What Does the Roman Catholic Church Believe About the Doctrine of Justification?
Roman Catholics maintain that “the Catholic Church teaches the true biblical doctrine of justification.” 1 However, we think it is impossible to argue this point successfully because Rome not only rejects the biblical teaching on justification, it adds various forms of works salvation. For example, in Chapter 4, we see that in Roman Catholicism the sacraments are works of human merit which must be mediated through the Church; this constitutes an effective denial of the biblical teaching on justification. No one denies that Rome officially rejects salvation solely by works; it condemned Pelagianism (salvation by works) at the Synod of Carthage in 418 and semi-Pelagianism at the Council of Orange in 529and Trent upheld these condemnations. But that is not the issue. The problem is two-fold. First, Rome may have officially condemned salvation by works alone, but it has also officially endorsed salvation by grace and works. As Trent decreed, “By his good works the justified man really acqu
