The Christian’s ‘INHERITANCE’ of ‘eternal life FROM Christ’
and the Christian’s eternal ‘REWARDS’ of ‘service FOR Christ
contrasted with the ‘Gospel’ of ‘Father’ Patrick McCafferty
Numerous newspaper articles and ‘Take Heed’ Ministry
guest book entries penned by local RC priest Patrick McCafferty have prompted
this article.
‘INHERITANCE’
God’s
Word, the Bible, teaches that every ‘born again’ child of God receives an ‘inheritance’.
Currently the fullness of this ‘inheritance’ is “reserved in
heaven” [1 Peter 1:4]. However, at
the moment of being ‘born again’ the child of God receives an “earnest of their
inheritance” [Ephesians
When
Adam sinned, the divinely promised judgment of “death” [see
Genesis
Since
the time of the fall of man, man has naturally been born into this state of “death”.
Paul speaks of people who were physically alive yet spiritually “dead in
trespasses and sins” [Ephesians 2:1]. By nature, man is not in communion
with God. The Lord Jesus declared that when someone becomes a ‘believer’ that
person “is passed from death unto life” [John
God’s
“earnest”, His divine ‘down payment’ of this spiritual life is His gift
of the Holy Spirit to everyone ‘born again’. Paul speaks of believers
being “sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise” [Ephesians
Believers
in this life possess “eternal life” – a restored ‘measure’ of communion
with God, which is obviously limited and restricted by the constraints of this
mortal existence but the ‘good news’ is that the full, eternal ‘measure’ of
intimate communion with God is “reserved in heaven” [1 Peter 1:4]. No
wonder Paul wrote that “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain”
[Philippians
An
‘INHERITANCE’ is something given to someone. It is something that they
‘did not work for’ or ‘go to war’ for. It is something bequeathed to a person
by someone who has died. An ‘INHERITANCE’ is a gift received as a result
of someone else’s labours and death. Present restoration of and the assured
possession of eternal communion with God is for every believer based ALONE on
the life and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is His sinless life and His
substitutionary sufferings ALONE that form the grounds on which every believer
receives the gift of “eternal life”. A true ‘born again’ believer’s work
and conduct here on earth have no bearing upon their ‘INHERITANCE’.
In
Hebrews
The
most precious aspect of the believer’s ‘INHERITANCE’ will be the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself – no wonder the Psalmist wrote “The Lord is the portion
of mine inheritance” [Psalm 16:5]. Commenting on this verse, C H Spurgeon
wrote ‘We too can make our
boast in the Lord; He is the meat and drink of our souls. He is our portion
supplying all our necessities and our cup yielding royal luxuries; our cup is
this life and our inheritance in the life to come. As children of the Father
who is in heaven, we inherit by virtue of our joint heirship with Jesus, all
the riches of the covenant of grace; and the portion which falls to us sets
upon our table the bread of heaven and the new wine of the kingdom. Who would
not be satisfied with such dainty diet?’
When
Paul considered the marvel of his new life in Christ and that would have
included consideration of his ‘INHERITANCE’, no wonder he
declared in Galatians 6:14 “God forbid that I should glory, save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” – he recognised that at Calvary his ‘INHERITANCE’,
his “eternal life”, was worked for and won by Christ ALONE.
Just
as the promise of an ‘INHERITANCE’ [“eternal life”] based ALONE on the
finished work of Christ at Calvary, is given to every ‘born
again’ believer, who is now no longer “in Adam” but is “in Christ” [1
Corinthians 15:22], so the prospect of heavenly ‘REWARDS’, based
ALONE on their work for Christ, is set before every faithful ‘born
again’ believer who is “in Christ”.
Paul wrote in 1
Corinthians 3:12-15 “Now if any man build upon this foundation
gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made
manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire;
and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he
hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer
loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire”.
Paul is talking about
‘born again’ believers, particularly those charged with the responsibility of
preaching the gospel, who “build upon this foundation” – he
is talking about believers who by their work for Christ build
upon the “foundation” of the finished work of Christ.
This is why Paul basically said [verse 11] that before a saved believer
can work for Christ, that believer must be relying ALONE on the finished work
of Christ for their salvation – “other foundation can no man lay than that
is laid, which is Jesus Christ”.
In verse 14 he
states, “if any man’s work abide [a heavenly testing of “fire” identified
in verse 13] which he hath built upon it [built upon the “foundation”
of Christ’s work] he shall receive a REWARD”. This reward cannot be
‘salvation’, for a faithful workman must already be in possession of that great
blessing. Only the work of those already ‘born again’ and consequently in
receipt of that “that Holy
Spirit of promise” [Ephesians
In verse 15 if
a believer’s work fails the heavenly test of “fire” and is “burned” the
consequence is “he shall suffer loss” - in other words he will
miss out on receiving a ‘REWARD’. However, irrespective of the record of
their work, whether good or bad, their ‘INHERITANCE’ is
assured by the words of verse 15 when Paul writes “he himself shall
be saved yet as by fire” – the reason the ‘INHERITANCE’ is assured
is because it is guaranteed by the finished work of Christ and
not by the work of the believer.
As I said at the
start of this article, it was prompted by the public teaching in newspaper
articles and entries in our ministry guest book of local Roman Catholic priest,
Patrick McCafferty, that the Lord’s parable in Matthew 25:31-46 teaches
that ‘Those who will be saved are those who served Jesus in the
poor and needy. The acid test of a true child of God is this love in action -
not what people say - not denouncing others - the Last Judgement will NOT be a
Theology exam’ [entry posted by Patrick in the ‘Take
Heed’ Ministry guest book on 24 July 2002].
In this parable, having placed “the
sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left” [verse 33] we read in verse
34 “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my
Father, INHERIT the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”.
As already explained, an ‘INHERITANCE’
is based upon the work and death of another and here this ‘INHERITANCE’,
entrance into the Kingdom of God, is secured ALONE by the work at
Calvary of Christ, described in Revelation 13:8 as “the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world”.
It was God’s eternal purpose to grant as
an ‘INHERITANCE’ “eternal life” to those “redeemed… with the precious
blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was
foreordained before the foundation of the world” [1 Peter 1:18-20]. On the
Day of Pentecost Peter told the “men of Israel” of Christ “being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” and told how
they took him “and by wicked hands have crucified and slain” him [Acts
2:22-23].
Returning to the parable “the King” goes
on then to refer to acts of charity and kindness carried out by “the sheep” and
refers to them as having been done unto Him. When questioned by “the sheep” about
this “the King” explains that when a kindly act was done “unto one of
the least of these, my brethren” in reality it was “done unto me”
[verses 35-40].
These kindly acts were evidence
that these were truly the good shepherd’s “sheep” and constituted those
of whom Christ spoke when He said in Luke 12:32 “Fear not little flock, it
is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom”. The gift of
‘eternal life’ and entrance into the Kingdom of God is an ‘INHERITANCE’ based
upon the redeeming work of Christ ALONE and is evidenced in the life of true
‘born again’ believers by their kindly acts to those referred to in this case [Matthew
25:40] as Christ’s “brethren”.
These kindly acts will in turn earn a ‘REWARD’
in [not ‘of’] the Kingdom of God. In Matthew 10:40 the Lord says “He
that receiveth you [a disciple of The Lord – see verse 24] receiveth
me” and in verse 42 the Lord says that “whosoever shall
give to drink unto one of these little ones [“one of the least of these my
brethren” Matthew 25:40] a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple
[and consequently in the name of the Lord Himself] verily I say
unto you, he shall in no way lose his REWARD’.
Returning once more to the parable, the
absence of kindly works done to Christ’s “brethren” by the “goats” –
“in as much as ye did it not to one of the least of these [‘my brethren’]
ye did it not to me” [verse 45] was evidence that this group were never
the Lord’s “sheep” and so had no part in the ‘INHERITANCE’ secured
by His redeeming work at Calvary.
Patrick wrote ‘Those who will be saved are those who served Jesus in the
poor and needy’. Concerning those who constitute Christ’s ‘brethren’
– there are ‘poor’ who are Christ’s ‘brethren’ and there are ‘poor’ who
are not His ‘brethren’. Being ‘poor’ does not automatically qualify
someone as being amongst Christ’s ‘brethren’.
The ‘great commission’ is to preach the ‘gospel’ of ‘Jesus Christ and Him crucified’ so that sinners [rich or poor] may be saved from eternity in hell. The true ‘gospel’ offers ‘eternal life’ based solely on the finished work of Christ’s atonement. It offers the promise that all sins are and will be forgiven for the sake of Christ alone. It offers the end to all personal sacrifices for personal sins. It offers the promise of all guilt {no remaining ‘temporal punishment’} removed on the basis of Christ alone and that through faith alone. It offers an end to all of man’s vain attempts to do enough to warrant salvation.
The ‘great commission’ is
not to feed the ‘poor’ and starving else why would the Lord not have applauded
those who suggested that the precious ointment used to anoint Him could have
been sold and the money given to the ‘poor’ [see Mark 14:3-9]. Other
passages of Scripture such as Proverbs 25:21-22 [quoted also by Paul in Romans
12:20] refer to how Christians are to treat poor ‘enemies’
and these kindly actions will also merit a “reward”. However, if these
‘poor’ are the believers’ ‘enemy’, then Christ is certainly not
present in them and these ‘poor’ are clearly not Christ’s ‘brethren’– in
fact Christ currently waits in heaven until “his enemies be made his
footstool” [Hebrews 10:13].
The distinction between kindly acts to
Christ’s ‘brethren’ and to the rest of humanity is seen in Paul’s
exhortation to Christians in Galatians 6:20 “As we have therefore
opportunity, let us do good unto all, especially unto them who are of the
household of faith” [i.e. those who are Christ’s ‘brethren’].
I find in the Bible that following the
killing of Stephen as detailed in Acts 7 we read in Acts 8 [v1] “And
Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great
PERSECUTION against THE CHURCH”. Later in Acts 9 [v4-5], when Paul
[then Saul] was confronted by Christ on the road to Damascus, Christ said to
him “Saul, Saul, why PERSECUTEST thou ME? And he said, Who art thou Lord:
And the Lord said, I am JESUS whom thou PERSECUTEST”.
Christ clearly limits His ‘identity’ to those who are His
‘born again’ sheep – His Church. These are those to whom the promised Holy
Spirit is given – see John 14:16-17 [the Spirit “whom THE WORLD
cannot receive”] and it is only to these people that the Lord says “and
we [Christ and His Father] will come unto him [those in Christ’s
Church] and make our abode with him” [verse 23]. These ‘born again and
‘Spirit-indwelt’ believers are Christ’s true “brethren”.
This parable [Matthew 25:31-46] does not support
Patrick McCafferty’s teaching that ‘Those who
will be saved are those who served Jesus in the poor and needy’.
Rather it teaches [1] that those who are truly saved, INHERIT the
Kingdom of God [because of Christ’s life and death ALONE] and [2] that
the evidence of being a true child of God will manifest itself in kindly
acts to fellow believers and [3] that when read in the light of Matthew
10:40-42 these kindly acts will themselves attract a REWARD in [not
‘of’] the Kingdom of God.
‘Take
Heed’ Ministries
29
July 2002
Following the posting of
this article to our ministry web site ‘Father’ Patrick McCafferty posted
several responses to it in the ‘guest book’ section of the web site. In
addition he took the opportunity to publish the following article in the Belfast
Telegraph of Saturday 24 August 2002. Patrick is one of a panel of
writers used to write a ‘Thought For The weekend’ for publication
each week in the Saturday edition of the Belfast Telegraph, which is the
largest Northern Ireland newspaper. Clearly our article prompted the
following article by Patrick.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEKEND
“You
must love the Lord your God…and your neighbour as yourself”
Deuteronomy
6:5
“Do
this and live”
Luke
10:28
The above words are Jesus’ answer to a lawyer’s question “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25).
The lawyer, anxious to justify himself posed a further question “And who is my neighbour?” The Lord’s reply is the beautiful parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37).
The Jews did not associate with Samaritans and considered them outsiders. They were certainly not regarded as brothers and sisters in the Faith.
And yet, when the Lord wanted to illustrate how we are to treat one another as neighbours, friends and kin, He told of a Samaritan’s compassion for a Jew who had been beaten, stripped and robbed.
The Samaritan finding the poor man half-dead, showed himself to be really Christ-like. Jesus concluded by saying to the lawyer and the other listeners “Go and do the same yourself”.
Jesus Himself came to us as a poor man with nowhere to lay His head
(Luke 9:58).
He emptied Himself of glory (Philippians 2:7) in order to give us an eternal inheritance out of His own infinite riches (2 Corinthians 8:9).
The One, who was Himself a vagrant preacher of the Good News, calls us to take our places in “the Kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 26:34).
However,
what we must do in order to have eternal life is love and serve Jesus, present
in the suffering and the poor.
Every poor man, woman or child, no matter who he or she is, or where they come from, is the very Person of Jesus Christ – hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, imprisoned and an outcast.
Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan makes it very clear that every human being is my neighbour, sister and brother. In a society that exacerbates divisions and pillories fellow human beings as ‘alien’ or ‘foreign’, we must strive to breach all the borders that exist between peoples.
In
doing so, we are throwing the doors wide open to Christ. We are doing the
Father’s Will and advancing Christ’s Kingdom of love, justice, equality and
peace. Jesus says: “Do this and life is yours” (Luke 10:28). Upon this
hinges our eternal destiny – whether or not the Father will recognise us on the
Last Day as His children.
Contained in this article is the revealed ‘gospel’ or ‘Good News’ according to ‘Father’ Patrick McCafferty. By His first ‘heading-quotation’ of Deuteronomy 6:5’ which is in essence a summary of the 10 commandments, and his second ‘heading-quotation’ of Luke 10:28, Patrick is clearly teaching that those who keep the commandments of God will be rewarded with ‘eternal life’.
By way of reply
to this ‘gospel’ of Patrick McCafferty I am now setting out a response
to Patrick’s article by ROB ZINS who in previous visits to the Province
publicly debated Patrick on a wide range of doctrinal subjects and topics.
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration,
and renewing of
the Holy Ghost”
The above words
were spoken by the great apostle Paul in this God-inspired passage of Scripture
written to his protégé Titus. The apostle Paul had earlier been knocked
off his horse, literally blinded for a while and humbled before his companions
on the road to Damascus by Jesus Christ [Acts 9]. But, Paul's humiliation
turned out to be the best for him and for us. For, through that encounter
with Jesus, Paul came to understand the glorious
Gospel of Jesus
Christ.
Up until this point in his life, Paul [name
Saul], was a zealot for the Law of Moses and a hater of
Christians. He hated Christians because they proclaimed a Gospel
of full pardon and complete forgiveness of their sins and all penalties due
sins by faith alone in Jesus apart from the Law. When Paul
was shown the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he had to adjust his thinking
about salvation being conditioned upon works. Paul left all confidence in
his good works behind and set out clearly, under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, the glorious truth that God revealed to him, as far as the Gospel
is concerned,
in his letter
to the Christians at Rome:
“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith
without
the deeds of the law”
He would be
even more forthright and emphatic in his
Divinely
inspired letter to the Christians at Galatia:
“Knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus
Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by
the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the
law shall no flesh be justified”
This is no small
concession coming from one who described himself,
“Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching
the
righteousness which is in the law, blameless”
Although Paul
was a zealous defender of the faith of his ancestors, it was revealed to him by
Jesus that a right standing with God could not be attained by keeping the
Law. In fact, man is so sinful and the Law of God
is so demanding that any impulse to achieve salvation through keeping the
Law is unthinkable. Man is simply too sinful. Man will fail
miserably!
“For as many as
are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is
every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of
the law to do them”
In fact, Jesus
came to seek and to save the lost and to deliver them from the curse of the
Law. Paul goes on to tell us that those still trying to be
justified by Law have fallen from grace and ‘dis-graced’ the
Gospel. In contrast, Paul proclaims the Gospel of the grace of
God. This is the promise that all who come to Christ, through faith alone
in His death on the cross, would have eternal life and not be condemned by the
Law.
Now there are many today who cannot fathom eternal life as a gift freely given
on the basis of faith alone in the finished work of Jesus Christ. They,
like Paul's contemporaries, seek to point us to this law, or to that law,
to this
obedience or to that obedience.
They condition
‘eternal life’ on the things we should do
in this system
of works or that system of works.
But the
Christian is assured from the Bible, that the greatest system of works, which
demanded good works done in faith and obedience to the Law of
God, utterly failed to bring salvation to anyone.
This, of
course, is the Law of God given to Moses.
It failed and
all other works systems will fail as well. Why?
Because the Law was never issued
to give ‘eternal life’. Paul explains:
“Wherefore the
law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ,
that we might be
justified by faith”
Eternal life is
based upon the promise of God to give life to those who trust in Jesus Christ's
death on the cross. Hence, ‘eternal life’ is a promise of God given by
grace through faith alone.
Let us not attempt to turn people to ‘faith’ in their own good works, faithfulness, imitations of Jesus and man-made religious rituals that are destined for certain failure. Let us instead point them to the depths of their sin. This sin is so deep that God views any of their personal righteousnesses as being no better than foul, filthy rags.
Then we need to point them to Jesus Christ the author and perfecter of faith. When once a person comes to see their desperate need for Christ's perfect forgiveness through faith alone, eternal life is given to them forever and ever. Jesus said
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life”
John 5:24
Upon this promise hinges our eternal destiny and nothing else.
ROB ZINS
Christian Witness to Roman Catholicism
3 September 2002
Rev Ivan Foster
had a letter [edited] published in the Belfast Telegraph of
31 August in response to Patrick’s ‘Thought For The Weekend’ and it said
In his ‘Thought for
the Weekend’ (Saturday 24th), curate Paddy McCafferty made a
fundamental error in his interpretation of the conversation between the Saviour
and the lawyer (Luke 10:25-37). The lawyer was questioning the Saviour
with the purpose of tripping Him up. Christ was therefore dealing with an
opponent. As such, the Saviour set out to show the lawyer his own sinful and
depraved heart and his inability to do that which is necessary under the
Covenant of Works to save himself. This the Saviour did, as He always does, by
bringing the sinner to the law of God. Hence His question: “What is written
in the law? how readest thou?” Luke 10:26. The answer given by the lawyer
is indeed the sum of man's requirement under the Covenant of Works under which
Adam was placed and under which all his posterity are born. Undoubtedly, if a
man does this, he shall indeed live, as Christ said, verse 28. The lawyer's
reaction shows that he felt that he must ‘justify’ himself. Justify himself
from what, we might ask. It must surely be the charge that while he had a
knowledge of what the law required of him in order for him to earn ‘eternal
life’, he had not fulfilled the requirements of the law. His quibble about who
was his neighbour was a mere device to deflect from the simple truth, that the
lawyer knew himself to be unable to keep the terms of the law in order to
obtain ‘eternal life’ by it. Yet, strangely, Mr. McCafferty urges actions,
which the lawyer, by his quibbling, was acknowledging to be impossible. The
fact of man's inability to keep the law of God, and so earn eternal life, is
central to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In answer to the second question of the
lawyer, the Saviour does indeed tell the wonderful parable of the Good
Samaritan. Mr. McCafferty is correct in saying that the Good Samaritan is the
‘Christ-like’ figure in the story. The wounded, dying Jew is a picture of
mankind. Now what does the Samaritan say to the Jew in order to deliver him
from his plight? According to Mr. McCafferty's ‘gospel’, he would have
instructed him in the things he must do in order to save himself. The parable
contains no hint of this, but rather, the Good Samaritan undertakes all the
work necessary for the deliverance of the dying man. The dying man had but to submit
to and accept the Good Samaritan's ministrations. That is the message of the
Gospel as plainly declared in the Bible.
In contrast to Patrick McCafferty’s ‘gospel’ of ‘keep God’s law and you will be rewarded with eternal life’, the reality is that sinful man cannot possibly keep ‘the Law’ of God to the standard that would earn him ‘eternal life’ – that standard is PERFECTION. God’s verdict on all humanity is found in Romans 3:10 “There is none righteous, no not one” which in itself refers back to God’s view of humanity as recorded in Psalm 14:3 “They are ALL gone aside, they are together become filthy, there is none that doeth good, no not one”.
There has ever only been one exception [unless Patrick knows differently] and that was the God-Man, the Lord Jesus, and His perfect, ‘law-keeping’ righteousness is God’s gift to all who believe ALONE on the work of Christ [His sinless life and His substitutionary sufferings and death] for their salvation [see Romans 3:22].
Some humans may keep God’s ‘Law’
to a better degree than others in their attempts to obey Patrick
McCafferty’s ‘gospel’ but God’s Word shows the equal futility of
all such attempts at self-salvation. The Bible declares in James 2:10 “For
whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of
all”. Patrick, by his ‘gospel’ would have people believe that
if they do their best to keep God’s law, even though they won’t be able to do
it perfectly, they will be rewarded with eternal life. God’s required standard
of PERFECTION means that Patrick’s ‘gospel’ is ‘another
gospel’ of the kind anathematised by God in Galatians 1:6-9.
No wonder the apostle Paul, having listed all the ‘righteous’ factors that he previously trusted in for his salvation, declared bluntly that he now viewed those things to be as worthless as “dung” [Philippians 3:8] and in the next verse he outlined how he was now trusting in the [imputed] righteousness of Christ rather than in his own attempts to fashion a righteousness by keeping ‘the Law’ himself. Paul wrote of being “found in him [Christ], not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith”.
Those who seek by their
own ‘law-keeping’ efforts to earn a reward from God of eternal life
should read closely Romans 4:4-5 “Now to him that worketh is
the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for
righteousness”. Eternal
life is an ‘inheritance’, graciously bequeathed to those ‘born again’, and it
is based alone on the sole grounds of the life and death of Christ for His
people [“He shall save his people from their sins” Matthew 1:21] The Good Samaritan [rightly identified by Patrick as
Christ-like] came to the man and did all that was immediately necessary to save
him from his predicament and also made provision for his future security and
well-being.
In a published response [Belfast Telegraph 7
September]
to the Rev Ivan Foster’s letter Patrick McCafferty
wrote –
‘According
to the Rev Ivan Foster I “made a fundamental error” in interpreting the
conversation between Jesus and the lawyer in Luke 10:25-37
[Writeback 31 August].
The lawyer
may well have been attempting to trip our Lord up. The Gospels also tell
however of another eager young man, who could not be described as an opponent
of the Lord Jesus. This man ‘ran up, knelt in front of Him and asked: Good
Master what must I do to be saved?’ [Mark 10:17-22]
Jesus’
answer to him was in many ways similar to the advice He gave to the lawyer. It
is abundantly clear from all of the Scriptures that our eternal salvation is
conditional upon our following of Jesus Christ.
Rev Foster
referred to “the Law” and our inability to keep its strictures.
This is
true.
Now,
however, it is no longer necessary for us to worry about the excessive and
scrupulous demands of the old Law. We live in the New Dispensation of Grace.
The New Grace is the Person of Christ. By opening our hearts to His Holy
Spirit, it becomes possible indeed to love others with Jesus’ own love.
He
commands “Love one another as I have loved you” [John 15:12]. He would never
have called us to do this had He not made it possible for us to love in this
way through the action of His Spirit dwelling in us.
Finally I
wish to assure Rev Foster that ‘Mr McCafferty’s
gospel’ does not instruct anyone ‘in the things he/she must do in order to save
him/herself’ As Catholics we firmly believe that we do not and cannot save ourselves.
We look to Christ alone, but we must
co-operate with Him and follow the conditions and instructions laid down by our
Saviour [John 15:10].
Let
me respond first to Patrick’s reference to John 15:10 as proof that for
‘salvation’ people must co-operate with Christ [which by the way is clearly not
(by faith ALONE) ‘looking to
Christ ALONE’]. What does John 15:10 say – “If ye keep my
commandments ye shall abide in my love [not ‘keep your salvation’] even
as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love”. Does God’s
Word tell us what may happen to Christians who fail to “keep my [God’s] commandments”?
Hebrews
12 encourages Christians to “lay
aside…sin” [v1] and in verses 5&6 reminds Christians of God’s
Word as found in Proverbs 3:11-12 “My son, despise not the chastening of the
Lord, neither be weary of his correction; For whom the Lord loveth he
correcteth, even as a father, the son in whom he delighteth”. There is no
mention here of God condemning a ‘saved’ Christian but much mention of Him
‘correcting’ an erring child.
John
15:10 teaches that the Christian who
makes a conscious, concerted effort to keep God’s commandments [which as a
‘born again’ believer are now written in his heart and mind – see Hebrews
10:16-17 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
saith the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts and in their minds will I
write them and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where
remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin” – no Masses, no
penances, no indulgences etc] will continually enjoy a sense of Christ’s love
in his soul. Such a Christian will prove the truth of Psalm 1:1-2 “Blessed [Oh
the blessednesses/happinesses of] is the man who walketh not in the counsel
of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of
the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he
meditate day and night”.
According
to Patrick’s ‘gospel’, one unconfessed ‘mortal sin’ is enough to knock any Roman
Catholic off the ‘highway to heaven’ and place them on the ‘slippery slope’ to
hell. What a contrast to the Lord’s compassionate words of Matthew 12:20 “A
bruised reed shall he not break and smoking flax shall he not quench”. Commenting on this verse Mr Spurgeon
wrote when referring to God’s children ‘weak as they are, and because
they are so weak, they have this promise made specially to them. Herein is
grace and graciousness! Herein is love and lovingkindness! How it opens to us
the compassion of Jesus – so gentle, tender, considerate! We need never shrink
back from His touch. We need never fear a harsh word from Him; though He might
well chide us for our weakness, He rebuketh not [no redirection from heaven to hell!] Bruised reeds shall have
no blows from him, and the smoking flax no damping frowns’.
Oh,
by the way, for that one condemning ‘mortal
sin’ to be forgiven it must be confessed to a Priest – during
a visit to America in 1989 by the present Pope, the Los Angeles Times reported
as follows ‘Rebutting a belief widely shared by Protestants and a growing
number of Roman Catholics, Pope John Paul 2nd on Tuesday dismissed
the widespread idea that one can obtain forgiveness directly from God and
exhorted Catholics to confess more often to their priests” – so much
for Patrick’s claim of ‘looking to Christ ALONE’.
The
Pope was merely articulating the teaching of Rome found in paragraphs 1456
& 1448 of their Catechism ‘Confession to a priest is an essential
part of the sacrament of Penance. All mortal sins…must be recounted by
them in confession. The Church…through the bishop and his priests forgives sins
in the name of Jesus Christ and determines the manner of satisfaction’ –
so much again for Patrick’s claim of Roman Catholics ‘looking to Christ
ALONE’ - and of course the confessing sinners’ need to
render ‘satisfaction’ as determined by the bishop/priest to whom
confession is made shows again that they are not ‘looking to Christ
ALONE’.
When
Patrick says that ‘As Catholics…we look to Christ alone’ what he
really means is that ‘Catholics look to Christ alone for instructions on how
to co-operate with Him in order to be saved’ whereas true believers ‘look
to Christ alone and to His work at Calvary alone as the sole grounds of their
salvation’ – reminding us of the verse in Isaiah 45:22 that spoke to
young Spurgeon and led, under Holy Ghost conviction, to his conversion “Look
UNTO ME and BE SAVED all the ends of the earth; for I am God and there
is none else” –this is the same God Who said in Isaiah 43:11 “I am the
Lord and beside me there is no saviour”. When it comes to ‘salvation’
believers can no more co-operate with Christ than could the unfortunate Uzzah
who tried to ‘co-operate’ with the Ark in 2 Samuel 6:6-7.
Christians
such as myself who truly ‘look to Christ alone’ for salvation have the
following anathema placed upon them by Patrick’s Church –‘If
anyone saith, that justifying faith is nothing else but confidence in the
divine mercy which remits sins FOR CHRIST’S SAKE, or, that this confidence ALONE is that whereby we are justified, let him
be anathema’ [Council of Trent Canon XII].
These exchanges have served to show that faithful, Biblical ‘evangelicals’ have no identity with the ‘gospel’ of ‘Father’ Patrick McCafferty and as good neighbours to both ‘socially-active/sacrament-trusting’ Roman Catholics and unregenerate so-called ‘Protestants’, we must continue to set before those of them that we providentially encounter on our own journey through life, the only Saviour of men, the ‘Good Shepherd’, even our Lord Jesus Christ.
I can think of no better way to end this section than by quoting Spurgeon’s devotional thoughts from last evening, 6 September, as he considered this –
“If ye be led of
the Spirit, ye are not under the law” – Galatians 5:18
He who looks at
his own character and position from a legal point of view, will not only
despair when he comes to the end of his reckoning, but if he be a wise
man he will despair at the beginning; for if we are to be judged on the
footing of the law, there shall no flesh living be justified. How blessed to
know that we dwell in the domains of grace and not of law!
When thinking of my state before God the question is
not, "Am I perfect in myself before the law?" but, "Am I perfect
in Christ Jesus?" That is a very different matter. We need not enquire,
"Am I without sin naturally?” but "Have I been washed in the fountain
opened for sin and for uncleanness?" It is not "Am I in myself well
pleasing to God?" but it is "Am I accepted in the Beloved?"
The Christian views his evidences from the top of
Sinai, and grows alarmed concerning his salvation; it were better far if he
read his title by the light of Calvary.
"Why,"
saith he, "my faith has unbelief in it, it is not able to save me."
Suppose he had
considered the object of his faith instead of his faith, then he would
have said, "There is no failure in Him, and therefore I am
safe."
He sighs over his
hope: "Ah! my hope is marred and dimmed by an anxious carefulness about
present things; how can I be accepted?" Had he regarded the ground
of his hope, he would have seen that the promise of God standeth sure, and that
whatever our doubts may be, the oath and promise never fail.
Ah! believer, it is safer
always for you to be led of the Spirit into gospel liberty than to wear legal
fetters. Judge yourself at what Christ is rather than at what you
are. Satan will try to mar your peace by reminding you of your sinfulness and
imperfections: you can only meet his accusations by faithfully adhering to the
gospel and refusing to wear the yoke of bondage.
Cecil Andrews
‘Take Heed’
Ministries
7 September
2002
In Patrick’s published response to Rev Foster in the
Belfast Telegraph [7 September] he said the following –
‘Now however it is
no longer necessary for us to worry about the excessive and scrupulous demands
of the old Law. We live now in the New Dispensation of Grace. The New Grace is
the Person of Christ. By opening our hearts to His Holy Spirit, it becomes
possible indeed to love others with Jesus’ own love’.
Rob Zins has kindly taken the time to write
the following in response to what Patrick wrote.
In a recent
letter submitted to and published by the Belfast Telegraph, Roman Catholic
priest Patrick McCafferty, invites us to agree with his interpretation of
an encounter between Jesus Christ and a rich young ruler who came to Jesus
asking, "Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal
life?" [Mark 10:17]. This story is recorded, not only in
Mark, but also in Matthew and Luke in the New Testament. It is a
well-known story. It is generally referred to as the ’story of the
rich young ruler’.
We know that this man who approached Jesus
was ‘young'
(Matthew's account) and that he
was ‘very rich' (Matthew, Mark and Luke’s account).
In answer to
the question, “what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?"
Jesus instructs the rich young ruler to ‘keep the commandments’ [Matthew 19:
17]. Jesus then goes on to mention a few of the commandments and the
rich young ruler answers, "All these things have I kept from my youth
up. What lack I yet?" [Matthew 19:20]. Jesus answers, "One
thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatever thou hast, and give to the poor,
and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross and follow me"
[Mark 10:21].
From this
exchange, Mr. McCafferty concludes:
"It is
abundantly clear, from all of the Scriptures, that our eternal salvation is
conditional upon our following of Jesus Christ."
Christians
understand that Jesus was getting to the heart of the matter with this rich
young ruler. He told him plainly that ‘eternal life’ was there for the
taking if he would only obey the commandments. Full of self-appreciation,
the rich young ruler should have taken better stock of himself. He
perhaps thought that he had obeyed the Law and was therefore a candidate to
receive ‘eternal life’ and a heavenly reward.
Jesus knew
better. He had exposed the heart of this man by zeroing in on his
Achilles heel. The man was rich. Jesus said that he now needed to
sell it all, give it away and follow Jesus. This was too much. The
rich young ruler went away downhearted. He knew that he could not.
He is not alone, no one can perfectly comply with the demands of the Law that
exposes our failure to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, mind and
soul!
As for Mr.
McCafferty, he has been sufficiently corrected for his previous articles in
which he has suggested that keeping the Law of God is a requirement for
salvation. But now He attempts an escape from the obvious manifold
tyranny of the Old Testament Law having evidently seen that there is no hope of
being ‘justified’ by that Law. Mr. McCafferty thinks that he has now
found a New Law that is less demanding and presents to us ‘keepable’ conditions
for inheriting eternal salvation. McCafferty states:
"Now,
however, it is no longer necessary for us to worry about the excessive and
scrupulous demand of the old Law. We live now in the New Dispensation of
Grace…We look to Christ alone, but we must co-operate with Him and follow the
conditions and instructions laid down by our Saviour."
Mr. McCafferty believes that ‘eternal life’ is now contingent upon how well we
follow the commandments of Jesus Christ. He believes that Jesus has laid
down for us certain conditions and instructions that, if followed faithfully,
will land us into eternal bliss. But is this the case? It is
not. Not now and
not ever! We
shall get to this assertion presently.
But before that
we need to examine a strange anomaly in Roman Catholic teachings. Mr.
McCafferty refuses to yield to the Christian accusation that Roman Catholics
believe that they ‘save themselves’ by their merits. He instead insists
that Roman Catholics do not and cannot ‘save themselves’. Rather, they
co-operate with God for their own salvation.
It is a mystery
as to why Roman Catholics cannot see that the party most likely to fail [100%
of the time] in this co-operative effort is man and not God. Hence, the
essence of salvation is suspended upon frail man. Thus, the accusation
that Roman Catholics are taught to ‘save themselves' is correct.
The work
of Christ is finished and will never fail. Thus, if someone is going to
be saved in Rome, it will be dependent upon him or her. We point this out
because Rome plays a word game here. She says that because man did not
invent salvation, nor go to the cross, nor bring it down to man, then man
cannot be the one that saves. But, this is silly if the essence of
salvation is dependent for its application on the faithfulness of man!
The equally
spurious assertion is that Jesus Christ has conditioned man's salvation on our
faithfulness to His alleged conditions and instructions. We ask plainly,
"What conditions and what instructions were given by Jesus, that if obeyed,
gives us ‘eternal life’?" We can find only one. The one and
only condition is the double-sided coin of repentance and faith.
“Repent and believe
the gospel” [Mark 1:15].
There is no
command to baptize infants for justification; there is no command to perform a
confirmation, a mass, a penance, an indulgence or any other Roman Catholic
sacrament. Hence, even if Jesus had left conditions and instructions for
our salvation, Roman Catholicism has invented her own!
But Jesus did not. Instead, He called men unto Himself and promised them
‘eternal life’ if they would trust His sacrificial death on the cross.
Far from offering a new set of resolutions for mankind to succumb to, Jesus
offered Himself, as THE substitute for what man could not possibly ever do.
"To wit,
that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation…For
God hath made him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him"
Furthermore,
Mr. McCafferty errs greatly in dividing Jesus Christ from God. He views
the command to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul and mind as being
part of "the excessive and scrupulous commands of the old Law."
Yet, remarkably, he thinks that "love one another as I have loved
you" [John 15:12] is perfectly possible for us to do and
furthermore it is a condition of salvation. What? Has God been
divided?
How do we love
as perfectly as the sinless incarnate Son of God? Mr. McCafferty says, "He
would never have called us to do this, had He not made it possible for us to
love this way...". Are we then to infer that this same God
did call His people to love Him with all their heart soul and mind in the Old
Testament, but did not make it possible for them to do this?
And, if He did
make it possible, then how is this command a part of the "excessive
and scrupulous demand of the old Law", which could not, by being
followed, give salvation?
The most
fundamental flaw in Roman Catholicism is its failure to understand the
perfection of God and Jesus Christ. Because this is sullied and blurred
in Roman Catholic circles, they thrive on inventing ways to please God with
their own best efforts! They see the utter failure of God's perfect Law
to save even one soul due to sin and imperfection and yet go on to build a new
law of their own.
They think that
Jesus left conditions and instructions which are much more workable and
reasonable given man's sinfulness. They think that Jesus came to give His life
so that God could relax the standard of perfection that He established in His
old Law. They go on to think that God has given the Holy Spirit now so
that ‘their new laws’ can be managed by a co-operative effort between God and
man.
All this amounts to a total misreading of and a complete failure to understand the gravity of the death of Christ and the holiness of God. Jesus was not an emissary of God bearing writs and decrees of a softened law that He would validate by His death on the cross. On the contrary, Jesus came to establish the Law, by fulfilling its perfect demands Himself, and by giving salvation as a free gift to those who could not possibly perfectly follow Him or His teachings.
When the rich
young ruler went away “sorrowful” Mark records Jesus as saying, "how
hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God…how hard it is
for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God”
[Mark 10:23 & 24].
Jesus knew the
heart of this man. But the disciples were amazed. They asked, "Who
then can be saved?" Jesus answered, "With men it is
impossible but not with God: for with God all things are possible."
[Mark 10:26
& 27]
With man
salvation is impossible.
Man cannot have
the final say in it because with man salvation is impossible. Man cannot
hold up to God his ‘co-operative’ best and trust it
for salvation
because with man salvation is impossible.
Peter knew
this. Paul knew this. All who come to Christ, as beggars despairing
of their own righteousness, know this.
Mr. McCafferty does not know this and those
who follow him
do not know this either.
May those who have ears to hear come to Christ
forsaking their self imposed conditions and instructions. Then they may
walk in newness of life and understand what Jesus meant when He said:
"Come unto
me, all ye that labour and
are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest."
"Then said Jesus
unto his disciples, If any man will come after me,
let him deny himself,
and take up his cross, and follow me.
For whosoever will
save his life shall lose it: and
whosoever will lose
his life for my sake shall find it."
Matthew 16:24 &
25
And what Paul meant when he
said
"I am
crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of
God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
Rob Zins
Christian Witness to Roman
Catholicism
In a published response [Belfast Telegraph 14
September]
to Patrick McCafferty’s letter the Rev Ivan Foster
wrote –
I repeat my basic charge
against Mr. McCafferty of erroneously interpreting God's Word since he repeated
the error in his reply [Writeback 7 September].
When the young man referred to by Mr. McCafferty responded to the
Saviour, he claimed that he had kept the Saviour's summary of the law of God in
its entirety from his youth (Mark 10:20). According to Mr. McCafferty's
gospel, that should have satisfied the Saviour. But instead, the Saviour said:
“One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the
poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and
follow me” (verse 21). The Saviour was again dealing with a man who did not
feel himself to be a lost sinner unable to keep the law of God. To convince
such a one of his sin, He brought the man to the practical implications of the
law. To love God with your whole being is to be ready at His bidding to sell
all and bear the reproach of Christ. It was then that the young man was faced
with the sinfulness of his heart and he went away from Christ because, despite
his claims, he did not love God before all things (verse 22).
The whole thesis of the message of Christ is to convince men that they cannot
keep the law, being sinners. The purpose of bringing sinners to the law is to
convince them of their inability to keep its terms because of their utter
sinfulness, and to teach them of their need of a Redeemer who would undertake
for them the obligations of the law and to rest in His work wrought on the
behalf of the elect. The dreadful description of the law employed by Mr.
McCafferty when he spoke of the ‘excessive…demands of the old law’
indicates his measure of ignorance of the Word of God. The Law of God,
summarised in the Ten Commandments, was not ‘excessive’ but
rather a revelation of the perfect holiness God demands from mankind. It
appears ‘excessive’ to sinful man but God, its author, cannot be
charged with making ‘excessive’ demands upon His creatures. There
is no ‘excess’ in perfection. Nor is it the ‘old’
Law since it is still in power and has not been replaced.
Another example of Mr. McCafferty's poor exegesis is his use of John 15:12
as proof that salvation comes through our works. “This is my commandment,
That ye love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12), is not a law
whereby the sinner obtains ‘eternal life’. Rather, it is a command to a sinner
who has obtained ‘eternal life’ to show that this is the case by loving his
brethren in Christ, an essential manifestation of the life of God within the
soul. Just as Lazarus could only “come forth” after he was raised from
the dead by the power of Christ, so the command of John 15:12 can be
kept only by those who, convinced by the Holy Spirit of their utter sinfulness
and inability to satisfy the law of God by their works, and likewise drawn by
the same Holy Spirit to faith in Christ and repentance toward sin, have, by His
grace, been regenerated. They, as living saints, are now obligated and enabled
to walk in the law of Christ. The dead Lazarus did not co-operate with Christ
in his resurrection nor can the dead sinner co-operate with Christ in order to
bring about his spiritual resurrection. The Gospel message is one of grace
alone, not grace mixed with our
assistance of God.
Just underneath the Rev Foster’s published letter was
the following notation
‘Footnote: This correspondence is now closed. Letters
editor’.
Mr McCafferty however has carried on the
correspondence directly with the Rev Ivan Foster who has informed Patrick that
it will be published in his own church publication ‘The Burning Bush’ and I
have also received permission from the Rev Foster to publish it in this
article.
Patrick McCafferty 16 September 2002
I write, Rev Foster, in regard to your letter to
Belfast Telegraph’s Writeback 14/9/02. I further refute your ‘basic
charge’ that I am ‘erroneously interpreting’ God’s Word in Luke
10:25-28 and Mark 10:20. Either out of malice or ignorance, you are misrepresenting what I mean
in reference to the old Law. I do not, in any way, consider the Ten
Commandments excessive. They are, indeed, as you put it, ‘a revelation of
the perfect holiness God demands from mankind’. And upon our keeping of
this Law, now in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, our salvation depends.
The Law finds
its fulfilment and fullest meaning in Jesus our Saviour. It is no longer a
series [of] dos and don’ts, impossible for us to keep by ourselves. The Spirit
of Love, Who is in the Father and the Son, Who has been poured into our hearts
(Romans. 5:5), makes it possible for us to keep the New Law, the New
Commandment, because now we are joined to Jesus Christ and He is become our
Wisdom and our virtue and our holiness and our redemption. (I Corinthians
1:30-31). By being joined to Christ
we share in His love and goodness. We have no virtue of our own only His
Merits.
We are joined to Him as the branches to the Vine so
that He can produce the lasting fruits of His Love in us. However, Rev Foster, as the
Saviour Himself explicitly says “Remain in My Love” and “cut off from Me you
can do nothing”. Cut off from Christ we wither like dead branches. The Lord would
never have warned us thus had it not been possible for us to stray from His
Love. Our eternal salvation is conditional upon our remaining in Christ our
whole lives long as Wisdom Himself says: “those who persevere to the end will
be saved”. Salvation and forgiveness
possessed now can be lost. Read the Parable of the unforgiving debtor in
Matthew 18 and mark well what the Lord says in verse 35. The debtor, who had
been released from the colossal debt he owed his master, had his forgiveness
rescinded when he failed to forgive his fellow servant, who owed him a
comparatively paltry sum.
As regards the
resurrection of Lazarus, certainly Lazarus was powerless lying in bodily death
and the Lord’s raising of him is, certainly, a demonstration of His mighty power
over death and, more importantly, His raising us from spiritual death. Lazarus,
however, DID co-operate with the Lord Jesus by COMING FORTH from his tomb. We,
having been saved and redeemed by the Lord of Life, must also come forth to Him
for the glory of God. We must demonstrate clearly by our way of living that
life is at work in us. We must co-operate with God, otherwise all that the Lord
has achieved and wrought for us will be in vain in so far as someone refuses to
respond to grace.
Yours sincerely,
Rev
Patrick McCafferty,
St
Patricks,
Lisburn, Co Antrim.
Patrick McCafferty 16 September 2002
I was glad to receive your e-mail and happy to
continue the exchange begun in the columns of the Belfast Telegraph. I would
like to state immediately that I will be reproducing any letters we exchange by
email in ‘The Burning Bush’, a little publication I edit.
You will have received the full text of the letters I sent to the Belfast
Telegraph. They include those statements the Editor saw fit to exclude from the
letters' column.
I wish to assure you that I was not acting out of malice when I replied as I
did in my second letter. I would wish to stress that. I make no secret of my
abhorrence of the doctrines you propagate but that does not mean that I would
resort to dishonesty in responding to them. Were that necessary, then my
confidence in my own beliefs would evaporate.
I do not believe I acted in ignorance. Your statement: ‘Now, however, it
is no longer necessary for us to worry about the excessive and scrupulous
demands of the old Law’ can only be seen as an expression of your view
that the ‘old Law’ was ‘excessive’ in its demands.
You were wrong in making such a statement and you cannot avoid the rebuke for
such by claiming that I misrepresented you. Now that would be malicious!!
It is clear that you believe that it is upon our keeping of a law that ‘our
salvation depends’. Just what ‘law’ is it we are required
to keep, for you clearly contradict yourself between what you say in your first
paragraph and what you say in your second paragraph?
Let me show you what I mean. You say, ’I do not, in any way, consider the
Ten Commandments excessive. They are, indeed, as you put it, ‘a
revelation of the perfect holiness God demands from mankind’. And
upon our keeping of this Law, now in the Spirit of Jesus Christ,