How Can the Catholic Church Claim to Teach Salvation by Faith?

Dr. Karlo Broussard delves into the Catholic Church's stance on salvation by faith. By analyzing key passages from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, he clarifies the role of faith, baptism, and good works in the process of justification. Karlo addresses the common misconception that the Catholic Church teaches salvation by works, providing a clear and concise explanation of the Church's teaching on the matter. This discussion is essential for anyone seeking to understand the Catholic Church's doctrine of salvation and its relationship to the Protestant doctrine of sola fide.

[gustavomontemayor]

Karlo, beautiful explanation. You the man! So thorough

[Sotmh]

He’s correct about baptism! Perfect explanation

[DavidFarrington]

I find it interesting that you made a video based on my question.

[mikerose]

If you read the Gospels, God the son says it over and over, again and again that we have to believe and comply with his teachings. Christ defines faith as a belief in who he is and what he says. We know there can be no salvation without love because you cant commune with God who is love unless you love others. And love without works becomes ABSOLUTELY USELESS. You can say you love your kids all you want but if you dont do anything good for them then that love is absolutely useless. Therefore faith with out works is useless. If you dont believe and obey the words of christ then you are the House built on the sand.

[calizz-chalice]

Having faith in Jesus doesn't only mean believing in Him but also believing in everything He and His apostles taught, for example, the fact that the bible teaches that each one is going to be judged according to his works, otherwise it wouldn't have been included in sacred scripture

[BigStack-vgku]

I love the CC teachings on Salvation. I appreciate this apostolate. Lord Jesus Christ please protect and prosper this teaching arm of your church!

[grantbartley]

I'm a Protestant. The NT word for faith, 'pistis', means trusting God in Christ in the sort of way that a soldier would trust his commander. That implies seeking to follow his commands. So the Biblical word 'faith' implies works, although it is the faith that saves, not the works. Bringing James in, we can also say that works are what makes the faith alive, and so helps continue someone in that faith, remembering that it is those who believe to the end who are saved.

[devashishmallick]

Hi, while praying the rosary why do catholics pray more 'Hail Mary' and only one 'Glory be', why praying to Mary 10 times and praying to God only one?

[darrellperez]

Amen. John 14:15. Jesus too said "if you love Me, you will keep My commandments. " No commandments says faith alone or follow a book for salvation.

[ClergetMusic]

Fidelity comes from the word fide. Fidelity implies a duty, loyalty. Not just simple belief.

[FranKern-js]

Genuine faith is a 3-demensional word - that includes mental assent, charity and actions. "Faith without works is dead." (James 2:14-26)

[TheCatholicNerd]

See this is the problem with sola fide. I mean you read St. Paul and you can come away with that understanding if you're reading it in isolation, look at it in the greater context... But when young man asked Jesus what he needed to do to be saved He was told to observe the commandments. Peter tells people to repent and be baptized. I don't think you can look at one of these figures and come up with a two-word phrase on how you get salvation. You have to take the whole of scripture. Yeah, Faith is the starting point but you have to live in the Lord by following the commandments and receiving the sacraments. And when we fail to follow the commands, we need to repent and be forgiven.

[Shevock]

I am saved by Grace. As a Catholic Christian I don't worry or talk about Justification as much as Protestants do. But the covenant is a familial relationship. If I find myself in a low point with my wife, such as happens, as a Catholic I don't get divorced. Jesus told us not to. Rather I work on that relationship. Same with my familial relationship with God. As for baptism saving, you can't be a Bible believing Christian and think it doesn't. Read your Bible! You have to understand it in some way, and theology gives us a way, but you need more so to accept the Bible, which says clearly baptism saves.

[rexlion]

CCC 2068, "The Council of Trent teaches that the Ten Commandments are obligatory for Christians and that the justified man is still bound to keep them; the Second Vatican Council confirms: "The bishops, successors of the apostles, receive from the Lord . . . the mission of teaching all peoples, and of preaching the Gospel to every creature, so that all men may attain salvation through faith, Baptism and the observance of the Commandments."

The implication of 2068 is that there are 3 necessary prerequisites for salvation, which means that when a Catholic says "we believe in salvation through faith, " he's being disingenuous. The Catholic believes in a salvation through faith + baptism + observance of commandments. IOW, if the Catholic says that we are saved through faith, he is implying that he agrees with the proposition that faith _is enough_ to save a person, when in reality he is bearing false witness concerning his true beliefs.

The concept of "initial justification" is an artificial theological construct found nowhere in the Bible, and setting "initial justification" as a separate state from "salvation" or "final justification" has no support in Scripture. Romans 3:10-5:19 contains the most detailed Apostolic teaching on the subject of the Christian's justification/righteousness, and it never says that our justification is merely an "initial" dose, or that it is anything less than _full and complete._ After all, it is only by God's grace that we can be justified, and grace (by definition) is a gift... an undeserved, un-earnable, freely-given, no-strings-attached gift. Paul explains that the one who is justified through faith apart from works has been restored to peace with God, and he draws _an equivalence_ between justification and eternal life.

What should 'clue in' everyone to the falsity of Catholic doctrine is their perversion of the truth taught in Scripture that we are justified by God's gift of grace through faith; the church of Rome nonetheless teaches that the Catholic is justified _through baptism._ Anyone with an eighth-grade-level reading ability should be able to see that nowhere in this seminal teaching on justification does it say that one can be justified through baptism.

But the Roman Catholic doctrinal train wreck doesn't stop there!
CCC 2010, "...Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life."
CCC 2027, "Moved by the Holy Spirit, we can merit for ourselves and for others all the graces needed to attain eternal life, as well as necessary temporal goods."
RC doctrine also specifies that the Catholic can merit the graces he needs for eternal life _for himself._ This is heresy! Of course, the writers included a "technical loophole" for themselves by mentioning the moving of the Holy Spirit. But the base premise that a human can _merit grace for salvation_ is so totally false and unScriptural, it cannot be salvaged by the mere mention that God is actually involved at working through the person. If our works are the work of the Holy Spirit, then the CCC should say so and be done! None of this "we can merit for ourselves" should ever have been stated.

[soteriology]

The Roman Catholic Church baptizes without faith. Faith comes by hearing, and those who gladly received the word were baptized.

[Pedromike-md]

Praise to God Almighty!!!!'m favoured, $140k every 3weeks! I can now give back to the locals in my community and also support God's work and the church. God bless America 🇺🇸❤️❤️❤️❤️

[noahaustin]

See what’s confusing about your answer is that you said “baptism is the instrument by which faith is infused into an individual”. The Scripture shows time and time again that individuals respond in faith and part of that response is obedience through baptism. I do not know of a moment in scripture where there is not faith before baptism.

[wonderingpilgrim]

can do nothing to earn our initial salvation, but then we have to work really hard to keep it?

[louisvega-oesc]

Abraham beleived God and it was counted to him as rightiousness: he was justified by, faith and not by works, Roman's 4:1-5:

[ChristeEleison]

One problem with people who are not Catholic reading the Catechism is that they don’t submit themselves to God