Catholic apologist, speaker
and author Steve Ray has written an article about the debate between Catholics
and Protestants on the topic of faith and the role of works in salvation. The article is titled, “St. Paul did not
Write to Us!” and it can be found here:
In the article, Steve Ray
mentions that when arguments about salvation come up:
“Protestants quickly accuse
Catholics of teaching a salvation based on works and Catholics quickly point
out that Protestants have swung the pendulum too far in the other direction by
refusing to accept human cooperation and obedience as necessary
to the process.”
This is pretty much an
accurate account of what normally happens.
Catholics emphasize the role of works (faith plus works) and Protestants emphasize “faith alone,” or faith apart
from the merit of works in order to be justified / saved.
Ray mentions the fact that
Protestants usually go to the books of Romans and Galatians in the Bible to
prove their point (and we would say, rightly so, because this is where
justification is defined). But according
to Ray:
“But there is a huge problem
here. Paul did not write these letters to us and he knew nothing of the
Catholic-Protestant debate. The huge problem we have is the problem
of anachronism.”
He goes on to define
“anachronism,” which means:
“1. the representation of an
event, person, or thing in a historical context in which it could not have
occurred or existed; 2. a person or thing that belongs or seems to belong to
another time.”
For example, saying that
Moses looked at his wristwatch to see what time it was… or saying that the
apostle John got in his Ford pickup to go to the market… these would be
anachronisms, since wristwatches and Fords didn’t exist during their day.
So, Steve Ray’s main points
here are 1) Paul did not write specifically to us, 2) Paul didn’t know anything
of a “Catholic-Protestant” debate back in his day, and 3) Applying Paul’s
teaching in Romans and Galatians to the present day Catholic-Protestant debate
is out of touch with reality in the sense that it is anachronistic.
But first of all, Ray’s point
that “Paul didn’t write to us” is actually untrue and Ray is simply using this
as a diversion. Now, of course, we all
know that Paul was not purposely writing SPECIFICALLY to us in the twenty-first century.
But the title of Ray’s article and his opening comments seem to suggest that
Paul’s writings don’t apply to us today in
any way.
But with this kind of
reasoning, why should we obey any of the Ten
Commandments today? Would Ray say
that since these also were not specifically
written to us, but to Old Testament
Jews, therefore, they are not to be observed by modern Christians? He obviously wouldn’t say that! So why does Ray even bring up this point? Why use this deceptive title? Again, this is simply a diversion that he
uses to try and weaken or disregard the biblical evidence found in Romans and
Galatians against Catholic teaching.
But in a real sense, Paul did indeed write to us through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Paul’s words were infallible and God-breathed
because they were Scripture (2 Timothy 3:15-17). And ALL Scripture was written to us,
indirectly, and ALL Scripture has some application for us today. Paul’s words were not only directed to the
people of his own day, but to all generations in the future, as well. The principles
within Scripture are always there, for every generation, to guide us into the
truth.
Furthermore, the fact that
Paul had never heard of a “Catholic-Protestant debate” is irrelevant. But Paul was certainly
very familiar with the substance of that debate. It is not just about “Jew versus
Gentile.” It is the argument of the Judaizers,
which was “faith plus works = salvation.”
But Paul specifically dealt
with this same problem in both the Roman church (Romans 3:19 thru 5:21) and
the Galatian church (epistle to the Galatians) in his day. So today we are still wrestling with the same
issues as they did back then. Yet, Ray
tries to spin this in such a way as to accuse Protestants of anachronism.
But the fact is, Ray contradicts
himself and admits at the end of the article that there is not really a problem
after all, since he confesses that:
“… even though Paul didn’t
specifically write his letters to us, if we study the cultural climate in which
they were written, and stay faithful to the tradition in which they were passed
on to us, the Holy Spirit (the
primary author of the letters) will help
us apply the principles and truth of those letters to our current situation.”
(Emphasis added)
Notice the bold print. Ray now admits that the Holy Spirit is able
to help us apply these same biblical principles to our situation today. But this is what we already said earlier. So, where is the anachronism now? First, he says that the principles in Romans and Galatians are anachronistic
(don’t apply today), and now he’s saying that they do apply today (with the Holy Spirit’s help). But if it applies today, then it is not an
anachronism. Steve Ray is backpedaling
and admitting that there IS no “huge problem” here. What starts off as his main complaint is now
dismissed as no problem at all! Confusion
indeed.
But perhaps he would say that
the biblical principles would only apply within the context of “Catholic
Tradition,” but there is nothing in Tradition that can offset the clear message
of unearned salvation in the inspired books of Romans and Galatians.
No, the real “huge problem”
is that Catholics often ignore context
in those sections of Romans and Galatians that
actually deal with the specific doctrine of justification, and they try to
add their works to their faith in order to earn
salvation, as we have demonstrated elsewhere on this blog. But, tragically, in combining their own works with Jesus’ work on the
cross, Catholics are telling Jesus that His work and suffering was just not
enough, thus bringing upon themselves the same curse that the first-century
Judaizers brought upon their own selves (Galatians 1:8-9; 3:10-11; 5:1-4). See this link:
See also these other related
articles:
