The basis for Rome’s theology is the free will of man. That is, it is her secret. But the will of man is in rebellion against God and His Word. Jesus said in John 17 that we would know Him through His Word not the Church. To understand the divine remedy for man we must diagnosis the problem of man aright. If we do not get the diagnosis right we would not get the solution right. We must get the solution right in light of the problem of man. The problem of man was described on EWTN as a limp. The nature of man is much more than a limp. A limp does not sufficiently describe the nature of man. In Reformed theology, we say what Romans 3 says and the New Testament itself. We say that man is dead in sin and that He is not spiritually alive. Man is dead in transgresses and sin, but Jesus penetrates our hearts by His Spirit and His Word. We are in fact spiritually dead sinners. We do not know the Lord aright. It was Martin Luther who said that if anyone thinks rightly of free will in the very least he has not learned Jesus aright. Rome has failed to diagnosis the nature of man. We are totally fallen creatures outside of the light of Christ. We are radically corrupt sinners and it is far from a limp. It is kind to God’s ultimate goodness to understand our radical corruption. We honor God’s ultimate goodness and righteousness and purity and justice by understanding our fallenness and corruption and wickedness and total disobedience.
Rome does not have free grace. Her version of free grace is Christ plus Mary, grace plus merit, ritual plus relationship, and the atonement plus purgatory. In Romanism, Christ is not all-sufficient but we need the merit of other saints to fill the gap. We do not experience Christ rightly if we add the merit of other saints. It is an exercise in self-righteousness. Self-punishment is an error of the Romanists. In light of the true free grace of the Gospel, it is a demonstration of cruelty to think other saints are worthy of the suffering of merit. There is no way for us to contribute to someone’s spiritual salvation through our merit. Free grace is the unified imputed righteousness of Christ alone! This is the essence of free grace. There is no other kind of free grace than Christ alone. Mary could never add any kind of merit for she testified and proclaimed the merit of her Savior alone. We are not co-saviors with Christ our ultimate Savior. We need Jesus as our total and sufficient and ultimate Savior. Mary is no co-redeemer, because there is only one Redeemer. Jesus alone is our Redeemer and Savior and Lord! How is it possible to find Jesus as our all in all if we have other so-saviors? In Reformed theology, it is the simplicity of the Good News of the Gospel that prevails. It is having a trusting-focus, an undying confidence, a living hope and a believing submission in a commitment to His discipleship to Jesus Christ! This cannot come from water baptism but it comes from sovereign regeneration by the Spirit and Word. No work can save anyone (Titus 3:5). It must be the total freedom of God to save because man’s freedom is enslaved to sin and darkness and Satan. We must set our hopes on the freedom of God in and through Jesus Christ our Lord and Redeemer! Jesus has overflowing love for us in His ultimate obedience at the Cross. His hands are opened wide at the Cross to receive repentant sinners! It is not a hybrid of merit but the unified merit of Christ alone. The all-sufficient Christ is enough to save, but the mixture of the Roman saints with Christ shows that He is insufficient to save according to the Roman system. We should understand the all-sufficient Word of God as the living and written Word of God. In this, we find a God more loving than Romanism and devoid of error-filled and myth bound tradition.
We cannot bring death to the state of grace. Rome teaches that death comes to the state of grace after a commission of mortal sin. That means someone could go to hell after repenting of other sins. This mutation of grace is no where found in the holy Word. We learn from the Bible that God’s grace is stronger enough to keep us to Himself even if we sin a mortal sin. There is nothing in all creation that can take us out of God’s hand of grace. Romans 8 speak of nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of Christ. Is it loving of God to let us go to hell after we have repented faithfully after a mortal sin? I submit to you that the God of Reformed theology is more loving because He keeps us to Himself without having anything take us away from Him. He also particularly died for us. This God does not allow sinners of Judaism and Islam to enter His kingdom unless they come by faith and repentance to the Savior. A loving God is bound by truth not comfort! We ought to see the love of God in dying for a chosen race of mankind in all tribes, tongues, peoples and nations! A loving God would not give us comfort over truth! Amen.
