Why Protestants Cannot Side With the Gospel of the Catholic Church

Roman Paganism?

First, please allow me to say that I am not trying to completely bash on the Roman Catholic church. I greatly appreciate its view of abortion, family, and many other social - and even some doctrinal - issues. The quotes I cite below are taken from the book Are We Together? (R.C. Sproul) in which the author states that he is more than happy to side with Catholics when his beliefs and theirs intersect. However, I propose that traditional Protestant beliefs and established Roman Catholic beliefs do not intersect on the sufficiency of Christ in the gospel.

From Mystici Corporis Christi (1943):

Venerable Brethren, may the Virgin Mother of God hear the prayers of Our paternal heart - which are yours also - and obtain for all a true love of the Church - she whose sinless soul was filled with the divine Spirit of Jesus Christ above all other created souls, and who "in the name of the whole human race" gave her consent "for a spiritual marriage between the Son of God and human nature." Within her virginal womb Christ our Lord already bore the exalted title of Head of the Church; in a marvelous birth she brought Him forth as the source of all supernatural life, and presented Him, newly born, as Prophet, King, and Priest to those who, from among Jews and Gentiles, were the first to come to adore Him... It was she, the second Eve, who, free from all sin, original or personal, and always most intimately united with her Son, offered Him on Golgotha to the Eternal Father for all the children of Adam, sin-stained by his unhappy fall, and her mother's rights and mother's love were included in the holocaust... She it was who through her powerful prayers obtained that the Spirit of our Divine Redeemer, already given on the Cross, should be bestowed, accompanied by miraculous gifts, on the newly founded Church at Pentecost... May she, then, the most holy Mother of all the members of Christ, to whose Immaculate Heart We have trustfully consecrated all mankind, and who now reigns in heaven with her Son, her body and soul refulgent with heavenly glory - may she never cease to beg from Him that copious streams of grace may flow from its exalted Head into all the members of the Mystical Body. May she... obtain from God that now at last the Church and all mankind enjoy more peaceful days.

It is not the title "Mother of God" that is the main threat to the true gospel. Sproul rightly points out that, in a sense, because Jesus is God and Mary is Jesus' mother - in that sense, Mary was the mother of Jesus who is God. Or, she was "the one who gives birth to the One who is God" (Jaroslav Pelikan). But let us also remember that Christ's deity was not inherited from Mary, nor was Mary sinless.

Herein begins the divide. Explaining the term Savior in Luke 1:47 as anything but "Savior from sin," Rome holds that Mary was free from original sin and bestowed with a grace no one else born to man has ever had.

But this is not the total extent of the Catholic church's exaltation of Mary. From their standpoint, she is an intercessor and obtainer of Christ's Spirit. Furthermore, she is also hailed as the mother of the church (which, logically speaking, would imply that she is God's wife). She is the recipient of our prayers and the Head of our body.

"Out of hand" would be an understatement. This kind of doctrine leaves Yahweh with a wife and the Church with two heads. It creates two mediators and a premature bodily resurrection. As a result, Christ is removed from His position of sole authority and supremacy and given an equal.

I stress that word sole because this is the heart of the problem in the Roman Church. It is not that they do not accept grace, faith, Christ, Scripture, and God's glory as the basis for our faith and salvation - they merely add to those things. Mary and the apostles are idolized and enshrined. Justification is obtained through Baptism and confirmed through faith working together with works. The Pope is counted as an infallible teacher, a successor to Peter, a modern-day apostle.

Rome has become so infatuated with these things that they have forgotten their first love and have begun to preach a false gospel. They do not regard Christ as sufficient. Let us, however, remember the truths on which Christendom rest:

- Sola fide (Rom. 3:21-31).
- Sola gratia (Rom. 9:14-18; Eph. 1:6).
- Sola Scriptura (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
- Solus Christus (Acts 4:12; 1 Tim. 2:5).
- Soli Deo gloria (Rom. 11:33-36; Eph. 1:3-14).

Faith, grace, Scripture, Christ, and glory. 

Sufficient.

Enough.

Alone.