Can Catholics Have the Assurance of Salvation?

I received a package in the mail last week from a Roman Catholic woman in our area. We have never met, but she thought I could use a little booklet entitled, "Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth." It was published by Catholic Answers. (www.catholic.com) This group is "the largest Catholic apologetics and evangelization organization in North America." They obviously have tremendous zeal to spread Catholic teachings to others. In fact, there are 5 million copies of this booklet in print.

"Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth" is very revealing. It was written by people who have been thoroughly immersed in Catholic doctrine. It states, "We are lay people devoting our full-time efforts to promoting the Catholic faith." The booklet has been endorsed and declared "free of doctrinal errors" by Roman Catholic theologians, but laid out in simple terms.

I was especially interested in the way they described the path to salvation. It states that "we are saved by grace alone, but not by faith alone, which is what 'Bible Christians' teach." (p. 22) This distinction is absolutely huge and it gets right to the heart of the matter. This very point is the primary reason the Reformation took place. Everything hinges on how a church defines "grace."

In the context of this article, I will use their term "Bible Christians" to present what Christians since the time of Christ have believed the Bible teaches regarding eternal life and the assurance of salvation. This is not a new doctrine. It has been around for 2000 years….long before the Protestant Reformation took place some 500 years ago.

The booklet states, "We do not 'earn' our salvation through good works (Eph. 2:8-9, Rom. 9:16), but our faith in Christ puts us in a special grace-filled relationship with God so that our obedience and love, combined with our faith, will be rewarded with eternal life." (Rom. 2:7, Gal. 6:8-9) Did you catch that? According to Catholic Answers, a grace-filled life of obedience is said to be rewarded with eternal life.

So is "grace" in the Bible God's unmerited love, mercy, and forgiveness for sinners on account of Christ? Or....is it those things, plus man's "grace-filled" works of obedience? Everything hinges on how a church defines the "grace" that is said to save us. Read more