There has been heavy media coverage of the "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification" signed on October 31, 1999 by the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation. The declaration states in part, "Together we confess: By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of' any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works."

It sounds pretty good. So should we drop our separatist position (as mandated by our BNIA Doctrinal Statement) and join with the Catholics and the ecumenical movement?

Before we do anything rash, we must stop to consider that the concept of salvation by faith alone as defined by Catholics and Lutherans is quite different from what we in the BMA believe.

The Roman Catholic Church and the churches of the LWF (represented in the United States by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, or ELCA) all practice infant baptism, and then, all teach that infants are saved by that baptism.

Obviously, their concept of salvation by faith alone is very different from ours, if they believe they were saved by a few drops of water sprinkled on their heads when they were only a few months old.

Meanwhile, the Vatican has attached this "clarification" to the agreement, which states: "Eternal life is, at one and the same time, grace and the reward given by God for good works and merit." In other words, the Catholic Church still does not believe in salvation by grace alone. But they would like Protestants and Baptists to believe that they do.

The Vatican has made it clear that nothing in this new agreement abrogates or repudiates the canons of the Council of Trent, which clearly denounce belief in salvation by faith alone. Here is what the Catholic Church really believes:

Canon 9: If anyone says that the ungodly is justified by faith alone in such a way that he understands that nothing else is required which cooperates toward obtaining the grace of justification ... let him be anathems [accursed].

Canon 12: If anyone says that justifying faith is nothing else than trust in divine mercy, which remits sins for Christ's sake, or that it is this trust alone by which we are justified, let him be anathema.

Canon 14: If anyone says that a man is absolved from sins and justified because ... he confidently believes that he is absolved and justified . . . and that through this faith alone absolution and justification is effected, let him be anathema.

Canon 30: If anyone says that after the reception of the grace of justification the guilt is so remitted and the debt of eternal punishment so blotted out to every repentant sinner, that no debt of temporal punishment remains to be discharged either in this world or in purgatory before the gates of heaven can be opened, let him be anathema.

The Council of Trent states in plain words that salvation is not by faith alone and that anybody who believes in salvation by faith alone will go to hell. Pope John Paul II reaffirmed these canons in 1995, saying that this is what the Catholic Church really believes. (Is the Pope Catholic?)

The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod have rejected this agreement. LC-MS President A.L. Barry has denounced it as "an opportunity for Rome to appear ecumenical without conceding a thing . . . We consider the Joint Declaration to be a surrender of the most important truth taught in God's Word." He describes the Joint Declaration as "a woefully inadequate and misleading document and a betrayal of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

Samuel Nafzger, executive director of the Missouri Svnod's Commission on Theology and Church Relations, had this to say: "I do not see how Lutherans could say we now completely agree with the Roman Catholic Church on the doctrine of justification, and still have indulgences offered. . . The Catholic Church continues to teach that temporal punishment, which it defines as the natural consequence of sin, can be purged here or after death through good works."

There are many conservative Lutherans who recognize that the Catholic Church is preaching a false gospel of salvation by works, and for this reason they will not participate in any of the ecumenical crusades and movements that include Catholics in their leadership and that promote Catholic-Protestant unity.

On what basis can Baptists, who claim to to more doctrinally sound than the Lutherans, participate in such deceitful ecumenical endeavors?

If we accept the false claims being made that the Catholic Church preaches the true gospel of salvation by faith alone, then why should our BMA foreign missions force spend so much effort reaching Catholics with a gospel which they supposedly already have?

Most of our BMA foreign missions force is in predominantly Catholic countries in Latin America, also Philippines, Cape Verde, etc. Are we making a mistake, sending all those missionaries to Catholic countries? Should we call them back home?

Actually, we are not making a mistake at all. If we do not preach the true gospel to the Catholic people, they will never hear it from their own priests.

Nothing has been changed by the latest Catholic-Lutheran agreement. The Catholic Church continues to preach a false gospel of salvation by grace plusgood works, sacraments, indulgences, Mary-worship and purgatory.

"And if by grace, then it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work" Romans 11:6

"If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. " Galatians 1:9

(From Illinois and Indiana Missionary Baptist, December, 1999)

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