Do Protestants and Roman Catholics still differ as much as they did in the 16th century? Today, R.C. Sproul confirms that the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church continues to reject justification by faith alone in Christ alone. Get the book The Legacy of Luther, plus lifetime digital access to R.C. Sproul’s teaching series Justified by Faith Alone and the accompanying digital style guide, for your donation of any amount: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/3657/donate Meet Today’s Teacher: R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was known for his ability to winsomely and clearly communicate deep, practical truths from God’s Word. He was founder of Ligonier Ministries, first minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew’s Chapel, first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine. Meet the Host: Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of ministry engagement for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, host of the Ask Ligonier podcast, and a graduate of Presbyterian Theological College in Melbourne, Australia. Nathan joined Ligonier in 2012 and lives in Central Florida with his wife and four children. Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts
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Rome distinguishes between mortal sin and venial sin. Mortal sin is called mortal sin because it kills the grace of justification that's in your soul. Calvin opposed that by saying that all sins are mortal. in the sense that they deserve death, but no sin is mortal to the Christian that would destroy your salvation.
But in the Roman view, if you commit a mortal sin, if you die in mortal sin, you go to hell.
If you, as a Christian, commit a mortal sin and die, you go to hell? That doesn't sound like good news, but that is part of the Roman Catholic view of salvation and one of the matters that Protestants were protesting during the 16th century Reformation. This is the Wednesday edition of Renewing Your Mind. I'm your host, Nathan W. Bingham.
When you examine the official teachings of the Roman Catholic Church compared to the teaching of Scripture, it really is a contrast between bad news and good news. And that's why the Reformers pursued Reform, a return to the clear teaching of the Word of God. In the series that you're hearing this week from R.C. Sproul, he unpacks further the history and theology of the Reformation.
You can own the series, study guide, and the hardcover edition of The Legacy of Luther when you give a gift of any amount in support of Renewing Your Mind at renewingyourmind.org. Well, to help us better understand the Roman Catholic view, here's Dr. Sproul.
If you take the time to read Luther's 95 Theses, you'll see in there that there's very little about the doctrine of justification. But Luther's discussion that he wanted to have with the faculty over the theses had to do with the whole system of doctrine that was associated with indulgences.
And initially, Luther wasn't opposed to indulgences in itself, but the abuse of the selling of them that was being carried out by Tetzel. However, when he began writing up his 95 Theses, and if you read them, you will see that he raises questions about the whole system that's tied to indulgences and to the Roman Catholic understanding of justification and of the gospel.
And for us to understand, as I've said, the Reformation concept, I think the best way to do it is against the backdrop of the Roman Catholic view. Now, the Roman Catholic doctrine of justification was not set forth in all of its complexity overnight by Augustine or later by Gregory the Great or anything like that, but rather the system of
of salvation within Rome took centuries and centuries to develop with a layer at a time upon another layer. And from a theological perspective, the Roman Catholic system of salvation is called sacerdotalism, meaning that salvation is wrought through the ministrations of the church and of the priesthood.
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