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Dan,
Thanks for writing. This is an exciting topic and you'll find there is a lot
to learn about the Catholic position. You might be surprised on some points.
First, you must get this CD set by Dr. Scott Hahn if you want to be educated
about what St. Paul really means in Romans (Hint: It wasn't what the Reformers
claimed). His series is called:
Romanism in Romans
This eye-opening set will go into detail that we can't go into here. Romans
is a theologically dense book which assumes a lot of Jewish background that
most people don't have so it takes time to pick through it.
Second, be sure to go through answers where we've already addressed this, in
particular:
Third, here is an excellent explanation of things at:
The Nazareth Resource
Library
Information on the Gospel, Salvation and other hot Catholic topics
There are several articles there on justification which you may find relevant.
Fourth, here is what I have to say:
He says, Paul proclaims justification
through faith alone in Romans 1:16, but verse 16 says no such thing. I'm
not even sure where he gets this from at all, since this verse says:
I
am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation
of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
In
fact, Paul never says anywhere in Romans that we are justified by faith alone.
Not only that, the only place in the Bible when the words faith alone are
used in reference to justification is in James 2:24, when the idea is condemned!
24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
The thrust of Paul's argument is that we are justified by faith apart from works
of Law. We have to get to the heart of what Paul means by works.
- Some
people think he means good deeds — this was the main Reformation
idea.
- Some extend this to sacraments, so that baptism is considered a work.
- Some even go so far as to consider cooperation with God a work and condemn
any belief that we can cooperate in our own salvation.
Different translations
will render this phrase works
of Law differently but according
to the Dead Sea Scrolls, this is a technical term that refers to the ceremonial
rites of Judaism, especially circumcision. Paul is refuting Judaizers (i.e.
those who want to force Gentiles to adopt the Jewish law, especially circumcision
— see Acts 15:1) by proving that we are justified, not by the Mosaic Law,
but by faith. Whenever Paul uses the term works in connection with
salvation or justification, substitute Mosaic Law or circumcision,
and you'll understand what he's referring to.
Paul's central argument is an illustration from Abraham's life and the time line
it runs on in (Romans 4). It centers on two events:
- When it says Abraham was
justified ("Abraham believed him, and it was credited to him as righteousness" — Genesis 15:6) and
- When it says he was circumcised (Genesis 17:10).
Paul's argument
to refute the Judaizers?
Abraham was justified in (Genesis 15) before he
was circumcised in (Genesis 17), ergo, justification is by faith apart
from circumcision (Romans 4:10).
There are two things to note here. One is that Abraham starts following God
in Genesis 12. God calls him, and Abraham, (here Abram), follows. He moves
out of his country into a foreign land at God's command. Several times along
the way, Abram builds an altar to the Lord (and presumably sacrifices, since
that's what an altar is for). Abram gives a tenth of all his owns to a priest
of God (Genesis 14:21). then, in Genesis chapter 15, it says
that Abram was justified.
So let's go over the sequence:
- God calls Abram to move to a foreign land and he obeys.
- Abram
sacrifices to God several times.
- Abram gives a tithe.
- Abram is justified.
If your friend is trying to prove that all we have to do when we hear the
Gospel is to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and we are, by that fact,
justified. This is not the text to do it! and Paul, being a rabbi, a
Pharisee, and a Jew would not take Scripture out of context.
The second thing to note is that James brings up another event on Abraham's
life: when he offers his son in sacrifice (Genesis 22). James says
that he is justified by that act (James 2:23-24).
Your friend's argument is that Paul is saying we are justified by simple trust
in Jesus apart from good deeds, or sacraments, or cooperation with grace,
or maybe all of these, but if you read Romans, you can see that he is
not referring to any of these.
This also neatly handles the apparent contradiction between Paul and James.
If you understand Paul's works to be good deeds, then naturally it
is going to appear contradictory that Paul says we are justified apart from
works, and James says we are justified by works but if Paul's works are
works of the Mosaic law, James's works are clearly good deeds, and so there
is no contradiction.
Now before I close, I have to be sure to set something straight. We, as Catholics, do not believe that we need to do a certain number of good deeds before we can
be saved. Nor should we say we are saved by our good works. These are examples
of the heresy of Pelagianism.
We believe, in the first place, that all is due
to God's grace. We cannot be saved without God's grace, and God's grace goes
before us to enable us to take every step along the path of salvation.
We
believe that the justification of the wicked (which is the only type of justification
spoken of when discussing this with Protestants), which
we believe takes place in Baptism (John 3:5, Titus 3:5, 1 Peter 3:20-21),
is independent of any good deeds that we do. This is demonstrated by the fact
that we believe that babies are justified by Baptism. They have done nothing
to deserve their salvation, yet they are justified so if anyone accuses you
of believing in salvation by works, point that out to them.
We also, however, believe
in the justification of the just, which Protestants do not believe in.
As
I pointed out, Paul says Abraham was justified when he believed God's promise,
and James says he was also justified when he sacrificed Isaac. An argument
can be made that this is the type of justification James is referring to.
I hope this helps!
Eric
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