The Catholic Church proclaims a different gospel: it uses familiar phrases and biblical terminology, but with a different dictionary. It is not founded upon Scripture alone, but upon Scripture plus tradition and the magisterium. The Reformers fought, bled, burned, and died for this one word: alone. The Reformation was not about a preference for worship styles, candles, or opinions; it was about the fundamental truth of the Gospel.

The Reformation was a bloody war fought over doctrine and worship, but it was ultimately driven by a single, yet significant, word: ALONE.

In the recent week, a public scandal erupted on social media (this phrase could be stated every week). However, this scandal was not about a CEO of a giant tech company, but one that hits close to home in the world of reformed Presbyterians. In short, an ordained teaching elder publicly announced his move to the Roman Catholic Church during a church service at a Reformed Presbyterian church, where he then administered the Lord’s supper from a wooden table. Although the table was adorned, he still administered the service to members of the Reformed Presbyterian church. Much could be written about the applause he received, the officers involved, the vows possibly broken, and the origins of such a shift. But the deeper issue is not the personalities or the circumstances, but the gospel itself, and especially one word Rome cannot say: alone.

This article seeks to show why our confession teaches that some churches have so degenerated as to become no churches of Christ (WCF 25.5), and it explicitly denies that the pope can in any sense be head of the church (WCF 25.6). The Roman Catholic Church distorts, denies, and defends a different gospel because it strikes the word alone, the one that the reformation taught and defended from the pages of Scripture.

Two caveats need to be stated upfront. The first is that I am not saying there are no Christians in the Roman Catholic Church. This is one of the extreme arguments that is often used; find one example to justify a broader number. While hypotheticals can illustrate a point, they are not the best foundation for grounding principles. The statement could be true about multiple false religions. Can a person who grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness be a Christian before leaving their church? Yes, however, we also need to admit that they should be leaving the church; they need to forsake the egregious errors of the church. But we also need to recognize that this is unlikely, given all the indoctrination and teaching of the false doctrines. Calvin writes that there is still a remnant of God’s people in the Roman Catholic Church.[1] Charity compels us to acknowledge God’s remnant; truth compels us to reject Rome’s doctrine.

Secondly, the ninth commandment requires us to speak the truth, but also to give a “charitable esteem of our neighbours” (WLC 144). So, for the sake of this article, I will not examine the historical statements and errors of the church during the Reformation (although most have not changed), but rather the documents and statements that the Catholic Church uses today, mainly the Catholic Catechism.[2] Again, for the sake of brevity, I will not be unraveling the whole sweater, only bringing to you some threads, which I believe you will see why a person becomes a Roman Catholic is not merely a difference in worship style, but a fundamental difference in gospel substance and perverting the Gospel to a different ‘gospel’ altogether.[3]

Sola Scriptura

The founding principle of the Reformation was the foundational truth of Scripture alone. The reformers sought to reform the church according to what is taught in the Scriptures, and this is the sole authority for faith and practice. The Roman Catholic Church elevates tradition as the source of authority in the Church, “[T] he Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, ‘does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.’”[4] The elevation and conflation of the two is crucial as they express “The Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition.”[5] When the church uses the phrase Word of God, it does not mean Holy Scripture alone, but Scripture and Tradition.[6] The Roman Catholic Church also teaches the need for the Magisterium (Pope, Bishops, Councils, etc) to be able to authentically interpret both.[7]

The Westminster Confession begins by refuting this error of epistemology. Notice their flow of thought in the opening chapter, the necessity of Scripture (WCF 1.1), the books of Scripture (1.2), the rejection of the Apocrypha and tradition (1.3), the authority of Scripture (1.4), Self-Evidence of Scripture and Spirit’s Testimony (1.5). After these foundational statements then we get the teaching of Sola Scriptura, “The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit or traditions of men” (Emphasis added).

The Catholic Church still confesses and practices this flawed foundation, which then directs and guides faith and practice, leading many astray and proclaiming a perverted gospel which is no gospel at all. When Scripture ceases to be the sole authority of faith and practice, you are left to rely on the dictates of those who interpret it for you. Unlike the Reformed tradition, where differences may be stated and examined, Rome allows no scruples or exceptions to its Catechism because the Traditions and interpretation are understood to be revealed by God.

Sola Fide

The key in the reformation statements is not in the word faith, or others. The Catholic Church does not deny faith, grace, Scripture, Christ, or God’s glory; the error is that they dilute or elevate other portions that they cannot utter the word ‘alone.’ The reformation was clear: the ‘sola’ was the foundational portion of their arguments. Once you change the meaning or definition of the word, outside of Scripture, or you seek to add to the doctrine, you pervert and distort the Gospel. The Catholic Church does not deny faith, but they define faith differently from the Reformers. The Catholic Catechism defines it as, “Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself.”[8] We need to note that when they express “all that he has revealed to us,” they speak of Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium.[9] When understanding justification by faith, the Catholic Catechism states, “The gift of faith remains in one who has not sinned against it. But ‘faith apart from works is dead’: when it is deprived of hope and love, faith does not fully unite the believer to Christ and does not make him a living member of his Body.”[10] The teaching of the Catholic Catechism continues what was taught by the Council of Trent,[11] which states, “If any one shall say, that justifying faith is nought else but confidence in the divine mercy which remits sins for Christ’s sake; or that it is this confidence alone by which we are justified; let him be anathema.”[12] This leads to many problematic beliefs downstream, in which faith is tied to the church and not Christ.

The Westminster Confession clearly teaches that, “Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification” (WCF 11.1, emphasis added) unlike the Roman Catholic position, which states that faith, hope, and love unite the believer to Christ. The Reformed position is that faith alone unites the person to Christ, and with the union to Christ through the effectual working of the Spirit of God comes the benefits that flow from the effectual call. The Confession continues, “yet is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love.” Here we see the distinction that Faith alone justifies the Believer, but once regenerated, the work of the Spirit continues to work in the believer.

Sola Gracia

Once again, the Catholic Church does not deny grace; they define grace as “Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons.”[13] This definition is good as far as it goes, but it fails to explain how grace is applied and sustained.

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^[1] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, vol. 1 & 2 of The Library of Christian Classics (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 1053.

[2] https://usccb.cld.bz/Catechism-of-the-Catholic-Church

[3] For further resources I would encourage readers to read, R. C. Sproul, Are We Together? A Protestant Analyzes Roman Catholicism, 1st ed (Reformation Trust Pub, 2012); Guy Prentiss Waters et al., One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church: The Biblical Doctrine of the Church, We Believe (Lexham Academic, 2025); Leonardo De Chirico, Same Words, Different Worlds: Do Roman Catholics and Evangelicals Believe the Same Gospel? (Apollos : IVP, 2021); Jean Calvin and Casey Carmichael, The Necessity of Reforming the Church: With a Reply to Cardinal Sadoleto (Reformation Trust, a division of Ligonier Ministries, 2020).

[4] Catholic Catechism 82, page 26, emphasis added.

[5] Catholic Catechism, 85, page 27.

[6] The Catholic Catechism will often use the term Holy, Sacred or other Divine language prior to the word tradition.

[7] Catholic Catechism, 85, page 27.

[8] Catholic Catechism 1814, page 446.

[9] This is important when a person joins the Catholic Church either through RICA or OCIA, they affirm this statement, “I believe and profess all that the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches, and proclaims to be revealed by God.”

[10] Catholic Catechism 1815, page 446 (Emphasis Added)

[11] The Council of Trent is still confirmed as the teaching of the Church, and although Vatican II softened some of the language using ‘separated brethren’ instead of ‘anathema’ .The Vatican II clearly states, “Therefore, following in the footsteps of the Council of Trent and of the First Vatican Council, this present council wishes to set forth authentic doctrine on divine revelation and how it is handed on, so that by hearing the message of salvation the whole world may believe, by believing it may hope, and by hoping it may love.” Cf. https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html

^[12] Theodore Alois Buckley, The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent (London: George Routledge and Co., 1851), 44.

[13] Catholic Catechism 1996, page 483, (Emphasis original).