Catholic and Protestant Overreactions

Conversations between Catholics and Protestants about the basics of salvation often end up with both sides “talking past” one another, and I wonder if this could be avoided if we could realize we are both talking about two sides of the same coin. I’ll try to explain.

I asked a Catholic man named Onofre?, from Mexico, about the difference between someone who ends up in heaven and someone who ends up in hell. His answer included the usual Catholic emphasis on doing good deeds, loving one’s neighbor, etc. Of course, as a Protestant, my emphasis was on the free gift of grace God gives us when we put our faith in Christ.

Onofre agreed, but said that one’s faith must include repentance of one’s sins, which leads to the good actions he was speaking of.

We Protestants possibly overreact when Catholics seem to depend on their good works rather than on Christ, and Catholics possibly overreact when Protestants speak of faith without mentioning the works that result from repentance.

Could it be that both sides see what is lacking in the other while being blinded to what is lacking in their own perspective?

Jesus warned us that many religious people will claim to belong to Him and He will plainly say “I never knew you!” Catholics might think Jesus was referring to those Protestants who “prayed a prayer” for salvation which never included repentance or a changed life, or who also look down on others for not belonging to the right church or having the right doctrine.

Protestants might think Jesus was referring to Catholics who think they will be saved because of their religious piety, church attendance, and good deeds while hypocritically looking down on others, or simply because they are baptized members of the Catholic church but unchanged and still worldly.

Either way, maybe both Catholics and Protestants need to listen to the criticism of the other side and see it as a correction for their own overreactions.

As I see it, Martin Luther, the Catholic priest who began the protest for church reform in 1517 that led to the Protestant Reformation, was himself guilty of overreaction when he referred to the letter of James as an “Epistle of Straw”. He didn’t question its inclusion in the Bible, but instead questioned its importance in expressing the Gospel.

I would argue that, instead, the letter of James is highly important in helping both Catholics and Protestants avoid the overreaction of our respective positions.

In James, we have a discussion of the relative importance of faith and works, two key points of discussion between Catholics and Protestants. James 2:18-20 says “But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” It also goes on to say “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”

As Luther saw it, a major problem with the Catholic Church of his time was an emphasis on good works to the point that many people thought they must ADD their own good works to the work of Christ in order to be saved.

In my Gospel outreach conversations with Catholics, I find that this is still the belief of many, but for others there is the understanding that the repentance that comes with faith in Christ alone will RESULT in good works. They know their good works can’t save, but the kind of faith that saves, does indeed work.

When I ask these faithful Catholics how they can know they are saved, they often point to their works as evidence of that saving faith. We Protestants are tempted to think they believe their works have actually saved them, when they are really only looking at works as a sign of the salvation they already have in Christ.

On the other hand, when I ask Protestants how they can know they are saved, many tell of praying a “sinner’s prayer” or of some sort of salvation experience, but don’t have the repentance and good works that come from that kind of saving faith. They might think faith is simply belief without repentance, but James says “Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”

If “salvation” were like a coin, it would have two sides – faith on one side, and repentance (that leads to good works) on the other. We may look at that coin from different perspectives, but both faith and repentance are on the coin, both come from God, and both are part of the salvation experience.