Gospel Fidelity: Hard Truths & Comfortable Compromise

In the last 500-plus years since the advent of the Protestant Reformation, hostilities between the main Western branches of Christendom (The Roman Catholic Church and Protestantism) have ebbed and flowed. The reign of bloody Mary in mid-1500s England stands out as a particular low point in terms of exceptional violence due to doctrinal disagreement. But while we can thank the Lord that Catholics and Protestants are not at literal war with each other in our current context, a serious problem in the Catholic-Protestant relationship remains. Namely, the spirit of our age is one of tolerance and ecumenicalism. Doctrinal differences are downplayed and doctrinal division is seen as uncharitable and unloving. One wonders if the Protestant Reformation is still as relevant today as it once was or if Catholics and Protestants instead should agree to disagree and pursue unity and brotherly harmony as part of the wider and universal church of Christ.

In an alarming study done around the time of the 500^th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, Pew Research highlighted some troubling trends of thought in the current Protestant movement.  While 81% of Catholics affirmed that “both good deeds and faith in God are needed to get into heaven”, a surprising 52% of Protestants affirmed this same statement. Likewise, only 30% of Protestants surveyed affirmed the key Reformation truths about the primacy of Scripture’s authority (sola scriptura) and the nature of justification being by faith alone (sola fide).^[1] It’s no wonder that much of the relationship between Catholics and Protestants seems to be dominated by discussions about unity and shared convictions rather than doctrinal differences and distinctions. And even when these distinctions are affirmed, the importance of them by many Protestants can be diminished. For example, in a recent discussion with Francis Chan, Protestant theologian Gavin Ortlund stated the following about Catholics who explicitly affirm aberrant Catholic teaching and deny Protestant doctrines: “I just have a high view for the possibility of sincere error. People can be wrong without being hypocrites and hateful to you. I’ve just met too many people who seem to really know Jesus who are in these other traditions [meaning Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy].”^[2] As clear from his statement, while Ortlund does clearly believe that there are marked differences between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, he does not relegate the errors of Catholicism to be of such consequence that the affirmation of them constitutes a denial of the faith. Rather, he indicates that Catholics who embrace and believe Catholic theology can still be saved. Is this right?

Writing to the Galatian believers either shortly before or after the Jerusalem Council described in Acts 15, the apostle Paul had some scathing words for teachers^[3] who sought to incorporate works into the free offer of salvation found in the gospel. Paul stated that “a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ” and that “All who rely on works of the law are under a curse” (Gal 2:16; 3:10). Moreover, he warned that those who distort the gospel of Christ and preach a different gospel are accursed (Gal 1:6-8). Unfortunately, the Roman Catholic Church teaches precisely the same type of false “gospel” that the apostle Paul wrote so vociferously against. Works and faith are both viewed as necessary for justification in the Roman Catholic system and the idea that faith alone is the instrument of justification is viewed as anathema. In the mid-1500s Roman Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation, the Council of Trent affirmed that “If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification…let him be anathema.”^[4] The doctrinal difference could not be clearer. Rome argued (and still argues as The Council of Trent is still accepted as church dogma) that justification is not by faith alone. The Bible says it is.

So what we do make of the current ecumenical climate we are in? First, we cannot compromise on the gospel. While I sympathize with the idea that people in an apostate movement like the Roman Catholic Church could still themselves be genuinely saved, it is incredibly irresponsible and dangerous to presume that people in this movement who also affirm the doctrinal aberrations of the movement are saved. If someone who attends a Catholic church is a Christian, their salvation is precisely because they do not believe what the Catholic church teaches. They are Christians in spite of their Catholic surroundings and not because of it. Compromise appeals to the flesh for its comfortability and non-confrontational nature. Yet, it must be resisted for the sake of the truth. Second, we must thank God for the fact that in spite of our eternal, weighty theological differences, God’s common grace is such that Catholics and Protestants can rightly fight for their shared convictions on the right to life and the sanctity of marriage (something that Ortlund correctly points out in his discussion with Chan). While the shared advancement of biblical causes can never create a false sense of spiritual unity between Catholics and Protestants, we can still be united in the social and political arena when it comes to abortion and marriage.

In conclusion, as the world seems to grow darker in our increasingly godless and secular age, be encouraged that the light of the gospel will shine brighter and brighter. Might we be firm in resisting the temptation to soften or blunt the divisive edges of the gospel as doing so only extinguishes the gospel’s light and keeps souls shrouded in darkness. The biblical gospel cannot be compromised for the sake of comfort.

^[1] https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/08/31/u-s-protestants-are-not-defined-by-reformation-era-controversies-500-years-later/

^[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUvYCV_y6bo

^[3] In this case, Paul was advocating against a sect of teachers known as Judaizers who taught that one must trust in Christ for salvation AND be circumcised.

^[4] https://www.andrews.edu/~toews/classes/sources/modern/Council%20of%20Trent%20Justification.htm