Short Pointers on Rome and the Reformation
Ten brief observations, each drawn from one source, that sharpen the questions between Rome and the Reformation.
1. Material and Formal Sufficiency
The Reformers did not claim that Scripture contains every fact; they claimed it is sufficient. Yves Congar, a Catholic, grants that “we can admit sola Scriptura in the sense of a material sufficiency of canonical Scripture. This means that Scripture contains, in one way or another, all truths necessary for salvation.” The dispute is over formal sufficiency, whether Scripture alone is the final rule; Geisler records that Catholicism denies it.1
2. Tradition as a Late Claim
Allison and Castaldo argue that “it was not until the fourteenth century that the Catholic Church began to make novel claims about Tradition.” The claim is theirs and is disputed, but it frames the question: was the Reformation a departure from the early Church, or a return to it?2
3. Nicodemism
Calvin popularized the name for those who held Reformed convictions while keeping the outward forms of Rome. Allison and Castaldo cite Peter Martyr Vermigli, who knew the temptation in Lucca.2 See The Spirituali Timeline.
4. What the Reformers Did Not Dispute About Penance
Sproul writes that “the issue between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism is not confession or absolution.” Rather, “the issue is the third dimension of penance, which is satisfaction.”3 See Table RCC4.
5. Rome Cannot Have It Both Ways
Rome calls Protestants brothers in Christ, yet the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (2007) says their communities are “deprived of a constitutive element of the Church” and cannot “be called ‘Churches’ in the proper sense.” Sproul concludes, “Rome cannot have it both ways.”3 See Table RCC16.
6. Newman’s Two Decisions
John Henry Newman saw that the choice between Rome and the Reformation comes down to two decisions, authority and salvation, and Allison and Castaldo take this as the frame of their book.2 See Chart RCC6.
7. The Real Difference
Sproul says “the real difference is focused in these two sacraments,” penance and the Lord’s Supper, because in each the priest exercises a power Rome says he alone holds: absolution and consecration.3 See Table RCC15.
8. A Common Augustinian Heritage
Geisler and MacKenzie write that “both groups accept the creeds and confessions and councils of the Christian church of the first five centuries. Both claim Augustine as a mentor.”1 See Chart RCC8.
9. Saved, or Being Saved?
McCarthy summarizes Rome’s view: “Then, and only then, can a Catholic say that he is saved. Until then the Catholic is not saved but is being saved through a process of sanctification.” Rome itself speaks of salvation in the past, present, and future tenses, so the summary is McCarthy’s own.4 See Table RCC17.
10. Gift and Reward
Trent calls faith “the beginning of human salvation, the foundation, and the root of all Justification,” and holds out eternal life “both as a grace mercifully promised to the sons of God through Jesus Christ, and as a reward which is according to the promise of God Himself, to be faithfully rendered to their good works and merits.”5 Compare Works and Merit.
