Catholicism and why the Reformation still matters

We mustn't ignore Protestant-Catholic differences if the West is to be reborn

Photo by Kai Pilger on Unsplash

Those of you who have been around for a while will know that I am fascinated by the history of the Reformation. I’ve also been saying for some time that we need a new Reformation today: the church today is full of corruption and needs a gutting and transformation. Not to mention the world of politics, government, the media, and so on — all need their own reformations!

However, one of the things which I haven’t spoken much about before is the rise of the Catholic church. It struck me again recently how many high-profile conservative commentators are coming from a Catholic perspective. For example, Calvin Robinson has moved to an Anglo-Catholic parish in the States and has written about aspects of Catholic theology - most recently the Saints and Purgatory. There are also a number of high-profile conservative commentators who have converted to Catholicism lately, for example Eva Vlaardingerbroek and Gavin Ashenden, as well as those who make no secret of their Catholic or Anglo-Catholic beliefs such Emma Webb and Connor Tomlinson (who both state in their Twitter/X bio that they are Catholic or Anglo-Catholic).

It’s difficult to quantify, but I sense that more and more people in conservative circles are not just advocating for Christianity but for Catholicism in particular. I’m sad to say that this is a reversal of the trend which began a few years ago of a new kind of unity among Christians. Let me explain what I mean.

My experience over the last few years

I grew up in a Protestant church (my Dad was a Baptist minister), and I always had a negative view of Roman Catholicism. My whole experience of church as a child was in independent churches (“nonconformist”, i.e. non-CofE), and then when I went to University I started going to a Church of England church. (I remained in the CofE until last year). But most of my views about Catholics and Catholicism were formed in theory, rather than practice.

That began to change in March 2020, when the lockdowns came. After a few months of being disgusted with the church for refusing to engage in the theological issues involved, I decided to start writing about lockdown from a Christian perspective, before starting to record videos which eventually became Sacred Musings.

What was encouraging to me at the time was the fact that many people were engaging with my writings / videos from lots of different perspectives: a few people were recent converts to Christianity, but there were also Christians from various different denominations. I had people getting in touch who were Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Methodists, CofE … all sorts. It genuinely felt like there was a new kind of unity brewing. On the one hand, I felt like I no longer belonged to my own ‘tribe’ within the church — who had largely bought into everything the government told us about covid. At the same time, I felt like there was a whole new community of people I did feel an affinity with, people who were simply united by faith in Christ.

However, it seems to me that, a few years on, those tribal divisions have crept back again. It seems to me that the unity that was forged during lockdown was only a result of a crisis - of people realising that they didn’t share fellowship with other Christians in their own churches, but had more in common with Christians from other denominations. Now that the crisis is ‘over’ (I use the word advisedly), the unity has gone and people are going back to their tribal divisions.

The problem with this is that there is only one church - as I made clear in my post a few months back about denominations. We as Christians should be aiming to have no denominations; and especially not denominations which claim they are the only true church and everyone else is wrong.

Perhaps one of the problems over the last few years is that the unity we thought we had was a mirage: it was precipitated by a crisis, but it didn’t create a real unity around something positive. Unity against a common enemy is not really unity; when the common enemy departs, so does the unity. I think something like this may have happened over the last few months. I wonder if what needs to happen is for the church to set aside denominational differences and allow a new kind of unity - unity through the Holy Spirit, by faith in Jesus Christ.

What I’d like to do in the remainder of this post is outline the reasons why I believe that the differences between Protestants and Roman Catholics still matter. In short, I believe that the problems in the Western world at the moment will not find a solution if the West embraces Catholicism.

Why Protestant-Catholic differences still matter

#1: Because the Bible matters

One of the things I find the most striking about discussions around these issues is the way that people can be so casual about what the Bible says. It’s almost as if people don’t really care what the Bible says, just so long as an argument can be made in favour of their preferred position. A few years ago, I wrote a piece about “That’s just your interpretation”, where similar things were happening in the debate around same-sex marriage. I said back then:

So, rather than trying to advocate for another interpretation, they simply point the finger to a range of interpretations and say “there! there are a lot of options, take your pick. Clearly the traditional interpretation is not the only one on the market.” …

To use an analogy, this would be like me saying that Jesus Christ was not eternally begotten of the Father and referring to works by Arius of Alexandria, the Watchtower Organisation and so on in order to prove my case. “Oh, there are lots of arguments for Jesus not being the eternal Son of God. Take your pick”. This would be bordering on dishonesty because it hides the fact that those arguments have been refuted for a long time by people such as Athanasius, Augustine and countless other theologians. Despite the number of people who argued against the eternal Sonship of Christ on the grounds of Scriptural interpretation – the church has simply not found their arguments to be persuasive (rightly, in my opinion).

I believe, along with the Reformers, that God has spoken in the Bible. The Scriptures are “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16), and they carry unique authority in the church. I believe that God has chosen to govern his church by his word, the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17).

Simply put, I do not believe that the Roman Catholic church gives serious enough weight to the Scriptures and to thinking through the logic of the gospel.

One of the biggest problems I’ve noticed today is that so many people don’t think the Bible is really relevant. People have absolutely bought into the “that’s just your interpretation” line of thinking. People who would claim to be Christians have very little regard for the Word of God. I’ve seen this in my Bible study groups: people have all sorts of esoteric beliefs (about hell, for example) — which are manifestly not biblical — and yet they will refuse to change their beliefs when presented with the Scripture which contradicts them.

I should add, it is not simply the Roman Catholic church which is at fault - I have already written about how churches which are proud to be heirs of the Reformation are only paying lip service to biblical authority:

I said in that piece: “As I was writing and discussing those pieces … I realised that too many Christians and especially evangelical Christian leaders simply don’t care about what the Bible says.” I still find it incredible today that so many of my contemporaries, who would consider themselves to hold a high view of Scripture, simply did not let the Scriptures speak about these issues — they seemed uninterested in debating what the Bible might have to say about these contemporary questions. Most seemed to be too scared of going close to so-called ‘conspiracy theories’.

If the church is to let the light in, then we need to break open the Scriptures and let God speak to us through them. When I graduated from theological college, Mike Ovey — late principal of the college — gave us this text, which has stuck with me ever since:

As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:10-11

God Word achieves that which it is sent for. It has the power to reform the church, if we will allow it to. Martin Luther said in 1522:

“I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no price or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it.”

I believe it was Spurgeon who once said: “Defend the Bible? I’d soon as defend a lion!” The Word does its work — the question is, are we willing to listen?

#2: Because the gospel is the power of God

Paul wrote in Romans:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. Romans 1:16

At first glance this might not appear to be relevant to the question of the differences between Protestants and Catholics, but actually it is fundamental. The question is: what exactly is the gospel? Protestants and Catholics will give slightly different answers here. The differences may be small and subtle, but a small and subtle difference to something as fundamental as the gospel will make a huge difference downstream.

You might think that believing we are justified by faith alone isn’t really that much different to believing that we contribute to our salvation by good works. But, in the end, it leads to a very different view of the Christian life. This is what I tried to explain a few years ago in this video (I speak directly to this point about 5 minutes in):

Nothing has changed since that video was posted. It seems to me that the Roman Catholic Church has changed its language over the years — but not its doctrine. It’s not enough to use the word “grace” if you’re not using it in the same way as the rest of the church. (I once heard Fr Raniero Cantalamessa speaking about “grace”, and he didn’t say anything I couldn’t agree with. But the question is, what exactly did he mean by grace…?) Those who want to look further into this might find Mike Reeves’ article about the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification helpful. The differences between Catholics and Protestants on this have not been reconciled, despite protestations to the contrary.

Also: Last year I wrote a defence of the Protestant view of justification as against the Catholic on the Understand the Bible website. There I explain what the Catholic view of justification is, and how it differs from the Protestant view, and why it’s important. You might like to read that if you want some more in-depth teaching.

The main point that I am trying to make in this section is that it is the gospel that has the power of God to transform lives and change societies. And if we are not agreed on what the gospel is, we can’t move forward together. If we are not preaching the true gospel message, we cannot expect the power of God.

This is why, if I (along with the Protestant Reformers) are right about the Roman Catholic understanding of the gospel, this cannot be overlooked. This leads naturally on to the final thing.

#3: We must depend on God’s strength, not ours

One of the facets of the Catholic view of justification is that God gives us the power to obey him in ourselves. Let me say again: they believe that, once we come to Christ, we have the power to obey him. Don’t take it from me, but let me quote the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

With justification, faith, hope, and charity are poured into our hearts, and obedience to the divine will is granted us. [Para 1991 - my emphasis]

Catholics believe that righteousness is ‘infused’ into us once we become Christians, and we become inherently righteousness in ourselves. This is very different to the Protestant view (again, please see my piece on Understand the Bible about this).

Think about the consequences of this view. If you believe you are inherently righteous, and able to obey God’s Law perfectly — except for the times when you sin (why do we still sin, on this understanding?) — whose strength are you depending on? It seems to me that you are largely depending on your own strength, rather than God’s. By contrast, someone who knows they are justified by faith alone, and not through their own deserving, knows how deeply they need God and how much they need to walk “in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25) every day.

As Jeremiah puts it:

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”

Jeremiah 17:5-8

We should put no confidence in ‘the flesh’ (cf Philippians 3:3), but place all confidence in God and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. You can see this view shining through in Cranmer’s majestic Book of Common Prayer. I have heard it described as the best liturgical expression of justification by faith alone there is, and I think this may well be true. Look at his introductory words to the confession, and count how many times the word ‘humble’ comes up:

Dearly beloved brethren, the Scripture moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness; and that we should not dissemble nor cloke them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father; but confess them with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart; to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same, by his infinite goodness and mercy. And although we ought at all times humbly to acknowledge our sins before God; yet ought we most chiefly so to do, when we assemble and meet together to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at his hands, to set forth his most worthy praise, to hear his most holy Word, and to ask those things which are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as the soul. Wherefore I pray and beseech you, as many as are here present, to accompany me with a pure heart and humble voice unto the throne of the heavenly grace…

I make that three mentions of the word ‘humble’ — not to mention words like ‘lowly’. In general, Cranmer — together with the Reformers in general — sought to emphasise the majesty and awesome holiness of God, and how unworthy we are to receive from him. This is not a recipe for cheap grace (which I talked about here), but rather the way that God has ordained for us to be transformed. As John Newton put it near the end of his life, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner — and that Christ is a great Savior!”

So, how does all of this make a difference to the state of the world at the moment?

I believe that the only thing which is going to make a lasting difference is the transformation of hearts and minds through the gospel. Politics and political activism are of limited value: it is not worthless to engage in politics and activism, but what we really need right now is something which goes far deeper. We need to not simply defeat the ‘woke’ or the globalists or whatever anti-Christian ideologies there may be. We need the conversion of hearts and minds, rather than political victory. People need to be turned back to the Lord.

This will only happen through the Spirit-filled proclamation of the gospel. And this in turn will only happen through people who are able to humble themselves before God and know they need his help more than anything day-by-day, moment-by-moment. I simply do not believe that the Catholic view of justification is conducive to this kind of humility and dependence on God.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians:

I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. 1 Corinthians 2:3-5

Paul’s proclamation of the gospel was not through human wisdom or strength, but through the power of the Spirit — so that the Corinthians might believe through God’s power and not human wisdom. Everything in the Christian life is accomplished through humble people who can accomplish nothing in their own strength depending on the power of God. This is what Cranmer and the Reformers understood — but, tragically, I believe it is a message that the church has largely forgotten today.

In a sense, one can hardly blame people for turning to the Catholic church because the Protestant churches have provided such a terrible example. As I have said several times, Protestant churches might say they believe in justification by faith alone but they do not live that message out.

God’s message to the church?

I appreciate this post has been long enough already, but I’d like to finish by thinking about what God might be saying to the church right now. I don’t want this post to come across as being anti-Catholic. I’m not trying to be anti-Catholic, but rather pro-unity in the gospel. I’ve said this many times lately, but I think it’s worth repeating: if we’ve learned anything in the last 500 years of church history, it’s that God is not confined to any one human institution. We mustn’t be like the Jews of the early days of the church, who thought that God dwelt in temples — Stephen had to remind them that God does not dwell in temples made by human hands (Acts 7:48). Similarly, God does not dwell in institutions made by human hands.

We need to consider well these words from the apostle Paul:

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:3-6

There is ONE body; ONE Spirit; ONE Lord; ONE faith; ONE baptism; ONE God. The Nicene Creed is right when it says “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.” ONE church — not the Roman Catholic church, or the Eastern Orthodox church, or the Church of England, etc.

I believe that God is working in the world at the moment, and the church is experiencing a great time of sifting. But I believe that those who are walking in step with the Spirit will be vindicated, and those who are genuinely seeking the Lord in everything will find a unity which was previously thought impossible.

The question is, are we willing to put the unity wrought by the Spirit ahead of unity found in man-made institutions? Are we willing to seek the Lord wherever he may lead us?

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