COLLEEN TINKER
Recently I received an email from a woman who was, it turned out, a Catholic apologist. She was a convert to her religion, and interestingly, she is also married to an Adventist. Without doubt she is devout and eager to proselytize. The email that really got my attention was her second one to me. She opened with these words: “I woke up thinking about you and am writing something more pointed to you. I guess I think that while you have come out of Adventism, that you are still ‘Catholic-lite’ and possibly still anti-Catholic at some level.”
She continued by explaining that the Catholic church is the one established by Jesus against which the gates of hell will not prevail.
She continued by explaining that the Catholic church is the one established by Jesus against which the gates of hell will not prevail. She stated that she converted because of the Bible alone and because of Jesus’ words in John 6 that we must eat His flesh and drink His blood without which we have no part in Him. She asked how we decide what books are in the Bible and admitted that she believed a Bible-alone position is unbiblical. She wondered how I would answer the following questions:
- What exactly does the Bible say we must do to be saved?
- What exactly does the Bible say is the “pillar and foundation of the truth”?
- What exactly does the Bible say we must do to “abide” in Jesus?
She affirmed her belief that the Bible teaches the real presence of Jesus’ body and blood, of the reverencing of Mary the Mother of God, and of “staying with the original church” and not being divisive. She shared that evangelical Christians are “separated brethren” and accused us of being “one more denomination” and asked what authority we use to support our truth. She closed by hoping that one day I would “‘Come home’ to the church Jesus set up”.
Knowing that Catholics support their belief that Jesus established the Catholic church as the one true church on Jesus’ saying to Peter that He was giving him the keys of the kingdom (Mt. 16:19), I responded to her by explaining my understanding of those “keys”, then moved on to address her other concerns.
I am sharing my answers to her below because she is not the first Catholic who has challenged our beliefs. Even more, I believe we all need to be able to defend the gospel, and thinking through her challenges to me has helped me put my convictions into words in the context of addressing Catholic apologetic arguments.
Peter And the Keys Of the Kingdom
I believe that you do not understand where I “stand” in relationship to the gospel and to the teachings of Jesus and His apostles. We are not a denomination. The people who write for us and those who are part of our Life Assurance Ministries board of directors are members of a variety of Protestant churches, from Lutheran to independent Bible churches. I personally am not a member of any denomination; my husband and I attend an independent Bible church that is not affiliated with any other church or denomination. What we are “affiliated” with, though, is any local body of Christ that honors Scripture and keeps it at the center of their teaching. Our ministry, however, is not a church. It is simply a para-church ministry designed to help Adventists come out of their Adventist worldview and to help Christians understand what is wrong with Adventism.
My shock, as I came out of Adventism, was discovering that the EGW-based fear of Catholicism was a deception designed to make Adventists fear worshiping on Sunday.
My shock, as I came out of Adventism, was discovering that the EGW-based fear of Catholicism was a deception designed to make Adventists fear worshiping on Sunday. I learned that observing Sunday did NOT originate with the Catholic church; rather, it came directly from the practice of first-century Christians who honored the Lord’s resurrection by gathering on the Lord’s Day—or the eighth day—exactly as the Old Testament feast of Pentecost had been celebrated. That was a significant connection, because the church was born on the Feast of Pentecost, the day described in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit was poured out on those who believed in the Lord Jesus. That day 3,000 Jews believed the gospel which Peter and the apostles were preaching, and they were born again exactly as the promises in Jeremiah 31:31–33 and in Ezekiel 36 had said would happen. They were given new hearts, new spirits, and the Holy Spirit sealed them (Ephesians 1:13,14).
And speaking of Peter on the Day of Pentecost, Jesus DID choose him to unlock the mystery of the kingdom of God to all the people groups whom Jesus said should receive the apostles’ preaching. Jesus DID give Peter the keys to the kingdom. We find that commission fulfilled in the book of Acts. Before Jesus ascended he told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit who would be given to them, and, Jesus said, “You shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). After the Holy Spirit was poured out (Acts 2), Peter preached in the temple in Jerusalem, and 3,000 Jews believed and received the Holy Spirit. Peter was the apostle who had the primary role in ushering the first Jews into the church.
The indwelling Holy Spirit is the mark of all people who believe in the Lord Jesus, and Jesus had previously told His disciples that this would happen after He returned to His Father (see John 14, 16, and 17). All true believers are made spiritually alive eternally, passing from death to life (Jn. 5:24), sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13,14), and transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of the Beloved Son (Col. 1:13). The first time this phenomenon happened was in Acts 1 when the 120 disciples of Jesus waited in the upper room for the promised Spirit whom Jesus had told them would come (Acts 1: 12–2:4). The second time this occurred was in Acts 2:14–42, when 3,000 Jews believed and were baptized when Peter preached the gospel of the Lord Jesus and His death, burial, and resurrection. On that day Peter “unlocked” the kingdom of the Lord Jesus to the first Jewish converts to Christianity, and they were born of the Spirit and became part of the Body of Christ, the church which the Lord Jesus was establishing in the world. This was a completely NEW thing: never before had any believer been indwelled by the Holy Spirit who never left them on the basis of their trust in the finished work of Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins and for their own transfer from death to life!
The second time Peter unlocked the kingdom was for the first Samaritan believers in Jesus. This event is recorded in Acts 8. Phillip had been preaching in Samaria.The Samaritans were the “half breeds” who were the remnant of the northern kingdom of Israel after they had been taken captive by the Assyrians. The Jews remaining in the north intermarried with the Canaanites in the area, and the result was the syncretistic people called “Samaritans” who believed a mish-mash of Jewish and Canaanite religious practices (see John 4 and the Samaritan woman at the well). The Samaritans had believed Phillip as he taught about Jesus, and word of their belief was told to the apostles in Jerusalem. They sent Peter and John to see for themselves if the story was true. The Samaritans had not received the Holy Spirit, so Peter prayed for them. and they, too, received the Holy Spirit. Once again, Peter was the apostolic witness that these non-Jews, like Jews previously in Jerusalem, were born again and filled with the Holy Spirit all on the basis of their belief and trust in Jesus!
Apostolic Witness
Had there not been an “official” apostolic witness to these miracles, the church would have been divided from the beginning. As we learn from the Judaizing crisis in Galatia, the Jews would never have believed that Samaritans or gentiles could ever become God’s children without first becoming observant Jews. The Lord Jesus arranged for Peter to be the apostle who would “oversee” and facilitate not only the first believing Jews but now the first group of believing Samaritans to receive the Holy Spirit. He provided eye-witness proof!
The third time Peter oversaw a people group become born again and filled with the Spirit was in Acts 10 when he was sent to the home of the Roman Cornelius. He and John stayed with the Roman family, and as he preached about the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Holy Spirit fell on those gentiles. Acts 10:44, 45 tells the story. “All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also” (v. 45).
Jesus had appointed Peter to have the keys to the kingdom—he was the apostolic eye-witness who facilitated the three people groups coming to new life in Jesus, sealed with God the Spirit!
Jesus had appointed Peter to have the keys to the kingdom—he was the apostolic eye-witness who facilitated the three people groups coming to new life in Jesus, sealed with God the Spirit! Furthermore, these events happened in the order Jesus had articulated in Acts 1: He told them to preach in “Jerusalem, Judea (the rest of region around Jerusalem), Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.” Peter saw Jews, Samaritans, and gentiles all coming to faith and becoming part of the the body of Christ. From this point on, Paul’s work spread the gospel to the gentiles, but Peter was the one who confirmed the authenticity of the new births of people who were not Jews. On the basis of belief in Jesus, ANYONE can be born again and given eternal life! They didn’t have to keep the law, become circumcised, or do any other thing: when they believed, they were sealed with the Holy Spirit.
Your Questions Answered
1. What exactly does the Bible say we must do to be saved?
We are saved by believing and trusting in the Lord Jesus and His finished work—the gospel, in other words. And what is the gospel? Paul says it clearly:
“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:1–4). “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your house” (Acts 16:31).
“Jesus answered, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent’” (Jn. 6:29).
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (Jn. 5:24).
Jesus’ death for our sins according to Scripture, His burial, and His resurrection on the third day according to Scripture—this is the gospel. Believe in Him; believe the gospel—that is all that is needed for salvation. Those gentiles who listened to Peter preach received the Holy Spirit as they listened. They were born again and indwelled by the Spirit on the basis of their belief that Jesus was who He said He was and did what the Old Testament said He would do. THAT is what saves!
2. What exactly does the Bible say is the “pillar and foundation of the truth”?
The pillar—the foundation—of the truth is the Lord Jesus.
“For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11).
“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one come to the Father except through Me” (Jn. 14:6)
3. What exactly does the Bible say we must do to “abide” in Jesus?
We “abide” in Jesus by trusting Him, by remaining in His Word, by allowing His indwelling Spirit to teach us to apply His word to our lives. When we are born again, we are placed in Christ, and we abide—remain—there by trusting Him and immersing ourselves in His word and allowing His indwelling Spirit to teach us.
“So Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples” (Jn. 8:31).
“Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father” (1 Jn. 2:24).
“But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him” (1 John 2:27).
“Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son” (2 John 9).
Tradition is not what dictates truth to me. The Bible is what tells me what is real. I grew up with much tradition and extra-biblical interpretation. If I need human interpretation to explain Scripture to me, then I am trusting people, not the Lord Jesus. Of course, teachers are important, and God gives us teachers as part of His gifts to the church (Ephesians 4), but there has to be a source of truth that everyone can see and understand. That is the purpose of the Bible.
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:14–17).
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:12–13).
The New Testament clearly tells us the gospel: the death for our sin, the burial, and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus—all according to Scripture. This is the pure, simple gospel, and Paul, over and over, instructs his new believers not to accept any gospel other than the one he preached (Gal. 1:6–10; 2 Cor. 11:3,4, etc.).
Catholic and Adventist Similarities
Nowhere in the Bible are we instructed to revere Mary or to consider her to have been immaculately conceived. She was a godly woman whom the Lord chose to be the mother of Jesus, and we owe Him deep thanks for His choice of her, but she is not an intermediary nor a “co-remptrix” nor one who intercedes with Jesus for us. In fact, there is no more biblical evidence for us to revere her than there is any New Testament evidence for Adventists to keep the seventh-day Sabbath! There just is no biblical evidence.
What I have discovered is that the Adventist gospel is much more similar to the Catholic gospel than it is to the biblical gospel. Both Adventism and Catholicism say one must do certain good works in order to “stay saved”, or in order to be ready to be saved, or in order to abide in Christ. For Adventists, that good work is Sabbath keeping and vegetarian eating (secondarily). For Catholics it is the mass. Catholics fall out of God’s good grace by not taking mass in much the same way Adventists fall out of grace for not keeping the Sabbath. They jeopardize their salvation.
The New Testament gospel, however, says we are saved SOLELY by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus (Ephesians 2:1–10). Romans 4 explains that God saves those who DO NOT WORK. If we do works in order to ensure our salvation—even if those works are Sabbath-keeping or taking communion—we are not trusting God. Romans 4 says that if we do works, the good that comes is a WAGE, but salvation is entirely a GIFT. The works we do as born-again believers are not wages nor things we somehow deserve because we have been faithful. Rather, the works born again believers do is the fruit of ALREADY being saved, of having passed from death to life. Communion is for those who have believed and have been born again. It is not an ongoing observance that keeps us in Christ. It is the FRUIT of our belief, and we take it as an act of worship and thanksgiving, a sign that we already are His! †
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Colleen, you have done an excellent job of answering the questions in this letter and giving a short summary of the similarities between Catholicism and Adventism. Keep up the good work!
I really appreciate this article. I too have thought about the similarities between Catholics and Adventists with regard to works-based salvation and other stuff added to scripture. Thanks Colleen.