July 21, 2009
-
Question 164 - Does Acts 16:31 only require faith for salvation?
Question 164 - Does Acts 16:31 only require faith for salvation?
9) Bob, how do I answer a protestant who parrot fashion quotes Acts 16:31 about simply 'believing in Christ and you will be saved" as enough. I have explained that 'believe; in this verse actually means 'obey', and thus I explain that to obey Christ is to be Catholic. is this correct?
Brenden
R. Sungenis: You handle by taking the verse at face value. If it says “believe in the Lord Jesus to be saved” then he is saved because he believes in the Lord Jesus. The next question is, what constitutes “belief in the Lord Jesus.” The answer is, it is believing everything that the Lord Jesus is, did, and commands us to do. One can only know what “belief” really is if he reads the rest of the Bible to find out. One of those requirements is baptism, as Acts 16:33 says. So, right away, we see that “belief” requires an additional action – a belief that baptism washes away our sins. Hence, it is not just “belief,” per se, that saves us, but a particular kind of belief – a belief that believes everything about Jesus and what he wants us to do.
