Background
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, has its head office based in the Vatican, a small enclave of the Italian city of Rome, and is led by the Pope, who is the Bishop of Rome and the chief pastor of the Catholic church worldwide, along with the Holy See, the central governing authority of the church. It is the largest Christian denomination in the world with over 1.3 billion followers, as at 2019.
The Protestant church on the other hand, with about 900 million followers worldwide, is a diverse group of denominations that includes Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and many others. There are currently about twice as many Protestants in the USA as Catholics.
The term ‘pope’ comes from the Latin ‘papa’, literally ’father’. The Catholic pope uses various titles by tradition, including Summus Pontifex, Pontifex Maximus, and Servus servorum Dei. The term ‘catholic’ comes from the Greek “katholikos,” meaning “universal”.
The Catholic church claims that Jesus appointed Peter as head of the church, based on Matthew 16:18. Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. This passage refers to Peter as ‘you are Petros’ (male gender, a rock) and ‘upon this petra (female gender, a mass of rock) I will build my church’. Hence Protestants hold that Jesus was not saying that He would build His church on Peter, or anyone else, but on the revelation of who He is, which Peter had stated in the preceding verse 16: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”.
Catholics and Protestants have different views about the nature of the church. The word “catholic” means “all-embracing,” and the Catholic Church sees itself as the only true church worldwide, under the leadership of the Pope. In contrast the Protestant Churches which emerged from the Reformation, and are also called the “Evangelical Church,” which means “according to the Gospel,” do not make up one united Church. There are thousands of different denominations around the world. While there are many different traditions between the different Protestant denominations, they all share a common commitment to the authority of the Bible, the priesthood of all believers and the importance of personal faith.
Areas of Agreement
Both believe in the Holy Trinity, consisting of one God in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Both also believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the saviour of humanity, and that He died on the cross to atone for the sins of the world, and in the concept of original sin, which holds that all humans are born with a sinful nature inherited from Adam and Eve.
Areas of Disagreement
While both Protestants and Catholics agree on many essentials of the historic Christian faith, there are several key issues which continue to distinguish their beliefs and practices. These will be discussed below.
The Catholic and Protestant Bibles are not identical
Background – the languages of the Bible
The Old Testament was primarily written in Hebrew, with some portions (notably Daniel and Ezra) written in Aramaic. The New Testament was written in Koine Greek, which was the common language of the Eastern Mediterranean from the conquests of Alexander the Great (335–323 BC) until the evolution of Byzantine Greek (c. 600). This form of Greek was widely spoken and written during the time the New Testament was composed. As Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire in the first centuries after Christ, it became necessary to produce Latin versions of the Bible for those not able to understand the Hebrew or Aramaic of the Old Testament, or the Greek of the New Testament.
Septuagint
The Septuagint (meaning ‘seventy’) is the earliest extant (still existing) Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Hebrew. It was presumably made for the Jewish community in Egypt when Greek was the common language throughout the region, believed to have been carried out by 70 or 72 Jewish scholars, between the 3rd century BC and the 2nd century BC.
Vetus Latina Gospels
The Vetus Latina Gospels is the name given to a collection of translations of biblical texts into Latin by different authors over several centuries, made from the Septuagint and some New Testament passages. These versions were made by individual Christians and were used by the early Christian communities in the western part of the Roman Empire, where Greek was not widely spoken.
Vulgate
In 382 AD St. Jerome was commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Vetus Latina Gospels used by the Roman Church. The Vulgate was to become the Catholic Church’s officially promulgated Latin version of the Bible, as the Sixtine Vulgate (1590), then as the Clementine Vulgate (1592), and then as the Nova Vulgata (1979). The Vulgate is still currently used in the Latin Church.
The Vetus Latina translations continued to be used alongside the Vulgate, but eventually, the Vulgate became the standard Latin Bible used by the Catholic Church, especially after the Council of Trent (1545–1563 AD) affirmed the Vulgate translation as authoritative for the text of Catholic Bibles. Until recently, most Catholic versions of the Old Testament were translated primarily from the Latin Vulgate rather than from the Septuagint or the Masoretic Text.
Since the Vulgate was based on the Vetus Latina Gospels, which in turn was based on the Septuagint, the Catholic Bible includes several books that are not found in the Hebrew Bible. These include Judith, Tobit, Baruch, Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus), the Wisdom of Solomon, 1 & 2 Maccabees, the two Books of Esdras, additions to the book of Esther, additions to the book of Daniel, and the Prayer of Manasseh. The Roman Catholic Council of Trent ruled these books, which it refers to as the Deuterocanonical book, and Luther as the Apocrypha, to be canonical. In his translation of the Bible into German, Luther moved these books into a separate section between the Old and New Testaments. He labelled this section “Apocrypha” and included a preface stating that these books were “not held equal to the Sacred Scriptures and yet are useful and good for reading”.
The Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, and Codex Alexandrinus are among the oldest and most important manuscripts of the Greek Bible.
Codex Sinaiticus contains the majority of the Greek Old Testament, along with the books of the Apocrypha. This manuscript includes the Greek New Testament, with both the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas.
Codex Vaticanus contains the majority of the Greek Old Testament and the majority of the Greek New Testament. It includes the apocryphal books such as Judith, Tobias, and Baruch.
It omits the pastoral epistles (I Timothy through Titus), the Book of Revelation, and it cuts off the Book of Hebrews at Hebrews 9:14.
Codex Alexandrinus contains a complete copy of the Septuagint, including the Deuterocanonical books, 3 and 4 Maccabees, Psalm 151 and the 14 Odes. The “Epistle to Marcellinus” attributed to St. Athanasius and Eusebian summary of the Psalms are inserted before the Book of Psalms.
It contains most of the New Testament but with gaps in Matthew, John, and II Corinthians, plus the inclusion of the extracanonical I and II Clement.
These codices are significant as they provide us with some of the earliest and most complete versions of the Bible. They have been invaluable resources for biblical scholars and historians. The exact sources of the texts used in the compilation of these codices are not known, as they were likely copied from earlier manuscripts that are now lost. The texts themselves are the product of a complex history of transmission, and their study is a significant part of the field of textual criticism.
Masoretic Text
The Masoretic Text (MT) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic text is universally accepted as the authentic Hebrew Bible. It defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocalization and accentuation known as the mas’sora. The Masoretic Text was primarily copied, edited, and distributed by a group of Jews known as the Masoretes between the 7th and 10th centuries AD and was proclaimed definitive by Jewish scribes around the 10th century. The Aleppo Codex, assembled around 930, is considered the most authoritative Masoretic text, while the oldest known complete copy, the Leningrad Codex, dates from 1008.
Biblical Hebrew had, over the centuries, become ambiguous, as most Jews didn’t know how to read it anymore. With no vowels, punctuation or stress marks the original Hebrew left a lot of room for interpretive errors. To save the Hebrew Bible from dissolving into competing interpretations, the Masoretes produced a new copy of the original Hebrew, working from the best available manuscripts. They used rabbinic tradition to add the most intricate system of punctuation and stress marks anyone had ever seen, obliterating ambiguity once-and-for-all. The Masoretic Text so rigidly defined the Hebrew Bible’s punctuation and wording that there could only be one way to read and understand it – the same way rabbis had for centuries.
The Masoretic Text is the basis for most Protestant translations of the Old Testament such as the King James Version, English Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, and New International Version. After 1943, it has also been used for some Catholic Bibles, such as the New American Bible and the New Jerusalem Bible. Some Christian denominations instead prefer translations of the Septuagint as it matches quotations in the New Testament.
The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) is a widely regarded edition of the Hebrew Bible. It is the only complete scholarly edition of the Leningrad Codex and contains all significant text variants and proposals for correction.
The BHS is based on the Masoretic Text as recorded in the Leningrad Codex. Unlike the scholarly editions of the Greek New Testament, the BHS does not set out to reconstruct the original text of the Hebrew Bible. This would not be possible on the basis of the manuscripts available. However, the discovery of numerous manuscripts, above all the Qumran texts, provided renderings of the Old Testament text that predate the Masoretic version, which have assisted in the endeavour to reconstruct the original text of the Hebrew Bible, though in view of the haphazard and incomplete nature of these text, complete reconstruction of a text of the Hebrew Bible has not been possible. Therefore, to present a uniform text in a printed edition, the best option is to use the Masoretic Text, with proposals for correction of the Masoretic Text based on these latest discoveries.
The original texts of the New Testament were written by various authors in Koine Greek. Protestant churches follow the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia for the Old Testament, but for the New Testament they often use the Textus Receptus, a Greek text of the New Testament that was the basis for the translations of the New Testament during the Reformation period.
Martin Luther’s translation of the Old Testament was based on the Hebrew Masoretic text, and the Septuagint – the earliest available Greek text, and for the New Testament the Textus Receptus and the Latin Vulgate. The Textus Receptus constituted the translation base for many significant translations, including the original German Luther Bible, the translation of the New Testament into English by William Tyndale, the King James Version, the Spanish Reina-Valera translation, and most Reformation-era New Testament translations throughout Western and Central Europe.
Thus, while both Jerome and Luther used Hebrew and Greek texts for their translations, they used different versions and had different approaches to the translation process.
By the end of the 1st century AD all of the 27 documents that now constitute the New Testament were written and had begun to circulate among early Christians. However, it was not until centuries later that these texts were collectively named as part of the authoritative body of Christian scripture. The exact list of New Testament documents was confirmed at the third Synod of Carthage in 397 AD. This was a relatively small regional council and by this time the 27 New Testament documents had already been agreed upon by most of the church.
Origin of the Catholic Church
The Catholic Church teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church founded by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission, that its bishops are the successors of Christ’s apostles, and that the Pope is the successor to Saint Peter, upon whom primacy (greatest importance) was conferred by Jesus. It maintains that it practises the original Christian faith taught by the apostles, preserving the faith infallibly through scripture and sacred tradition as authentically interpreted through the magisterium (the official teaching body) of the church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) is a comprehensive statement of the Catholic faith and its doctrines.
Pentecostals dispute this and base their beliefs and practices solely on the Bible, which they accept as accurate and authoritative. Pentecostals focus on Jesus Christ as the only mediator between man and God, while Catholics traditionally place a larger focus on Mary and the saints as mediators between man and God. Pentecostals also place a greater emphasis on preaching and the leading of the Holy Spirit, while Catholics emphasize the importance of rituals and traditions in worship.
Edicts
The first edicts (official decrees or orders) relating to the Catholic Church were issued by Roman emperors – there were several of them. During the reign of Emperor Diocletian (284-305 AD) edicts were issued leading to the widespread persecution of Christians. Churches were razed, scriptures were destroyed, and Christians holding positions of honour were demoted.
The Roman Emperor Constantine (306 to 337 AD), according to legend, attributed his victory against his rival Maxentius in 312 to a heavenly vision, after which he proclaimed himself a Christian and ordered his troops to be sprinkled with water to ‘baptise’ them, without the requirement of any repentance.
313 Edict of Milan: Issued by Constantine along with Licinius, effectively legalizing Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. This edict granted Christians and all other religious groups the freedom to practice their faith without interference, and ordering the restitution of confiscated Christian properties. This marked the end of persecution against Christians and facilitated the growth and spread of Christianity. After 324 Christianity became the Roman empire’s preferred religion under Constantine.
380 Edict of Thessalonica: Issued by Emperor Theodosius, proclaiming Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire.
Councils
The first seven ecumenical councils (representing a number of different Christian Churches) recognized by both the eastern and western denominations were called by Roman Emperors, who also enforced the decisions of these councils within the state church of the Roman Empire.
These include:
First Council of Nicaea (325 AD): Convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine. It aimed to address various theological disputes, and established the Nicene Creed, a statement of faith that remains central to many Christian denominations, including the Catholic Church.
First Council of Constantinople (381 AD): Convened by Emperor Theodosius I.
Council of Ephesus (431 AD): Emperor Theodosius II played a role in its convocation.
Council of Chalcedon (451 AD): Convened by Emperor Marcian.
These councils played a significant role in shaping the doctrines and practices of the Church.
Papal Bulls
The first edicts issued by the Catholic Church were in the form of papal bulls, which are formal decrees issued by a pope. While there were no formal edicts issued by the popes before 1059, the popes and other church leaders did make many important decisions and took actions that shaped the development of the Church. These included decisions on doctrine, liturgy, and church organization, as well as responses to heresies and other challenges. Before 1059 the selection of the Pope, the Bishop of Rome and supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church varied throughout history. Popes were often appointed by their predecessors or by political rulers. Here are two of the earliest papal bulls. (A detailed list of papal bulls can be found on Wikipedia).
In nomine Domini (“In the name of the Lord”): The first recorded papal bull was Issued by Pope Nicholas II in 1059, this bull established cardinal-bishops as the sole electors of the pope. This marked the beginning of a long tradition of issuing formal edicts by the popes.
Libertas ecclesiae (“The liberty of the Church”): Issued by Pope Gregory VII in 1079, this bull discussed the Church’s independence from imperial authority and interference.
The Great Schism (or split)
The Great Schism of 1054 AD marked the first major split in the history of Christianity, separating the Orthodox Church in the East from the Roman Catholic Church in the West. Until this time, all of Christendom existed under one body, but the churches in the East were developing distinct cultural and theological differences from those in the West. Tensions gradually increased between the two branches and finally boiled over into the Great Schism of 1054 AD. At the heart of the break was the Roman pope’s claim to universal jurisdiction and authority. The Orthodox Church in the East had agreed to honour the Pope but believed that ecclesiastical matters should be decided by a council of bishops, and therefore, would not grant unchallenged dominion to the Pope.
After the Great Schism of 1054 AD the eastern churches developed into the Eastern, Greek, and Russian Orthodox Churches, and call themselves the “Orthodox Catholic Church”, while the western churches formed into the Roman Catholic Church. The two branches remained on friendly terms until crusaders of the Fourth Crusade captured Constantinople in 1204 AD. To this day the schism has not been wholly mended.
Origin of the Protestants Churches
Jan Hus (1370-1415) is considered by some to be the first Church reformer. His teachings had a strong influence, most immediately in the approval of a reformed Bohemian religious denomination and, over a century later, on Martin Luther. He spoke out against Pope John XXIII for his selling of indulgences, and was excommunicated and later arrested and imprisoned, and after refusing to recant his views he was burned at the stake for heresy against the teachings of the Catholic Church.
The Reformation posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and the authority of the Catholic Church. It is usually considered to have started with the publication of the Ninety-five Theses by Martin Luther (1483-1546) in 1517. These theses criticized the Church, particularly its practice of selling indulgences. However, he was not excommunicated until 1521 when The Diet (assembly) of Worms (a town in Germany) declared Luther a heretic and banned citizens of the Holy Roman Empire from defending or propagating his ideas.
Luther’s teachings, which emphasized salvation by faith alone (sola fide) and the ultimate authority of the Bible (sola scriptura), formed the basis of Lutheranism, a major branch of Protestant Christianity. In general, the Reformers argued that salvation in Christianity was a completed status based on faith in Jesus alone and not a process that could involve good works, as in the Catholic view. Other reformers such as Huldrych Zwingli and John Calvin arose, and the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press (around 1440) helped spread the translated Bible.
An ‘indulgence’ was a certificate given by the clergy that supposedly reduced the punishment for sins and released them from purgatory after death, in recognition of a prayer, the performance of a duty, or specified good works or, more commonly in the Middle Ages, the payment of an amount to the church.
The spread of Gutenberg’s printing press provided the means for the rapid dissemination of religious materials in the spoken languages. The initial movement in Germany diversified, and other reformers such as Huldrych Zwingli and John Calvin arose. In general, the Reformers all agreed that salvation in Christianity was a completed status based on faith in Jesus alone, and not a process that could involve good works, as in the Catholic view.
The Reformation marked the beginning of Protestantism and is considered one of the events that signified the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the early modern period in Europe.
Authority of the Bible
Protestants generally believe that the Bible alone is the source of God’s special revelation to mankind, which means that it is the sole authority for Christian faith and practice and teaches all that is necessary for salvation, and the standard by which all Christian behaviour must be measured This belief, commonly referred to as “sola scriptura” is one of the “five solas” (sola is Latin for “alone”) that came out of the Protestant Reformation.
There are many verses in the Bible that establish its authority and claim it to be sufficient for all matters of faith and practice. One of the clearest is 2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
Catholics reject the doctrine of sola scriptura and do not believe that the Bible alone is sufficient. They believe that the Bible is one of the sources of God’s revelation, along with their church’s traditions, the teachings of their church, and the Pope’s authority, as all being equally binding upon their followers. Many Roman Catholic doctrines, such as purgatory, praying to the saints, worship or veneration of Mary, etc., have little or no basis in Scripture and are based solely on Roman Catholic traditions. The Roman Catholic Church’s insistence that the Bible and tradition are equal in authority undermines the sufficiency, authority, and completeness of the Bible. Their view of Scripture is at the root of many, if not all, of the differences between Catholics and Protestants.
The Catholic Church recognizes seven books that are not found in the Protestant version of the Old Testament. These books are: 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Tobit, Judith, Sirach (also known as Ecclesiasticus), Wisdom (also known as the Wisdom of Solomon), and Baruch. In addition, the Catholic versions of the Books of Daniel and Esther are slightly longer. These books, often referred to as the Deuterocanonical books, first appeared in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, two centuries before Christ. Their inclusion was reaffirmed by the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent later in the 16th century, which also re-defined Catholic doctrine in response to the challenge by Luther and the Protestant movement. Luther preferred the Hebrew Masoretic which did not include any of the Deuterocanonical books, and it is noted that none of them were ever cited in the New Testament. Furthermore Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach and 1 and 2 Maccabees contain passages that support prayers for the dead and the intercession of saints, concepts that Luther rejected, and ever since all Protestants as well.
Authority of the Pope
According to Catholicism the Pope is the “Vicar of Christ” (a vicar is a substitute) and represents Jesus as the head of the Church. As such, the Pope has the ability to speak ex cathedra (literally, “from the chair,” that is, with authority on matters of faith and practice). His pronouncements made from the seat of authority are regarded as infallible and binding upon all their followers.
Protestants believe that no human being is infallible and that Christ alone is the Head of the Church. Catholics rely on apostolic succession as a way of establishing the Pope’s authority. Protestants believe that the church’s authority comes not from apostolic succession but from the Word of God. Catholicism teaches that only the Catholic Church can properly interpret the Bible, but Protestants believe that the Bible teaches us that God sent the Holy Spirit to indwell all born-again believers, enabling all believers to understand the message of the Bible (John 14:16–17, 26; 1 John 2:27).
In the Catholic Church a dogma is a truth that is revealed by God and declared by the Church as binding. The Church’s Magisterium asserts that it exercises the authority it holds from Christ to the fullest extent when it defines dogmas, that is, when it proposes, in a form obliging Catholics to an irrevocable adherence of faith, truths contained in divine revelation, or also when it proposes, in a definitive way, truths having a necessary connection with these. Dogmas are considered to be infallible because they are believed to have been revealed by God and declared by the Church as such.
In Protestant churches doctrines are statements of the central themes identified from the Bible which form the core beliefs of the Christiin faith, and are considered essential for understanding the message of Christianity. They express their current best understanding of the Gospel of Jesus, and are not considered to be infallible. It is the way the central themes of God’s revelation in Scripture are summarized and taught.
The term “doctrine” is also used to refer to the entire body of essential theological truths that define and describe the message of Christianity. These truths include beliefs about God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, humanity, salvation, the church, and the end times. These doctrines form the core beliefs of the Christian faith and are considered essential for understanding the message of Christianity. There are several papal edicts that have been considered contrary to Protestant theology. Here are a few notable ones:
- Papal Supremacy: This is the doctrine of the Catholic Church that the Pope, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ and as pastor of the entire Catholic Church, has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole church. This doctrine is contrary to Protestant theology, which rejects the authority of the Pope.
- Papal Infallibility: This doctrine, proclaimed during the First Vatican Council, asserts that the Pope is preserved from the possibility of error when in his official capacity he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church. This is also rejected by Protestant theology.
- Unam Sanctam (1302) by Pope Boniface VIII: This bull declared that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.
- Exsurge Domine (1520) by Pope Leo X: This bull condemned the teachings of Martin Luther and labelled them as heretical. Nevertheless Protestantism originated from Luther’s teachings.
- Council of Trent (1545–1563): This council clarified the Catholic approach to Protestantism, declaring all forms of Protestantism heretical.
- Ineffabilis Deus (1854) by Pope Pius IX: This bull defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary.
Veneration of the Saints and Mary
The veneration of the saints (as designated by the Catholic Church – over 4,000) and the Virgin Mary is a practice of the Catholic Church that involves honouring and respecting them as holy figures. Catholics believe that the saints and the Virgin Mary are in heaven and can intercede with God on behalf of the living. Veneration is seen as different from worship, which is reserved for God alone. Catholics say they do not worship the saints or the Virgin Mary, but they do pray to Mary and ask for her intercession and seek her guidance, and they venerate the images of Mary and the saints, and their relics and images.
Mary
Roman Catholics give Mary (the mother of Jesus) an exalted position and regard her as a mediator between man and God, and they pray to her to intercede on their behalf. However the Bible states; “For there is one God, and there is one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
The Catholic Church has identified four teachings about Mary as dogmas of faith:
- The virgin conception of Jesus, taught by the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, and later the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD applied to her the description “Mother of God” (Theotokos), and held that she gave birth to Jesus Christ, who is both fully human and fully divine.
- The Immaculate Conception asserts Mary’s freedom from original sin. The Council of Trent, held between 1545 and 1563, affirmed her freedom from personal sin. Mary was said to have been conceived in her mother’s womb in the normal way, but was born without original sin. Catholic tradition adds she also lived a sin-free life, from the moment of her conception.
Debated by medieval theologians, it was not defined as a dogma until 1854, by Pope Pius IX in the papal bull Ineffabilis Deus.
- Mary’s perpetual virginity. This dogma states that Mary remained a virgin throughout her life, even after giving birth to Jesus.
- Mary’s assumption into heaven. This dogma states that Mary was taken up into heaven, body and soul, at the end of her earthly life. Pope Pius XXl defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus, as a ‘divinely revealed dogma’ that ‘the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthy life, was assumed (taken up) body and soul into heavenly glory’.
Protestants refer to Romans 3:23 which refutes this, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (see also 1 Corinthians 15:22) and hold that Mary is not to be given special sinless status, for only Jesus lived a sinless life (Hebrews 4:15).
Sacraments
A sacrament is a religious ceremony or ritual that is considered particularly important and significant. In the Catholic Church, sacraments are described as visible signs of God’s grace, which is otherwise invisible. They are seen as a means by which God’s grace is imparted to the believer. The Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, and Reformed churches hold to the definition of sacrament formulated by Augustine of Hippo: an outward sign of an inward grace, that has been instituted by Jesus Christ.
The Catholic Church, Hussite Church, and the Old Catholic Church recognize seven sacraments, with the Catholic justification for each:
1. Baptism: This is seen as the sacrament of admission to the faith, bringing sanctifying grace to the person being baptized.
2. Confirmation: This sacrament is administered immediately after the Sacrament of Baptism. Confirmation perfects our baptism and brings us the graces of the Holy Spirit¹.
3. Holy Communion (Eucharist): This sacrament, the one we receive most often throughout our lives, is the source of great graces that sanctify us and help us grow in the likeness of Jesus Christ.
4. Confession (Penance or Reconciliation): This sacrament is a great source of grace, and Catholics are encouraged to take advantage of it often, even if they are not aware of having committed a mortal sin¹.
5. Anointing of the Sick: This sacrament provides spiritual healing and strength when a person is seriously ill³.
6. Holy Orders: This sacrament is the continuation of Christ’s priesthood, which He bestowed upon His Apostles.
7. Matrimony: The marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and love, has been founded and endowed with its own special laws by the Creator.
The Eastern Churches, such as the Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodox Church, also believe that there are seven major sacraments, but they use the term “sacred mysteries” instead. Different protestant denominations recognize different numbers of sacraments. Many Protestant denominations, such as those within the Reformed tradition, identify two sacraments instituted by Christ; the Eucharist (or Holy Communion) and (water) Baptism. The Lutheran sacraments include these two, often adding Confession (and Absolution) as a third sacrament. Anglican and Methodist teaching is that “there are two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel, that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord.”
Some traditions, such as The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), do not observe any of the rites, or, in the case of Anabaptists, hold that they are simply reminders or commendable practices that do not impart actual grace – not sacraments but “ordinances” pertaining to certain aspects of the Christian faith.
The Treasury of Merit
Also known as the ‘Treasury of the Church’, this concept in Catholic theology refers to the infinite value of the merits of Jesus Christ and his faithful which, because, of the communion of saints, benefits others too. In essence, the Treasury of Merit is seen as the superabundant satisfaction of Christ for human sins and the excess of merit of the saints. So the Treasury of Merit is the belief that the good works done by Jesus and others can be stored up for the benefit other people. According to Roman Catholic theology, this ‘fund’ can be used for the salvation of others, and is available for dispensation through indulgences.
This treasury includes the prayers and good works of the Virgin Mary and all the saints who have followed in the footsteps of Christ and by his grace have made their lives holy and carried out the mission the Father entrusted to them.
Priesthood of all believers
The Roman Catholic Church believes that by baptism Christians have a share in Christ’s priesthood. This is commonly referred to as “the common priesthood of all the faithful”. However, the Catholic church also believes in a special, ministerial priesthood whereby certain members of the faithful are ordained to a greater participation in Christ’s priesthood by the sacrament of holy orders, also known as the ministerial priesthood. They thus understand there to be a threefold structure: the common priesthood of all, the ministerial priesthood of the ordained, and the high priesthood of Christ.
The doctrine of the priesthood of all believers is a foundational concept of Protestant churches, who believe that through Christ all have been given direct access to God, just like the priests of old. Therefore, there is no special class of people who mediate the knowledge, presence, and forgiveness of Christ to the rest of believers, and all believers have the right and authority to read, interpret, and apply the teachings of Scripture.
It’s important to note that the exact meaning of the belief of the priesthood of all believers, and its implications, vary widely among denominations. For instance, Martin Luther suggested that the priesthood of all believers means that we are all priests, while priesthood is a corporate identity. He did not intend to create the clergy – laity divide that we find in our churches today. This by no means implies that there are no leadership roles in the church or that ecclesiastical authority can be compromised. Rather, it means that every believer in the community is a full-time minister of the gospel, irrespective of their individual callings.
Baptism
The concept of baptism varies between the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant Churches.
In the Roman Catholic Church, ‘baptism’’ typically takes place on a Sunday as soon after birth as possible. The ceremony usually occurs on a Sunday and lasts for about 20 to 30 minutes. It is normally carried out as part of a communal celebration in the presence of church members, relatives, friends and neighbours etc.
As a brief overview of how baptism is carried out in the Roman Catholic Church: The child, (or even an infant) is dressed in white to symbolise purity and new life. The priest makes the sign of the cross on the child’s forehead and invites the parents and godparents to do the same, followed by a readings from the Scripture and prayers for the child and the family. He then anoints the child with the olive oil to symbolizes healing and protection from evil, and at the baptismal font the water is blessed and poured over the child’s head three times, while the priest says the baptismal formula. The water symbolizes cleansing, rebirth, and the Holy Spirit.
In the Roman Catholic Church, baptism is viewed as the means by which one receives the Holy Spirit. It is often referred to as “the gateway to life in the Spirit” . The sacrament of Baptism is seen as the first of the seven sacraments not only in time (since most Catholics receive it as infants) but in priority since the reception of the other sacraments depends on it. It is the first of the three Sacraments of Initiation, the other two being the Sacrament of Confirmation and the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Once baptized, a person becomes a member of the Church. Baptism is believed to have six primary effects, which are all supernatural graces: The removal of the guilt of both Original Sin and personal sin, the remission of all punishment that we owe because of sin, the infusion of grace in the form of sanctifying grace (the life of God within us); the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit; and the three theological virtues, becoming a part of Christ, becoming a part of the Church, which is the Mystical Body of Christ on earth, and enabling participation in the sacraments, the priesthood of all believers, and the growth in grace.
In Protestantism, Baptism and Holy Communion are the only two recognized and practiced sacraments. Baptism involves full immersion in water, and is only for new converts who wish to demonstrate their decision to repent and to acknowledge Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, and signifies the unity of Christians in Christ’s death and resurrection. It testifies to forgiveness, and welcomes the baptized into the Church – the universal body of believers. For the Reformers, the sacrament is a manifestation of God’s grace and of the help God offers to sustain the believers’ faith. It symbolizes a covenant between God and men.
Dr Brian Drury