That much I agree with.
What I disagree with is Sola Scriptura, Bonnie. You assume the testimony of the Church with regard to indulgences is not valid evidence that Jesus and or the apostles taught something.
Over and over again, Roman Catholicism seems to reek of Gnosticism. Let's see... These teachings of Jesus we'll write down, but these other teachings of Jesus we'll keep secret, and only tell people orally.
No, Bonnie, it goes against the Protestant doctrine of Faith alone.
So all these ECF's were Protestant?:
“Whosoever will candidly consider each particular, will recognize the greatness of the gifts which were given by him. For from him have sprung the priests and all the Levites who minister at the altar of God. From him also [was descended] our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh. From him [arose] kings, princes, and rulers of the race of Judah. Nor are his other tribes in small glory, inasmuch as God had promised, ‘Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven.’ All these, therefore, were highly honored, and made great,
not for their own sake, or for their own works, or for the righteousness which they wrought, but through the operation of His will. And we, too, being called by His will in Christ Jesus, are not justified by ourselves, nor by our own wisdom, or understanding, or godliness, or works we have have wrought in holiness of heart, but by that faith through which, from the beginning, Almighty God has justified all men; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
- Clement, First Epistle to the Corinthians, Ch. 32 (AD 99)
“Every mystery which is enacted by our Lord Jesus Christ asks
only for faith. The mystery was enacted at that time for our sake and aimed at our resurrection and liberation, should we have faith in the mystery of Christ and in Christ.”
- Marius Victorinus, Epistle to the Galatians,1.3.7 (AD 356)
“Let him who boasts boast in the Lord, that Christ has been made by God for us in righteousness, wisdom, justification, redemption. This is perfect and pure boasting in God, when one is not proud on account of his own righteousness but knows that
he is indeed unworthy of the true righteousness and is (or has been) justified solely by faith in Christ.”
- Basil of Caesarea, Homilia XX, Homilia De Humilitate (AD 379)
“God has decreed that
a person who believes in Christ can be saved without works. By faith alone he receives the forgiveness of sins.”
- Ambrosiaster, on 1 Cor 1:14b (AD 384)
“They are justified freely because they have not done anything nor given anything in return,
but by faith alone they have been made holy by the gift of God.”
- Ambrosiaster, on Rom. 3:24 (AD 384)
“The patriarch Abraham himself before receiving circumcision had been
declared righteous on the score of faith alone; before circumcision, the text says, Abraham believed God, and credit for it brought him to righteousness.”
- Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis, 27.7 (AD 407)
“See he calls the faith also a law delighting to keep to the names, and so allay the seeming novelty. But what is the ‘law of faith’? It is, being saved by grace. Here he shows God’s power, in that He has not only saved, but has even justified, and led them to boasting,
and this too without needing works, but looking for faith only.”
- Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans, Homily 7, vs. 27 (AD 407)
“
For a person who had no works, to be justified by faith, was nothing unlikely. But for a person richly adorned with good deeds, not to be made just from hence, but from faith, this is the thing to cause wonder, and to set the power of faith in a strong light.”
- Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans, Homily 8, Rom. 4:1-2 (AD 407)
“God justifies
by faith alone” (“Deus ex sola fide justificat”)
- Jerome, Epestolam Ad Romanos, Caput X, v.3 (AD 420)
“What Paul meant was that no one obtains the gift of justification on the basis of merits derived from works performed beforehand,
but they gift of justification comes only from faith.”
- Bede, Cited from the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (ed. Gerald Bray), NT, vol. 11, p. 31.(AD 735)
"But in addition that you might believe also this, that sins are given to you individually, this is the testimony, which the Holy Spirit bestows in your heart, saying, Your sins are forgiven by you.
For the Apostle thinks thus, that man is gratuitously justified through faith."
- Bernard of Clairvaux , First Sermon on the Annunciation (AD 1153)
“Therefore the hope of justification is not found in them [the moral and ceremonial requirements of the law],
but in faith alone.”
- Thomas Aquinas, Expositio in Ep. I ad Timotheum cap. 1, lect. 3 (AD 1274
Because you think Scripture teaches Faith alone,
Doesn't it?:
Eph. 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9
not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Titus 3:5 he saved us,
not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
2Tim. 1:9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling,
not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,
Rom. 4:1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was
justified by works, he has something to boast about,
but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5
And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom
God counts righteousness apart from works:
Rom. 11:5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is
no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
And yet, the Church does not just make stuff up, does she?
Clearly, "she" does.
Immaculate conception;
Perpetual virginity;
bodily assumption;
papacy;
etc.
etc.
etc.
If what you are saying is true--why doesn't the Church formally embrace wokism--and allow for transgender, homosxual marriage, abortion, sex outside of marriage, etc?
Wait for it...
I know MANY Catholics who want the pope to teach that homosexuality is no longer a sin. And the RCC has female chaplains, which while they try to rationalize, is a slippery slope of progression.
To be more specific, you prefer to go by what the Lutheran Church teaches Christ and the apostles taught.
So you have a different NT than the Lutheran church has?
