tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588905705506605875.post144287599966462881..comments2024-03-15T09:07:15.798-07:00Comments on NICK'S CATHOLIC BLOG: Not by works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. Does Romans 11:6 refute Catholicism?Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01453168437883536663noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588905705506605875.post-69356094612552976292020-03-23T16:16:52.720-07:002020-03-23T16:16:52.720-07:00Hello Anthony,
I agree that we should be careful...Hello Anthony, <br /><br />I agree that we should be careful with the term "alone". I don't recall saying we are saved by "grace alone," but there is a sense in which this is true, for example the Council of Trent says Sanctifying Grace is the "sole" formal cause of our Justification. <br /><br />I think the main issue with the mainstream Catholic explanation of Justification is that it not only borrows heavily from Protestant thinking, it doesn't really explain the Catholic view in any depth, and it doesn't recognize the core problems with the Protestant view.<br /><br />As for Joint Declarations and such, I don't hold those statements in much regard, since they are very surface level. If you have read my other posts, you will see that I am very adamant about not granting anything to either side that is not genuinely accurate. So I do not grant that Protestant hold to being saved by grace in the proper sense. <br /><br />As for your second post, I think you're misunderstanding my claims. If you follow the links in my original post, you will see that I have covered those topics. Like I said, I don't follow the mainstream Catholic apologetics claims nor do I rehash the same old arguments. <br /><br />Nickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01453168437883536663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588905705506605875.post-40248388872521606072020-03-21T04:33:14.844-07:002020-03-21T04:33:14.844-07:00"Given the above, we should expect the proper..."Given the above, we should expect the proper understanding of Romans 11:6 to be about God saving people apart from their ethnic lineage, namely saving a person regardless if they are biologically Jewish."<br /><br />Being Jewish is not biological. Jew is a religious category. The ancient Jews were Hebrews who observed the law of Moses. Before the law was given, there were no Jews. <br /><br />"Paul is saying there was a time in Salvation History when "works," that is biological lineage, was the central focus."<br /><br />He wasn't referring to lineage in Romans 11:6, he was referring to the works of the law of Moses, as you said earlier in the article. He meant circumcision, animal sacrifices, observance of the sabbath and new moons, tithes and other things commanded in the decrees of the law. <br /><br />Ephesians 2:[14] For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and breaking down the middle wall of partition, the enmities in his flesh: [15] Making void the law of commandments contained in decrees; that he might make the two in himself into one new man, making peace; [16] And might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross, killing the enmities in himself. <br /><br />Colossians 2:16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a festival day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbaths. Anthony Puccettihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03101140777265815858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588905705506605875.post-83575742832093905942020-03-21T03:25:33.687-07:002020-03-21T03:25:33.687-07:00Nick, the Church doesn't teach that we are sav...Nick, the Church doesn't teach that we are saved by grace alone. There is no magisterial teaching which says that. It is a protestant concept that some Catholic ecumenics and apologists (some of them former protestants such as James Akin) have been promoting since the Joint Declaration on Justification of 1999. This declaration has no authority. <br /><br />The word alone is exclusive. To say grace alone is to exclude everything else that the Church and scripture say are necessary or helpful for salvation: baptism, faith, prayer, repentance, the sacrament of reconciliation, penance, obedience to the commandments of God and the Church (good works), the eucharist, the intercession of the Blessed Virgin and the saints. Even though Catholic apologists who say we are saved by grace alone do not mean to exclude these things, that is what the words grace alone suggest. That grace is involved with everything pertaining to salvation does not justify saying grace alone. The concept of grace alone suggests the protestant error of mongerism. <br /><br />See these articles. <br />http://www.catholic365.com/article/4261/together-we-confess-by-grace-alone.html<br />http://www.catholic365.com/article/2330/not-by-any-of-the-5-alones.html?fb_comment_id=1092966547382953_1093007880712153Anthony Puccettihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03101140777265815858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588905705506605875.post-30230123896452342572020-01-31T09:07:37.455-08:002020-01-31T09:07:37.455-08:00Thanks Nick. I look forward to it.Thanks Nick. I look forward to it.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10410377966922363089noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588905705506605875.post-35717944903290498242020-01-28T22:24:23.242-08:002020-01-28T22:24:23.242-08:00Mr Unknown, I will make a post this week on that I...Mr Unknown, I will make a post this week on that Isaiah 64:6 passage.Nickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01453168437883536663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588905705506605875.post-68140110021298551802020-01-21T15:20:28.135-08:002020-01-21T15:20:28.135-08:00Unknown: Isaiah 64:6 isn't about good works. T...Unknown: Isaiah 64:6 isn't about good works. Those "acts" are, the works by which we pretended to make ourselves just. This is spoken particularly of the sacrifices, sacraments, and ceremonies of the Jews, after the death of Christ, and the promulgation of the new law. <br />The justice which is under the law is stated uncleanness, when compared with evangelical purity, Philippians iii. 8.<br />"If any one after the gospel....would observe the ceremonies of the law, let him hear the people confessing that all that justice is compared to a most filthy rag." (St. Jerome) <br />The good works which are done by grace, and not by man alone, cannot be said to be of this description. They constitute the internal glory of man, and God will one day crown these his gifts. Of ourselves indeed we can do nothing, and the works of the Mosaic law will not avail, as St. Paul inculcates; but those works, point out the saint, which are preformed by charity with faith in Christ. This justice is not imputed only, but real; and shews where true faith exists, according to St. James. Thus the apostles explain each other. <br />To practise the Jewish rites would now be sinful. Reksiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01844978129657675007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588905705506605875.post-17955056349667005362020-01-21T09:28:41.211-08:002020-01-21T09:28:41.211-08:00I searched your site to see if you ever posted on ...I searched your site to see if you ever posted on Isaiah 64 and did not find anything:<br /><br /> “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away” (Isaiah 64:6).<br /><br />Isaiah even includes himself, a prophet of God, in the description, saying “we” and “our.” Grace inspired good works do not justify. They only come about as a result of our justification. Faith is the instrument of our justification, and good works accompany such a saving faith. <br />Martin Luther said, “The most damnable and pernicious heresy that has ever plagued the mind of man is that somehow he can make himself good enough to deserve to live forever with an all-holy God.”Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10410377966922363089noreply@blogger.com