church understands or represents the understanding contained in this post. Thank you for carefully representing this and opening it for discussion.

Last I counted there were two or more gathered here in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.... 8^) This (discussion) is how they did it back in the day (read Acts, then read it again).

Bless you and all of my brothers and sisters (yes _all_ of them) participating in this search for understanding.

Chad and Tammy said...

I believe that salvation is pretty straightforward. I like how Rick Jones goes to the heart of the good news in the verses he highlights. Below are a few of the verses he mentioned and I'll add a couple of more. The point here is to focus on the core truths of the gospel message. The "fullness of the means of salvation" does not bring it home for me, but these verses do.


Romans 6:23 - "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 10:9-10 - "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."

Romans 10:13 - "for 'WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.'"

John 1:12-13 - "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God."

John 3:36 - "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

John 6:47 - "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life."

I John 5:9-13 - "If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son. The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 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."


I believe these verses paint a clear picture of salvation, which is why this kind of statement concerns me: "If I choose to walk away from the Catholic Church and never enter into it, knowing what I know, the Church says that I am outside of salvation."

Protestant, Catholic, or otherwise, salvation is about what Jesus did on the cross and receiving His gift of forgiveness and eternal life through faith.

It comes down to this. Am I trusting in Christ alone for my salvation? Have I completely surrendered my heart to Him? Have I admitted my sins, sought His forgiveness, and accepted Him as my Lord and Savior? I dare not trust in the Church for my salvation. I dare not trust in my works. I simply trust in Christ and in Him alone.

If so, then the Bible says I am a new creation, the old is gone, the new has come. I have been bought with a price and I am not my own. I have been regenerated, and I am no longer spiritually dead, but spiritually alive in Christ. My name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Christ's blood is on the doorposts of my soul, so that the Lord's wrath against sin passes over me on judgment day. All praise and glory goes to Him--and to Him alone--for this amazing gift of salvation! As Romans 11:36 says: "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen."

Carlus Henry said...

Chad...

You bring up some good points. The purpose of this post is not to get into details of how one is saved, it is to refute the argument that Catholics believe that they are the sole means of salvation. There are many people out there promoting this idea, and this was my attempt at refuting it. Using her own documents, I think that I did an adequate job of showing that the Church believes that salvation can be attained outside of her.

Now, at the same time, there are some things that you mentioned that I cannot let remain unanswered. So here we go...

...core truths of the gospel message. The "fullness of the means of salvation" does not bring it home for me...

Once again, we have this subjective understanding of what core truths entail. What are the core beliefs? They are different for everyone. Of course we all rely on Jesus for our salvation but is there anything that is core beyond that? When you speak of core truths, what are you referring to?

Fullness of the means of salvation makes a lot of sense when it is taken within context. You see, Jesus gave us many gifts, and if we do not participate in all of the gifts, although we will still receive salvation, it is not the fullness of the means of salvation. If I am a missionary and I share with someone in Haiti the gospel, and they accept the Lord Jesus Christ into their heart, yet they are not baptized...will they receive salvation? Of course they will. However, since they were not baptized, they cannot be said to be participating fully in the means of salvation.

...which is why this kind of statement concerns me: "If I choose to walk away from the Catholic Church and never enter into it, knowing what I know, the Church says that I am outside of salvation."

God reveals truth. At some point, someone told us about Jesus Christ, and by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we have made life changing decisions to follow Him and not our own desires. What would have happen if we did not participate with that grace. We would in effect be saying No to the call of the Holy Spirit. We would be choosing to follow our own way.

In the same sense, God has revealed to me a truth about His Church. I believe that the Catholic Church is His Church and therefore, if I turn away from that belief, then I will in effect be saying No to the call of the Holy Spirit. That does not mean that all who have left the Catholic Church or those who were never a part of it are outside of salvation because they have said No. It just means that for me, this is where God is calling me, and I have to obey.

It comes down to this. Am I trusting in Christ alone for my salvation? Have I completely surrendered my heart to Him? Have I admitted my sins, sought His forgiveness, and accepted Him as my Lord and Savior?

Definitely. I am completely trusting in Him.

I dare not trust in the Church for my salvation. I dare not trust in my works. I simply trust in Christ and in Him alone.

Jesus gave us the gift of salvation through what he did on the cross. I also believe that he gave us the gift of the Church which would be the teaching authority until the end of time (Matt 16). He also gave us the Apostles to spread the word and His Church. This all comes from God. We do not trust Jesus alone. We trust Jesus and the people that were sent by Jesus, the Apostles, as well as the works of the Apostles, Sacred Scripture.

It may sound strange to most Protestants, that Catholics would submit to a Church or a Teaching Authority, but if we are really honest, we all submit to some higher authority. Most Protestants submit to the tradition of Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide. Protestants even submit to various theologians with their own spin on how that should be practiced and what that means (Martin Luther, John Calvin, etc). We all submit and put our trust in something, someone and some teaching authority - even if it is our own authority to interpret the scriptures.

God Bless you...

Your Brother in Christ.