Roman Catholic View of Justification (Part 1): Luther and the Reformation with R.C. Sproul

All the Vatican 2 catholics say it's too confusing, I don't understand it's confusing ! Or the mass is enough, no, it's not enough. You must have the true Catholic faith.
There is nothing confusing about it !!! 

Pope Gregory the 16th 1831 let nothing of the truths that have been defined, it be lessened, nothing altered nothing added, but let them be preserved intact in the word and then meaning.


Vatican Council of 1870 session 3 chapter 4 part 13 and 14 EX cathedra -- for the doctrine of the faith which God has revealed is put forward not as some philosophical Discovery capable of being perfected by human intelligence but as a Divine deposit committed to the spouse of Christ to be Faithfully protected and infallibly promulgated hence to that meaning of the sacred dogmas is ever to be maintained which has once been declared by holy mother church and there must never be any abandonment of this sense under the pretext or in the name of a more profound understanding.


Pope Pius the 10th syllabus condemning the errors of the modernists 1907 article 62 : the proposition the chief articles of the Apostles Creed did not have the same sense for the Christians of the first stages as they have for the Christians of our time is hereby condemned as erroneous.


St John of the Cross 1591 wherefore if there be revealed to us anything new or different we must in no way give consent to it not even though it were spoken by an Angel.


St. Thomas Aquinas doctor of the church 1274 all those who deny one Article of Faith regardless of their reason are by that very fact excommunicated.


Pope Eugene the fourth Council of Florence Session 8 1439 ex cathedra whoever Wills to be saved before all things it is necessary that he holds the Catholic faith unless a person keeps this Faith whole and undefiled without doubt He Shall Perish eternally.


Popplio 13th 1896 the practice of the church has always been the same as is shown by the unanimous teaching of the fathers who were want to hold as outside Catholic communion and alien to the church whoever would recede in the least degree from any point of Doctrine proposed by her authoritative magisterium.


Council Florence session 11 February 4th 1442 ex cathedra the Holy Roman Church condemns reproves anathematize has and declares to be outside the body of church which is the Catholic Church whoever holds opposing or contrary views.


Popplio the 10th 5th lateran Council session 8th 1513 EX cathedra and since truth cannot conjure the truth we Define that every statement contrary to the enlightened truth of the faith is totally false and we strictly forbid teaching otherwise to be permitted we decree that all those who cling to erroneous statements of this time this sewing heresies which are wholly condemned should be avoided in every way and punished as detestable and odious Heretics and infidels who are undermining the Catholic faith.


Saint Athanasius God's word is one and the same in the doors forever unchanged always the same


Pope Pius the 9th, qui Pluribus I'm faith and religion November 9th 1846 paragraph 20 never cease to instruct all men in it never tolerating and letting pass anyting which could in the slightest degree defiled the purity of this faith. What the same great strength of Mind Foster and all men their Unity with the Catholic church outside of which there is no salvation


Pope Saints sixtus 3 nothing new is to be allowed for nothing can be added to the old look for the faith of the elders and do not let our faith be disturbed by a mixture of new doctrines


St Vincent of Lerins 445, all novelty in faith is ashore Mark of heresy Saint Paul Cried Out aloud again and again to all men to all times and to all places that if anyone announces a new doctrine let him be anathematized.


There is no confusion unless you're a heretic and belong to the vatican 2 fake church, there is no confusion for true Catholics, I'll say that again there is no confusion for the true Catholics the teachings of the church are simple and clear. Nothing is to be changed !!!!! Nothing !! If you disagree with this your excommunicated from the church you no longer are Catholic you no longer have a father in Heaven !!!

Sproul makes his living spreading his anti-Catholic lies but does not have the courage to debate any Catholic apologist. Hmmm

NOTICE TO ALL PROTESTANTS! Please help me to leave the Catholic Church. I see a lot of stuff on the internet about how the Catholic Church teaches false doctrine and that Catholics are not really saved. However, when I investigate the Protestant claims then I discover that Protestants don’t even agree with each other in their various doctrines. So what is a person to believe? Where can a person find Truth? I currently believe everything that the Church teaches but Protestants keep saying that the Church teaches heresy. So please, please, please will just one of you produce just one single Protestant doctrine that can be found in the Bible. I am dead serious. I will leave the Catholic Church if just one brave Protestant soul will do this.

He is actually false about penance. The church teaches that the person's sins are forgiven at absolution by the priest. This is before any penance is performed by the penitent.

And condign merit is God giving us His grace because He promised it, not because we earned it.

The New Testament church preceeded Catholicism by five centuries!
The doctrine of the New Testament church is “The New Testament.”
She is “the church of Christ.”

Catholic and Protestant doctrines are:
“Doctrines of demons” (l TIm. 4:1-3).

“For By Grace Are Ye Saved Through Faith”

Beginning with the (SECOND CHAPTER OF EPHESIANS, VERSES 6, 7, 8, AND 9).

FIVE OBJECTIVES:
1. To establish Grace as God’s side of
Salvation.
2. To establish faith as man’s side of
Salvation.
3. To establish the fact that Salvation
is only through Grace - with faith
and obedience as its prime factor.
4. To establish God’s plan of Salvation
for man.
5. And fifth, to establish the Gospel as
as man’s key, which will open up
this plan of Salvation, and bring him
into a covenant relationship with
his God.

We see how Paul has an argument in Rome, but at the sametime, Paul did
not negate obedience and works.
Then we go to James, to show where (JAMES 2) in his words: That Abraham was justified, “not only by faith, but by works also.”
There’s no theme in which man should be more interested than that of the Grace of God.
Webster’s defines “Grace” as meaning: “Favor, Kindness, Mercy, Unmarited favor.”
All that we have in this life is an expression of God’s Grace, or, Favor towards us.
However, among all the expressions of God’s Grace in the material universe, we should be exceedingly grateful for His Grace in the Spiritual realm.
It was about such Grace that the apostle Paul spoke when he said,
“For by Grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. (EPHESIANS 2:8, AND 9).
This passage has been terribly misapplied by religionists in their attempt to prove that man is saved by the Grace of God, separate and apart from human obedience.
That, “we are saved by Grace, and that no one can be saved except by Grace,” is too clearly taught in the Bible to be questioned by anyone who accepts the Bible as the True Word of God.
But the question is:
Are all to whom His Grace has been offered be saved by the Grace of God?
And, thinking about God’s way of Salvation; “ls Grace the only thing that need concern us?” If so, then all will be saved.
But here, the apostle Paul, “the apostle of Jesus Christ,” at this point he says:
For the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation, hath appeared unto all men.
Notice that the Grace that hath appeared unto all men is a Grace which brings salvation.
“But the Bible clearly teaches that many will be lost.”
Jesus tells us, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned.
So now we see another side, even though we have God’s Grace to save us, “everybody will not be saved.”
Everybody will not be saved, because everybody will not obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (MARK 16:15, AND 16).
From this passage, we see that Grace on the part of man is essential to his Salvation.
In fact, this very text which we study saith as much:
“For By Grace Are Ye Saved Through Faith.”
This text suggests the two sides through the plan of salvation:
“There’s God’s side, and there’s man’s side.”
“God’s Grace must be accepted by man’s faith.” And man’s faith can only come through the Grace that God had already given us. Because He’s given Jesus Christ.
We have access by this faith, into this Grace, says Paul, in (ROMANS 5:2).
God’s Grace is freely extended to the whole world, and is certainly capable of saving every person who has ever lived, and whoever will live upon this earth.
But God has decreed, that only those who accept His Grace through faith will be saved.
YOU CAN’T BE SAVED ANY OTHER WAY!
We need not worry about God’s Grace, “God’s part to man’s Salvation” His part has been perfectly done.
All failures will be do to the failures of man. “Failures of faith.”
How are we saved by Grace?
What kind of faith does it take to reach God’s Grace?
Certainly a dead faith will not reach His Grace!
James tells us that, “faith, if it hath not works is dead, being alone. (JAMES 2:17).

In (JOHN 12:42) we read:
Of many of the chief rulers in the synagogue of Jesus time who believed in Him, but would not confess Him, because they loved the praise of men, more than the praise of God.

THE ONLY WAY IN WHICH TO BE SAVED (MATTHEW 7:14; MATTHEW 16:18; ACTS 4:12; ROMANS 16:16).

Roman Catholic Sproul= RC Sproul

Unfortunately R.C. has not represented Catholic teachings well at all. We believe that salvation is by faith alone if we understand faith as that formed faith which works through love(Galatians 5:6). R.C. seems to think we believe salvation is kind of this process that starts with God giving us some kind of weak grace that doesn't really do anything or bring about salvation and then we go to baptism by our own strength enabled by this so called grace and then we have to cooperate for the rest of our lives to merit final perseverance. Wrong, if I was a teacher I would have to give him a failing grade and you can't criticize something well unless you understand it.

What we actually believe is that God from before the foundation of the world has chosen a people from among sinful humanity to make righteous(we call them the elect) and the rest he has chosen to leave in their sins(we them the reprobates). In salvation grace is primary for Catholics; by this we mean absolutely no one could be saved or would be saved without God working in them because eternal life is not natural to man but an elevation above what is natural. If we speak of this order by which a typical man is saved we would say it begins with God's decree of election of that person before the foundation of the world, second God's prevenient grace which the elect person responds to in baptism(or for infants the parents of the elect respond to); let it also be known that I believe this grace is effectual(not irresistible because there's no imposition on the will, God moves our will freely) but some other Catholics such as Molinists disagree on this point. After baptism when we speak of works being meritorious we mean that God enables us by His grace to preform certain good acts which He will credit to us as His friends, these works are as R.C. correctly pointed out not strictly meritorious but are congruous. Unfortunately he again makes a mistake saying that these congruous merits earn us heaven, no they merely pay some or all of the temporal punishment we have accrued by sin. Since our demeritorious sins have strictly merited eternal punishment only a strictly meritorious sacrifice is able to make atonement for us, Christ's death alone makes satisfaction for sin. So God in preparing and usings us to accomplish these good works gives us the reward. Can a person in the state of grace fall into mortal sin and have to be reconciled? Yes because God to accomplish certain goods permits certain defects however it is God's will that the elect certainly will be finally reconciled to God(we call this the grace of a happy death). Does that mean that all who were in the state of grace will be reconciled before their death? No because not everyone who God places into the state of grace is elected to final perseverance. There are elect and nonelect Christians(2 Peter 2:20), God gives the grace of conversion to both the elect and nonelect but only to the elect God grants final perseverance. How can we know if we are the elect or not? We can never know with infallible certainty until we finish the race but the Bible does tell us to "Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith" which can give us a kind of assurance. If God is strengthening us with his gifts of faith, hope and charity then we can have assurance that God will save us if we continue until the end. We can never know if we will continue until the end though because on our own we could never do it and we dont know if it's the mind of God to give us this grace.

Overall I would have to give R.C. a failing grade on this presentation, it was very wrong. I won't impute any bad intentions to him because I actually agree with much of his writings but he just never truly understood Catholicism well.

I used to watch RC sproul and became a calvanist, now im a Catholic. God saved me from Protestantism and their heresies.

I've come to believe I am nowhere near righteous enough to say Catholics are lost or protestants are lost. I do believe issues arise when you don't look to Christ and stay rigid in your belief. Read the Bible. Pray and perhaps the Holy Spirit Will open your eyes.

For all those who have been mislead by this video. Here is the official Catholic Church teaching on Justification:

1992 Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ who offered himself on the cross as a living victim, holy and pleasing to God, and whose blood has become the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men. Justification is conferred in Baptism, the sacrament of faith. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who makes us inwardly just by the power of his mercy. Its purpose is the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life:

1994 Justification is the most excellent work of God's love made manifest in Christ Jesus and granted by the Holy Spirit. It is the opinion of St. Augustine that "the justification of the wicked is a greater work than the creation of heaven and earth," because "heaven and earth will pass away but the salvation and justification of the elect . . . will not pass away." He holds also that the justification of sinners surpasses the creation of the angels in justice, in that it bears witness to a greater mercy.

Catholics on here are attacking this man and saying he doesn't know what he's talking about. But the reality of all this is that these same Catholics do not know salvation - nor do they know Jesus Christ. They aren't even very good pretenders. They are Tares in the Wheat planted by the enemy. They think they're going to heaven or at least purgatory because some fake priest poured "holy water" on their infant heads. They want to argue doctrine while they themselves are void of Spirit and never encountered the living risen Jesus Christ. They don't even know what Faith or Grace is about. All they ever had was a mere christian flavored religion with a jesus who is nothing more than a figment of their brainwashed imaginations. And the real evidence they have nothing is their intense hatred of bonafide believers. Their hatred is the same hatred the world at large has for christians. That should tell you who their real father is. They can't rejoice with the fact that God ALONE saves people who are not Roman Catholic or care to join their Halloween circus act after they are saved. All they have is a religion bent and twisted out of shape with phony bells and whistles so that it is totally unrecognizable, and it suits these denizens of the dead just fine. They have proven to be of the same ilk as the Pharisees and Romans who crucified Christ. People don't get saved when they are in the RCC; they get saved when they LEAVE.

Unfortunately, this man is ignorant about Catholicism.

One Faith, one Lord, one Baptism....protestantism can't àgree amongst each other and so they have 60,000 different denominations ...and all deny the real presences of Jesus in the Lord's supper...only one has been doing it since day 1...the Church with Bishops, deacons, and priests...

It’s so easy to see that the Catholic Church is the true church of Christ if you just look at church history from an unbiased point of view. Also if you do your unbiased research on Martin Luther and the things he did and said. It’s quiet simple really. You are majorly deceived if you believe faith alone doctrine. James chapter 2 verse 24 you see a man is justified by works and NOT by faith alone. Please do your research, do it well. Buy a translation of the Bible older than the king James. They literally changed that bible and added words and removed sentences to fit there doctrine. If you buy a duay rhemies bible. Which is translated straight from the Latin vulgate which is as old as the 300s. You will see how much they changed it. It’s quiet disturbing. I hope you all come to the true church of Christ that can trace its lineage all the way back to the apostles. The Catholic Church. Also, one more thing, so your telling me for 1500 years all those Christian’s were wrong until Martin Luther came along five hundred years ago and got the true doctrine? Give me a break. The man was a literal monster. Just do your research on the things he said and did and not just from Protestant sources that try to make sense of what he did and justify it. Your world view just might be destroyed

Now this is True bible teaching.

Very enlightening indeed. Thanks😮❤

Martin Luther speaks pure from this video. A general attack by Protestantism against the doctrine of transsubstitution. For evangelicals the host is just a piece of bread. Just for remembrance.: Do this in memory of me. No one, no Catholic, worships a piece of bread, so it's not heresy. I believe in the real presence of God=Jesus Christ. The speaker is a prisoner of Martin Luther's heresy, who divided the church with his heresy.

Thank you for this video. The more I listened to this man, the more I realized the authenticity & validity of the Roman Catholic Church. No wonder so many variations of the Protestant faith, each leader has his own interpretation of the scripture, thus confusing the faithful.

Ligonier is the only ministry that does justice by the Roman Catholic Church and confronts them on the actual doctrine they hold. This level of transparency about the doctrine would make many priests squirm.. which just goes to show the great strides the reformation has accomplished.. Rome on paper has stayed.. but in practice, has definitely changed and shifted to be more Protestant. Pope Benedict proved that when he said Luther was right.. and sent the catholic apologists scrambling to lawyer themselves around that.

"Imputation" vs. "Infusion." This is the substance of the argument. Paul addresses it in his specific grief against those leaders in the Galatian churches that pushed the idea of "infusion." I guess their need for being recognized as "father confessors" to satisfy God outweighed their need for truth. The temptation to use knowledge as a weapon looms big in the mind of "control freaks."

The roman church in a nutshell:
We tell you what the scriptures mean and you give us your money💰

It is sad how things can be misconstrued and by doing so, lead others astray. It is important to consider the Bible and the history of the Church in context. Come home to the Universal Church, spread throughout the world.

Clear explanation

At confession, we are given a penance, but that is to remediate temporal punishment (aka time in purgatory), you don’t have to do it to make reconciliation effective. Reconciliation happens at absolution, there is no “work” needed other than repentance.

Catholics don’t think that justification follows sanctification. That is a lie. We believe the opposite, justification by faith is first, then we are sanctified by cooperating with God’s grace. The sacraments contribute to this sanctification.

I don’t know how anyone could stand with Martin Luther. He had much bad fruit. Just do your reaearch

It is by WORKS and NOT BY FAITH ALONE that we are JUSTIFIED, for even if one has ALL FAITH, but does not LOVE, IT IS USELESS! Peace always in Jesus Christ our Great and Kind God and Savior, He whose Flesh is true food and Blood true drink

There is no merit in work.

God shows his mercy and blessings on whom he will.

The problem is the Pope and the Papacy has put themselves as God. They want people to think they have the authority over their lives, they don't.

You see JUSTIFICATION is spelled out in the Bible.

There is no such thing as the Roman Catholic JUSTIFICATION.

We are called Christians in the Biok of Acts.

See people need to follow the WORD OF GOD and not the doctrines of men like
in Catholicism.

There is none righteous. That is why Jesus the righteous came and became sin for us that we would be righteous in him.

There are no SACRAMENTS in the Bible.

Catholicism teaches doctrines of men that the Bible says we should stay away from.

The Bible teaches us to repent and be baptized........

We are under grace and faith.

Looking unto JESUS the Author And Finisher of our FAITH.

The Bible does not say look unto Mary.

We are to follow the word of God not denominations.

People need to stop leading people astray.

There is no mortal sin in the Bible.

Sin is SIN.
You see the Bible says not to add to the word of God.

Rome and the Catholic Pope needs to REPENT.

Read your Bible and don't be led away by people or Catholic doctrines that speak on things not even in the Bible.

Doctrines of men are taught to control you.

The Preist cannot absolve anyone. They cannot even absolve themselves.

Praise the Lord and keep Jesus in your heart and soul and live a holy life.

Merit of absolution is the crux of the matter.
Redemption through Christ alone cannot be any other way.

How do we answer “baptism ... saves" (1 Peter 3:21) and Mark 16:16 also asserts that “he who believes and is baptised will be saved”. The Catholics may have a point here?

I'm waiting for him to mention any Bible verses that will supports his explanation.

The twisting and turning of words is monty python like. Protestant is a denomination of RC. After 1500 years they try to make a new religion. Sproul making religion a wordgame.

Waste of time. If you really want to know Catholic teaching on Justification, ask the church or read the catechism. Go to the horses mouth. Don’t listen to an anti-catholic. There are non-catholics which are most who do not necessarily agree with the Church, but then there are anti-Catholics. That’s where R C Sproul falls in. If you want to know any Catholic teaching, go to the source.

Romans 5:9-10 How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath. Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled will we be saved by his life. These two verses make the difference between our initial and present justification - having now been reconciled to God - and our salvation which is not just a one time accomplishment/a final done deal but rather ongoing into the future/futuristic; conclusively, they show that justification and salvation do not happen (fully) at the same time. In Romans chapter 5 St Paul says that by faith in Christ and through Christ we gain access to this justifying grace in which we stand and which brings peace between God and us. Because salvation is not by faith alone St Paul rightly introduces saving hope into the formula. St Paul, not explicitly, but by implication says that hope is required with faith for salvation. Romans 5:2b and we boast in hope of the glory of God, in other words a very loving God will never fail us nor forsake us unless we give up. St Paul continues to make his point by saying that even our afflictions produce a chain of virtues - endurance, character - and ending up in giving us great/sure hope in God, which hope does not disappoint us as the Holy Spirit makes us feel in our hearts the reassuring and abundant love with which God loves us. In Romans 5: 6, 8 St Paul points out that God has proven his love for us, namely, "For Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly" and "But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us." In my opinion although both faith and hope have an element of certainty to them yet they are not guarantees by themselves.

The relationship with God (Justification) is immediately restored in a good confession when the Priest gives absolution irrespective if the penitent completes the penance the Priest gives the penitent. The wound on one’s nature can be healed only in a longer process. The penance given by the Priest has the goal of “ helping the relationship of the person with himself, and the world. And so penance is one of four elements of a good confession along with contrition, confession and absolution. Sin injures and the sinner himself, as well as his relationship with God and neighbor. For the sinner to recover his spiritual health he must make amens for the sin: he must “make satisfaction for’ or ‘expiates’ his sins. The penance the Priest gives may only be a token of the restitution God may require for our sins to be fully satisfied and if we fail to accomplish the full satisfaction Gods justice may require, we will have to make full restitution in the next life I.e. Purgatory. But remember all in Purgatory are on their way to heaven, but not any second salvation opportunity. Also the CatholicChurch also has a corporate act of confession of venial sins which takes place at the beginning of every Mass.

The very concept of "initial justification" is utterly foreign from Scripture

But if justification is effective when there is assent to the grace infused in baptism, how can an infant child assent to this grace? An infant child doesn't know anything about it yet, doesn't have a mature intellect to understand baptism.

Thank you RC for exposing the false Papist silly Dogma !

grace doesn't require full assent otherwise those that are dying, invalid, paralyzed, or other maladys are impossible to save. god can justify a person even without them knowing as no one has full assurance that they are saved

Thank you Dr. Sproul for ministering the Word of God to all.

A fun question for my Roman Catholic friends, who is the blessed man in Romans 4:8 to whom the Lord will NOT impute sin?

As a former Protestant; I’ll make a deal with Protestants. I will renounce Catholicism, and return to my Reformed theological roots, IF you can find me, simply, 3 little things…
1: a single passage that states, we are saved, by faith ALONE.
2:a single passage that claims, scripture ALONE.
3: a single passage, that tells us which books are to be included, in the Bible.
Shouldn’t be too hard. 🤔

Sproul's understanding of mortal sin upto the 13th or 14th minute even when he quotes Calvin on this issue is easily refuted by our Lord Himself in Matthew 5:21-22. So our Lord gives confirmation that the Catholic Church which He established is right on this issue and that Luther, Calvin and even Sproul are wrong over here.

Wow! What a clown. I'm a Catholic and he's gotten just about everything wrong. First, he conflates justification with righteousness. Second, Matthew 5:19 "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, ye shall not enter Heaven." Proving venial sins. Third, this idea of the sacraments is wrong. We don't lose justification. We can lose grace. But as James said, "Faith without works is dead." In other words, if you've got something hindering your faith, like a wrong idea of who God is, your evil works will prove that your faith is leading to death. The only thing we can take with us after death is our works. Let's make an assumption: only the children of God will have justification. And I'm talking real justification, which can only come from the sacraments. Namely "reconciliation." But there are others, like marriage. The sacraments are only outward signs of inward grace. The priests are full of grace, having lived a life of holiness, free of worldly distractions, their justification is 100% pure and their lives sanctified by personal holiness of fasting, abstinence, etc.

Catholics do not need to defend the faith, just tell the truth , it is the heretics like believers of satanic cult of sola scriptura a man made tradition invented by a devil possessed man, need to tell all sorts of false narrative to defend their faith.