1. The Story of God’s Explosive Grace

3. This current series on Romans, and specifically on justification, has been taught from a Protestant perspective. In fairness, this study will compare the Catholic view of justification. Catholicism accounts for nearly 50% of Christendom while Protestantism 30%.

4. A brief comparison between Protestantism and Catholicism

5. ProtestantismCatholicism Authority Bible Bible plus tradition Church Pope Purgatory Assurance Mary Clergy Justification

6. The following are five groups for whom the Bible is not enough. For the following five religious groups it’s the Bible plus… 1. For the Jews it is the Bible plus the Talmud 2. For Mormons it is the Bible plus The Book of Mormon 3. Jehovah Witness it is the Bible plus the Watch Tower 4. Christian Science it is the Bible plus Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures 5. Catholicism it is the Bible plus the traditions of the church

7. It is Sola Scriptoria The Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible Or, to say it another way, it is the Bible plus nothing

9. 10 “For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, is to be put to death’; 11 but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is to say, given to God),’ 12 you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother; 13 thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.” Mark 7

11. ProtestantismCatholicism Authority Bible Bible plus tradition Church Body of all Christians The Catholic Church Pope Purgatory Assurance Mary Clergy Justification ProtestantismCatholicism Authority Bible Bible plus tradition Church Body of all Christians The Catholic Church Pope Office is non-existentPope head of Church Purgatory Assurance Mary Clergy Justification ProtestantismCatholicism Authority Bible Bible plus tradition Church Body of all Christians The Catholic Church Pope Office is non-existentPope head of Church Purgatory Heretical Afterlife purification Assurance Mary Clergy Justification ProtestantismCatholicism Authority Bible Bible plus tradition Church Body of all Christians The Catholic Church Pope Office is non-existentPope head of Church Purgatory Heretical Afterlife purification Assurance Yes – I John 5.13None Mary Clergy Justification ProtestantismCatholicism Authority Bible Bible plus tradition Church Body of all Christians The Catholic Church Pope Office is non-existentPope head of Church Purgatory Heretical Afterlife purification Assurance Yes – I John 5.13None Mary Blessed among womenBorn sinless Clergy Justification ProtestantismCatholicism Authority Bible Bible plus tradition Church Body of all Christians The Catholic Church Pope Office is non-existentPope head of Church Purgatory Heretical Afterlife purification Assurance Yes – I John 5.13None Mary Blessed among womenBorn sinless Clergy Marriage preferredCelibacy required Justification ProtestantismCatholicism Authority Bible Bible plus tradition Church Body of all Christians The Catholic Church Pope Office is non-existentPope head of Church Purgatory Heretical Afterlife purification Assurance Yes – I John 5.13None Mary Blessed among womenBorn sinless Clergy Marriage preferredCelibacy required Justification EventProcess

12. Refresher course on justification

13. If God exists, then there is no other issue in the universe greater than the question of, “What must I do to be saved” Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! And yet mankind, including many Christians, are next to ignorant on the subject.

14.  Christian is used zero times in Romans  Believer is used twenty times in Romans  Saved used eight times in Romans  Born again used zero times in Romans But there is one term that has never really been used of God’s people, and yet perhaps is the one term that expresses more about the salvation experience than any other term. What is that term?

15. It means that at a precise moment in eternity when you were a person far from God, you exercised genuine faith in Christ, and that in the exact nano second, you were declared righteous in the court of heaven.

16. Many believe that the word simply means… Just-as-if-I-never-sinned That is only half true, for yes we are truly forgiven but there is much, much more. The much more is that we are declared righteous, meaning that we at some level match God’s standard of His character, holiness, and goodness. Why, because when God looks at us He sees His Son’s righteousness and not ours.

17. TENSETERMUSEDSTRONGSGREEK Noun7G1342 dí-kai-os Noun33G1343 di-kai-o-sún-ē Verb15G1344 di-kai-ó-ō In the context of Biblical use:  Righteous: That which conforms to the standard of God’s holiness and His character.  Righteousness: The quality of being righteous  Justified: To be judicially declared righteous

18. 55 times variations of the Greek word dia-kai-os, meaning righteous, is used to describe what happens to one who authentically believes in Christ for salvation. God declares them both forgiven and righteous (justified). This concept is widely missed from the majority of church pulpits. And yet nothing greater has ever happen to you if you are a follower of Christ then to be declared righteous before God. But there is one more thing you must understand. The fact that before God you are declared righteous is what fuels your love for God to obey Him, grow in your faith, resist sin, and perform good works, which is most commonly called sanctification.

19. Where Protestantism and Catholicism disagree on the issue of justification

20. Two points to which both Protestants and Catholics agree on is that it is God’s will… 1. That all should exercise faith in God 2. That one’s life be filled with good works What is disagreed upon is how faith and works relate to the salvation experience. Though this may sound trite to the novice, in truth it has significant eternal implications.

22. Catholicism merges Justification with Sanctification making them one entity. Because of this failure, darkness overshadowed Christianity and turned the good news into bad news like all the other religions. TERMPROCESSTENSE JustificationYou were savedPast SanctificationYou are being savedPresent GlorificationYou will be savedFuture

23.  It allows for major contradictions in Scripture  It makes salvation extremely confusing  It requires the tradition (teachings) of the church to put the Catholic doctrine of salvation together.  Makes only past sins forgiven and not future ones  Adds purgatory which is totally unbiblical  Makes Christians in Purgatory pay for their sins  And finally, it makes for a system of righteousness for the believer that never ever happens. For even with God’s help the believer never reaches experientially righteousness.

24. All other religions have one thing in common, doing certain stuff like keeping the Law or doing good deeds makes you acceptable to God. Unfortunately, this then puts our Catholic friends in the same boat when it comes to salvational works with some unsavory groups. This is not absolute proof of error in doctrine but it is interesting. Islam Mormonism Jehovah Witness