ANSWER by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM on June 8, 2004

Dear Jon: What is required for salvation is what Jesus Christ said was required. The Catholic Church has always taught the same thing Jesus taught and has never wavered from that position. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: 161 Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation. (Cf. Mk 16:16; Jn 3:36; 6:40 et al) "Since "without faith it is impossible to please [God]" and to attain to the fellowship of his sons, therefore without faith no one has ever attained justification, nor will anyone obtain eternal life 'But he who endures to the end.'" 162 Faith is an entirely free gift that God makes to man. We can lose this priceless gift, as St. Paul indicated to St. Timothy: "Wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain persons have made shipwreck of their faith." (I Tim 1:18-19) To live, grow and persevere in the faith until the end we must nourish it with the word of God; we must beg the Lord to increase our faith; (cf. Mk 9:24; Lk 17:5; 22:32) it must be "working through charity," abounding in hope, and rooted in the faith of the Church. (Gal 5:6; Rom 15:13; cf. Jas 2:14-26) 183 Faith is necessary for salvation. The Lord himself affirms: "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned" (Mk 16:16). In summary, the Catholic Church affirms and proclaims: Romans 3:28 "For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law." But Catholics believe in the WHOLE Bible and not just pat verses used to justify pre-conceived ideas. The Romans passage must be interpreted in light of the whole of scripture and not taken in isolation. Thus Romans 3:28 must be interpreted in light of, for example, James 2:14-26: 14 What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. 18 But some one will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder. 20 Do you want to be shown, you shallow man (some translations say, "ignoramuses"), that faith apart from works is barren? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works, 23* and the scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness"; and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25* And in the same way was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead. St James words of course, which are Sacred Infallible Scripture, caused Martin Luther great pain since it flew in the face of his man-made doctrine of "faith alone". NO WHERE in the New Testament is the phrase "faith alone" mentioned except by St. James quoted above. Thus Martin Luther added the word "alone" to Romans 3:28 in his German translation. Luther also ripped out of the Bible seven books of the Old Testament and wanted to rip out Revelations, Hebrews, and of course, James. When Martin Luther was confronted on why he was bastardizing the Bible, he replied: "You tell me what a great fuss the Papists are making because the word 'alone' is not in the text of Paul. If your Papist makes such an unnecessary row about the word 'alone', say right out to him: 'Dr. Martin Luther will have it so,' and say: 'Papists and assess are one and the same thing.' I will have it so, and I order it to be so, and my will is reason enough. I know very will that the word 'alone' is not in the Latin or the Greek text...It is true those letters are not in it....It shall remain in my New Testament, and if all the Popish donkeys were to get made and beside themselves, they will not get it out." WOW, thus sayeth the "humble" Martin Luther. And the rest, as they say, is history. All the Protestant man-made doctrines, that depart from the true faith of the Apostles, stem from this arrogant beginning and attitude. What is funny, given that anti-Catholic bigots bastardize history to try to say that the Catholic Church messed with the Bible, is that it was the Catholic Church protecting the veracity of the Sacred Scriptures against puff-in-stuffs like Martin Luther who wanted and did rape the Sacred Scriptures according to his own distorted notions. The Catholic Church has never messed with the Bible. We take it "as is". The New Testament is a Catholic document, written by Catholics, vetted by Catholics and compiled by Catholics. It is document produced by the Catholic Church that the rest of the Christian world borrows. We, of course, adhere strictly to our own document and do not come up with delusionary non-biblical notions like "sola fidei" and "sola scriptura". Bottomline: the Catholic Church teaches and has always taught that "For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law." and that "faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead." A faith that is dead is no faith at all, thus a dead faith is one that cannot justify. Further, "You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone....For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead." For a complete Scriptural reference to what Jesus and the Apostles taught, and what the Catholic Church teaches, see: Salvation God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary