{"id":47033,"date":"2020-04-24T15:22:43","date_gmt":"2020-04-24T19:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=47033"},"modified":"2020-04-24T15:23:41","modified_gmt":"2020-04-24T19:23:41","slug":"sacraments-vs-jesus-unbiblical-false-dichotomies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/04\/sacraments-vs-jesus-unbiblical-false-dichotomies.html","title":{"rendered":"Sacraments vs. Jesus?: Unbiblical False Dichotomies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/p>\n

In one of the Facebook groups I was in for a time, I was asked this question:<\/p>\n

Does Jesus forgive all sins through his substitutionary atonement or can [a] Roman Catholic priest forgive sin through infant baptism, penance, and the Eucharist?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I replied:<\/p>\n

Why do you feel the need to pit these things against each other, as if they are contradictories? It\u2019s illogical and silly.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not Catholics who invented the notion that baptism grants forgiveness of sins. Holy Scripture teaches that<\/em> (and asserts that it is a means of salvation, too):<\/p>\n

Acts 2:38<\/strong> (RSV) And Peter said to them, \u201cRepent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins;<\/p>\n

1 Peter 3:20-21<\/strong> . . . God\u2019s patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you . . .<\/p>\n

Acts 22:16<\/strong> And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.\u2019<\/p>\n

Mark 16:16<\/strong> He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.<\/p>\n

Titus 3:5<\/strong> he saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit,<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s not Catholics who drummed up the idea that the Eucharist could save us. Our Lord Jesus said that<\/em>:<\/p>\n

John 6:48-51<\/strong> I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.\u201d<\/p>\n

John 6:53-58<\/strong> So Jesus said to them, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jesus and Paul also clearly taught that human beings could function as mini-mediators in the work of forgiving the sins of others (i.e., not committed against the one offering forgiveness: as a representative of Christ):<\/p>\n

John 20:23<\/strong> If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.<\/p>\n

2 Corinthians 2:7, 10<\/strong> so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. . . . [10] Any one whom you forgive, I also forgive. What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ,<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So where\u2019s the beef? This person seems alarmingly deficient in his knowledge of what the Bible teaches.<\/p>\n

Related Reading<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Divorce: Early Church Teaching<\/a>\u00a0[Oct. 1998]<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Why do Catholics Believe that Sacraments are Necessary?<\/a>\u00a0[2002]<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
\n
Biblical Evidence for Annulments<\/a>\u00a0[2002]<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
\u201cMan-Centered\u201d Sacramentalism: The Remarkable Incoherence of James White: How Can Martin Luther and St. Augustine Be Christians According to His Definition?<\/a>\u00a0[11-26-03]<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Biblical Evidence for the Prohibition of Divorce\u00a0<\/a>[2004]<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Formal Human Forgiveness of Sins in the Bible<\/a>\u00a0[6-10-07]<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
\n
Sacrament of Confirmation: The Biblical Evidence<\/a>\u00a0[5-6-08]<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
\n
Sacrament of Holy Orders (Ordination): The Biblical Evidence<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0[5-9-08]<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Sacrament of Anointing \/ Extreme Unction: The Biblical Evidence<\/a>\u00a0[2009;\u00a0Addendum added on 1-10-17]<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Sacraments: Bible & Church Fathers (vs. Calvin #34)<\/a>\u00a0[9-25-09]
\n*<\/div>\n
Sacraments & the Church Fathers (vs. Calvin #36)<\/a>\u00a0[10-19-09]
\n*<\/div>\n
Baptism, Regeneration, Assurance? of Salvation (vs. Calvin #39)<\/a>\u00a0[11-16-09]
\n*<\/div>\n
Confirmation in the Bible & the Fathers (vs. Calvin #50)<\/a>\u00a0[12-17-09]
\n*<\/div>\n
Sacrament of Anointing: Yay or Nay? (vs. Calvin #52)<\/a>\u00a0[12-21-09]<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
The Bible on Confession & Absolution<\/a>\u00a0[2013]<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Bible: Men & Angels Forgive Sins as Representatives of God<\/a>\u00a0[7-18-14]<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Biblical Evidence for Priests<\/a>\u00a0[9-13-15]<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
St. Paul Was a Priest\u00a0<\/a>[9-15-15]<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
\n
John 3:5 & Titus 3:5: Baptismal Regeneration?<\/a>\u00a0[12-1-15]<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Baptismal Regeneration: More Biblical Evidence<\/a>\u00a0[4-3-16]<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Absolution, Sanctification, & Forgiveness: Reply to Calvin #7<\/a>\u00a0[12-19-18]<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
***<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
(originally posted on 3-20-17 on Facebook)<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Photo credit:<\/strong> The Seven Sacraments<\/em>: detail: baptism, confirmation, penance, by Rogier van der Weyden (c. 1400-1464)<\/span> [public domain \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a>]<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
***<\/div>\n
\n
\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In one of the Facebook groups I was in for a time, I was asked this question: Does Jesus forgive all sins through his substitutionary atonement or can [a] Roman Catholic priest forgive sin through infant baptism, penance, and the Eucharist? I replied: Why do you feel the need to pit these things against each […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":47035,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[314],"tags":[315,2546,364,2547,276,596,2545,2542,2543,2544,1487,650,2548,321],"class_list":["post-47033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-baptism-and-sacramentalism","tag-baptism","tag-extreme-unction","tag-holy-eucharist","tag-last-rites","tag-marriage","tag-ordination","tag-sacrament-of-anointing","tag-sacrament-of-confirmation","tag-sacrament-of-holy-orders","tag-sacrament-of-matrimony","tag-sacrament-of-reconciliation","tag-sacramentalism","tag-sacramentals","tag-sacraments"],"yoast_head":"\nSacraments vs. Jesus?: Unbiblical False Dichotomies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why illogically pit sacraments against Jesus? 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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).","sameAs":["https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}