Why Saying “Some Catholics Are Saved” is Foolish and Problematic

Over the years, I have regularly heard this comment in evangelical circles, “It is possible for a Catholic to be saved.” Now, I understand that context matters. If the comment was made during the heavy exchange of a thoroughly biblical dialog, with two people grappling over the precise doctrines of conversion, such a comment would not be too much of a concern. Sadly, that is not where I hear it. It often comes from someone drunk on ecumenism, or from one engaging in a surface level discussion about salvation. Either way, it is immensely problematic.

Below are some reasons why making such a comment is dangerous.

1) Catholic doctrine damns people to hell, and exceptions are not where we should dwell – What’s the value in saying, “some people who take arsenic are immune,” or “there are some who jumped without a parachute and survived.” We are doing no one any favors by highlighting the rare possibility that living with a heresy won’t penetrate to the soul. You do not play with heresy. It is a snake that must be killed. In Galatians 1:8 Paul said, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!” Catholicism teaches a different gospel, which is no gospel at all. It is mix of grace plus works which Paul attacked with vehemence and precision in Galatians, and with teaching and tears in Romans. When a person says “some Catholics are saved,” they have just thrown Galatians, Romans, and the rest of the Bible into a room of funhouse mirrors that uses the rare and exceptional to distort and confuse what is real, normal, and commanded.

2) We would have to be just as willing to say this about Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons – The situation here is very similar. Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, and Catholics all have a gospel of works, add and/or subtract from Scripture, and create manmade ideas for how to come to God. Yet, I have never heard an evangelical suggest the possibility that Mormons can be saved. Why is this? I am sure some reasons are that JWs and Mormons are newer religions, and they have more differences. But the reality that Catholicism is closer to biblical Christianity only makes it more deceptive. The closer camouflage is to its surroundings, the more effective it is. Catholicism is the largest religion around us, and ecumenism has made great strides. The fear of offending our neighbors has caused us to cower under the shadow of tolerance. Our refusal to treat JWs and Mormons the same way exposes an inconsistency in our thinking and a willingness to compromise the truth.

3) It is never wise to casually set forth a tragedy as a possibility – When you are talking in casual conversation and a tragedy is mentioned, it is always bracketed with words of horror. For instance someone might say, “We will be going to our parent’s house, unless one of our children is killed, God forbid.” We throw in “God forbid” because we realize this is an unexpected, rare, and tragic circumstance and it can’t be treated as normal. Is it possible that a Catholic person could go to heaven? It is possible. But it is only possible because there is a strange and rare instance where faith in the gospel is mixed with ignorance, blindness, laziness, biblical illiteracy, and damnable association. It is the worst possible scenario for a true believer. It will amount to a largely wasted life in terms of spiritual fruit, a life of leading people into sin, and a life of flirting with heresy. A person who embraces the true gospel, yet stays in the Catholic Church will never have assurance of salvation, real gospel freedom, or a solid foundation. What a tragedy. To just throw this out as a possibility, without horror, shock, and revulsion means a person doesn’t understand what they have just said.

4) You would never be able to identify with certainty a saved Catholic – According to Matthew 18, when someone lives in unrepentant sin, the church is to put him out of the membership and call him to repentance. Does the church know the true state of his heart? Of course not. He might be a true Christian that is living in sin, or he might be a false convert. Either way, all the church can see is this person is living like an unbeliever, and so must be treated like an unbeliever. In the same manner, if a person is unwilling to leave a false church that holds heretical doctrine, we would never give them the benefit of the doubt. They are living like an unbeliever and so we will regard them as an unbeliever. If you say you know a saved catholic, how can you know it? They have bound themselves to a heretical church and are unwilling to follow Christ. This is the kind of unrepentant sin that marks an unbeliever. If they don’t know the Catholic Church is heretical, they are living in willful ignorance and not loving the truth as Christians are called to do. Either way, as far as you can see, they are living like an unbeliever. They should be treated as such. That is the most loving thing you can do. Evangelize them!

5) We make our job harder not easier by such a comment – The last thing we need is more to fix. Has not our godless world given us enough problems? When we throw around a comment like this, we are not helping doctrinal precision and great commission faithfulness. Instead, we are sowing confusion and dulling the urgency to reach Catholics with the gospel. If you make such a statement without a solid 30 minutes of explanation, followed by questions and clarifications, you have probably damaged the doctrinal understanding of salvation in those who heard you. The gospel is the central reality around which our lives must be built. Yet, due to a fading Christian past and an ocean of bad churches, the gospel is sorely misunderstood in our day. Therefore, the last thing you want to do is muddy the waters even more by such a statement. As a church we want to encourage Catholic evangelism and highlight critical differences in our understanding of the Gospel and salvation. We don’t want to put a wet blanket on this fire by saying Catholics might be saved.