No Salvation Outside the Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church is a false religion and a false church. One teaching of the Roman Catholic Church is that there is no salvation outside of the Catholic Church. They teach extra ecclesiam nulla salus, which translates as outside the church there is no salvation.

But what does the Bible actually teach? In Acts chapter 16 you have Paul and Silas speaking to the Philippian jailer. He says: "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they said — join the Catholic Church? Join the true church? No. They said: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

What that shows you is that salvation is by believing. That means someone could not even be part of a church and still go to heaven. In fact, there are many people in this world that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and are not part of a good church — not part of any church. But since they believe, that is salvation, because salvation is found in the person of Jesus Christ and your belief on him — not in some church or organisation.

The Bible says: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." It is a gift found in the person of Jesus Christ, and we believe on the Lord for our salvation.

So when the Roman Catholic Church says there is no salvation outside of their church, what that is actually showing is that the Roman Catholic Church does not understand what the Bible teaches about salvation. Salvation is not found in a church — it is found in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is exactly why the Roman Catholic Church is a false religion and a false church.

Pastor Matthew Stucky