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NASB | Romans 3:28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 3:28 For we maintain that an individual is justified by faith distinctly apart from works of the Law [the observance of which has nothing to do with justification, that is, being declared free of the guilt of sin and made acceptable to God]. |
Subject: Christians/Catholics same? |
Bible Note: Brenda, "Catholics believe in God, yes...but they also believe people need to keep the commandments and do good works to 'get to Heaven'." I believe Prostestants call this the perseverence of the saints, that is, persevering in good works in Christ (Rom 2:2-8; Gal 5:4-6; Eph 2:8-10) and in the obedience of faith (Romans 1:5; 16:26). "Scripture cleary says that we (those who put their faith in Jesus) are 'justified by faith apart from observing the law'." The Catholic Church teaches in the Council of Trent: "CHAPTER I THE IMPOTENCY OF NATURE AND OF THE LAW TO JUSTIFY MAN "The holy council declares first, that for a correct and clear understanding of the doctrine of justification, it is necessary that each one recognize and confess that since all men had lost innocence in the prevarication of Adam, having become unclean, and, as the Apostle says, by nature children of wrath, as has been set forth in the decree on original sin, they were so far the servants of sin and under the power of the devil and of death, that not only the Gentiles by the force of nature, but not even the Jews by the very letter of the law of Moses, were able to be liberated or to rise therefrom, though free will, weakened as it was in its powers and downward bent, was by no means extinguished in them." and "CHAPTER VIII HOW THE GRATUITOUS JUSTIFICATION OF THE SINNER BY FAITH IS TO BE UNDERSTOOD "But when the Apostle says that man is justified by faith and freely, these words are to be understood in that sense in which the uninterrupted unanimity of the Catholic Church has held and expressed them, namely, that we are therefore said to be justified by faith, because faith is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation and root of all justification, without which it is impossible to please God and to come to the fellowship of His sons; and 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. "For, if by grace, it is not now by works, otherwise, as the Apostle says, grace is no more grace." http://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/TRENT6.HTM "Romans 3:21 starts off with "21. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify." Earlier in Romans 1:5 Paul writes of the filial " obedience of faith" in contrast to the servile "works of the law" and writes of the same "obedience of faith" in wrapping up with Romans 16:26. The difference is in the relationship with God. Are we His free children or His slaves? Paul makes the same distinctions in Galatians 4:21-31. "In the Old Testament the blood of animals was needed...and it was only a temporary solution. They needed to sacrafice constantly. But Jesus Died on the cross, shed HIS BLOOD for our sins...canceling the Old Testament part where animal's blood was needed. And this he only needed to do once...not over and over again." And so the Catholic Church teaches in its Catechism: "1366 The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because it applies its fruit: "[Christ], our Lord and God, was once and for all to offer himself to God the Father by his death on the altar of the cross, to accomplish there an everlasting redemption. But because his priesthood was not to end with his death, at the Last Supper "on the night when he was betrayed," [he wanted] to leave to his beloved spouse the Church a visible sacrifice (as the nature of man demands) by which the bloody sacrifice which he was to accomplish once for all on the cross would be re-presented, its memory perpetuated until the end of the world, and its salutary power be applied to the forgiveness of the sins we daily commit." http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p2s2c1a3.htm#V "Jesus is THE LAMB of God." Indeed He is THE LAMB of God as Catholics well know and profess each time they worship when they pray aloud in unison: "Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. "Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. "Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us your peace." Emmaus |