You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.
(Galatians 5:4-6, NASB)

What Is Really At Stake

As you should know the Pope recently reiterated that he has indeed usurped the office of Vicar of Christ from God the Holy Spirit and that he believes he heads the—as in the only real—Church of Jesus Christ (Online source). Men and women, as a former Roman Catholic myself Apprising Ministries showed you in Baptism and Roman Catholicism that apostate Roman Catholicism clearly teaches a different gospel than that of the Apostles, a false hope of their own sacerdotal sacramental system with its baptismal regeneration. And from their own sources we have also answered the question Has the Roman Catholic Church Really Changed? with an emphatic—No!

Which is why I find it simply incredible that when dealing with the subject of the Roman Catholic Church that arguably the most visible pastor in the Southern Baptist Convention openly embraces the Church of Rome as a legitimate Christian denomination e.g. “Bible Scholar” Rick Warren Reversing the Reformation. It seems that virtually all of the leading evangelical theologians and pastors then hide behind the innocuous statement as “we have significant differences.” Is that all we who dare call ourselves Protestants truly have—significant differences—with the long apostate Roman Catholic Church?

Did Church Reformers like Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, who were burned alive at the stake by order of the Pontiff of the Church of Rome, give their very lives simply for “significant differences?” You know, maybe we do need to rethink all of this. Could it actually be that those who were trying to reform the Roman Church from the inside had it all wrong in the first place? After all, the vast majority of the early Reformers were all priests within the Church of Rome, as we need to remember at that time the Roman Catholic Church was the only church. So maybe they should have followed the example of Billy Graham and his dealing with Rome pointed out in Billy Graham, “We Are Brothers”.

Could it be that they should have just said:

“Well, you know, the Pope is truly a nice fellow; why, he even called me his brother. And the Holy Father does tell us that he’s the spiritual leader for all religions, who has done more for evangelism than anyone else. Oh yes, let’s make no mistake about it, we do have some ‘significant differences.’ And some of them are of a fairly serious nature. But for the sake of unity we had best just go on quietly teaching things the way we see them, and just let the rest of the Church of Rome continue to teach things the way they see it, and we’ll just let God sort it all out in the end.”

Shifting gears, those of you who use the NIV Study Bible have the benefit of a very good introduction to the Epistle of Galatians by Dr. Robert Mounce, who has worked on numerous translations of the Bible and is President Emeritus of Whitworth College. Men and women; it is vital that we come to fully understand what is at stake here with those trusting the non-gospel of the Church of Rome. For we need to get this truth from our head down into our very hearts. Dr. Mounce is reminding us of a very vital fact when he says — “Galatians stands as an eloquent and vigorous apologetic for the essential NT truth that man is justified by faith in Jesus Christ—by nothing less and nothing more.”

And we state this more concisely by saying man is justified by the grace of God alone – through faith alone – in Christ alone. And we see this also in Ephesians 2:8-9 where God tells us — For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Notice that it is by grace the believer has been saved—it’s past tense—through faith. If we look we see here that the grace of God—alone—precedes the faith—alone—exercised in Christ—alone—as their Savior. 

This is the absolute truth and glorious hope of the Gospel, that even while mankind still considered God Himself as our enemy by His own grace the Father sends the Son-Jesus Christ of Nazareth—Who through obedience to God the Father alone died on that Cross alone—to atone for the sins of everyone who will believe. However, the simplicity of God’s glorious Gospel has become so hard for many to see it because we live in such time of tepid indifference within the evangelical community today. But what I am trying to help you understand here is the tragic fact that in its love of man i.e. the lust of self (see—2 Timothy 3:2) Christ’s Church won’t even at least boldly stand for the actual Gospel itself!

But What’s So Hard To Figure Out?

Be that as it may, the true doctrine of salvation—which is still condemned by the Roman Catholic Church that John MacArthur rightly credits as Satan’s best front for the Kingdom of God—unequivocally by God’s grace alone; through faith alone, in Christ alone. It is as the Bible literally says:

The words “it was credited to him” — [speaking of Abraham] — were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification (Romans 4:23-25).

You know, it really couldn’t be any clearer. Well, on second thought…actually it could be. We need only look a little further into the book of Romans. We go to chapter 5 and begin with verse 1. Let’s see if together we can piece together the apparent “mystery” behind these two verses of Holy Scripture we are going to read here in Romans 5. Maybe together we can discover what seems to be so difficult for so many evangelical Protestant scholars today to understand here in verses one and two:

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God (emphasis added).

So don’t be fooled by so-called scholars trying to make what’s at stake so convoluted with their playing with words. As you can see, one not need be a graduate of Oxford University with a degree in navel contemplating to figure out the Roman Catholic Church does not preach the genuine Gospel of Jesus Christ. Well Pope Benedict, at least you’d see it if you’re humble enough to turn in your funny hat, divest yourself of your priestly robes and actually follow the Christ that you say you are representing. After all, Jesus of Nazareth did say — Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:29). And remember the Master also said — Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5).

See also:

ROMAN CATHOLICISM: ANOTHER GOSPEL OF BAPTISM AND SACRAMENTS

THE DECEIVERS OF ROMAN CATHOLICISM

THINK YOU’RE A ROMAN CATHOLIC IF YOU DISAGREE WITH THE POPE; BETTER THINK AGAIN