Wolves in Grace Clothing

One of the most perplexing problems vexing Christians trying to understand the vast theological landscape of the Roman Catholic religion is Rome's use of biblical terminology. Roman theologians have an uncanny way of using subtle distortion to subvert the intended meaning of words.

The "Gloan" Scenario

Perhaps an illustration up-front will help us to understand the distortion involved in the Roman Catholic use of biblical terminology. I was once very close to signing an agreement that entailed the transfer of a sizeable amount of money into my account. Initially, the transaction started out as a grace "gift" to the ministry. However, at the last hour, the terms of the agreement began to surface. This "gift" would not have to be paid back at all in the event that it could not be paid back. Furthermore, there would be no interest charged in the pay back. In addition, the principle amount was to be carried through an initial period of adjustment and then returned under better financial circumstances. Needless to say, the free "gift" had some strings attached. However, the benefactor kept telling me that it was a "gift." After all, said he, "you do not have to pay it back if you find that it is impossible for you to do so." Obviously, we were talking about the same transaction but the terms we used were not defined in the same manner. His idea of a grace "gift" and mine were alto-, gether different, even opposite!

Hopefully, one can see that this was not a real gift. It was more like a loan with an expected pay back but a provision of forgiveness in the event of a default. Thus, this transaction, which was never consummated, became forever etched into my mind as the "gloan" scenario. The giver thought it was a gift. I knew it was a loan. It was a "gloan." Gloans do not really exist.

Roman Gloans

Rome has a lot of such deals floating around in her theology. For instance, we are always in wonder as we read Rome's spin on purgatory. Is it suffering? Well sort of Is it painful? Well sort of. Is it a personal payment for sins committed? Well in a way. Purgatory is now pedaled in Rome as a beautiful experience of cleansing and light. It is marketed as a "gift" by God's grace to enable one to share a little of the suffering of Christ. It is said to be an essentially good thing. One can almost set his heart on it. It is said to be a sweet thing to despair of your own sin and agonize in pain because of it. Rome calls suffering for your own sins a gift of God's grace. This is the "gloan" effect. Christians know better. Listen to Rome and then listen to the Bible. First Rome:

"It [the council] teaches furthermore that the liberality of the divine munificence [generosity] is so great that we are able through Jesus Christ to make satisfaction to God the Father not only by punishments voluntarily undertaken by ourselves to atone for sins, or by those imposed by the judgment of the priest according to the measure of our offense, but also, and this is the greatest proof of love, by temporal afflictions imposed by God and borne patiently by us." (Trent Chapter IX, H .J. Schroeder pages 98,99) {emphasis ours}

Notice that self atonement for sins is said to be a part of the great liberality of divine generosity. But the height of God's love, in Rome, is His willingness to impose temporal afflictions upon us to atone for our sins. But what says the Word?

"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace," EPH 1:7

"Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin." HEB 10:18

What will Rome do with passages like these? Rome will "gloan." And there is no better illustration of Romish distortion than in their use of the word "grace." Notice Paul says in Ephesians 1 that we have forgiveness according to the riches of His grace. But, what is grace? Let the Roman "gloaning" begin. Read any Romanist text book, article or theology on the grace of God and it will un-nerve you. By the end of the day, grace is either a catch-all word for anything God does. Or, it becomes the siren call of Rome to entice her people into believing that Jesus Christ is gracious enough to give grace so that they can merit their own justification. Or, it dies the death of a thousand definitions.

Aching over Akin

Recently, a popular Romish writer, James Akin, wrote an article entitled Justification by Grace Alone." Notice the title of his article is not "Justification by Faith Alone." Christians believe in justification through faith alone i.e., apart from works of any law including good works done in righteousness (Titus 3:5). However, Mr. Akin perhaps had in mind the close connection between justification and the grace of God when he wrote of justification by grace alone. We note the Apostle Paul making just such a connection.

"being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;" ROM 3:24

However, we wish to illustrate how Rome distorts the word grace and obliterates the Gospel of grace by misrepresenting Paul's terminology.

Rome's understanding of "by His grace", and for that matter, the entire concept of "grace", is far removed from any biblical moorings. It is often times highly speculative and in many cases bizarre. But in all cases it is a tragic "gloaning" of terminology which demolishes the Gospel.

In the first place, Rome seems to view the grace of God as a power which emanates from heaven to actually work upon or work within human beings to bring about a desired result. Grace is viewed as a supernatural substance of sorts. But Rome goes further. Rome also views grace as existing in different forms or modes. In Rome's view, the grace of God needs to be understood in various ways. Ludwig Ott, a Roman Catholic theologian, divides grace into six divisions (Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma Pages 220f.). However, we shall limit our comments to Ott's fifth division of grace wherein is found the two most common Roman Catholic terms for God's grace. The first is Habitual grace [gratia habitualis] and the second is Actual grace [gratia actualis]. Habitual grace is alleged to be the grace of God which comes through the sacraments of Rome. It is said to be a constant supernatural quality of the soul which sanctifies man and makes him pleasing to God. Actual grace is a temporary infusion of grace into the soul which stirs up the soul to salutary [good] acts which either attain, preserve or increase Habitual grace. Ott also sub-catorgorizes Actual grace into three groups. These are illuminating grace, prevenient grace and sufficient grace.

According to the summary of grace offered by the Catholic Almanac, Actual grace in all its forms can be resisted (Catholic Almanac 1999 page 282). How this squares with prevenient and subsequent grace will have to await another study. For now, we wish to show that Rome sees God's grace as an energy and not as an apt description of God's gracious disposition toward His people. By energy, we mean a force which sets out to modify its object (albeit with the permission of the object in the case of Actual grace) and bring about actual internal changes in the soul.

So, when Mr. Akin writes that Roman Catholics believe that man is "justified by grace", he is not just whistling Dixie! He has all kinds of categories and powers and forces to choose from. He also has all kinds of dispensing mechanisms available to him in the Romish system to get these various types of graces down to man. Hence, Mr. Akin can say that man is "justified by grace" with a clear conscience given his understanding of grace.

The Grace of God in Adam and Eve

Rome teaches that when God created Adam and Eve He bestowed supernatural grace on them at the point of their creation. However, they are said to have been negatively unworthy of this grace of God. After sinning, each is said to have had God bestow grace again despite now having been positively unworthy of grace. Of course, there is no hint from the Bible that God did any of this with Adam and Eve. But, all of this is to say that as far back as Adam and Eve, Romish theologians view God's grace as an infusionary force that enables, cleans up, revamps or makes acceptable the soul of man. Adam and Eve are the beginning point of the grace infused system of Rome. This is a set-up for what is to come. Adam and Eve are said to have been infused with the grace of original holiness at the outset and then to have been given Actual grace to continue in union with God.

They are said to have forfeited this grace when they refused to obey God. It is further alleged that they were then given the grace of elevation when they realized their sin. According to Rome, constant vigilance in doing things to get grace and keep grace is the way in which communion with God is safeguarded and increased. It all started, they say, with Adam and Eve. Despite no warrant from the Bible, Rome manages to set the stage for her propup grace system and her dispensary machinery which is said to bring these graces down to man.

But, a quick check of the Old Testament, reveals that grace is best represented by the Hebrew word then. The LXX translates the Hebrew chen with the Greek word charis (English: grace) most often. Chen means to favor or to find favor in someone's eyes.

It is a benevolent understanding of one to another which the Hebrew conveys. The word grace is not found in the Genesis account of Adam and Eve. The earliest occurrence of chen is in GEN 6:8 "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord." There is not a word about Actual or Supernatural grace in the account of Adam and Eve.

All Roman Catholic data on the so-called categories of grace, and the corresponding disposition of Adam's state prior to his sinning, is merely speculative. But these are very important speculations for Rome. For, from them will come a doctrine of grace that is utterly beguiling.

The Groan of the "Gloan"

The question before us is not whether Roman Catholics believe in justification by something they call "grace." They most certainly do. The question is whether they have accurately understood the biblical presentation of the grace of God. They most certainly have not. Hence, on the one hand they believe in a justification by their imaginary grace. But, like the loan and the gift illustration, Rome does not define terms properly. Rome ends up with a "gloan." But gloans do not really exist. Not now and not ever. Nor are we to be content with the popular evangelical phrase that Rome believes in the necessity of grace but not in the sufficiency of grace. In reality, Rome does not believe in grace at all, at least not in true grace.

Wolves in Grace Clothing

As we witness to Rome the grace of God, let us have in mind the meaning of our terms. Grace is presented in the Bible as the unmerited favor of God upon unworthy sinners. Over and over again the Bible draws a distinction between the efforts of man to attain the love of God and the corresponding mercy and grace of God and the free gift of grace actually given by God. The words charis and charisma are two Greek words designated by the Lord to signify what God has done for mankind. To have charisma is to have the goodwill of someone. To have charisma is to have a gracious gift from someone. The nature of the word eliminates all ideas of earning grace.

It is an oxymoron to say that "I have earned grace." It is equally wrong to say that "I have merited favor." The nature of the transaction entitles only one way of describing it. The giver gives and the receiver receives. There is not a work or merit in receiving and no corresponding condition of work or merit demanded by the giver giving the gift. Or as the apostle Paul might say, "There is no grace given if the wage is due!"

"For this reason it is by faith, that it might be in accordance with grace, in order that the promise may be certain to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all," ROM 4:16

"Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due." ROM 4:4

Furthermore, grace is not a word that can be bent to mean "infused substance" or "infused force." The Bible presents the grace of God as a part of His disposition toward the ungodly as He sees fit to save them from His wrath. The grace of God speaks of His affection and countenance. The Bible does not present the grace of God as a supernatural substance imbued from heaven.

Also, we must come to grips with the biblical fact that the grace of God is befouled if it is reduced to something like a starter or an initial ignition by God. Rome thinks God's grace is expressed in Christ opening the door for man to enter heaven. Christians know that God's grace is expressed as Christ, not simply opening the door, but carrying His own through the door.

"even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus," EPH 2:5,6

In addition, Rome is infamous for suffocating any meaningful definition of grace by saying "all is of grace" i.e., purgatory, penance and self atonement, or "it is of grace because without the grace of God we could not have started." Christians understand the grace of God to be His disposition of love wherein He sent Jesus Christ to suffer for a full and eternal pardon for all of the sins of His people. Christians also understand that the plan of salvation is all of grace from start to finish. True grace is not grace that shares glory with the pollution of either man's faith, works, merits or personal righteousness. To be saved by grace through faith means that God's grace gift of Christ, as seen and appropriated through the eyes of faith, stands forever as the only ground of justification and only cause of salvation. Finding grace is to see the face of God in the finished work of Christ. It is not through a sacramental system of religious rituals which obscures the brilliance of true grace.

Rome gets around all of this by insisting that God initiates the process of grace but man must maintain it. They say Adam started out with unmerited favor but blew it. They allege that after the fall, Adam still could get grace but he would have to merit it and keep it. The same is said of postAdamic man in his fallen state. Rome claims that God grants grace initially in the soul of the passive child through the sacrament of baptism. But then, they insist man must keep it going. Hence, by such diabolical reasoning, Rome frees herself from the charge that man saves himself by himself. It is all of grace they say. Yes, Roman grace parceled out through the sacraments and granted to those with merit.

When the religionists of our day come around to sell their product. Some boxes will be marked "grace." It would do well to read the fine print. For there are many wolves in grace clothing. Not knowing about the grace of God, they have manufactured a grace of their own making. They market it as grace but it is not. When God saves a person. He saves him from his own understanding of grace as well. We are put in Christ. Those who seek to add the leaven of sacraments and merit have fallen even from the concept of grace. The free gift is just that. There is no payment. There are no terms of negotiation. The Apostle Paul reflected upon the relationship between the grace of God and works [any kinds of works, even so-called grace assisted works] and concluded:

"But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace." ROM 11:6

In Rome, it is safe to say that grace is no longer grace. Rmz