95-Disputations Regarding Grace, Faith, Christ, Scripture, and the Church Statements on Systematic Theology and the Church History in Refutation of Romanism

Dedicated to Pope Benedict XVI

That the blind may see; that the deaf may hear.  Amen.

“for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls…So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.”  (Romans 9:11, 16 NASB)

Out of love and passion for the sacred truth of Christ from the sacred pages of Christ in divine Scripture manifested in sacred Reformed theology, I have supplied points on theology in sincere and holy opposition to Romanism.  The citations are either from the 1994 or Second Edition Catechism of the Catholic Church.  These citations are provided to arrive at the doctrinal positions of Rome.  These 94 Points are meant to expose the abuses and tyranny of Rome regarding doctrine, and expose the converts to Rome from Protestantism, and to bring the truth of Scripture to a dark world.  The doctrinal positions of Rome reveal that it is a state of impenitence to the God of the Reformed faith.  In these proclamations one eternally important point echoes throughout: Repent and be converted.  Live a life of life-long repentance to the all-sufficient Savior.  Save yourselves from this wicked generation (Acts 2:40).  As a committed Reformed Baptist, here Petillo proclaims with Luther, “Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise.”  I hereby proclaim that divine Scripture is the supreme authority for the Christian, and, therefore we are not bound to the “church” of Rome. 

These blessed proclamations are not meant in the spirit of “Anti-Catholicism,” cruel hatred, profane arrogance, vain rhetoric or physical violence.  This small book is in spirit of the five solas of the Reformation:  sola scriptura, soli deo Gloria, solo Christo, sola gratia, sola fide.  This small book is meant in the spirit of unity in Christ with brothers and sisters of Protestantism (those that embrace the essentials of biblical Christianity).  It is especially meant for those in Presbyterianism (who truly embrace the Westminster Confession of Faith).  It is the assertion by Petillo that Protestants have forgotten why they are Protestants (as other Reformed thinkers have noted).  It is my hope that the truth of divine Scripture will shine brighter then the sun, and all the jewels of Rome.  This small book is meant in the spirit of gentleness and reverence and correction.  Anyone wishing to debate these points should respond in writing.  I hereby proclaim Scripture as all-sufficient, grace as all-sufficient, Christ as all-sufficient and God as all-sufficient (e.g., therefore, we do not need to pray to saints or angels).  To the God of the Reformed faith be all glory, honor, praise, worship and dominion forevermore.  Amen.

In passing, my beloved, do not trust dramatic attempts by Rome or old Romanism (of Vatican I) in seeking unity, because it is meant to destroy Orthodoxy and the Reformed faith, and others of Christianity.  Do not unite under the coming Lawless One nor should you unite under the delusion that is to follow it.  My beloved, whence cometh you conversion?

Before the conversion of John Henry Newman, he asserted an irrefutable position, of which he was not able to refute after his conversion to Romanism:

“I am but showing how Romanists reconcile their abstract reverence for Antiquity with their Romanism,--with their creed, and their notion of the Church’s infallibility in declaring it; how small their success is, and how great their unfairness, is another question. Whatever judgment we form either of their conduct or its issue, such is the fact, that they extol the Fathers as a whole, and disparage them individually; they call them one by one Doctors of the Church, yet they explain away one by one their arguments, judgments, and testimony. They refuse to combine their separate and coincident statements; they take each by himself, and settle with the first before they go to the next. And thus their boasted reliance on the Fathers comes, at length, to this,--to identify Catholicity with the decrees of Councils, and to admit those Councils only which the Pope has confirmed” (John Henry Newman, Lectures on the Prophetical Office of the Church: Viewed Relatively to Romanism and Popular Protestantism, 2nd ed. (London: Gilbert & Rivington, 1838), pp. 70-71).

Romanism claims the following things about itself:  The Magisterium claims to be a servant to Scripture.  Roman Catechism 86 "Yet this Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but is its servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it. At the divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens to this devotedly, guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully. All that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is drawn from this single deposit of faith."  The Magisterium decides what is and is not dogma:  Roman Catechism 88 The Church's Magisterium exercises the authority it holds from Christ to the fullest extent when it defines dogmas, that is, when it proposes, in a form obliging the Christian people to an irrevocable adherence of faith, truths contained in divine Revelation or also when it proposes, in a definitive way, truths having a necessary connection with these.  The magisterium is allegedly the teaching authority on Scripture and Tradition:  Roman Catechism 93 "By this appreciation of the faith, aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth, the People of God, guided by the sacred teaching authority (Magisterium),. . . receives. . . the faith, once for all delivered to the saints. . . The People unfailingly adheres to this faith, penetrates it more deeply with right judgment, and applies it more fully in daily life."  The Church allegedly works with Scripture and Tradition:  Roman Catechism 95 "It is clear therefore that, in the supremely wise arrangement of God, sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church are so connected and associated that one of them cannot stand without the others. Working together, each in its own way, under the action of the one Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to the salvation of souls."  Only the Roman Magisterium allegedly authentically interprets Scripture and Tradition:  Roman Catechism 100 The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with him.  God’s people are allegedly guided by the Magisterium:  Roman Catechism 889 In order to preserve the Church in the purity of the faith handed on by the apostles, Christ who is the Truth willed to confer on her a share in his own infallibility. By a "supernatural sense of faith" the People of God, under the guidance of the Church's living Magisterium, "unfailingly adheres to this faith."  Infallibility is allegedly in the Roman Pontiff and his papal successors:  Roman Catechism 891 "The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful - who confirms his brethren in the faith he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals. . . . The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when, together with Peter's successor, they exercise the supreme Magisterium," above all in an Ecumenical Council. When the Church through its supreme Magisterium proposes a doctrine "for belief as being divinely revealed," and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions "must be adhered to with the obedience of faith." This infallibility extends as far as the deposit of divine Revelation itself.  The Magisterium allegedly preserves God’s people from departing from the faith:  Roman Catechism 890 The mission of the Magisterium is linked to the definitive nature of the covenant established by God with his people in Christ. It is this Magisterium's task to preserve God's people from deviations and defections and to guarantee them the objective possibility of professing the true faith without error. Thus, the pastoral duty of the Magisterium is aimed at seeing to it that the People of God abides in the truth that liberates. To fulfill this service, Christ endowed the Church's shepherds with the charism of infallibility in matters of faith and morals. The exercise of this charism takes several forms:  The allegedly universal Magisterium of the Pope teaches God’s people what to believe:  Roman Catechism 2034 The Roman Pontiff and the bishops are "authentic teachers, that is, teachers endowed with the authority of Christ, who preach the faith to the people entrusted to them, the faith to be believed and put into practice." The ordinary and universal Magisterium of the Pope and the bishops in communion with him teach the faithful the truth to believe, the charity to practice, the beatitude to hope for.  The Magisterium allegedly extends to doctrine and savings truths of the faith:  Roman Catechism 2051 The infallibility of the Magisterium of the Pastors extends to all the elements of doctrine, including moral doctrine, without which the saving truths of the faith cannot be preserved, expounded, or observed.               

                Here we see the supreme authority in Romanism: the Roman Church.  The ultimate question is, is her interpretations of divine Scripture compatible with authentic, biblical Christianity (found exclusively on the Bible)?  Are her claims of supreme authority compatible with Scripture and the early church fathers?  In our investigation we shall see the vast and eternal gulf that exists between divine Scripture and the doctrinal tyranny of the Roman church.  Oh, come divine Spirit, and guide, direct, and transform the souls to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

In the name of Jesus Christ my Incarnate Lord and Redeemer.  Amen.

1.       The Scriptures are God-breathed, and they are all-sufficient.  Divine Scripture:  2 Timothy 3:16-17:  “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”  (NASB).  This is the Protestant doctrine of sola scriptura.  Here we side with the great Augustine:  “At the same time, as I have said already, it is to the canonical Scriptures alone that I am bound to yield such implicit subjection as to follow their teaching, without admitting the slightest suspicion that in them any mistake or any statement intended to mislead could find a place." (The Confessions of St. Augustine, Letter LXXXII, Sec. 24).  Additionally, Melito of Sardis, Cyril of Jerusalem and Athanasius had a canon before any council decided what the Bible would be.  The canon of Athanasius was vastly different then what the Roman church says the canon should be.  If someone says we needed an infallible proclamation on the issue of the canon, it did not happen until Trent.  How is it that men knew what the canon was before such a “council?”  How is it that one of the greatest battles were fought (that is, against Arianism)?  This thoroughly demonstrates back in the early church that the canon was thoroughly Protestant (there was no need for an alleged infallible decision):  even Origen, Melito of Sardis and Jerome all rejected the Apocryphal books.  Roman Catechism 80 "Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together, and communicate one with the other. For both of them, flowing out from the same divine well-spring, come together in some fashion to form one thing, and move towards the same goal." Each of them makes present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Christ, who promised to remain with his own "always, to the close of the age".  Roman Catechism 82 As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, "does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone.   Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence."  Roman Catechism 97 "Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God" (DV 10) in which, as in a mirror, the pilgrim Church contemplates God, the source of all her riches.

2.       The London Confession of Faith of 1689 (a subordinate standard to Scripture) states under Chapter 26: Of Church, “To each of these churches thus gathered, according to his mind declared in his word, he hath given all that power and authority, which is in any way needful for their carrying on that order in worship and discipline, which he hath instituted for them to observe; with commands and rules for the due and right exerting, and executing of that power.”  (Matthew 18:17, 18; 1 Corinthians 5:4, 5; 1 Corinthians 5:13; 2 Corinthians 2:6-8)…A particular church, gathered and completely organized according to the mind of Christ, consists of officers and members; and the officers appointed by Christ to be chosen and set apart by the church (so called and gathered), for the peculiar administration of ordinances, and execution of power or duty, which he intrusts them with, or calls them to, to be continued to the end of the world, are bishops or elders, and deacons.”  (Acts 20:17, 28; Philippians 1:1)  But Rome’s papal document states, CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH:  RESPONSES TO SOME QUESTIONS REGARDING CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE DOCTRINE ON THE CHURCH states, “Fifth Question: Why do the texts of the Council and those of the Magisterium since the Council not use the title of "Church" with regard to those Christian Communities born out of the Reformation of the sixteenth century?  Response: According to Catholic doctrine, these Communities do not enjoy apostolic succession in the sacrament of Orders, and are, therefore, deprived of a constitutive element of the Church. These ecclesial Communities which, specifically because of the absence of the sacramental priesthood, have not preserved the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic Mystery cannot, according to Catholic doctrine, be called "Churches" in the proper sense.” (Rome, June 29, 2007). 

3.       In response to the principle of the “unanimous content of the fathers” in Romanism I supply the following quotations:  “When one hears today the call for a return to a patristic interpretation of Scripture, there is often latent in it a recollection of Church documents that spoke at times of the "unanimous consent of the Fathers" as the guide for biblical interpretation.(fn. 23) But just what this would entail is far from clear. For, as already mentioned, there were Church Fathers who did use a form of the historical-critical method, suited to their own day, and advocated a literal interpretation of Scripture, not the allegorical. But not all did so. Yet there was no uniform or monolithic patristic interpretation, either in the Greek Church of the East, Alexandrian or Antiochene, or in the Latin Church of the West. No one can ever tell us where such a "unanimous consent of the fathers" is to be found, and Pius XII finally thought it pertinent to call attention to the fact that there are but few texts whose sense has been defined by the authority of the Church, "nor are those more numerous about which the teaching of the Holy Fathers is unanimous." (fn. 24) Joseph A. Fitzmyer, Scripture, The Soul of Theology (New York Paulist Press, 1994), p. 70.  “To imagine that the Church, at a given moment in its history, could hold as of a faith a point which had no statable support in Scripture, would amount to thinking that an article of faith could exist without bearing any relation to the centre of revelation, and thus attributing to the Church and its magisterium a gift equivalent to the charism of revelation, unless we postulate, gratuitously, the existence of an esoteric oral apostolic tradition, for which there exists no evidence whatsoever. It is an express principle of Catholic teaching that the Church can only define what has been revealed; faith can only have to do with what is formally guaranteed by God.” Yves M.-J. Congar, Tradition and Traditions An Historical and a Theological Essay (London Burns & Oates, 1966), p. 414.

4.       The Lord Jesus Christ is the only way to God the Father (not through the Roman Church), and through Him alone people can be saved (without personal faith in Christ no one can be saved).  Divine Scripture:  John 14:6: Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (NASB).  Acts 4:12:  “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."  (NASB).  Rome says she is necessary for salvation.  Roman Catechism 846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body: Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.  Rome offers a muddled gospel where Muslims profess the faith of Abraham.  Roman Catechism 841 The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."

5.       The Lord Jesus Christ alone cleanses His people from all sin, defilement, and uncleanness.  Divine Scripture:  Hebrews 1:3:  “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.  When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…”  (NASB).  Colossians 1:22:  “yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach…”  (NASB).  2 Peter 1:9:  “For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.”  (NASB).  1 John 1:9:  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  (NASB).  Roman Catechism 1030 All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.

6.       The Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of His Church (not the Pope in any way).  Divine Scripture:  Ephesians 1:22-23: “And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”  Under Chapter 26 entitled “Of the Church” the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 proclaims from Scripture,  “The Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the church, in whom, by the appointment of the Father, all power for the calling, institution, order or government of the church, is invested in a supreme and sovereign manner; neither can the Pope of Rome in any sense be head thereof, but is that antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ, and all that is called God; whom the Lord shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” (Colossians 1:18; Matthew 28:18-20; Ephesians 4:11, 12; 2 Thessalonians 2:2-9).  Roman Catechism 882 The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter's successor, "is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful." "For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered."  Roman Catechism 891 "The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful - who confirms his brethren in the faith he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals. . . . The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when, together with Peter's successor, they exercise the supreme Magisterium," above all in an Ecumenical Council. When the Church through its supreme Magisterium proposes a doctrine "for belief as being divinely revealed," and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions "must be adhered to with the obedience of faith." This infallibility extends as far as the deposit of divine Revelation itself.

7.       Christ will come again, and He is seated at the right hand of God (Hebrews 10:12).  Divine Scripture:  Acts 1:11:  “They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven."  (NASB).  Roman Catechism 1374 The mode of Christ's presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as "the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend." In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist "the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained." "This presence is called 'real' - by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be 'real' too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present."  Roman Catechism 1375 It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ's body and blood that Christ becomes present in this sacrament. The Church Fathers strongly affirmed the faith of the Church in the efficacy of the Word of Christ and of the action of the Holy Spirit to bring about this conversion. Thus St. John Chrysostom declares: It is not man that causes the things offered to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but he who was crucified for us, Christ himself. The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God's. This is my body, he says. This word transforms the things offered. And St. Ambrose says about this conversion: Be convinced that this is not what nature has formed, but what the blessing has consecrated. The power of the blessing prevails over that of nature, because by the blessing nature itself is changed. . . . Could not Christ's word, which can make from nothing what did not exist, change existing things into what they were not before? It is no less a feat to give things their original nature than to change their nature.  Roman Catechism 1376 The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring: "Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation.  Roman Catechism 1377 The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ.  Roman Catechism 1378 Worship of the Eucharist. In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord. "The Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the consecrated hosts with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful, and carrying them in procession."

8.        Christians are not saved by works but by God alone.  Divine Scripture:  Titus 3:5:  “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit…”  (NASB).  Ephesians 2:8-9:  “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  (NASB).  Psalm 49:7-8:  “No man can by any means redeem his brother or give to God a ransom for him--For the redemption of his soul is costly, and he should cease trying forever…”  (NASB).  2 Timothy 1:9:  “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity…”  (NASB).  The Roman Jesus merely opened heaven, and salvation is gained by grace and righteous deeds.  Roman Catechism 1026 By his death and Resurrection, Jesus Christ has "opened" heaven to us. The life of the blessed consists in the full and perfect possession of the fruits of the redemption accomplished by Christ. He makes partners in his heavenly glorification those who have believed in him and remained faithful to his will. Heaven is the blessed community of all who are perfectly incorporated into Christ.  Roman Catechism 1477 "This treasury includes as well the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are truly immense, unfathomable, and even pristine in their value before God. In the treasury, too, are the prayers and good works of all the saints, all those who have followed in the footsteps of Christ the Lord and by his grace have made their lives holy and carried out the mission in the unity of the Mystical Body."

9.       Salvation is exclusively found in the gospel.  Divine Scripture:  1 Corinthians 15:1-4:  "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures..."  (NASB).  Galatians 1:9:  "As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!"  (NASB).  Romanism teaches another gospel alien to divine Scripture by requiring church membership, purgatory, sacraments, meritorious masses, indulgences and baptism:  Roman Catechism 846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body: Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.  Roman Catechism 1030 All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.  Roman Catechism 1129 The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. "Sacramental grace" is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior.  Roman Catechism 1256 The ordinary ministers of Baptism are the bishop and priest and, in the Latin Church, also the deacon. In case of necessity, anyone, even a non-baptized person, with the required intention, can baptize, by using the Trinitarian baptismal formula. The intention required is to will to do what the Church does when she baptizes. The Church finds the reason for this possibility in the universal saving will of God and the necessity of Baptism for salvation.  Roman Catechism 1405 There is no surer pledge or dearer sign of this great hope in the new heavens and new earth "in which righteousness dwells," than the Eucharist. Every time this mystery is celebrated, "the work of our redemption is carried on" and we "break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live for ever in Jesus Christ."  Roman Catechism 1498 Through indulgences the faithful can obtain the remission of temporal punishment resulting from sin for themselves and also for the souls in Purgatory.

10.    Christians can know they are saved by the testimony of Scripture and testimony of the divine Spirit with their spirit.  Divine Scripture:  1 John 5:13:  “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”  (NASB).  Romans 8:16:  “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God…”  (NASB).  Under Chapter 18: Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation, the London Confession states, “This infallible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long, and conflict with many difficulties before he be partaker of it; yet being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given him of God, he may, without extraordinary revelation, in the right use of means, attain thereunto: and therefore it is the duty of every one to give all diligence to make his calling and election sure, that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience, the proper fruits of this assurance; -so far is it from inclining men to looseness.”  (Isaiah 50:10; Psalms 88; Psalms 77:1-12; 1 John 4:13; Hebrews 6:11, 12; Romans 5:1, 2, 5; Romans 14:17; Psalms 119:32; Romans 6:1,2; Titus 2:11, 12, 14).  Roman Catechism 2092 There are two kinds of presumption. Either man presumes upon his own capacities, (hoping to be able to save himself without help from on high), or he presumes upon God's almighty power or his mercy (hoping to obtain his forgiveness without conversion and glory without merit).

11.    The Bible teaches that all have sinned, and sin brings death.  It makes no distinction between venial and moral sins.  The Bible says all sin is moral sin.  Yet it also refers to degrees of sin (John 19:11).  Divine Scripture:  Romans 3:23:  “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”  (NASB).  Romans 6:23:  “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (NASB).  Venial sins do not bring death to the soul or everlasting torment.  Roman Catechism 1472 To understand this doctrine and practice of the Church, it is necessary to understand that sin has a double consequence. Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the "eternal punishment" of sin. On the other hand every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what is called the "temporal punishment" of sin. These two punishments must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin. A conversion which proceeds from a fervent charity can attain the complete purification of the sinner in such a way that no punishment would remain.

12.    The Bible teachings that the atonement of Christ was all-sufficient.  Divine Scripture:  John 19:30:  “Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”  (NASB).  Here “It is finished” literally means “paid in full.”  The atonement of Christ wholly sufficient, and therefore, nothing should be added to it.  Rome adds Purgatory to the gospel.  Roman Catechism 1473 The forgiveness of sin and restoration of communion with God entail the remission of the eternal punishment of sin, but temporal punishment of sin remains. While patiently bearing sufferings and trials of all kinds and, when the day comes, serenely facing death, the Christian must strive to accept this temporal punishment of sin as a grace. He should strive by works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer and the various practices of penance, to put off completely the "old man" and to put on the "new man."

13.    Salvation is wholly God not of man.  Divine Scripture:  Ephesians 1:13:  "In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise..."  (NASB).  John 1:13:  "who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God."  (NASB).  Roman Catechism 1213 Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua), and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: "Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word."  Roman Catechism 1215 This sacrament is also called "the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit," for it signifies and actually brings about the birth of water and the Spirit without which no one "can enter the kingdom of God." 

14.    Salvation is through faith alone not of faith and works.  Divine Scripture:  Ephesians 2:8-9:  "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."  (NASB). Roman Catechism 1477 "This treasury includes as well the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are truly immense, unfathomable, and even pristine in their value before God. In the treasury, too, are the prayers and good works of all the saints, all those who have followed in the footsteps of Christ the Lord and by his grace have made their lives holy and carried out the mission in the unity of the Mystical Body."  Roman Catechism 1479 Since the faithful departed now being purified are also members of the same communion of saints, one way we can help them is to obtain indulgences for them, so that the temporal punishments due for their sins may be remitted.

15.    Salvation is by grace alone but not by merit.  Divine Scripture:  Romans 3:24:  "being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus..."  (NASB).  Romans 11:6:  "But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace."  (NASB). Roman Catechism 2027 No one can merit the initial grace which is at the origin of conversion. 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.

16.    Rejection of salvation is the eternal consequence of eternal hell. 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9:  "dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power..."  (NASB).  1035 The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, "eternal fire." The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.

17.    Here we see in Holy Scripture that Jesus Christ is the sole sinless Redeemer.  Divine Scripture:  1 Peter 1:18-19:  “knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”  (NASB).  1 John 3:5:  “You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.”  (NASB).  Hebrews 7:26-27:  “For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.”  (NASB).  Hebrews 9:14:  “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”  (NASB).  1 Peter 1:19:  “but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”  (NASB).  We do not interpret Scripture in light of the church fathers.  We ought to interpret the church fathers in light of Scripture.  Sometimes the church fathers will maintain unbiblical teachings (e.g., Irenaeus claimed apostolic authority for teaching Jesus was more then fifty years old at His death).  We want to be careful how we handle the church fathers.  When they advocate a Scriptural teaching we cannot help to agree, and proclaim the same.  But, at the same time, we need to recognize their interpretation is fallible, limited, and finite.  They do not always correspond with divine Scripture.  We ought to read them fairly but with great caution.  According to Romanism, Mary’s suffering was redemptive (Lugwig Ott.  Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma.  Illinois:  Tan Books And Publishers, Inc., 1974), p. 213).  Rome offers another sinless Redeemer (see below) in their private interpretation of the early fathers, though they claim Papal supremacy.  It is the assertion of this author that Augustine refuted the Roman interpretation of coredemptrix.  This teaching was absent from the early fathers, but Augustine seems to address it indirectly.  “Mary was more blessed in accepting the faith of Christ than in conceiving the flesh of Christ.  To someone who said, “Blessed is the womb that bore you,” he replied, “Rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.”  Finally, for his brothers, his relatives according to the flesh who did not believe in him, of what advantage was that relationship?  Even her maternal relationship would have done Mary no good unless she had borne Christ more happily in her heart then in her flesh” (Arthur A. Just Jr.  Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture. New Testament III, Luke, (Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2003), p. 195).  Of what advantage was the relationship of Mary with Christ?  Was it not more blessed for Mary to bear her Son in her heart then in her flesh?  Are not we more blessed if we bear Christ in our hearts?  As a Reformed Baptist I believe the Virgin Birth; and Augustine is putting more blessedness on the spiritual relationship we have with Christ.  Here is the chief problem of Romanists: they do not bear Christ in their hearts, but seek after that which perishes.  Here I think Augustine, if he knew of it, would have said it is not the coredemptrix of Mary has any advantage; rather, it is the advantage of a spiritual relationship with Christ alone.  Roman Catechism 494 At the announcement that she would give birth to "the Son of the Most High" without knowing man, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary responded with the obedience of faith, certain that "with God nothing will be impossible": "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word." Thus, giving her consent to God's word, Mary becomes the mother of Jesus. Espousing the divine will for salvation wholeheartedly, without a single sin to restrain her, she gave herself entirely to the person and to the work of her Son; she did so in order to serve the mystery of redemption with him and dependent on him, by God's grace:  As St. Irenaeus says, "Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race." Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert. . .: "The knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by her faith." Comparing her with Eve, they call Mary "the Mother of the living" and frequently claim: "Death through Eve, life through Mary."

18.    The Lord Jesus Christ is our sole Advocate and Mediator (meaning Mary is not our Advocate or Mediator).  Divine Scripture:  1 Timothy 2:5:  “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…”  (NASB).  1 John 2:1:  “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.  And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous…”  (NASB).  Origen makes Scriptural statements about the term “advocate.”  Although he believed mistaken and heretical things in his theology, here Origen mentions any other Advocate but the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit (Gerald Bray.  Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture.  New Testament XI, James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude.  (Illinois: InterVarsity, 2000), p. 176).  We also see men like Clement of Alexandria, Gregory of Nazianzus, Ambrose of Milan, Augustine, Maximus of Turin, Andreas, Bede and Oecumenius; never mention any other Advocate save Christ (pp. 176-177).  Roman Catechism 969 "This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. . . . Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix."

19.    Only the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is acceptable before God as to remit sins.  Divine Scripture:  Hebrews 9:22:  “And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”  (NASB).  Hebrews 10:18:  “Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.”  (NASB).  Roman Catechism 1471 The doctrine and practice of indulgences in the Church are closely linked to the effects of the sacrament of Penance. What is an indulgence? "An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints."   "An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin." Indulgences may be applied to the living or the dead.

20.    The Lord Jesus Christ is the only means in which sin is expiated.  Divine Scripture:  Romans 3:25:  “whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.  This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed…”  (NASB).  Psalm 103:12:  “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”  (NASB).  1 Peter 2:21-25:  “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.”  (NASB).  Isaiah 53:1-12:  “Who has believed our message?  And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face.  He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.  He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.  By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.  As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.”  (NASB).    Here Rome teaches that sins are expiated in Purgatory.  Roman Catechism 1030 All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.  Roman Catechism 1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire: As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.  Roman Catechism 1472 To understand this doctrine and practice of the Church, it is necessary to understand that sin has a double consequence. Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the "eternal punishment" of sin. On the other hand every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what is called the "temporal punishment" of sin. These two punishments must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin. A conversion which proceeds from a fervent charity can attain the complete purification of the sinner in such a way that no punishment would remain.  Roman Catechism 1473 The forgiveness of sin and restoration of communion with God entail the remission of the eternal punishment of sin, but temporal punishment of sin remains. While patiently bearing sufferings and trials of all kinds and, when the day comes, serenely facing death, the Christian must strive to accept this temporal punishment of sin as a grace. He should strive by works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer and the various practices of penance, to put off completely the "old man" and to put on the "new man."  Roman Catechism 1474 The Christian who seeks to purify himself of his sin and to become holy with the help of God's grace is not alone. "The life of each of God's children is joined in Christ and through Christ in a wonderful way to the life of all the other Christian brethren in the supernatural unity of the Mystical Body of Christ, as in a single mystical person."  Roman Catechism 1475 In the communion of saints, "a perennial link of charity exists between the faithful who have already reached their heavenly home, those who are expiating their sins in purgatory and those who are still pilgrims on earth. Between them there is, too, an abundant exchange of all good things." In this wonderful exchange, the holiness of one profits others, well beyond the harm that the sin of one could cause others. Thus recourse to the communion of saints lets the contrite sinner be more promptly and efficaciously purified of the punishments for sin.

21.     The Lord Jesus Christ completed the work of redemption.  Divine Scripture:  Romans 6:10:  “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.”  (NASB). Hebrews 7:27-28: “who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.  For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.”  (NASB).  Hebrews 10:14: “For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”  (NASB).  Roman Catechism 1367 The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: "The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different." "And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner. . . this sacrifice is truly propitiatory."  Romans Catechism 1414 As sacrifice, the Eucharist is also offered in reparation for the sins of the living and the dead and to obtain spiritual or temporal benefits from God.

22.    “They who in their obedience attain to the greatest height which is possible in this life, are so far from being able to supererogate, and to do more than God requires, as that they fall short of much which in duty they are bound to do.”  (Job 9:2, 3; Galatians 5:17; Luke 17:10).  (London Confession, Chapter 16: Of Good Works).  But Romanists teach supererogatory merit refers to excess merit achieved by saints.  There is a treasury of merit which the church can supply to those lacking adequate merit to go from purgatory to heaven.  To the Christian this understanding should be utterly rejected because it is explicitly and plainly contradicts the sole merit of Christ imputed to the believing sinner.  Supererogatory merit includes the understanding of purgatory.  Purgatory is not a Christian concept but it is fundamentally opposed to the teaching of Scripture that there is only a heaven and a hell.  Christ is the all-sufficient Savior, and He saves His people in such a way that gets them directly to heaven without supererogatory merit.  Thus submit to the all-sufficient Savior. 

23.    Romanists teach condign merit.  It is regarding imposing an obligation for reward.  The Scripture teaches not that our service and return are meritorious but that the righteousness of Christ alone avails before God the Father. 

24.    Romanists teach congruous merit.  It is achieved by doing good works with the sacrament of penance.  The Scripture does not teach congruous merit but that, again, the merit of Christ alone is enough to avail before the Father. 

25.    In Colossians 1:24, some teach that Christ is insufficient.  But it does not teach that Christ’s atonement is insufficient in any way at all.  Christians should never understand Christ as insufficient in any way but they should understand Christ as the all-sufficient Savior and Redeemer who fully took the place of His beloved and elect people only.  2 Corinthians 11:3-4 teaches that many teach a different Jesus.  The Roman Catholic Jesus is not the Jesus of the Christian Bible.  Thus Christians should not embrace the Roman Jesus. 

26.    The 4^th Canon of the Council of Trent denies monergism and teaches cooperation in salvation.  Regarding this understanding, Christians must remember the actuality of the total depravity and inability of man, and God’s actual monergistic work in regeneration (John 3).  Man’s will is active in rebellion and sin against God.  Therefore man’s will is not inactive against God but he is actively sinning against God.  Man’s heart is hopelessly sick and always sins against God.  God must divinely intervene and change the rebel’s heart.  Unless God does this, man will remain hopelessly lost.

27.    The 11^th Canon of the Council of Trent denies the sole righteousness of Christ imputed to the sinner by faith alone, the remission of sins put wholly upon Christ and applied by His Spirit.  Christians must reject this canon, and always embrace the precious doctrine of the imputation of Christ alone.  To reject the imputation of Christ alone by faith alone is not without spiritual harm, and without it a sinner is lost forever if left in his natural state.

28.    Canon 9 of the Council of Trent denies the Reformation doctrine (founded upon Scripture alone) that the regenerate sinner is justified by faith alone.  Thus this Canon must be abhorred, and it must be rejected.  This canon contradicts Romans 3:20; 3:24; 3:28; 4:3; 5:1; Ephesians 2:8; Titus 3:5.  Based on Scripture alone we must reject this Canon out-of-hand for to embrace is to embrace eternal destruction.  Moreover, in the writings of Luther, he made a just defense of putting the word ‘alone’ in it because of the demanding context and he followed a tradition that existed before him among the church fathers about Romans 3:28 (Joseph A. Fitzmyer Romans, A New Translation with introduction and Commentary, The Anchor Bible Series (New York: Doubleday, 1993) pp. 360-36).  In passing, sola Scripture does not abolish biblical tradition, only unbiblical tradition (and ones that overthrow Scripture). An example of overthrowing Scripture concerning an unbiblical tradition is the Assumption of Mary.   Biblical tradition ought to be subservient to Scripture, not Scripture subservient to unbiblical tradition. 

29.    Canon 12 of the Council of Trent denies faith alone and trusting on Christ alone.  This canon must be rejected for it denies John 1:12; Romans 3:28; 4:3; Hebrews 7:25-27; 2 Timothy 1:12.  Therefore to reject this canon is scripturally safe and spiritually wise. 

30.    Canon 14 of the Council of Trent denies the doctrine of justification by faith alone and remission of sins.  It denies Romans 4:3; 5:1.  Therefore it must be rejected as false and misguided.

31.    Canon 23 of the Council of Trent denies the actuality of the Reformed doctrine of justification.  Justified person has their soul clean or sinless but yet the body sins.  The justified person is at the same time just and sinner.  This Canon denies John 3:36; 6:40; 10:28; Romans 5:21; 1 John 2:19; 1 John 5:13.

32.    Canon 24 of the Council of Trent denies faith alone and Galatians 3:1-3 and Galatians 5:1-3.  Therefore it must be abhorred.

33.    Canon 30 of the Council of Trent rejects that guilt is remitted, sin blotted out, or no temporal punishment.  This Canon denies Romans 5:1 and Colossians 2:13-14.

34.    Canon 33 of the Council of Trent taught that if you disagree with it a person is damned.  The Scripture declares that if the scriptural gospel is rejected they are to be accursed (Galatians 1).

35.    The Romish rendering of the Ten Commandments are scripturally untrue and spiritually lacking any creditability of belief.  Protestants rightly reject the order and subjection of the Romish Commandments from the Scriptures (holy and true).  We submit that the second commandment should be “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.”  Additionally, the proper order of the Ten Commandments is clearly seen on page ix of the Trinity Hymnal, (Baptist Edition), 2000.  Therefore Christians must embrace the true scriptural understanding of the Protestant Ten Commandments. 

36.    The Roman canon of the Bible includes the Apocrypha books that are: 1 and 2 Maccabees, Sirach, Wisdom, Baruch, Tobit, Judith and small sections of Ester and Daniel.  These books and small portions ought to be rejected because they are uninspired.  The Westminster and London Confessions of Faith speaks to the reality of inspired Scripture and the errant Apocrypha that clearly and plainly reflects what the Scripture position actually is.  Jerome and Gregory the Great rejected the Apocrypha.  Cardinal Cajetan, the one who interviewed Luther, wrote:  “Here we close our commentaries on the historical books of the Old Testament.  For the rest (that is, Judith, Tobit, and the books of Maccabees) are counted by St. Jerome out of the canonical books, and are placed among the Apocrypha, along with Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus, as is plain from the Prologus Galeatus.  Nor be thou disturbed, like a raw scholar, if thou shouldest find anywhere, either in the sacred councils or the sacred doctors, these books reckoned canonical.  For the words as well as of councils and of doctors are to be reduced to the correction of Jerome.  Now, according to his judgment, in the epistle to the bishops Chromatius and Heliodorus, these books (and any other like books in the canon of the bible) are not canonical, that is, not in the nature of a rule for confirming matters of faith.  Yet, they may be called canonical, that is, in the nature of a rule for the edification of the faithful, as being received and authorized in the canon of the bible for that purpose.  By the help of this distinction thou mayest see thy way clear through that which Augustine says, and what is written in the provincial council of Carthage.” (Commentary on All the Authentic Historical Books of the Old Testament; cited in William Whitaker, A Disputation on Holy Scripture (Cambridge: University Press, 1849, p. 48.)   

37.    Christ fully expiated the sin of His elect in their place on the cross.  The sin of His people is as far removed as the east is from the west.  Sin is not expiated as Vatican II taught by us through miseries, sorrows, trails, and death or by the flames of purgatory: but they are wholly and divinely insufficient and rooted in depraved imaginations. 

38.    The Roman church teaches that the sacrifice of the Mass is said for living and dead people.  This teaching is to be abhorred because it denies Romans 5:9 and 1 John 2:2; for it plainly teaches that Christ completely satisfied God’s divine wrath. 

39.    Canon 30 of the Council of Trent teaches that people are anathema if a person believes that Christians are saved from God’s wrath.  Again this teaching is contrary to Romans 3:25 and it should not be embraced as true and believable for the integrity of the cross of Christ is at stake. 

40.     “Protestants” who have abandoned their faith, and embraced Rome, have ship-wrecked their faith, and are apostate.  God alone will surely judge them for what they have done to themselves and what they now teach.  They went out from us because they were never of us.  To understand Rome as “sufficiently being the Faith of Christ” or as some say merely a “Christian denomination” is to be abhorred and denounced as being alien to Christ, and His blessed church. 

41.    “Protestants” who have fled to Rome because they reject sola fide (and do so until death), have committed an eternal error, for they deny the authentic and genuine teaching of the Old Testament and the New Testament.

42.    “Protestants” who have fled to Rome because they reject sola Scriptura are seriously mistaken, for they have rejected the biblical and historical doctrine of the Scripture and from the unanimous consent of the church fathers.

43.    The Christian faith is the Reformed faith as set forth in the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 or the Westminster Confession of Faith.  The Christian faith is not Romanism, and it is not Christian for it denies the gospel of truth and grace.

44.    Indulgences were introduced to limit time in purgatory yet there is no Scriptural support for this teaching; it is better to fulfill the command of repentance then indulgences since there is no command in Scripture for it.

45.    The Rosary has no Scriptural foundation for it; for it is meaningless repetitiousness.  Christians do a better deed if they pray to the Trinity alone.

46.    The doubt of who wrote the Gospel of Matthew is foreign to the Bible’s understanding that Matthew wrote the Gospel of Matthew. 

47.    Christians are justified by Christ alone not by purgatory, saints, the Mass, praying to the dead, the treasury of merit or the sacraments.

48.    Christians are to believe in the historical doctrine of sola scripture not the Church.  The Church must not have the authority to decide what is and what is not Scripture and tradition for it is contrary to the apostolic Scripture.  It is spiritually mistaken to believe that Tradition is equal with Scripture as the Council of Trent declared.

49.    Christians are to believe in to God be the glory alone not man-centered theology but God-centered theology which alone properly exalts God from Holy Writ.

50.    Man is totally depraved in his whole being and there is not any good in him at all.  “We cannot by our best works merit pardon of sin or eternal life at the hand of God, by reason of the great disproportion that is between them and the glory to come, and the infinite distance that is between us and God, whom by them we can neither profit nor satisfy for the debt of our former sins; but when we have done all we can, we have done but our duty, and are unprofitable servants; and because as they are good they proceed from his Spirit, and as they are wrought by us they are defiled and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection, that they cannot endure the severity of God's punishment.”  (Romans 3:20; Ephesians 2:8, 9; Romans 4:6; Galatians 5:22, 23; Isaiah 64:6; Psalms 143:2)  (London Confession, Chapter 16: Of Good Works).

51.    God elects His children without reference from what bad or good they have done but of Him alone who calls.  He elects unconditionally not on the condition of foreseen acts of the believing person.

52.    Christ died for a specific people only not for literally every single person that has ever lived.

53.    Grace is irresistible in the Calvinistic sense not cooperative.

54.    God preserves His people unto the very end and justification is not lost and gained, lost and gained but rather, after someone is born from above they will continue in faith (never losing their justification with God) but continuing unto the very end and entering the gates of heaven.

55.    There are only two places that exist: hell and heaven.  The alleged reality of purgatory (declared as dogma by the Council of Florence in 1438) do not exist in any sense whatsoever based on the inerrant and all-sufficient Scriptures.

56.    Christians should not leave the possibility for Theistic Evolution because God created in six normative days and He did not use evolution in any way.

57.    The Bible has authority over the church not the church over the Bible (2 Peter 1:19-21; Second Timothy 3:16; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 John 5:9 vs.  Roman Catechism 119).

58.    The Bible teaches that a person is born by the Word and the Spirit not by water (John 3; 1 Peter 1:23, 3:8 vs. Roman Catechism 694). Roman Catechism 1131 The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us.  Here I might suggest a quote from Calvin: "The schools of the Sophists have taught with remarkable agreement that the sacraments of the new law (those now used in the Christian church) justify and confer grace, provided we do not set up a barrier of mortal sin. How deadly and pestilential this notion is cannot be expressed and the more so because for many centuries it has been a current claim in a good part of the world, to the great loss of the church. Of a certainty it is diabolical. For in promising a righteousness apart from faith, it hurls souls headlong to destruction. Secondly, because it draws the cause of righteousness from the sacraments, it binds mens pitiable minds (of themselves more than enough inclined to earth) in this superstition, so that they repose in the appearance of a physical thing rather than in God himself" (Institutes IV:14:14).  "Now, it is clear how false is the teaching, long propagated by some and still persisted in by others, that through baptism we are released and made exempt from original sin, and from the corruption that descended from Adam into all his posterity; and are restored into that same righteousness and purity of nature which Adam would have obtained if he had remained upright as he was first created. For teachers of this type never understood what original sin, what original righteousness, or what the grace of baptism was" (Institutes IV: 15:10).

59.    The Bible teaches that a Christian is eternally justified once through faith, and so, we are not justified by works and sacraments (Romans 4:5, 8:30 vs. Roman Catechism 694).  “Those whom God effectually calleth, he also freely justifieth, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone; not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing Christ's active obedience unto the whole law, and passive obedience in his death for their whole and sole righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of themselves; it is the gift of God.”  (Romans 3:24; Romans 8:30; Romans 4:5-8; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:30, 31; Romans 5:17-19; Philippians 3:8, 9; Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12; Romans 5:17).  (London Confession, Chapter 11: Of Justification).

60.    God’s grace is unmerited and so it is not merited (Ephesians 2:8-9 vs. Roman Catechism 2010).  “This effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man, nor from any power or agency in the creature, being wholly passive therein, being dead in sins and trespasses, until being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit; he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it, and that by no less power than that which raised up Christ from the dead.”  (2 Timothy 1:9; Ephesians 2:8; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Ephesians 2:5; John 5:25; Ephesians 1:19, 20).  (London Confession, Chapter10: Of Effectual Calling).

61.    Christians are saved for good works but not by good works in any way (Ephesians 2:10 vs. Roman Catechism 1477).  “Good works are only such as God hath commanded in his Holy Word, and not such as without the warrant thereof are devised by men out of blind zeal, or upon any pretence of good intentions. (Micah 6:8; Hebrews 13:21; Matthew 15:9; Isaiah 29:13).” (London Confession, Chapter 16: Of Good Works).

62.    Salvation is in Jesus Christ not in the Roman Catholic Church (Ephesians 1:7 vs. Roman Catechism 846).  “Those of mankind that are predestinated to life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid, according to his eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure of his will, hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory, out of his mere free grace and love, without any other thing in the creature as a condition or cause moving him thereunto.”  (Ephesians 1:4, 9, 11; Romans 8:30; 2 Timothy 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; Romans 9:13, 16; Ephesians 2:5, 12).  (London Confession, Chapter 3: Of God’s Decree).

63.    Christians receive Jesus permanently in the heart.  It is done spiritually but it is not done frequently and physically in the stomach (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:1 vs. Roman Catechism 1374-78).  “The outward elements in this ordinance, duly set apart to the use ordained by Christ, have such relation to him crucified, as that truly, although in terms used figuratively, they are sometimes called by the names of the things they represent, to wit, the body and blood of Christ, albeit, in substance and nature, they still remain truly and only bread and wine, as they were before.”  (1 Corinthians 11:27; 1 Corinthians 11:26-28)…That doctrine which maintains a change of the substance of bread and wine, into the substance of Christ's body and blood, commonly called transubstantiation, by consecration of a priest, or by any other way, is repugnant not to Scripture alone, but even to common sense and reason, overthroweth the nature of the ordinance, and hath been, and is, the cause of manifold superstitions, yea, of gross idolatries.”  (Acts 3:21; Luke 14:6, 39; 1 Corinthians 11:24, 25).  (London Confession, Chapter 30: Of the Lord’s Supper).

64.    Christians must not pray or kneel to saints or angels.  The worship of saints (Acts 10:24-26) and angels (Revelation 19:10) are to be rejected by the unanimous consent of the sacred pages in divine Scripture.  William Tyndale asserted that we ought not to pray to the saints nor do the saints pray for us; his theology in this case ought to be heeded by us in these dark days. 

65.    Holy Water of Romanism must be rejected because it is absent from Scripture and plain reason.  Rather go to the Living Incarnate Water, Jesus Christ Himself (John 4:10-42).

66.    Venerating a crucifix is alien to the whole of worship set forth in Scripture, and it is contrary to spiritual rationality found in Scripture.  Worship the Holy Trinity alone not crucifixes. 

67.    Romanism does not adhere to the perpetuity of Scripture.  Therefore such rejection of the clearness of Scripture must be rejected, and the plainness of Scripture advocated.  It is because of the depraved mind of men that people find Scripture difficult to interpret. 

68.    Romanism teaches that baptism is the primary instrumental cause of justification.  Baptism does not save in any way.  It is only by the Water of the Word and the Spirit of the Word that changes the heart in monergistic regeneration.  After someone is truly born from above they will truly preserve unto the end.

69.    Romanism teaches penance as a secondary, restorative cause.  It is regarding those who have committed moral sin.  Works of satisfaction are done to achieve congruous merit.  Scripture teaches that the state of justification can never be lost once it has occurred.  Justification, in biblical terms, can never be lost through moral sin.  Christ fully satisfied divine justice on the cross at Calvary. 

70.    Although Romanism is called “the Roman Catholic church” it is not in any scriptural, historical or spiritual sense a church, for it is not a place where the gospel is plainly and clearly preached.

71.    Romanism says their Eucharistic sacrament is consistent with the Lord’s Supper found in Scripture.  In 1215 transubstantiation was declared by Pope Innocent III.  Yet it is not consistent with the divine Scriptures, and therefore, it is not actually or really the Lord’s Supper as Calvin taught (but an abominable sacrifice in the nostrils of God).  In reality and actuality, then, Rome is not a true church, for they deny one of the Scriptural sacraments of Holy Writ. 

72.    Christians are condemned by the Roman Catholic “church” because of the anathemas of Trent and Vatican II, but Roman Catholics (who truly believe Romish teaching) are condemned by the divine Word (John 12:48; Galatians 1:9).  Luther, “If anyone despise my fraternal warning, I am free from his blood in the last judgment.  It is better that I should die a thousand times than retract one syllable of the condemned articles.  And as they excommunicated me for the sacrilege of heresy, so I excommunicated them in the name of sacred truth of God.  Christ will judge whose excommunication will stand.  Amen.”  (Roland H. Bainton.   Here I Stand. (New York: A Meridian Book, 1995), p. i).

73.    Prayer to Mary is not a Christian practice.  If someone wishes to pray, pray to God for was the sole practice of Mary.  Therefore this practice of Romanism must be abhorred and rejected.  Embrace biblical prayer, that is, prayer to God alone.  Prayer is a reverent act of submission to God alone. 

74.    Salvation is not obtained through Mary to Christ.  No sinner was ever saved through Mary to Christ.  Rather sinners are saved to God through Christ.  Christians are to abhor believing salvation is obtained in any way through Mary to Christ.

75.    The biblical Mary believes that God is her Savior and she never understood to be sinless by the authors divine Scripture.  In 1854 the Immaculate Conception of Mary declared by Pope Pius IX.  Yet this dogma is wholly inconsistent with divine Scripture.  It is far better to rightfully view Christ alone as the only sinless human person that was or is; for it highly exalts and magnifies Christ alone as the sinless Savior. 

76.    Some of the faithful of Rome say that Mary will be there to bring them to heaven.  This teaching is to be abhorred for it is blasphemy.  Only Christ should be our sole hope of entering and bringing His people hitherto to heaven.  Flee, then, from this teaching of Roman Catholics.

77.    Christians understand the Lord’s Supper is a memorial of the finished work of Christ as Calvin understood it but it is not a sacrifice of Christ which continues the work (1 Corinthians 11:24-25 vs. Roman Catechism 1367).  In the Reformed Baptist faith we proudly proclaim:  “In this ordinance Christ is not offered up to his Father, nor any real sacrifice made at all for remission of sin of the quick or dead, but only a memorial of that one offering up of himself by himself upon the cross, once for all; and a spiritual oblation of all possible praise unto God for the same. So that the popish sacrifice of the mass, as they call it, is most abominable, injurious to Christ's own sacrifice the alone propitiation for all the sins of the elect.”  (Hebrews 9:25, 26, 28; 1 Corinthians 11:24; Matthew 26:26, 27)  (London Confession, Chapter 30: Of the Last Supper).

78.    Christians are priests and saints, and as Christians we do not need a priest, and true Roman Catholics in light of the Gospel are not saints (1 Peter 2:9; Ephesians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1 vs. Roman Catechism 987).

79.    There is salvation in Jesus alone.  This denies the understanding of Pope John Paul II which was modified universalism (Pope John Paul II.  Crossing The Threshold Of Hope (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1994), p. 82).  The Bible does not teach modified universalism but it teaches exclusivism (e.g., Acts 4:12).

80.    In consistency with the Reformers (Luther, Calvin, Owen and so on), and the Westminster and London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, the pope is that antichrist.  Therefore faithful Christians should respectfully reject his teachings and his position as pope.

81.    Peter was not the pope in any way whatsoever.  He did not rule as a Pope in the early church nor is there any foundation from sacred Scripture.  1 Peter 5:1:  “Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed…”   (NASB).  Roman Catechism 881 The Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the "rock" of his Church. He gave him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock. "The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of apostles united to its head." This pastoral office of Peter and the other apostles belongs to the Church's very foundation and is continued by the bishops under the primacy of the Pope.

82.    There is great Scriptural support against Papal understanding of Scripture.  It is better to honor Scripture alone then Roman private interpretation.  For example, Rome does not possess the authority of the keys for it is not a true church.  Rather all the apostles receive the authority to bind and loose, and it is not given to Peter alone (Matthew 16:18 is fulfilled in Matthew 18:18.  It is given to all the apostles.). 

83.    The infallibility of the Pope was declared by the Vatican Council, yet Peter was corrected by Paul on the truth of the gospel (Peter was not as the pope of Rome, e.g., Galatians 2:11-21).  This is also refuted by the factual account of history about Pope Honorius.  He was condemned as a heretic by the 6^th Ecumenical council in Constantinople in 680-681 because of his letter to Sergius.  Honorius represented himself as the bishop of Rome not as a private theologian.  He was not condemned because of negligence but because of false doctrine.  Moreover, in Liber Diurnus each new Pope for three hundred years swore a Papal Oath, and anathematized the heretic Sergius and Honorius. 

84.    In 1215 Pope Innocent III declared the institution of the confession of sins.  The Romish confessional cannot take away sin nor does it have the power to take away sin.  Only Christ Himself forgives the guilty sinner and remits his sin; He alone has the power to forgive sins for all power has been given to Him (Mark 2:7).  No sin, then, in the confessional is forgiven for it is earned by penance that is wholly foreign to Christ and His beloved church.  The Bible does not support the Romish confessional.  The priest, who is in the place of Christ, is that antichrist who distorts the forgiveness of sins, and mocks the forgiveness of sins in Christ for His true elect people only

85.    Forgiveness is not earned by penance but it is freely received in Christ by grace alone.

86.    Prayers for the dead and to the dead are to be abhorred among Christians.  Prayers for the dead do not help the dead for they are either in hell or heaven.  Damned people in hell are without the mercy of God, and saints in heaven are in the smiling presence of God.  Therefore the prayers to them or for them do not avail for the dead at all.  There is no biblical support for praying to and for the dead.  Support for praying to or for the dead is found only in the uninspired writings of old, and therefore, this doctrine is to be shunned by faithful Christians of the sacred text.  Christians are not commanded to pray for or to the dead nor is there any example in inspired Scripture of praying for and to the dead.  Rather Christians are to pray for the living and not to or for the dead.  God abhors pray to and for the dead.  Praying for or to the dead is a sure characteristic of the unsaved.  “Q. 179. Are we to pray unto God only?  A. God only being able to search the hearts, hear the requests, pardon the sins, and fulfill the desires of all; and only to be believed in, and worshiped with religious worship; prayer, which is a special part thereof, is to be made by all to him alone, and to none other.”  (1 Kings 8:3; Acts 1:24; Romans 8:27; Psalm 65:2; Micah 7:18; Psalm 145:18-19; Romans 10:14; Matthew 4:10; 1 Corinthians 1:2; Psalm 50:15; Romans 10:14).  (Westminster Catechism, Question 179).

87.    The state of justification cannot be lost (Romans 5:1) by mortal sin (Roman Catechism 1035).  Justification is an irrevocable verdict by God.  It cannot be lost.  Christians who commit lesser or greater sin cannot utterly fall away but renew their faithful repentance by the kindness and goodness of God alone through them.  God’s truth triumphs through them.

88.    The Assumption of Mary was declared in 1950 by Pope Pius XII.  It is to be rejected because it is without Scriptural foundation.  Instead Christians do a better deed to honor and cherish the Ascension of Christ alone; for there is nothing that parallels or compares in any way to it.

89.    The Queen of Heaven of Mary in Romanism must be rejected because it is not taught in Scripture, and it is far better to honor Christ alone as the unique King of the universe. 

90.    The celibacy of the priesthood was declared by Pope Gregory VII in 1079, but the Scripture gives no command for such a practice.  

91.    The church fathers taught the material sufficiency of Scripture; Scripture as the ultimate authority; the perspicuity of Scripture; the formal sufficiency of Scripture; the self-interpreting nature of Scripture; the Spirit illuminates the Scripture to those who pray and walk in obedience; the Scripture are understandable for those who diligently read and study them; and the necessity for Private Reading of Scripture for Sanctification (taken from David T. King and William Webster, Ed., Holy Scripture: The Ground and Pillar of Our Faith.  Volume III.  (Washington:  Christian Resources, Inc., 2001), pp. 5-7, e.g. contents section).  Theodoret of Cyrrhus (393-466): “Let no one, therefore, especially devotees of the true religion, adopt such a presumptuous attitude to the divine Spirit as to accuse his words of obscurity. Instead, in their longing to understand the sacred words, let them cry aloud with the divinely-inspired David, “Unveil my eyes, and I shall grasp the marvels of your law:” having promised the knowledge as a benefit, he will definitely grant the request. In fact, in our case, too, let us offer this request to the Lord, who according to the divine David gives wisdom to the blind, and according to blessed Isaiah to those in gloom and darkness, and let us venture upon a commentary on the divinely-inspired Ezekiel, attempt to plumb the depths of the prophecy as far as is possible for us, and make available to all religious people the value drawn from it.” (Robert Charles Hill, trans., Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentaries on the Prophets, Vol. Two, Commentary on the Prophet Ezekiel (Brookline: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2006), preface, p. 29).

92.    As a Reformed Baptist I side with these ancient writers (thereby rejecting the Roman view of the sacrament of the Eucharist):  “The sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, which we receive, is a divine thing, because by it we are made partakers of the divine-nature.  Yet the substance or nature of the bread and wine does not cease.  And assuredly the image and the similitude of the body and blood of Christ are celebrated in the performance of the mysteries.” Gelasius,  bishop of Rome, in Jacques Paul Migne, Patrologiae Latinae, Tractatus de duabis naturis Adversus Eutychen et Nestorium 14.  “The mystical emblems of the body and blood of Christ continue in their original essence and form, they are visible and tangible as they were before [the consecration]; but the contemplation of the spirit and of  faith sees in them that which they have become, and they are adored also as that which they are to believers.”  (Theodoret, Dialogue ii, Opera ed. Hal. tom. iv p. 126).  “In other words, in respect of His divine presence in the flesh it was rightly said to the disciples, 'Me you will not have always.'  In this respect the Church enjoyed His presence only for a few days: now it possesses Him by faith, without seeing Him with the eyes....He left the world by a bodily withdrawal, He proceeded  to the Father by His ascension man, but He forsook not the world in the ruling activity of His presence”…The Lord Jesus, in the discourse which He addressed to His disciples after the supper, when Himself in immediate proximity to His passion, and, as it were, on the even  of depriving them of His bodily presence while continuing His spiritual presence to all His disciples till the very end of the world...."  (Augustine, John: Tractates 50, 92, 102, and 118). “Who is the bread of the Kingdom of God, but He who says, "I am the living Bread which came down from heaven?"  Do not get your mouth ready, but your heart.  On this occasion it was that the parable of this supper was set forth.  Lo, we believe in Christ, we receive Him with faith.  In receiving Him we know what to think of.  We receive but little, and are nourished in the heart.  It is not then what is seen, but what is believed, that feeds us.  Therefore we too have not sought for that outward sense…This is then to eat the meat, not that which perishes, but that which endures unto eternal life.  To what purpose do you make ready teeth and stomach?  Believe, and you have eaten already.  (Augustine John: Tractate 25:12).

93.    The church fathers taught faith alone as the Reformers after them.  In addition to these church fathers, Clement, Polycarp, Ignatius, Justin Martyr and Irenaeus also taught the Reformed doctrine of justification.  Here are two examples:  Chrysostom (349-407): “The patriarch Abraham himself before receiving circumcision had been declared righteous on the score of faith alone: before circumcision, the text says, “Abraham believed God, and credit for it brought him to righteousness.” Fathers of the Church, Vol. 82, Homilies on Genesis 18-45, 27.7 (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1990), p. 167.   Ambrosiaster (fl. c. 366-384), wrote on 1 Cor. 1:4b: “God has decreed that a person who believes in Christ can be saved without works. By faith alone he receives the forgiveness of sins.”  (Gerald Bray, ed., Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament VII: 1-2 Corinthians (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1999), p. 6).

94.    The church fathers did not teach Rome’s view of papal supremacy, but taught vastly different things about Peter (see William Webster.  The Matthew 16 Controversy: Peter and the Rock.  (Washington: Christian Resources, Inc., 1999), pp. 5-7, content section). Yves Congar, a Roman Catholic historian, stated: “Many of the Eastern Fathers who are rightly acknowledged to be the greatest and most representative and are, moreover, so considered by the universal Church, do not offer us any more evidence of the primacy. Their writings show that they recognized the primacy of the Apostle Peter, that they regarded the See of Rome as the prima sedes playing a major part in the Catholic communion—we are recalling, for example, the writings of St. John Chrysostom and of St. Basil who addressed himself to Rome in the midst of the difficulties of the schism of Antioch—but they provide us with no theological statement on the universal primacy of Rome by divine right. The same can be said of St. Gregory Nazianzen, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom, St. John Damascene” (Yves Congar, After Nine Hundred Years (New York: Fordham University, 1959), pp. 61-62).  “It does sometimes happen that some Fathers understood a passage in a way which does not agree with later Church teaching. One example: the interpretation of Peter’s confession in Matthew 16:16–19. Except at Rome, this passage was not applied by the Fathers to the papal primacy; they worked out an exegesis at the level of their own ecclesiological thought, more anthropological and spiritual than juridical” (Yves Congar, Tradition and Traditions (New York: Macmillan, 1966), p. 398).  (Also see Janus (Johann Joseph Ignaz von Dollinger), The Pope and the Council (Boston: Roberts, 1869), pp. 70-74), (Cited by Yves Congar, After Nine Hundred Years (New York: Fordham University, 1959), pp. 61-62), (John Meyendorff, St. Peter in Byzantine Theology. Taken from The Primacy of Peter (London: Faith, 1963), pp. 7-29), (Karlfried Froehlich, Saint Peter, Papal Primacy, and Exegetical Tradition, 1150-1300, pp. 3, 8-14, 42. Taken from The Religious Roles of the Papacy: Ideals and Realities, 1150-1300, ed. Christopher Ryan, Papers in Medieval Studies 8 (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1989), (Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1974), Volume Two, pp. 160-161), and (Brian Tierney, Origins of Papal Infallibility (Leiden: Brill, 1972), pp. 11-13).

95.    All the Roman leadership should repent (Mark 1:15) of their false dogma and believe Reformed divine truth.

                May God’s true people sing, “We Follow Thee, O Blessed Trinity:”

We follow Thee, O Blessed Trinity

Anchored by thy holy Word

Through opposition, strife, conflict

We follow Thee, O Blessed Trinity

We follow Thee, O Blessed Trinity

Guided by Thy Spirit

Though foes unite on every side

We follow Thee, O Blessed Trinity

We follow Thee, O Blessed Trinity

Proclaiming Thy matchless truth

Grace and peace of Thy Gospel divine

We follow Thee, O Blessed Trinity

We follow Thee, O Blessed Trinity

Clothed with righteousness divine

Chosen from above unto holiness

We follow Thee, O Blessed Trinity

We follow Thee, O Blessed Trinity

Led by the Rock, the King Eternal

Gospel truths aright to proclaim

We follow Thee, O Blessed Trinity

We follow Thee, O Blessed Trinity

Though compromise abound on every side

We fight until the end with Thy Word divine

We follow Thee, O Blessed Trinity.

Amen.