How do you respond to someone who uses Romans 10:9 to say we are saved by
“faith alone”?
By Steve O'Keefe, CAA Apologist

The verse you mentioned reads: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” [Romans 10:9]. This passage is used to assert that all one needs to do to be saved is perform a single profession of faith at some point in your life. Thus there is no need for Baptism, the Eucharist, or even a real turning away from sin.

Here is the key question to ask your friend: Was Paul really meaning to lay out a complete doctrine of salvation in that one verse? Are there no other verses necessary for gaining a bigger picture? You might begin by pointing him to Matthew 7:21-23, in which Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” That passage clearly indicates there is more to salvation than a mere profession of faith. Jesus not only wants us to have faith, but to be faithful.

So what was Paul doing in Romans 10:9? The whole letter was meant to address tensions between Jewish and Gentile converts to Christianity. There were some Jews who held the Gentiles in contempt and thought they must become Jews prior to being Christians. Paul’s letter was meant to explain to both audiences the purpose of God’s election of Israel, the role of the Mosaic Law, and how it interacts with the New Covenant. Paul is talking about the universality of the Gospel in Romans 10:9, not laying out an all-encompassing doctrine of salvation. He is saying salvation is for ALL those willing to profess Jesus as the savior,
not just one group. This becomes clear just a few verses later, when Paul concludes, “Thus there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.”

My evangelical friend says that the Sacraments cannot impart saving grace because they are works. How are the Sacraments not works?
 by Steve O'Keefe, CAA Apologist

The Baltimore Catechism defines a sacrament as an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace. Because they are outward signs, sacraments necessarily involve people physically doing things in the world. This is difficult for your Evangelical friend to understand because in his culture, anything a person does is classified as a “work.” And since Saint Paul said in his letter to the Galatians that we are not saved by “works”, that means there can be no place for sacraments in the economy of salvation.

The first thing I would point out is what happens if one defines a “work” as broadly as your friend does. If a “work” really is anything a person does, that would include mental works such as believing and repenting. Both of those might take place inside a person’s mind, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that they are things people actively do.

Thus, even believing and repenting would be “works.” So are we really to say that believing and repenting aren’t part of salvation? Then I would call your friend’s attention to two miracles. The first, found in John 9, is the healing of the man born blind. The second is in Matthew 9, the woman cured of her hemorrhage. In the first instance, we see Jesus using material (mud) to perform a healing miracle. In the second instance, we see Christ’s power flowing through a physical object (His cloak) to perform another healing. I would ask, “Do these miracles still count as grace, despite being worked through matter and visible actions?” The obvious answer is “yes.” These two miracles show us how God can choose to deliver gifts to us through physical conduits. And He continues to do this through the sacraments.