How are we saved?

[davidv]

Any one of the epistles standing alone or the book of acts has enough information to explain the plan of salvation. If we believe in the Lord Jesus we are saved. Faith gets us in. Not our own good deeds. Once we are in, we are to be baptized and turn from sin.

No one knows about them.

How do you know this? Have done a survey?

They may be read in the 3 year cycle at mass but no one teaches them. Bible study was never part of Catholic education.

If this true, how is that I have been part of a Catholic bible study in my parish for the past 10 years?

Probably in your life time the Church has been teaching the scriptures but as I have stated before, the baltimore catechism was the book that teachers of the Catholic faith were required to know and teach and it tells all Catholics to not read the bible. There would be no problem with that if the Church was teaching the plan of salvation properly but they never did. Most Catholics that I know have a jumbled mess of religious rules stored in their memory such as: You can never be sure if God will accept you but if you do your best you will go to purgatory to suffer and pay for your sins…maybe…we don’t really know for sure.
What do you think my “life time in the Church” has been? Are you sure you will never sin again. If not, how can you be sure?

It is true that the early church did not have the new testament but they also did not have a catechism. What was the plan of salvation taught by Jesus and the apostles? It was “believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” It was not “believe in the Lord Jesus, accept Peter as pope and accept the teachings of the magisterium.”

Nor is that the teaching today. Where in the Catechism is it taught this way?

 

[Love_is_Patient]

Probably in your life time the Church has been teaching the scriptures but as I have stated before, the baltimore catechism was the book that teachers of the Catholic faith were required to know and teach and it tells all Catholics to not read the bible.

Are you sure you remember correctly? My Baltimore Catechism states on the inside cover:
Baltimore Catechism:

The faithful who read the Bible for at least a quarter of an hour, with the reverence due the Divine Word and as spiritual reading may gain:
An Indulgence of 3 years

(Please, let’s not let the thread delve off into indulgences. )

I’m sorry you were catechized improperly. But that’s not what the Baltimore Catechism says, at least in my edition.

Love is Patient

 

[ron77nyc]

Any one of the No one knows about them. They may be read in the 3 year cycle at mass but no one teacepistles standing alone or the book of acts has enough information to explain the plan of salvation. If we believe in the Lord Jesus we are saved. Faith gets us in. Not our own good deeds. Once we are in, we are to be baptized and turn from sin.

If this is true, then why don’t many Protestants “get it?” They think that once they are saved that they then have “eternal security” and so they can never lose their salvation.

The same reason many Catholics don’t get it…poor teaching and ignorance of the bible.

ron77nyc It is true that the early church did not have the new testament but they also did not have a catechism. What was the plan of salvation taught by Jesus and the apostles? It was “believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” It was not “believe in the Lord Jesus, accept Peter as pope and accept the teachings of the magisterium.”

Where is your proof for this?
Hebrews 13:17 “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.”

Pax,
SHW

If they didn’t have printing presses and were illiterate, why would they have a catechism?

The bible tells us what the apostles taught. They did not teach today’s Catholic catechism.

 

[ron77nyc]

Any one of the epistles standing alone or the book of acts has enough information to explain the plan of salvation. If we believe in the Lord Jesus we are saved. Faith gets us in. Not our own good deeds. Once we are in, we are to be baptized and turn from sin.

If this is true, then why don’t many Protestants “get it?” They think that once they are saved that they then have “eternal security” and so they can never lose their salvation.

The same reason Catholics don’t get it…poor teachers and ignorance of the scriptures.

However, we are all responsible to answer God’s call after we reach the age of reason. The Bible did not exist in its present form until after the invention of the printing press. Many people were illiterate and so stained glass windows showed important events in the Bible visually so that people could think about them. For 1500 years, Bibles were not owned by the common man. They were too expensive to produce and many persons were illiterate so Bibles would not have benefited them. This is why Jesus started a Church and gave it the responsibility to make disciples of all nations and to teach them to observe all the things that Jesus commanded them. He never told them to go out and write a Bible so that persons could read it and decide what it meant for themselves.

Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen”

It is true that the early church did not have the new testament but they also did not have a catechism. What was the plan of salvation taught by Jesus and the apostles? It was “believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” It was not “believe in the Lord Jesus, accept Peter as pope and accept the teachings of the magisterium.”

If they didn’t have printing presses and were illiterate, why would they have a catechism?
The bible tells us what the apostles taught. They did not teach the catechism.

 

[tobydog98]

The guarantee of which you speak is of the Holy Spirit and he seals us at our salvation so that no man, not even ourselves, can take us out of the Father’s hand. Anything less, i.e. a requirement of cooperation from a sinner, is not perfect and as I stated before, Jesus saved me and He saved me perfectly and completely. No matter what I do, what sin I commit, God’s Grace is sufficient to cover it. Is there evidence of this salvation? Yes, but that is for God to judge, not Man. God only knows if the conversion was real.
I take much comfort from this assurance.
I am living my earthly life in devotion to Him and I do ask forgiveness for the sins I commit. But that is to strengthen my Christian walk and witness, not to somehow merit my salvation continually.

 

[ron77nyc]

I’m sorry you were catechized improperly. But that’s not what the Baltimore Catechism says, at least in my edition.

Love is Patient

**Q. 561. Must we ourselves seek in the Scriptures and traditions for what we are to believe?
A. We ourselves need not seek in the Scriptures and traditions for what we are to believe. God has appointed the Church to be our guide to salvation and we must accept its teaching us our infallible rule of faith. **

This means you don’t have to read the bible because the Church will tell you everything you need to know. The problem is this: they didn’t.

 

[paul_c]

The guarantee of which you speak is of the Holy Spirit and he seals us at our salvation so that no man, not even ourselves, can take us out of the Father’s hand. Anything less, i.e. a requirement of cooperation from a sinner, is not perfect and as I stated before, Jesus saved me and He saved me perfectly and completely. No matter what I do, what sin I commit, God’s Grace is sufficient to cover it. Is there evidence of this salvation? Yes, but that is for God to judge, not Man. God only knows if the conversion was real.
I take much comfort from this assurance.
I am living my earthly life in devotion to Him and I do ask forgiveness for the sins I commit. But that is to strengthen my Christian walk and witness, not to somehow merit my salvation continually.

Toby,
Grace is given to us as a gift but like all gifts, it can be rejected. God, in the fullness of his love and mercy also gave us the gift of Free will. Now God knows perfectly what we will do with that free will, but it is still ours to use. We have the choice of Doing God’s will and being saved or turning from God in sin and being condemned.

If you believe that all scripture is inspired and true, then every statement of scripture must be reconciled with every other one . If your theology forces you to ignore some scripture, then you can be sure that your interpretation is in error. There have been many scriptural statements presented in the arguments above that clearly demonstrate that believers can be condemned for their actions. This is clearly in conflict with your Free Grace beliefs so that leaves you with two choices: either you can not be assured of salvation or you must believe that some scripture is in error .

Consider also that deep down, you understand that sin must be forgiven for salvation because your soul is driving you to ask for that forgiveness. If it wasn’t important for sins to be forgiven, why did Jesus forgive sins? And why did he pass that ability on to the Apostles?

 

[paul_c]

**Q. 561. Must we ourselves seek in the Scriptures and traditions for what we are to believe?
A. We ourselves need not seek in the Scriptures and traditions for what we are to believe. God has appointed the Church to be our guide to salvation and we must accept its teaching us our infallible rule of faith. **

This means you don’t have to read the bible because the Church will tell you everything you need to know. The problem is this: they didn’t.

Ron,
your personal situation is most lamentable. You claim the church didn’t teach you and that is sad. However, obviously you have the wherewithall to learn exactly what the church teaches.

The church uses many vehicles to teach the faith and that has been true throughout the ages. The Bible is a teaching tool of the Church, as are the catechisms. The words spoken at mass, both in the liturgy of the word and the liturgy of the eucharist are teaching tools. There are devotions and art work that are teaching tools and there are all kinds of groups and societies from which the faith can be learned. There are lives of the saints, commentaries and even Catholic Answers Forum that can be read.

I disagree vehemently that the bible was not made available. I recieved my first copy of the Bible as part of the CCD program in Northern Virginia in 1973 and I have read from it almost daily ever since. I teach CCD myself and we provide bibles to all students in the 6th grade and train them how to use them. The Bible has always been available in bookstores. True, reading the bible individually has not always been pushed because as you can see, many people try to interpret it on their own and fail miserably, reading into it what they want to hear, not what it actually says. For instance, Luther declared salvation was based on Faith alone , ignoring completely straightforward Biblical statements like james 2:24 (Faith without works is dead). And what the Catechism says is true, You don’t have to read the scriptures yourself because the Catholic Church will teach you what you need to know. But like anything else, you need to put some effort into it to actually learn what you need to know. Many are called but not all respond to that call in the affirmative. As in the famous parable of the sower: Some never learn at all, some learn but fall away at the first hint of conflict or trouble , some are distracted by the worries of life and never put what they learn into practice. But some bear fruit.

I would add that every Catholic knows what they need to do functionally to be saved. They all know they need to be baptized and to go to confession when they sin. They also know that they need to do good works to stay in the state of grace and that follows the great commandment: to love God and love each other. Everything else is a detail.

 

[Stephenite]

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992) tells us of the true value of Sacred Scripture to the Church CCC 81" Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit"-- CCC 102 " Through all the words of Sacred Scripture God speaks only one single Word, His one Utterance in whom he expresses himself completely" (see Heb 1:1-3 ) CCC 133The Church “forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful…to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. ’ Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ’”
CAN WE BE ANYMORE CLEAR ON THE SUBJECT?

Remember The Subject was Salvation not the Baltimore Catechism!

James 2:18-19 But some man will say: Thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my faith. 19 Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble.

Remember That the Gospels were given to us By SACRED TRADITION! Not one Gospel writer witnessed Gabriel’s visitation to Mary! The story was passed on by Sacred Oral Tradition!— THANK YOU GOD!

 

[GW]

RonNYC: My experience is the same as Golfjack’s. We never saw a bible or even heard the word bible mentioned in Catholic school.

GW: But you were taught its contents. The traditions of God and Christ and the apostles are just as valid whether you hear them taught by “word of mouth” or whether you read them in the letters of written scripture (2 Thess 2:15).

RonNYC: The Baltimore Catechism was “the bible” that the Catholic Church used and the standard of teaching from 1885 to the 1960’s.

GW: The Catechism is an explanation of christian beliefs. Just as you and I are here talking about what the true teachings are, so also the Catechism is the Church’s official explanation. And it’s put into a book so anyone can pick it up and use it as a reference.

RonNYC: This is what the Baltimore Catechism says about the bible.

GW: The Catechism is right. The Church is the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim 3:15), and Jesus appointed men to pass on his teachings through preaching and also training of other bishops—not via print literature or books. The first Christians did not have “bibles” since the apostles did not create a New Testament canon. Moreover, there was no printing press, and most people of history couldn’t read books anyways. So, it is a fact that Jesus did not create a religion in which every individual was to get a bible and figure out the truth for himself or herself.

 

[GW]

TobyDog: A Catholic accepts Tradition and the teachings of the Catholic Church to be equal with Scripture whereas I, as a Protestant, base my beliefs solely on Scripture.

GW: In Catholicism, “Tradition” is simply the entire of God’s revealed truth. That truth of God is valid whether it is passed on orally or passed on in the written letters (2 Thess 2:15; 2 Thess 3:6; 1 Cor 11:2)

Even protestants don’t base their beliefs “solely on scripture.” Just think of all the truths of Christianity that aren’t listed in scripture: The list of New Testament books, Christ’s celibacy, the authors of the four gospels, Sunday as the Christian day of worship.

Ironically, the Toby’s view that one is to “base his beliefs solely on scripture” is found nowhere in scripture.

 

[GW]

Jamie,

Catholics accept many non-Catholic christians as brothers and sisters, and we do so because we share enough key doctrines together, such as the Trinity, baptism, repentance, living a godly life, etc. So absolutely we are family in Christ.

But we also maintain the truth that Jesus, in his wisdom, founded only one denomination (Mt. 16:18-19; Eph 4:4), not thousands of divided denominations. We know that this one Church Jesus founded is the Catholic Church, for the Catholics alone date back to the first century with the apostles. We know that all modern protestant denoms branched off from the Catholic priest Martin Luther and a few other ex-catholics of his era. Not a single contemporary protestant denomination has any history prior to about 1400s, and so we know for absolute certain that the protestant sects were not the one Church founded by Jesus during his generation in the first century. Thus not one protestant sect can be the the Church Jesus founded. The Catholics alone date back to the first century in unbroken succession, and the hub congregation at Rome is even in our bibles (St. Paul wrote a letter to that congregation – Romans).

The reason protestants are divided into thousands of divided sects is because they cannot agree on what the bible teaches on a variety of key doctrines, and they have no Magisterium (official teaching body) to resolve disputes and settle the matter between them with any authority. Thus they are left in a state of perpetual fragmentations and divisions over doctrines and cannot resolve the issues.

Yes, the Catholic Church believes God does miracles beyond the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church. You might enjoy reading this miracle granted to Baptist Phil McCord of Indiana when he was praying in a Catholic chapel.

news-tribune.net/religion/local_story_287210809.html

freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1757399/posts

The purpose of the gospel and God’s grace is to unite all the faithful together as one family (John 17:20-23). Christ’s people are not to divide up into sects (1 Cor 1:10).

 

[Prodigal_Son1]

The guarantee of which you speak is of the Holy Spirit and he seals us at our salvation so that no man, not even ourselves, can take us out of the Father’s hand. Anything less, i.e. a requirement of cooperation from a sinner, is not perfect and as I stated before, Jesus saved me and He saved me perfectly and completely. No matter what I do, what sin I commit, God’s Grace is sufficient to cover it. Is there evidence of this salvation? Yes, but that is for God to judge, not Man. God only knows if the conversion was real.
I take much comfort from this assurance.
I am living my earthly life in devotion to Him and I do ask forgiveness for the sins I commit. But that is to strengthen my Christian walk and witness, not to somehow merit my salvation continually.

Is this the OSAS view? (Once saved always saved)

If it is, please explain the verses below.

**Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Mat 24:13 But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved.

Php 2:12 Wherefore, my dearly beloved, (as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but much more now in my absence) with fear and trembling work out your salvation.

1Co 9:27 But I chastise my body and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway.

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Co 10:12 Wherefore, he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall.

Gal 5:4 You are made void of Christ, you who are justified in the law: you are fallen from grace.

Heb 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, have tasted also the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
Heb 6:5 Have moreover tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come,
Heb 6:6 And are fallen away: to be renewed again to penance, crucifying again to themselves the Son of God and making him a mockery.

Heb 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after having the knowledge of the truth, there is now left no sacrifice for sins:
Heb 10:27 But a certain dreadful expectation of judgment, and the rage of a fire which shall consume the adversaries.**

 

[GW]

Heya Golfjack:

Believers can indeed sin their way to spiritual damnation (1 Jn 5:16), and Christians whose lives are filled with various unrepented sinful acts do not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:9-10). Sinful acts stain our souls and thus require confession to be cleansed (1 John 1:9). Fortunately, most protestants know this is true in their daily lives and try to live godly, even though they teach a false “optional obedience to Christ” in their official teaching on salvation. The bible does not teach “optional obedience” to God’s commands. Christians are obligated to obey and to confess and make amends in the times where they fail to obey. God’s grace is given to energize us towards this holiness.

Jesus came to take away our sinfulness, as is clearly stated at 1 John 3:4-19. And this is done via the process of confession and sanctification, which is an ongoing work of the Holy Spirit plus God’s discipline (Hebrews 12:5-17).

We are not to think that being commandment breakers is in any way acceptable to God. “Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints…this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” (Eph 5:3,5)

 

[ron77nyc]

I disagree vehemently that the bible was not made available. I received my first copy of the Bible as part of the CCD program in Northern Virginia in 1973 and I have read from it almost daily ever since.

Your vehement disagreement agrees with what I’m saying. I went to Catholic high school in New York in the 1960’s and we never saw a bible. I know that the situation has changed since then. I’m referring to my generation and all those before me. I know there may be some exceptions in different regions.

I teach CCD myself and we provide bibles to all students in the 6th grade and train them how to use them. The Bible has always been available in bookstores. True, reading the bible individually has not always been pushed because as you can see, many people try to interpret it on their own and fail miserably, reading into it what they want to hear, not what it actually says. For instance, Luther declared salvation was based on Faith alone , ignoring completely straightforward Biblical statements like james 2:24 (Faith without works is dead).

I think Luther was overcompensating for the Church’s complete neglect of this doctrine.

I would add that every Catholic knows what they need to do functionally to be saved. They all know they need to be baptized and to go to confession when they sin. They also know that they need to do good works to stay in the state of grace and that follows the great commandment: to love God and love each other. Everything else is a detail.

Faith in the risen Lord Jesus is not a detail. It’s the starting point. You left it out. Without that we are not Christians. Everything else means nothing without that. Without Jesus we are trying to save ourselves.

 

[GW]

RonNYC: If we believe in the Lord Jesus we are saved. Faith gets us in.

GW: Yes we are to believe in the Lord Jesus, but the bible does not teach “faith alone,” wherein one has a proper mental belief minus good fruits. The demons have that! (James 2:19). Jesus says a christian without fruits is cast away (John 15:2). Jesus does not accept a man who calls him Lord yet does not do what the Lord instructs (Luke 6:46). In fact, the very purpose of God’s grace is to transform us and our wills so that we stop being rebels against God and start being faithful commandment keepers:

Titus 11-12,14
The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age…[God] gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

The only place in scripture that says “faith alone” specifically says, “You see that a man is justified by works and NOT by faith alone” (James 2:24).

RonNYC: Bible study was never part of Catholic education

GW: Bibles weren’t available to the masses until after the invention of the printing press, and then you had to be literate to read the scriptures. Plus there were no retail bookstores. So, while bible study is a great devotional practice (!), it is a modern one. The early Christians learned the faith via ordained bishops and pastors, not printed materials. The Church is the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim 3:15), and the authoritative teaching is preserved by the councils of bishops, as we see at the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 (Read the whole chapter). The authorized determination of key doctrines happens among the assembly of ordained bishops and then is rolled out to all the faithful everywhere. After that Church Council, “They were delivering the decrees which had been decided upon by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem, for them to observe.” (16:4)

RonNYC: The bible tells us what the apostles taught.

GW: How did the early Christians learn what the apostles taught? They didn’t have bibles, nor could most of them read writings.

RonNYC: They did not teach the catechism.

GW: The Catechism is simply a written explanation of doctrines. Just as you and I are trying to explain to each other here, so the Catechism is an explanation. Only, the Catechism is the official explanation that the Church has taught and preserved down the centuries, whereas protestants are engaged in endless disagreements without any authorized voice or final resolution of disputes. As the old protestant blues song goes, “No two men understand the bible alike.” Fortunately, Jesus did not leave the truth up to individuals to figure out for themselves. He gave us the Church.

 

[GW]

RonNYC: I went to Catholic high school in New York in the 1960’s and we never saw a bible.

GW: Sorry to be a broken record here, but you were taught the content/doctrines of the bible and were expected to live it. You were taught to worship God the Holy Trinity (Father/Son/HolySpirit). You were taught to repent of and make amends for individual sins you committed, be it lying or stealing, or slander, or cheating, or adultery, or any other sins you did against others. You were taught to help the poor and be charitable to even strangers and enemies. You were taught to worship God with all the believers on the Lord’s Day every Sunday. You were taught to live godly in your marriage, your job, etc. You were taught that the Lord prohibits remarriage, for such is merely chronic adultery in His eyes.

So, you were orally taught the teachings that are found all throughout the bible, just like the early Christians for well over a millennia.

RonNYC: Faith in the risen Lord Jesus is not a detail. It’s the starting point.

GW: Amen. You were taught to place your faith in the risen Lord Jesus, even if you heard the message via preaching alone and not from reading your own copy of the bible.

 

[ron77nyc]

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992) tells us of the true value of Sacred Scripture to the Church CCC 81" Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit"-- CCC 102 " Through all the words of Sacred Scripture God speaks only one single Word, His one Utterance in whom he expresses himself completely" (see Heb 1:1-3 ) CCC 133The Church “forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful…to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. ’ Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ’”
CAN WE BE ANYMORE CLEAR ON THE SUBJECT?

Remember The Subject was Salvation not the Baltimore Catechism!

James 2:18-19 But some man will say: Thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my faith. 19 Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble.

Remember That the Gospels were given to us By SACRED TRADITION! Not one Gospel writer witnessed Gabriel’s visitation to Mary! The story was passed on by Sacred Oral Tradition!— THANK YOU GOD!

The Catholic Church has added requirements to being saved that the apostles never taught. Do you think the first generation Christians would qualify as Catholics?

 

[ron77nyc]

RonNYC: I went to Catholic high school in New York in the 1960’s and we never saw a bible.

GW: Sorry to be a broken record here, but you were taught the content/doctrines of the bible and were expected to live it. You were taught to worship God the Holy Trinity (Father/Son/HolySpirit). You were taught to repent of and make amends for individual sins you committed, be it lying or stealing, or slander, or cheating, or adultery, or any other sins you did against others. You were taught to help the poor and be charitable to even strangers and enemies. You were taught to worship God with all the believers on the Lord’s Day every Sunday. You were taught to live godly in your marriage, your job, etc. You were taught that the Lord prohibits remarriage, for such is merely chronic adultery in His eyes.

So, you were orally taught the teachings that are found all throughout the bible, just like the early Christians for well over a millennia.

RonNYC: Faith in the risen Lord Jesus is not a detail. It’s the starting point.

GW: Amen. You were taught to place your faith in the risen Lord Jesus, even if you heard the message via preaching alone and not from reading your own copy of the bible.

I learned it from Protestants.

 

[ron77nyc]

RonNYC: If we believe in the Lord Jesus we are saved. Faith gets us in.

GW: Yes we are to believe in the Lord Jesus, but the bible does not teach “faith alone,” wherein one has a proper mental belief minus good fruits. The demons have that! (James 2:19). Jesus says a christian without fruits is cast away (John 15:2). Jesus does not accept a man who calls him Lord yet does not do what the Lord instructs (Luke 6:46). In fact, the very purpose of God’s grace is to transform us and our wills so that we stop being rebels against God and start being faithful commandment keepers:

The only place in scripture that says “faith alone” specifically says, “You see that a man is justified by works and NOT by faith alone” (James 2:24).

This is very interesting. The Pope is preaching salvation by faith. Does anyone know if Luther actually taught people to have faith and sin all you want?

zenit.org/article-24309?l=english

it is Christ who guarantees our true identity in the diversity of cultures; and it is he who makes us just. To be just means simply to be with Christ and in Christ. And this suffices. Other observances are no longer necessary."
And it is because of this, the Bishop of Rome continued, that Luther’s expression “by faith alone” is true "if faith is not opposed to charity, to love. Faith is to look at Christ, to entrust oneself to Christ, to be united to Christ, to be conformed to Christ, to his life. And the form, the life of Christ, is love; hence, to believe is to be conformed to Christ and to enter into his love."