There is so much that Catholics and Protestants share in common. They share a common belief in the Trinity. They believe that the Bible is the Word of God. They believe that Jesus is the Saviour of the world. In fact, the similarities are so many, that today many people don’t understand what the essential differences are. One of those is related to how they understand the solution to sin. Both Catholics and Protestants see Jesus as central to forgiveness and salvation. They differ, though, in their understanding of what we can contribute to our salvation and forgiveness. Does Jesus pay the bill, or does He ask us to split it with Him?

Can I purchase forgiveness for my sins?

If you ask the average person today what caused the split between the Catholic Church and what became the Protestant Church, if they don’t shrug and give you a blank look, they’re likely to say that they think it was about indulgences. If you’re one of the people who might have shrugged, indulgences are grants that can be purchased from the church to lessen the penalty of sin. In the Middle Ages, many believed that the sale of them was out of control. Today, the sale of indulgences is much less common, but it is still “part of the Church’s infallible teaching” according to Catholic.com and taught in the Catholic Catechism (#1471). It says, for instance, that “An indulgence … removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin. Indulgences may be applied to the living or the dead.”

Protestants have objected that forgiveness isn’t something that we can purchase or that the church can rightly sell. They appeal to verses like Ephesians 2:8-9 which says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Salvation is a gift from God and there isn’t anything that we can do to earn it. This seems to contradict another Catholic teaching, though.

Can I earn forgiveness for my sins?

The teaching of penance suggests that the moral and religious things that we do bring about forgiveness. It’s not that we can earn salvation through penance instead of Jesus, but alongside Him. The Catholic Catechism (#1437) says, “Reading Sacred Scripture, praying … every sincere act of worship or devotion revives the spirit of conversion and repentance within us and contributes to the forgiveness of our sins.”

Protestants and Catholics both believe that reading Scripture, praying, and other acts of worship and devotion are all good things. While Catholics believe these contribute to the forgiveness of sins, Protestants don’t. They believe that salvation is a gift, not something we achieve. As it says in Romans 4:4-5: “Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.”

Can I bear some of the punishment for my sins?

Catholics and Protestants both believe that Jesus died for their sins on the cross. The question is whether it was enough. Catholicism distinguishes between the eternal and temporal punishment for sin. That’s where the teaching of Purgatory comes in. It teaches that “every sin …. must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what is called the "temporal punishment" of sin” (Catholic Catechism #1472).

Protestants teach that Jesus bore all of the Father’s punishment for sins through His death. That’s why Jesus was able to promise the thief on the cross, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). If people have to purify themselves of their sins, surely a convicted criminal would need more purification than most. And yet Jesus promised that he would be together with Him that very day.

The essential difference between the Catholic and Protestant teaching on sin is whether salvation is of grace alone or something that we can contribute to in some way. Does Jesus pay the bill, or does He ask us to split it with Him?

In awe of Him,

Paul