This post was first published by
Mike Ratliff at
this blog
By Paul M. Elliott
There has been a loss of discernment concerning the nature of Roman
Catholicism, what it means to be a Protestant, and the need to be
vigorously Protestant. Today too few Christians really understand why
the Reformation took place and what is at stake if it is reversed – and
the Reformation
is being reversed in our time. This loss of discernment is the direct result of the loss of discernment regarding church history.
Because of this, most Christians do not understand that the spread of
false teachings such as Federal Vision theology, the Purpose-Driven
Church philosophy, and the Emergent Church philosophy means the reversal
of the Reformation and the return to a spiritual Dark Age. Allowed to
spread, and carried to their logical ends, these anti-Scriptural agendas
will wipe out all that was recovered by the Reformers in the sixteenth
century. False teachers, and many Evangelicals generally, increasingly
shun the name Protestant. Brian McLaren, a principal spokesman for the
Emergent Church movement, has invented a revisionist definition of
“Protestantism” that allows even Roman Catholics to come under a
“Protestant” umbrella.
Most nominal Protestants do not realize that Rome’s centuries-old
position, which is diametrically opposed to authentic Biblical
Christianity on the central issues of Scripture and salvation, remains
unchanged – as these passages from contemporary Catholic writings
demonstrate:
[From
The Catholic Encyclopedia] Protestants claim the
following three qualities for justification: certainty, equality, the
impossibility of ever losing it. Diametrically opposed to these
qualities are those defended by the Council of Trent:
- uncertainty [no one can be sure he is justified]
- inequality [some are more justified than others]
- amissibility [justification can be lost].
Since these qualities of justification are also qualities of sanctifying grace, see [the entry on] Grace.
1
[And so, from
The Catholic Encyclopedia's entry on
"Grace"] Every adult soul stained.with original sin…must, in order to
arrive at the state of justification, pass through a short or long
process of justification, which may be likened to the gradual
development of the child in its mother’s womb..
The Catholic idea maintains that the formal cause of justification
does not consist in an exterior imputation of the justice of Christ but
in a real, interior sanctification.. Although the sinner is justified by
the justice of Christ, inasmuch as the Redeemer has merited for him the
grace of justification, nevertheless he is formally justified and made
holy by his own personal justice and holiness.
2
The reason for the uncertainty of the state of grace lies in this,
that without a special revelation nobody can with certainty of faith
know whether or not he has fulfilled all the conditions that are
necessary for achieving justification.
3
.[O]ver and above faith other acts are necessary for justification,
such as fear, and hope, charity, penance with contrition, almsgiving..
Faith alone does not justify.
The “justification by faith alone” theory was by Luther styled the article of the standing and falling [of the] church (
articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae),
and by his followers was regarded as the material principle of
Protestantism, just as the sufficiency of the Bible without tradition
was considered its formal principle. Both of these principles are
un-Biblical.
4
The range of false teachings on Scripture and salvation plaguing the
Evangelical church today are essentially those of Rome above. Men from
across the ecclesiastical spectrum including Norman Shepherd, N. T.
Wright, Chuck Colson, J. I. Packer, Rick Warren, and Brian McLaren all
readily admit that they seek to reunite Evangelicals and Roman
Catholics. Since justification by faith alone and the authority of
Scripture over church tradition were the basis of the sixteenth century
break, it is their view that Evangelicals and Catholics must reach an
understanding on these points that will facilitate re-union.
But Antichristian Rome is patiently intransigent while Evangelicals
are increasingly eager suitors; the ever more one-sided “compromises” in
the
Evangelicals and Catholics Together documents demonstrate
this clearly. Reaching an “understanding” with Rome by definition means
the surrender of authentic Biblical Christianity recovered at the
Reformation, and Rome will not be satisfied until the surrender is
complete. Thus the displacement of Protestantism in Reformed and
Evangelical churches is a most welcome development to the Papists. The
conditions that Martyn Lloyd-Jones observed in the United Kingdom
forty-five years ago are the conditions in much of the Reformed church
around the world today:
What of the state of the church?…We are going back to the pre-Reformation position.
What about the state of doctrine in the church? Before the
Reformation, there was confusion. Is there anything more characteristic
of the church today than doctrinal confusion, doctrinal indifference – a
lack of concern and a lack of interest? And then perhaps the most
alarming of all, the increase in the power, influence, and numbers of
the Church of Rome, and the Romanizing tendencies that are coming into
and being extolled in the Protestant church! There is no question about
this. This is a mere matter of fact and observation. There is an obvious
tendency to return to the pre-Reformation position; ceremonies and
ritual are increasing and the Word of God is being preached less and
less, sermons are becoming shorter and shorter. There is an indifference
to true doctrine, a loss of authority, and a consequent declension..
I wonder, Christian people, whether I am exaggerating when I suggest
that at the present time we are really engaged in a great struggle for
the very life of the Christian church, for the essence of the Christian
faith? As I see the situation, it is nothing less alarming than that.
5
Five watchwords – the five solas – summarized the great truths
reclaimed at the Protestant Reformation. If these are lost, all that was
recovered at the Reformation is lost:
- Sola Scriptura: Our doctrine is from Scripture alone.
- Solus Christus: We are saved by Christ’s work alone.
- Sola Gratia: Salvation is by grace alone.
- Sola Fide: Justification is by faith alone.
- Soli Deo Gloria: The glory belongs to God alone.
Today, both Reformed and Evangelical churches frequently deny them all – if not in words, most certainly in deeds.
The church exchanges
Sola Scriptura for man’s fallible
perspectives on Scripture; neo-liberals place their elastic
interpretations of confessional standards above Scripture.
It exchanges
Solus Christus for Christ-plus-works; the sufficiency of the imputation of His righteousness
to sinners is not taught, or openly denied.
It exchanges
Sola Gratia for a view of “grace” which denies that God’s favor will, in the end, be unmerited except through the merits of Christ.
It exchanges
Sola Fide for justification by man’s faithfulness.
Thus the church in practice denies
Soli Deo Gloria: It removes
Christ from His throne; it removes Scripture from the place of sole
authority; human works and human wisdom are in the ascendant.
Increasingly the Evangelical church suppresses the truth in
unrighteousness, exchanging the truth of God for the lie (Romans 1:18,
25).
True Christians must oppose these developments with all their being.
They must learn once again what it means to be truly and vigorously
Protestant. James R. White declares:
It is my firm conviction that “Protestant” means absolutely,
positively nothing unless the one wearing the term believes, breathes,
lives, and loves the uncompromised, offensive-to-the-natural-man message
of justification by God’s free grace by faith in Jesus Christ
alone.
As the term has become institutionalized, it has lost its meaning. In
the vast majority of instances today a Protestant has no idea what the
word itself denotes, what the historical background behind it was, nor
why he should really care. And a label that has been divorced from its
significance no longer functions in a meaningful fashion. We need a
Reformation in our day that will again draw the line clearly between
those who embrace the gospel of God’s grace in Christ and those who do
not. And how one answers the question “How is a man made right with
God?” determines whether one embraces that gospel or not.
6
The Holy Spirit calls us to be Protestants. Scripture commands us in
the most unequivocal terms to be true to the unalloyed Gospel and the
unique authority of Scripture, both long veiled in darkness by Rome but
brought back into the light at great cost by the Reformers.
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk
as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness,
righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather
expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are
done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made
manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.
Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and
Christ will give you light.” See then that you walk circumspectly, not
as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil
[Ephesians 5:8-16].
References:
1. “Justification” in
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 8,
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08573a.htm. See also Dr. Ludwig Ott,
Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma,
(Rockford, Illinois: Tan Books, 1974), pages 261-263. The cover
describes this book as “A one-volume encyclopedia of the doctrines of
the Catholic Church, showing their sources in Scripture and Tradition
and their definition by Popes and Councils.” The book bears the
imprimatur (mark of official approval) of Rome.
2. “Sanctifying Grace” in
The Catholic Encyclopedia, reproduced at
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06701a.htm. See also Ott, pages 250-252.
3. Ott,
Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, page 262.
4.
Catholic Encyclopedia, entry on “Sanctifying Grace.” See also Ott,
Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, pages 5-6, 253-254, 272-291.
5. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Remembering the Reformation,” in
Knowing the Times: Addresses Delivered on Various Occasions 1942-1977 (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1989), page 94.
6. James R. White,
The God Who Justifies (Bloomington, Minnesota: Bethany House Publishers, 2001), page 26. Emphasis in the original.
