Catholic Doctrine Bible Study

5:2 Paul speaks of HOPE of (seeing) the glory of God.  Meaning: our journey to heaven is not complete yet, we must persevere in our following of Christ, through acceptance of His graces. (It’s not “Once saved, always saved”, as many Protestants would say......if that were the case, there would be no need for HOPE!) 5:3 No pain, no gain!  Our troubles should strengthen our resolve to follow Christ. 5:8 God loves us just the way we are....but He loves us too much to want us to STAY that way. 6 Grace!...Baptism! 7 The law doesn’t save you, it only shows you what’s wrong with you, like looking into a mirror.  Grace saves you! As Catholics, we realize that grace BEGINS our process of salvation, is with us DURING our process ( Sacraments give grace!) as we grow in Christ, and is with us at the END of life if we accept and cooperate with the Grace given us.

3:28 As a review, Martin Luther’s theology is that we are saved by Grace through “faith alone”, though this verse doesn’t say that.  (He claimed it does!) Martin said there was no place for “works” in our salvation, though the only verse in the entire Bible where the words “faith” and “alone” are together is James 2:24, which says, “See how a person is justified by works and NOT BY FAITH ALONE!!!!  The Catholic Church (The only Church started by Christ, the Church given the keys to the kingdom and the power to bind and loose, the Church given the Holy Spirit to guide it into all truth, and the Church that preceded Martin by 1500 years (Martin missed the 1st 3/4 of the history of Christianity!) has consistently taught that salvation is by grace as evidenced by works.  (Read all of James Chapter 2 to see this relationship between “faith” and “works.”  It’s not either/or, it’s both/and!!) Another example of “works” playing a part in our salvation is in the PREVIOUS CHAPTER OF ROMANS!!!  (Fortunately, Chapter 2 comes before Chapter 3!!!) 4:3 Read this verse) We will see when we study the book of Genesis that Abraham demonstrated his faith by a “work” in Gn. chapter 12, yet his “faith was credited to him as righteousness” later, in Gn. chapter 15, so his faith and works went TOGETHER. Also, again, read James 2:21-23. You may want to listen to Session 81 and 82 more than once.....lots to grasp!

Paul is clear in Chapter 12 that our works are an essential part of our salvation. V12-16  Even those that know nothing about God understand the Natural Law, (actions that are intuitively bad) so they will still  be judged by God according to their  “works.” (What they DO.) V17-24 Paul says that for the Jew,  since he has knowledge of the law, will also be judged by their “works.” 2:25-29  To the Jew, Paul then talks about another type of “works”....keeping Jewish ceremonial law, in these verses, circumcision.  Paul says these works will not save you. 3:9-20 We are all sinners, and none of us “deserves” salvation.  We are saved by God’s grace! (V24)  (But we must choose to cooperate with this gift of grace. ) God even gives us the grace to cooperate, but we have free will to accept grace or not.  This takes us to 3:28.  Luther added to scripture by saying that we are justified by faith “alone.”  It simply doesn’t say that!!!  (See Chapters 1 and 2 for context.!!!!) To be sure, we must have faith, but that faith is not merely an intellectual assent;  it is a faith lived out in our actions.  (Remember the “wheelbarrow” story!)  And, faith is never alone!  (Remember the “hot dog” story!) More on this issue of salvation and 3:28 next session.

1:28 “God handed them over to.....do what is improper”  does not mean that God gives up on those who sin. (Which is ALL of us!)  It means that God gives us free will, and God won’t force you to have a relationship with Him.  (He will welcome us back if we desire God and forgiveness, no matter what we’ve done.) v29-31 Excellent verses to ponder as we do a frequent Examination of Conscience. 2:1-5 We are to judge actions, not another person’s salvation . Also, we frequently don’t know what is going on in another person’s life that may cause a certain behavior. 2:6-10 Paul mentions 4x in 5 verses the importance of doing good “works” and avoiding bad works in seeking eternal life.  (Here, he is using the term “works” to refer to good or bad acts and thoughts, as is clear by his thoughts in vs. 1-5) This idea of “works” having something to do with our salvation is in contrast with Martin Luther’s and many other Protestant churches’ idea that we are saved by “faith alone.”  (More on this when we cover Romans 3 in the context of Romans 2-4 and James 2:24)

In Paul’s letters, he frequently uses each of the 3 words that Christians disagree on the meaning of:  “Faith”, “Works“, and “Believe.”  We must look at ALL of Paul’s writings to determine what he means by each of these terms.  (We can’t pull out an isolated verse and build an entire theology on that verse!!) We will see that Paul emphasizes salvation through Grace , through faith as demonstrated by our works. (To further confuse things, Paul sometimes refers to Works as what we would call “good deeds”,  and other times he refers to Works as keeping Jewish Laws, such as circumcision for males, Jewish Dietary Laws, Jewish Cleanliness Laws, and Jewish Traditions.  It’s essential to know which of these 2 types of “Works” he’s talking about to avoid radically different theologies of salvation.  (We’ll cover them as they come up.) 1:20 Perhaps the easiest points to make for the existence of God are observing what has been created, and the complexity, order and interdependence of creation.  (To think that everything is  merely random chance requires more “faith” than I have!!) 1:24-27 Paul comments about the sinful ACT of homosexuality.  (Not to be confused with same-sex ATTRACTION, which in itself is not a sin.)  See CCC paragraphs (all 3 of them) 2357, 2358, and 2359.

Acts 20 - 28: 20:19-24 Paul committed himself to a cause that was greater than himself.  Read these verses.  Will you be able to say this about yourself at the end of your journey? 21:20-26  Paul agreed to go along with this Old Testament purification ritual because he was obedient to the Church....it probably wasn’t HIS preference, but the leaders thought it was best, at that time and place, to keep the Church together.    We follow the Church! Paul planned to visit Rome years before he ever set foot there.  He endured imprisonment, beatings, and shipwrecks.  He arrived in chains, not as a free man.  (No Prosperity Gospel here!) The Christian walk is not easy, but Paul knew his purpose (and ours!) was to spread the Gospel, and eternity with Christ is worth the suffering we will endure. Map: https://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/CNM26-PaultoRome.gif Timeline of St. Paul's Life and Missionary Journeys: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/569543b4bfe87360795306d6/t/577d67356b8f5b54343a8d6e/1467836213293/st._paul_timeline.pdf

Acts 20-28 Key Points: 20:19-24 Paul committed himself to a cause that was greater than himself.  Read these verses.  Will you be able to say this about yourself at the end of your journey? 21:20-26  Paul agreed to go along with this Old Testament purification ritual because he was obedient to the Church....it probably wasn’t HIS preference, but the leaders thought it was best, at that time and place, to keep the Church together.    We follow the Church! Paul planned to visit Rome years before he ever set foot there.  He endured imprisonment, beatings, and shipwrecks.  He arrived in chains, not as a free man.  (No Prosperity Gospel here!) The Christian walk is not easy, but Paul knew his purpose (and ours!) was to spread the Gospel, and eternity with Christ is worth the suffering we will endure. Map: https://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/CNM26-PaultoRome.gif Timeline of St. Paul's Life and Missionary Journeys: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/569543b4bfe87360795306d6/t/577d67356b8f5b54343a8d6e/1467836213293/st._paul_timeline.pdf

v.18-20 The magicians burned their magic books worth over $2.5 million after becoming believers.  (What do you need to get rid of in your life that is preventing you from a closer relationship with Christ?) 3rd Missionary Journey Map: https://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/CNM21-Pauls3rdJourney.gif

Paul experiences more rejection than acceptance, just as we will, as we share Christ with others.  But, it’s our job to evangelize!! The Holy Spirit makes the converts.  We plant and water the seeds. We are not ultimately responsible for the harvest. 17:11 (A verse used by many Protestants that they feel supports their (incorrect) doctrine of “Sola Scriptura.”) (The “Bible Alone.”)  First, the scriptures the Beroeans referred to were Old Testament books (probably prophesies of the coming Messiah) which we would totally agree with.  They certainly were not New Testament books, because none had been written yet!  Secondly, if they insist that all doctrines must be explicit to be followed, you could ask them if they accept the doctrine of the Trinity!  (They do, of course, but that doctrine is one of many that is implicit, but not explicit.  We need the Church, the only Church started by Christ, to guide us in our understanding of Scripture and our relationship with God.) 17:22-31  Note Paul’s evangelism strategy here.  His audience didn’t know the one true God, so the Bible would have had no meaning to them ....at that point.  Instead, he finds things in common....general spirituality, Greek poet quotes.   We must relate to people on their level when we begin talking to them about Christ. 18:1-26 With Aquilla and Priscilla, again we see that what looks like bad circumstances(being forced to leave Rome) works wonders for God’s Kingdom.  God put you where you are for a reason!

1) 15:5-25 The Church, with Peter as the head, made the Council decision  that circumcision and most Jewish dietary requirements no longer needed to be observed.  They didn’t go by “Sola Scriptura” (“The Bible Alone”).  In fact, they went AGAINST Levitical law.  They exercised the “binding-and-loosing” power given Peter in Mt. 16:17-20. 2)The disagreement, and separation, of Paul and Barnabas ultimately caused the Universal Church to grow! (God can use seemingly negative events to affect positive growth.) 3) Timothy set his rights (to not be circumcised!) aside to eliminate an obstacle toward sharing the Gospel with Jews.  (What rights do we have that we can we set aside to spread the Word?) 4) 15:16-24 “No good deed goes unpunished”, or so it seems sometimes in the short run.  Paul cast out a spirit from the slave girl, and was imprisoned for it!  (The slave girl’s owners were more interested in the money she had been making for them than for her or their spiritual condition.  Don’t fall into the same bad priorities!) 5) 15:25-35  Yet, because of what happened during Paul’s imprisonment, the jailer’s family came to faith in God. (See #2 above in parentheses!) 6) Baptism!  And perhaps for small children! (We don’t know how old the jailer’s children were, but the whole family was baptized at the same time.)  They didn’t wait until they each could make a “decision.”  The seed of the Holy Spirit should be planted ASAP. Map - https://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/CNM19-Pauls2ndJourney.gif