Do Catholics and Protestants believe in the same Gospel?

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Santos

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For the Catholic, the Gospel or “Good News” comes from “Magisterial Teaching”, which is derived from Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture.

For the Protestant, the Gospel or “Good News” comes from the bible alone, “Sola Scriptura”.

In addition, the four canonical Gospels (Mathew, Mark, Luke and John) present to us our Lord’s life, works, teachings and resurrection… and although the written words of the gospels are the same, the interpretations are different, resulting in Christ’s teachings to be understood differently between Catholics and Protestants.

Let me give an example of “Magisterial Teaching”, which is derived from Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture VS. the bible alone, “Sola Scriptura”.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN on the EUCHARIST (JN 6)
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” -Jn 6:51-55, -this is not the language of symbolism.

Magisterial Teaching tells us that this is The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist; the body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, Truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. This faith comes from Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture.

Sacred Tradition gives us St. Ignatius of Antioch, a disciple of John the Apostle, who wrote (110 AD) concerning heretics: “They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the Flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, Flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in His goodness, raised up again.”

When it comes to THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN on the EUCHARIST (JN 6)
A Protestant believes that Christ is only present symbolically in the Eucharist as he puts his faith in the bible alone “Sola Scriptura” where he gets his own understanding, he got his teaching from self-interpretation.

A Catholic believes in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist as he puts his faith in “Sacred Scripture” and “Sacred Tradition” where he gets St. Ignatius who got his teaching directly from the mouth of John himself.

Logically, we cannot be 100% certain of Christ’s teachings if we separate “Sacred Tradition” from “Sacred Scripture”. Sacred Tradition came before Sacred Scripture. Like a tree that bares good fruit. It is the tree that is the Church and the fruit; Sacred Scripture. You cannot declare the fruit good if indeed the tree is bad. The bible was not intended to be used for self-interpretations, the Truth already was, is and forever shall be! It is not by our own understanding that we receive Truth, it is by faith in that which has already been revealed “divine revelation” that we receive Truth. If we understood it all, then it would no longer be faith that we have.

“As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth. I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.” -Jn 17:18-20
Christ prays that we may be consecrated in truth “not” through his word alone “Sola Scriptura”, but rather through their word, “Sacred Tradition”. When we eliminate Sacred Tradition, we eliminate the means in which Christ prays, “that we may be consecrated in Truth.”

Looking at the two differences in the way Catholics and Protestants come to know the Gospel, and knowing that Christ’s teachings are understood differently between Catholics and Protestants, I began to wonder Do Catholics and Protestants believe in the same Gospel?
 
Hi Santos,

The Protestants I converse with generally consider Catholics unsaved because they feel we don’t trust Christ enough for our salvation and that we believe we have to earn our salvation.

Trying to explain the Catholic belief of salvation is even more difficult than explaining the eucharist. I’ve gotten to the point that I don’t even converse with them anymore.

The idea that we can establish our own faith based on our own interpretation of Scripture is ludicrous to me, but I’ve never convinced a Protestant of the fact of the teaching authority of the Church.

With love,
George
 
I had a coworker and acquaintance who also was attending a well-know conservative Protestant seminary in town. This was more than 10 years ago, but of all the things we discussed, I most easily remember him saying,

“The Gospel is not contained in the Gospels.”

What he meant was that his formula for salvation was put together from verses in St. Paul’s writings. Jesus’s teachings didn’t quite square with that formula, so Jesus really didn’t preach the “Gospel.”

Always seemed like it should have been a major clue to him that he wasn’t quite on track.
 
I voted no. Officially the Gospel preached by those in “reformed” Christianity is very different than what the Catholic Church teaches and has taught from day one [Pentecost being “day 1”].

Ken
 
I think its a well known fact that most protestants don’t believe that Catholics will go to heaven. To a protestant, a Catholic is not born again, thus Catholics are not going to heaven. I assure you that every baptized Catholic is indeed Born Again and is a member of God’s family. But from this will spring so much more in Protestant opposition, from the Eucharist, Church Authority, Confession, Intercessory Prayer to Saints and so on. From a protestants perspective the Catholics are so far away from the truth, that they find a need to give to us the Gospel. When in fact Catholics already have the Gospel but it is not recognized through the eye’s of a protestant. I believe a protestant can assume that Catholic beliefs do not come from the gospel teachings of scripture, and therefore what we share in the Gospel are not the same. We are on complete opposite sides, it has been and will continue to be. I believe most protestants would believe that we do not share the same gospel truths. And I would definitely have to agree!
 
kleary said:
I voted no. Officially the Gospel preached by those in “reformed” Christianity is very different than what the Catholic Church teaches and has taught from day one [Pentecost being “day 1”].

Ken
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I agree.
 
The implication that Protestants don’t believe in the same Gospel is in my opinion dangerous, for if they do not believe in the same Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, than they are not Christians. Yet, the Holy See has decreed otherwise:

“For men who believe in Christ and have been truly baptized are in communion with the Catholic Church even though this communion is imperfect. The differences that exist in varying degrees between them and the Catholic Church-whether in doctrine and sometimes in discipline, or concerning the structure of the Church-do indeed create many obstacles, sometimes serious ones, to full ecclesiastical communion. The ecumenical movement is striving to overcome these obstacles. But even in spite of them it remains true that all who have been justified by faith in Baptism are members of Christ’s body,(21) and have a right to be called Christian, and so are correctly accepted as brothers by the children of the Catholic Church” From the Decree on Ecumenism: Unitatis Redintegratio

I will admit that there are some Fundamentalist churches who preach a different gospel like the oneness pentecostals (who believe in one Person of the Godhead changing modes in three titles - see modalism). There are other examples such as the Christadelphians etc. That being said, if Protestants are Baptised with the Trinitarian formula, and taught that the God-man Jesus Christ lived to show us the Way, died to purchase our Salvation, and Rose again for our justification, and that He is the only true Savior of the world, if they are taught that loving God above all else, and our neighbor as yourself “hang all the Law and the Prophets”, for goodness sake people…they are Christian!
 
If you mean in the 27 Gospel Writings, I think they do but with different interpretations.

Protestants themselves are not united in Biblical doctrines and beliefs even though they have all the 27 NT books like the Catholics do.

Catholics on the other hand are united in doctrine, and dogmas.
 
Yes, the gospel of Protestants and Catholics are the same.
It is just that sometimes, the Protestants do not preach the whole thing. Since Jesus Christ is the gospel and Protestants and Catholics believe this same thing, they ought to be teaching the same gospel.
If Protestants were teaching a different gospel, then some of what us Catholics are preaching would be considered a different gospel. However, I don’t believe this to be the case. Some of what Protestants believe is from the Reformation and not at all Apostolic, but that doesn’t mean the Gospel is different.
 
Cam-masta said:
for goodness sake people…they are Christian!
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wrong thread, I don’t think that was the question. I’m not arguing that… The Church say’s protestants are christian, then yes, they are christian… Let’s go back to the actual topic. I am not trying to debate anyones answer on this question. I think it’s very insightful to know peoples views. I believe in a sense that although many views are yes different they are also seperately true. Thanks for your post. 🙂
 
Cam-masta said:
The implication that Protestants don’t believe in the same Gospel is in my opinion dangerous, for if they do not believe in the same Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, than they are not Christians. Yet, the Holy See has decreed otherwise:

“For men who believe in Christ and have been truly baptized are in communion with the Catholic Church even though this communion is imperfect. The differences that exist in varying degrees between them and the Catholic Church-whether in doctrine and sometimes in discipline, or concerning the structure of the Church-do indeed create many obstacles, sometimes serious ones, to full ecclesiastical communion. The ecumenical movement is striving to overcome these obstacles. But even in spite of them it remains true that all who have been justified by faith in Baptism are members of Christ’s body,(21) and have a right to be called Christian, and so are correctly accepted as brothers by the children of the Catholic Church” From the Decree on Ecumenism: Unitatis Redintegratio

I will admit that there are some Fundamentalist churches who preach a different gospel like the oneness pentecostals (who believe in one Person of the Godhead changing modes in three titles - see modalism). There are other examples such as the Christadelphians etc. That being said, if Protestants are Baptised with the Trinitarian formula, and taught that the God-man Jesus Christ lived to show us the Way, died to purchase our Salvation, and Rose again for our justification, and that He is the only true Savior of the world, if they are taught that loving God above all else, and our neighbor as yourself “hang all the Law and the Prophets”, for goodness sake people…they are Christian!
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:yup: :tiphat:
 
mommyof4 said:
Yes, just interpret it differently at times.
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Yes, I agree with you. If they believed a different Gospel, they would not be Christians.

Also, I don’t think we should categorize with statements like "Most Protestants . . . " such as one of the earlier posters said. I have many Protestant family members and friends, and none of them ever thought that I “wasn’t saved” or that it was their job to preach to me to “get me saved”.
 
**For all Catholics… **Is not the Gospel, the “Good News” of Jesus Christ? The Gospel brings to us Salvation in Christ, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not parish but might have eternal life.” -Jn 3:16. Is that where it ends with you? Does not your “Good News” extend to the “Bread of Life”? Is it not the “Gospel” for every Catholic that, “we become partaker’s of the divine nature”, not only in “Spirit” but in the “Body and Blood” of our Lord Jesus Christ? Is it not Jesus Christ who is the Gospel? How can that be seperate from the Holy Eucharist? The “Holy Eucharist” is the “Heart” of the Church. And it should be the center of Christian Life. The Medicine of Immortality… correct me if I’m wrong “Catholics” Is this not the Gospel, “Good News”? If you truely believe that Jesus Christ is present, body, blood, soul and divinity in the Blessed Sacrament, then it should be.

Please protestants, I know this is not the Gospel according to you, I am just addressing the Catholics. But feel free to respond.
 
I see how much bible Christians love our Lord, so very much, yes they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. And I having come from a protestant churh (Harvest, pastor Greg Laurie), I know the great love, enthusiasm and desire they have to know Christ more and more intimately every day.

As a protestant I led my whole family out of the Catholic Church, I was desperate and determined to open their eye’s so that they may see the corruption and deception of Catholicsm.

We were finally getting the Gospel at Harvest Christian Church! We went to the Harvest Crusades in Anaheim, CA. We spent every holiday with the church, Christmas, Halloween and Easter etc. Harvest Church is quite a site to see… I’m not kidding when I say it looks like DisneyLand! Movie Theatre size screens inside and outside the building, live concerts at every service. The services were filmed live and would broadcast on TBN christian network. Food and beverage carts everywhere, merchant carts selling music cd’s, dvd’s and apparel… Harvest has their own book store on the lot, connected to the church. The largest christian book store in Riverside, California.

I was and still am a Jesus friek, as people call it. I promote the gospel in all that I do. I had a collection of Jesus shirts, and WWJD bracelets which I would pass out to kids. I remember a police officer pulling me over for expired tags, and before i was cited, we were praying together and he was accepting Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. “I still got the ticket though”. 🙂

On fire for the Lord, I continued to search for a deeper and deeper relationship with him. I started feeding the homeless, and began an organization called “Families United” there was over 30 members (by newspaper ad) who joined from many different denominations. We fed the homless in many shelters in Riverside CA. and spent our Christmas’s with them, who had no families to share the holidays with.

To skip a long story, I finally find myself comming to Jesus Christ, in the Tabernacle, “could it be? that this is your body”… I find myself struggling with much doubt, “this is absord!” yet I couldn’t draw myself away, or walk away. “Yes, if indeed so… A true mystery”. “How could I believe such a thing!”… and like a silent wisper in my soul I here “by faith”.

If the apostles and those whom they taught can accept this teaching, although it goes against all reason, and if they who were martyred, beginning with Christ, ending with the Roman Persecutions (312 AD) can accept this… then I refuse to deny anything of faith, that they had to die for, so that I may receive today…

As a protestant I found myself comming to a most intimate relationship with Jesus Christ in the “Holy Eucharist”, I was always searching for a deeper and deeper relationship… and now I find my spirit in peace and love with Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

Catholics upset me when they’re too embarassed to say Jesus Christ is Truely present in the Eucharist, The Heart of the Church. Our seperated brothers and sisters Love our Lord so very much, that is why we should be anxious to share this mystery of Love with them. Even if they reject it!

The martyr’s did not have a hard-back bible under their arms during their days of evangelizing. They lived day by day without a bible, but they couldn’t go without a day not having the Holy Eucharist!

May the Peace of the Lord be with you all. Merry Christmas.
 
Well thank you Santos!
And a very Merry Christmas to You & Yours! God Bless You!!!
 
How shall they know with out hear and how shall they hear with out someone telling them the Good news. You hvae indeed ask a great question. The answer a great question before i answer it i wish to explain that i am not speaking in the power of my flesh but in the very spirit of love that has been given by the Lord Christ. Sadly both the Catholics and the protestents will have many of there flocks that will indeed not make haven for they are not grafted into Christ nor are they born again.
I shall not speak of that which i know not but of that which i have witnessed and seen in Christ and thru Christ in his word. I am not a great learned man, nor a man who has recieved from man the knowedge of God. Yeat i know God in a real manner not as the manner of words alone but in spirit.
The catholics teach a different gosple then the Gosple of Christ. The good news which is what gosple stands for is that God has made a way for salvaion thru the cross of Jesus Christ. Christ made the declearation “it is finished”. What was he declaring? He was declaring that the time of the law was over and the time of grace had come. He was declaring the end of the priesthood of men and the beginning of the priesthood of Christ.
Christ has told us that the traditions of man have made the word of God to no effect. That is exactly what we see in the catholic church. The roman catholic church has nulified the power of the word of GOD thus making it of no effect. The gosple of the catholic church can’t save a single person as a result. Because if it could it would make God a lier and he is not.
The catholic church seeks to look holy when it should seek to be holy. There is a vast difference between the two. Christ destroyed all earthly priesthoods.
The salvation of the catholic church is a strange salvation for there is no salvation at all were there is no assurity of salvation. Catholics tickel the ears of people and then try to control them and keep them in there place. Or should i say they feed them none-since and try to keep them in total darkness so they can milk the lilly. The glory of the catholic church is not the Glory of God. Gods glory is thru his sons salvation and those gained to his son. The poor are his delight the gosple was sent to the poor of the world. And Jesus chose the apostles from the common people. Not the elect of the population but the working class.
So the catholic gosple is a gosple of tradition that can’t profit any man. The gosple of salvation is the good news of God offering forgiveness of sin and redemption of man thru the blood of the lamb Jesus the Christ, for the asking. Thus is accomplished via the new birth taught by Jesus himself. The new birth is thown out by the catholic church. This new birth is not a physical birth it is a spiritual birth. The catholic church is teaching that the water that is spoke of in the gosples of God. " he will baptise you in water and the holy spirit" is refering to physical water. Even some in the protestant faith have taught this. When Christ spoke to the woman at the well did he not say “if you had ask of me i would have given you living water” Christ is speaking of salvation and the water of his spirit. When a person comes to the knowedge of the truth of who Jesus is and repents and ask God to forgive him. He that person is sealed by the holy spirit, who seals us with the spirit of Christ. This is the new birth. The living waters of Christ spirit are poured into a persons vessel and that person becomes a new creature that has never existed before. When the logos ( word ) is mixed with ( faith ) then a new birth takes place. But it requires the correct word. It also requires repentance. The modle of salvation is not mandated by any earthly church but by God alone in scripture.
The catholic church has mixed the teaching of many cultures into there traditions thus destroying the purity of the gosple. In such they have taken the holy scripture and made them worthless by promoting pagen tradition over the word of God. Thus they have made there concept of the truth a idol and a snare for all there congeration.
Jesus said narrow is the path and few are they that find it. That would indicate people are missing alot of understanding in reguards to what Jesus is teaching. The catholics promote a form of religion that having the look of Godleness on the outside is in fact full of dead mens bones. The very thing Christ preached against. And he is still preaching today.
 
Now here is the most notable difference between my gosple and your gosple. I have lived the gosple of Christ, i have suffered for the faith, have paid all, and i mean all, I have heard the voices of God the father at different times and the voice of God the son at different times and the voice of the holy spirit they are all different voices each different and each testifying of the other and always agreeing with the scriptures.
For 7 years i was persucated for the witness of Christ. I have seen into the spirit realm and have even seen powers of darkness such as a prienapality. Please excuse the speeling this in my my natural tounge. In that time of persucation God unvailed the Gosple of christ to me and empowed me and i worked mericals and also recieved the annointing of God. I also was ministered to by God and his ministering angles so were did i get the gosple from, directly from GOD. So do you believe in the gosple of Christ it is written in his book. Are you following Christ or your form of the gosple.
We are taught that there will be many Christ taugh and many are coming and all false but one the Christ of the cross. Is you faith in man and a earthly church. Or in the finished work of the cross. Do you recall the day of your salvation. Was it a special event on your life. Drug addits recieve salvation all the time, murders and drunks recieve salvation all the time and no minister is leading them, no priest is praying over them so the gosple of Christ is his gosple and he administers it to whom he desires how ever he desires.
The catholic church promotes the false priesthood of men over the real priesthood of Christ as the one high priest between God and man as scripture teaches thus they have created a priesthood that is not based in any known word of scripture it is made up. You do not need any other priest other then Jesus Christ and God will not honor such. Christ offered his blood one and sat down as high priest for all tiems next tot he father. The catholic church has tryed to recreat a priesthood based on the levitical preisthood which God destroyed by creating a eternal high priest in the person of Jesus so by what authority has the Holy Roman Chruch created this new priesthood. It is fiction. The priesthood was about the law the priesthood of Christ is about grace thus they do not mix. You can’t serve two masters weather they are the law and grace or money and God.
So is the gosple of catholic and the gosple of the protestants the same gosple. Indeed not. It is written my sheep know my voice. Has God spoke to you! In my short life i have seen the tower of david, held the rod of the prophet and served as a prophet, ministered as as apostle and lived as a holy reject among man. And I have suffered for the faith. Yeat I count all this nothing for the cause of Christ. For what do you stand for what do you live and for what do you die. I preach Christ and the Finished work of the cross.
What are you preaching, You preach worship mary as a goddess above sin, that is not the gosple. You preach puratory that is not the gosple, you preach the eucharist being the actualy blood of christ and the bread of his body and him being put to the cross anew that is not the gosple read hebrews were is states he will not suffer the cross but one time. He is not put to the same of the cross anew in the eucharist. You teach to pray to the saints that have passed over. This is forbidden in the word of God. We have one high priest to him alone do we go in prayer. You promote carved images. God has forbidden us to make any carved image of anything in heaven above or below. You promote a preisthood amoung man but God has destroyed the priesthood amoung men and as established one priesthood that of Jesus the eternal High Priest. and has declared us all equal priest before God. So are you seeing your church at the authority or the word of God. His name is Jesus. And to him alone belongs salvaton he does not honor what is not of him. Nor are all who call upon his name his.
Is it not writen not all who declare themselfs of Israel are of Israel. We are a royal priesthood heirs and joint heirs before God. We are kings and priest. He was not made a priest with out a oath.
So do you know God have you met Christ or do you just know about christ. Some of the catholic may be saved most will not be. Some indeed have met Christ i am sure. But they also have left the church of the catholic in order to follow Christ. You do not serve to master and Christ alone is our master. We as christians can’t bow to a bishop or a pope or a earthly priest because to do so is sin. We bow to Christ and him alone to bow to a man is sin before the lamb of God. Did not the apostle even stop them from bowing to him when he preformed mericals by the power of God. Even the angle who john bowed before said am i not your fellow worker bow not.
We know Christ we are the saved and the redeemed. The born again of God. Are you?
 
Santos - thank you for your lovely story!🙂

I’m no theologian of any sorts (barely even amature!), but all I can say is that I have seen some of the best examples of living a devout, Christian life from some of my protestant friends. The way that they live their lives is a wonderful example to all of us, no matter what denomination or Church one lives in.
 
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