The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, February 21st: Deuteronomy 26:4-10; Romans 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13)

CAN CATHOLICS BE SAVED?

This week’s second reading contains one of my most favorite passages in all of Scripture, from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

Many of my dear friends in the Evangelical Protestant community also consider this passage one of their most favorite. And understandably so. In a single sentence this verse from Romans summarizes what needs to be done for a person to receive God’s salvation: declare that Jesus is indeed the Lord, and sincerely believe that He rose from the dead.

Now obviously this is just a starting point. There’s a whole lot more in the Bible explaining what we need to believe and do to draw closer to God. But when talking with someone new to the Christian faith, this single verse is a great place to start because it covers the two most important aspects of salvation: (1) the identity of Jesus—who He truly is and what He’s done for us—and (2) how we must respond—believing in the truth of His identity and submitting to Him as Lord.

All the other doctrines, teachings, prayers, practices, liturgies, sacraments, and rituals which make up the Christian life are built upon these two foundational concepts: Jesus is the Son of God who paid the price for our sins by dying on the cross and then rising from the grave three days later; and we must put our faith in Him as Lord of our lives.

Unfortunately, many of my dear friends in the Evangelical Protestant community are convinced that Catholics are not saved. Some even call the Catholic Church a satanic cult or the Great Whore of Babylon mentioned in the book of Revelation. As I’ve said many times in the past, this is such as shame, since Evangelicals and Catholics have so much more in common regarding the core Christian doctrines than do Evangelicals and, say, many Methodists or Episcopalians, to whom belief in the physical resurrection of Jesus is optional and the divine inspiration of Scripture is rejected.

I’d like to take a moment to explain that if you are an Evangelical, and if you believe Romans 10:9 is an accurate outline of how to be saved, then a whole lot more Catholics than you expect are going to join you in Heaven. (So be nice to us, because we’re going to have to spend Eternity together.)

Let’s look at the first part of St. Paul’s sentence, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord…” Well, every Sunday Catholics around the world recite aloud (with our mouths, that is) the Nicene Creed. Part of what we declare each week is: “…We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God….”

Any way you slice it, this is confessing with our mouths that Jesus is Lord.

Now let’s look at the second part of St. Paul’s sentence, “…and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead….” Well, despite our differences on issues such as Confession, the Eucharist, Mary, papal authority, Purgatory, etc., there is no doubt the Catholic Church teaches, and has always taught, the actual, physical resurrection of Jesus.

Unlike many liberal denominations that have decided in recent decades that the Resurrection is a little too unscientific for their tastes (well, duh, by definition a miracle defies the laws of nature and can’t be explained by science), the Catholic Church strongly proclaims that 2,000 years ago a dead man got up and walked. We don’t mince words on this point. We don’t call the idea of resurrection a metaphor and symbol for springtime renewal and hope, etc. etc., blah blah blah.

Another thing we declare most Sundays: “Let us proclaim the mystery of faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.” Again, no minced words here.

Of course, only God knows what is truly in a person’s heart. I suppose it’s possible that just a tiny percentage of Catholics actually believe what the Church officially teaches about the Resurrection. Only God knows for sure, but based on my experience, I’m very confident a healthy majority of my fellow Catholics believe Jesus physically rose from that tomb. Granted, we’ve got some serious problems with “Cafeteria Catholics” and dissenters, but despite an unhealthy level of secular attitudes invading the Church, especially in America, we’re still pretty solid on the Resurrection.

So, in conclusion, no matter what you think about various other Catholic practices and teachings, it’s impossible to deny that many, many, many Catholics do two things: they confess with their mouths that Jesus is Lord, and they believe in their hearts that God raised Him from the dead.

And if St. Paul is the patron saint of Evangelicals (well, I mean he would be if Evangelicals were allowed to have patron saints), then you can’t deny his concluding phrase in Romans 10:9, “…YOU WILL BE SAVED.”

There. I’m glad we cleared that up. Now, about Purgatory…

©2010