Catholic Verses - 95 Bibles Passages That Confound Protestants?
GOD'S FELLOW WORKERS?
Pages 70-71: 1 Corinthians 3:8-9: "He who plants and he who waters are equal, and each shall receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building." 1 Corinthians 15:10: "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me." 2 Corinthians 6:1: "Working together with him, then, we entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain." 2 Peter 1:10: "Therefore, brethren, be the more zealous to confirm your call and election, for if you do this you will never fail." These verses have to do with the controversy among Christians concerning human free will, and whether the belief in co-operation with God, entirely enabled by his grace, amounts to works-salvation. Catholics accept this cooperation, as explicitly described in Holy Scripture. Protestants (particularly Calvinists) deny that this kind of cooperation takes place or that it has anything whatsoever to do with salvation.
Note: The author believes that his salvation is established through rituals and his works.
1 Corinthians 15:11 Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
Note: Christian salvation happens at a point in time when in faith you place your sincere belief in Jesus Christ. The word "believed" is in the past tense.
Page 71: Louis Bouyer, a convert to Catholicism from Lutheranism, a prominent liturgist, and the author of many books, explains how Catholics view the Pauline notion of God's fellow workers: The profound assertion of the total causality of grace in salvation requires that both the good works following on grace, and the faith which receives it, are its product ... The assertion that, in salvation, all is the work of grace ... is precisely what is affirmed by the genuine Catholic tradition ...
Note: Catholic apologists confuse works with salvation instead of rewards later in heaven.
1 Corinthians 3:9-15 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
Note: Catholic apologists are laying a foundation for salvation apart from Jesus Christ through their works.
Pages 71-72: (St. Paul) himself tells us to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling," at the very moment when he affirms that "knowing that it is God who works in you both to will and to accomplish ..." (G) race is not opposed to human acts and endeavor in order to attain salvation, but arouses them and exacts their performance ... (I)n one sense God does all, and in another man must do all, for he has to make everything his own; but he cannot - he can do absolutely nothing valid for salvation, except in complete dependence on grace (Bouyer, 52-53, 143, 157).
Note: Your salvation will be confirmed to others as God works through you.
Ephesians 1:13-14 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
Note: Christian salvation happens at a point in time. The words "trusted" and "believed" are in the past tense.