"You Guys Are Just Like the Catholics"

I hear that a lot from people visiting Hope, especially people used to the contemporary worship style of American Christianity. And, I suppose, we do have some things in common with the Catholic Church. We both used the creeds, baptize babies, and support the plight of the unborn. Especially in our liturgy: we both use vestments, stand and kneel, follow the form of the ancient liturgy (the Lutheran liturgy is a bit older), and have some chanting now and then. 

But scratching the surface we see that the Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches have different and even opposing doctrines. Here are a few. 

 

Authority

The authority in the Catholic Church is the Pope. Sometimes the Catholic will say the authority is three-fold: Scripture, tradition, and pope, but it really boils down to what the pope says. Here’s how Vatican II says it: 

 

“In this Church of Christ the Roman pontiff, as the successor of Peter, to whom Christ entrusted the feeding of His sheep and lambs, enjoys supreme, full, immediate, and universal authority over the care of souls by divine institution,” (Vatican II, Preface, 2, 1962).

 

The Lutheran Church, on the other hand, recognized the Scriptures as the only infallible authority. 

 

“We believe, teach, and confess that the sole rule and standard according to which all dogmas together with [all] teachers should be estimated and judged are the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and of the New Testament alone, as it is written Ps. 119:105: Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path,” (Epitome of the Formula of Concord, Preface 1).

 

This difference in authority result in a number of other major differences. 

 

Justification

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that justification is a matter of faith and love, man’s works combined with God’s gifts. The Council of Trent (1545-1563), which served to define Roman Catholic teaching for hundreds of years, says:

 

If any one saith, that men are justified, either by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ, or by the sole remission of sins, to the exclusion of the grace and the charity which is poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, and is inherent in them; or even that the grace, whereby we are justified, is only the favour of God; let him be anathema, (Session 6, Canon 9).

 

(“Anathema” means “damned to hell.”) In this cannon the Catholic Church is saying that if we think justification comes through faith alone, then we are cursed. This, by the way, is what we say. 

 

Also they teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works, but are freely justified for Christ's sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor, and that their sins are forgiven for Christ's sake, who, by His death, has made satisfaction for our sins. This faith God imputes for righteousness in His sight. Rom. 3 and 4, (The Augsburg Confession, IV. 1530).

 

St. Paul says it like this: 

 

“And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,” (Romans 4:5).

 

The Certainty of Salvation

The Roman Catholic Church does not teach the certainty of salvation, they condemn it. Here, again, it Trent, from an entire chapter on “The Vain Confidence of the Heritics”:

 

But, although it is necessary to believe that sins neither are remitted, nor ever were remitted save gratuitously by the mercy of God for Christ's sake; yet is it not to be said, that sins are forgiven, or have been forgiven, to any one who boasts of his confidence and certainty of the remission of his sins, and rests on that alone; seeing that it may exist, yea does in our day exist, amongst heretics and schismatics; and with great vehemence is this vain confidence, and one alien from all godliness, preached up in opposition to the Catholic Church, (Trent, Session 6, Chapter 9).

 

In other words, the Roman Church forbids as ungodly the confidence in our salvation. The Lutheran Church teaches against this: 

 

Paul, Rom. 5:2, says: By whom also we have access, and adds, by faith. Thus, therefore, we are reconciled to the Father, and receive remission of sins when we are comforted with confidence in the mercy promised for Christ's sake, (Apology of the Augsburg Confession, IV, 79).

 

Paul teaches the same thing: 

 

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, (Romans 8:38-39).

 

These are a few of the differences, but the list is long. We disagree about the teaching of the Lord’s Supper, the priesthood, the sacraments, what faith and grace are, the role of Mary and the saints, the enumeration of sins, the marriage of priests, the power of the Word, to name a few. 

 

What do we do? Surely we know that these divisions in the church cause sorrow to Jesus, and to us as well. We pray for the unity of the church, but we know that this unity is a unity of mind, a unity of teaching and doctrine. We also commit ourselves to studying the Scriptures so that we know what they speak, and we look for opportunities to gently speak to our friends and family in other denominations. Finally, we rejoice that Jesus has given us the comfort of His truth, His law to show us our sins and His Gospel to forgive our sins and comfort us. We rejoice in this, and pray that the world would hear and believe His good news. 

 

Lord’s Blessings, 

Pastor Wolfmueller