True Believer
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I wrote the following in answer to a question that I received online.
To Whom It May Concern;
I Am Secure on the Rock!
“A wise man...built his house upon a rock...and it fell not” (Matt. 7:24-25)
Jesus named St. Peter the rock foundation of His Church. I am on the rock, where are you?
Is it not coincidental that St. Matthew teaches on the rock in both chapter 7 and 16? In chapter 16 Jesus is clearly calling Peter the 'rock' Mt 16:18 and so a reasonable person would make the same conection with chapter 7.
Catholic Theology states:
"As an outcast estranged from God’s family, the sinner can do nothing to merit justification; he is dead in sin and in need of God’s grace. The sola gratia then, is an integral aspect of the Catholic doctrine of justification,[6] and is clearly affirmed by Trent, “…we are therefore said to be justified gratuitously, because none of those things that precede justification, whether faith or works, merit the grace of justification.” (Sess. VI, Chap. VIII) It is impossible for man, as a sinner, to contribute anything to his justification; it is purely gratuitous.[7]"
According to biblical theology; Justification/Sanctification are 2 sides of the same coin.
" And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." (1 Cor. 6:11)
Someone can not; according to the Bible, be Justified without being Sanctified.
Many who believe in 'once saved', supposedly believe in the power of God, but not that He can make us holy if we cooperate with His Grace. Of course, the Bible backs up the position of the Catholic Church on that point.
So, I repeat to you what Christ has said; Jesus said to them, "Are you not misled because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?" (Mk. 12:24)
"Ignorance of Scripture is Ignorance of Christ" - St. Jerome
2 Peter 1:3 "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature."
"partakers of the divine nature" - The Divine Nature is holiness - perfection - it is both the beginning and the final goal of the Christian life. We take on the divine nature in Baptism and are made holy. Then we "strive" to maintain or "follow" that "holiness" throughout our lives [Hebrews 12:14].
We do this through the continuous reception of the Sacraments.
"On the night he was betrayed our Lord Jesus Christ took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said: “Take, eat: this is my body”. He took the cup, gave thanks and said: “Take, drink: this is my blood”. Since Christ himself has declared the bread to be his body, who can have any further doubt? Since he himself has said quite categorically, This is my blood, who would dare to question it and say that it is not his blood?
Therefore, it is with complete assurance that we receive the bread and wine as the body and blood of Christ. His body is given to us under the symbol of bread, and his blood is given to us under the symbol of wine, in order to make us by receiving them one body and blood with him. Having his body and blood in our members, we become bearers of Christ and sharers, as Saint Peter says, in the divine nature." (St. Cyril of Jerusalem - Early Church Father & Doctor of The Church)
"He saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5).
"..in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved through water. This prefigured baptism, which saves you now" (1 Peter 3:21.
I do not refer to The Sacrament of Baptism as a "work". That is an expression that someone outside the Catholic Church may choose. I do nothing in Baptism but cooperate with God's Saving Grace. God does it all. So, if Baptism is a "work", then it is a "work" of God [John 9:3].
Needless to say, according to the bible you have to be holy to get into heaven, that is when you are Justified.
So, what happens after someone is Baptized and made holy through God's grace? If they stay in a state of Grace, when they die they go to heaven, but if they don't... according to St. Paul they don't go to Heaven.
Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest: which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury,
Gal 5:20 Idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects,
Gal 5:21 Envies, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God.
Which should I follow the "church of man" or "The Church of Christ - The Catholic Church"?
You have still to show me your authority?
I would say that a 'true believer' follows Jesus and the teachings He has handed down through the Church that He founded on Peter.
Mat 7:21 "Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Mat 7:22 On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'
Luk 10:16 "He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."
We know that Jesus said this about those He appointed for His ministry?
Your brother in Christ;
Philip