Same Words, Different Worlds: Do Roman Catholics and Evangelicals Believe the Same Gospel?

‘In current ecumenical dialogue, the emphasis is on agreement, with disputed points either left to one side or treated as secondary. Dr De Chirico takes issue with this approach and argues that the questions that divided the Western Church in the sixteenth century have not gone away and must still be faced. Evangelicals and Catholics hold some things in common but, as this book shows, their differences are important and cannot be overlooked.’

Gerald Bray, Research Professor of Divinity, Beeson Divinity School, Alabama, USA, and Director of Research, Latimer Trust

‘In this helpful book, my friend Leonardo De Chirico proves why he is one of the pre-eminent Protestant scholars of Roman Catholicism. He accomplishes just what he sets out to prove: that even though Protestants and Catholics may use similar words, they believe in very different gospels. As he accomplishes this, he displays his characteristic wisdom, charity, kindness and expansive knowledge of both Protestant and Catholic doctrine.’

Tim Challies, <www.challies.com>

‘This is a challenging read which sets out the crucial doctrinal differences between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, especially those hiding within some apparent verbal similarities. It is a provocative counterpoint to the sometimes naive ecumenical thrust of much modern discussion on inter-church relations.’

Dr Lee Gatiss, Director, Church Society, and author of Light after Darkness: How the reformers regained, retold, and relied on the gospel of grace

‘How can I stand next to my Roman Catholic friend and say the words, We believe in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic faith and mean something completely different by the words: we, believe, in, the one, holy, catholic, apostolic and faith"?

De Chirico, an Italian national and church planter in Rome, is better placed than anyone to act as a bridge between evangelicals and Roman Catholics. This book provides the key to understanding these differences, avoiding pitfalls and communicating more effectively with Roman Catholics.

De Chirico’s book is a powerful tool to help us talk about the Jesus whom we love with the people in our lives whom we love who live in a world influenced by Roman Catholicism.’

The Revd Dr Mark Gilbert, Catholic evangelist, Sydney, Australia

‘I am thrilled to see this new book by Leonardo De Chirico. I benefited immensely from reading De Chirico’s doctoral thesis several years ago on Roman Catholicism. As one who teaches theology, including a course on the church fathers and medieval theology, it is tempting to say that Rome and Protestantism simply agree on many things. But I have been persuaded by De Chirico’s analysis that central tenets of Roman Catholicism put even seemingly common theological territory in a different light. If you want to understand the deep principles of Roman Catholic theology, I strongly encourage the reading of this book.’

Bradley G. Green, Professor of Theological Studies, Union University, Jackson, Tennessee, USA

‘This book is easily the most profound analysis of the Roman Catholic world available today. The fact that it is also the most lucid and accessible makes it remarkable. In a measured and eirenic way, the author peels back the subtle deceptions through which, over the best part of two millennia, the Papacy has misrepresented the Christian faith.’

Ranald Macaulay, founder, Christian Heritage

‘Leonardo De Chirico’s Same Words, Different Worlds is an authoritative, clear and compelling account. He knows of what he speaks: fluffy minded evangelicals confused about contemporary Roman Catholicism, read and learn.’

Dr Josh Moody (PhD, University of Cambridge), Senior Pastor, College Church, and President, God Centered Life Ministries

‘Labouring for the gospel in the shadow of the Vatican, Dr De Chirico knows Roman Catholicism of the past and present, its doctrine and practice, its US and global identity. He then adds his deep knowledge of the historical orthodox Christian faith. And he then adds his winsome and gracious nature. The result is a book that with clarity and grace shows the profound difference between Roman Catholicism and evangelicalism – and why that difference is of such ultimate, eternal significance.’

Stephen J. Nichols, President, Reformation Bible College, Chief Academic Officer, Ligonier Ministries, and author of R. C. Sproul: A life

‘When Vatican II met at Rome between 1962 and1965, global Protestants were helped to assess the developments taking place there through observers, invited from various communions. In more recent times, this service has been admirably fulfilled by Leonardo De Chirico who, by his on-site residence and his digesting of fresh papal pronouncements and activity today serves as the eyes and ears of evangelical Protestants globally. Now, in Same Words, Different Worlds, De Chirico offers us a fine distillation of his observations.’

Kenneth J. Stewart, Emeritus Professor of Theological Studies, Covenant College, Georgia, USA

Leonardo De Chirico (PhD, King’s College London) is the pastor of Breccia di Roma, lecturer in Historical Theology at the Istituto di Formazione Evangelica e Documentazione (IFED) in Padua, Italy, and the director of the Reformanda Initiative. Additionally, he blogs at <www.vaticanfiles.org>. He is the director of Studi di Teologia, an evangelical theological journal that has been in publication in Italy for forty years, and the author of Evangelical Theological Perspectives on Post-Vatican II Roman Catholicism (2003), A Christian’s Pocket Guide to the Papacy: Its origin and role in the 21st century (2015) and A Christian’s Pocket Guide to Mary: Mother of God? (2017).

INTER-VARSITY PRESS

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© Leonardo De Chirico, 2021

Leonardo De Chirico has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as Author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher or the Copyright Licensing Agency.

Scripture quotations are taken from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The publisher and author acknowledge with thanks permission to reproduce extracts from the following:

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis © copyright C. S. Lewis Pte Ltd 1942, 1943, 1944, 1952.

‘Is the Reformation Over?’ (Appendix 1): permission to reproduce granted by the Reformanda Initiative.

Every effort has been made to seek permission to use copyright material reproduced in this book. The publisher apologizes for those cases where permission might not have been sought and, if notified, will formally seek permission at the earliest opportunity.

First published 2021

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978–1–78974–360–9

eBook ISBN: 978–1–78974–361–6

Set in 11/14pt Minion Pro

Typeset in Great Britain by CRB Associates, Potterhanworth, Lincolnshire

Printed in Great Britain by Ashford Colour Press Ltd, Gosport, Hampshire

eBook by CRB Associates, Potterhanworth, Lincolnshire

Produced on paper from sustainable sources

Inter-Varsity Press publishes Christian books that are true to the Bible and that communicate the gospel, develop discipleship and strengthen the church for its mission in the world.

IVP originated within the Inter-Varsity Fellowship, now the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship, a student movement connecting Christian Unions in universities and colleges throughout Great Britain, and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. Website: www.uccf.org.uk. That historic association is maintained, and all senior IVP staff and committee members subscribe to the UCCF Basis of Faith.

Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

1 Same words, same world? Questioning some common viewpoints

2 Key Roman Catholic word contexts: exploring the doctrinal field

3 Key Roman Catholic word contents: digging into specific terms

4 The Roman Catholic world: connecting its words, investigating its core

Conclusion

Appendix 1 Is the Reformation over? A statement of evangelical convictions

Appendix 2 Nine key people you should know to understand Vatican II

Appendix 3 Why evangelicals must engage with Roman Catholicism

Bibliography

Notes

Foreword

Fussy. Divisive. Quarrelsome. Those are the sort of words that come to mind when anyone flags up differences of belief these days. Most of us have grown so acclimatized to our post-truth culture that our minds have dulled to differentiation. And a simple appeal to ‘grace’ or ‘tolerance’ is usually enough to snap us out of any brief moments of discernment.

So, when it comes to the differences between Protestants and Roman Catholics, most Christians instinctively warm to Samuel Johnson when he said, ‘For my part, Sir, I think all Christians, whether Papists or Protestants, agree in the essential articles, and that their differences are trivial, and rather political than religious.’ The distinction between justification by faith (Rome’s position) and justification by faith alone (the Protestant view) is heard as the sort of pernickety squabble that could only interest pedants with a taste for prickliness.

With the courteous graciousness and keen insight he is known for, Leonardo De Chirico shows us here just how much we are missing. Laying out the underlying theological framework of Roman Catholicism, he shows how Rome can use words familiar to evangelicals (‘grace’, ‘faith’, ‘justification’ etc.), but intend quite different things by them. What becomes very clear is that Rome does not just add a few of its own sprinkles (Mary, purgatory and the pope) to an otherwise broadly agreed gospel. From bottom to top, it is a cake with a different (if similar-sounding) recipe and different (if similar-sounding) ingredients. With this book, then, Dr De Chirico switches on the lights to help us think rightly about Roman Catholicism and engage Roman Catholic friends with biblical grace and biblical clarity.

But this book actually does something more, something that makes it valuable for all evangelicals, whether or not they ever talk with Roman Catholics. It is this: just as Luther’s own debates with Rome clarified his theology, so this book helps evangelicals to think more clearly about the gospel and so helps us be more truly evangelical.

Take, for example, Dr De Chirico’s astute explanation of the vital word hapax (‘once for all’). Hapax or ephapax is a word used frequently in the New Testament of the work of Christ, especially in Hebrews as it contrasts the repeated (and so insufficient) sacrifices of the law with the single (and so sufficient) sacrifice of Christ. It is a word that takes us to the heart of what makes the good news good. Because Christ’s redemptive work is hapax and so entirely sufficient, the gospel is God’s kind work of rescue, not his offer of assistance. It is not a call for the strong and good to prove themselves, but for the weak and bad to prove the depths of the mercy of Christ. Redemption is accomplished by Christ alone, and needs no topping up from us. The pastoral implications for guilty, weary Christians are huge, for it is only when we have grasped the finality of what God has said and done in Christ that we can rest on Christ alone and not ourselves. Only then can we boast only in the cross. Only then can we know true liberation.

In other words, this book not only gives us wisdom: it takes us deep into the joy-giving world of the gospel. If you would go further up and further in, take and read.

Michael Reeves

President and Professor of Theology

Union School of Theology

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank my brother in Christ, friend and colleague Clay Kannard for reading the manuscript before publication. He not only provided corrections to the English text but also offered insights into how to improve the book.

I also wish to dedicate this work to my fellow elders in the Chiese Evangeliche Riformate Battiste in Italia (<www.cerbi.it>), the Evangelical Reformed Baptist Churches in Italy, the association of churches in which I too have the privilege of ministering. I admire the evangelical commitment of my co-workers in the ministry and the way they model attachment to the Word of God, love for the church and concern for the gospel cause. In a country that is somewhat used to the ‘same words’ of the gospel (given the still very influential Roman Catholic background) but has produced a religious culture that is a ‘different world’ from the gospel, the challenge to be faithful to the biblical message and to remain hopeful is massive. Yesterday, today and tomorrow the assurance is that the gospel ‘is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes’ (Rom. 1:16).

Abbreviations

AG – Ad Gentes (decree on the missionary activity of the church, Second Vatican Council, 1965)

CCC – Catechism of the Catholic Church (comprehensive exposition of Roman Catholic doctrine, 1992)

Denz. – Heinrich Denzinger and Adolf Schönmetzer (eds.), Enchiridion symbolorum definitionum et declarationum de rebus fidei et morum (Freiburg, Basel, Rome and Vienna: Herder, 1997) (standard Roman Catholic collection of magisterial texts)

DV – Dei Verbum (dogmatic constitution on divine revelation, Second Vatican Council, 1965)

ECT – Evangelicals and Catholics Together (US joint statement, 1994)

ECT – Evangelicals and Catholics Together (informal dialogue and initiative based in North America)

EG – Evangelii Gaudium (apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis, 2013)

GS – Gaudium et Spes (pastoral constitution on the church in the modern world, Second Vatican Council, 1965)

JDDJ – Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (Lutheran–Roman Catholic joint statement, 1999)

LG – Lumen Gentium (dogmatic constitution on the church, Second Vatican Council, 1964)

UR – Unitatis Redintegratio (decree on ecumenism, Second Vatican Council, 1964)

VD – Verbum Domini (apostolic exhortation by Pope Benedict XVI, 2010)

Introduction

It is often pointed out that evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics have a lot in common. On the one hand, there is an apparent ‘common orthodoxy’ rooted in the ancient trinitarian and Christological creeds, which use the same basic words of the gospel: ‘God’, ‘Jesus Christ’, ‘the Holy Spirit’, ‘the Bible’, ‘sin’, ‘faith’, ‘salvation’, ‘church’ and so on. The shared vocabulary is for some an indication that there is much commonality. On the other hand, nobody can deny the profound differences that separate evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics in their accounts of the doctrines of Christ, the church and salvation (i.e. the core of the gospel), as well as Mary, the intercession of the saints, purgatory, papal infallibility and the manifold practices that stem out of these. In many respects Roman Catholicism is really alien to the evangelical faith.

So, these faiths look somewhat similar, yet they are radically different. The question is: how can we meaningfully speak of the ‘same’ gospel if the two have core commitments that do not match? The problem lies with the way in which the same words are understood differently. They are the same phonetically – their pronunciations being equal – but in terms of theology they differ drastically. They have the same sounds, but they carry different meanings. The decisive issue is the frame of reference that binds them together.

As the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913) suggested concerning general linguistics, a distinction needs to be made between langue (language) and parole (word). Language is a signifying system that gives meaning to words. The latter are not free-floating items but receive their meaning in the context of the system in which they are used.