Are Catholic beliefs and practices biblical?

The most important question about any church’s beliefs and practices is: “Are they biblical?” The apostle Paul reflects this when he writes, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17). If a teaching is biblical, it should be embraced because it reflects what God has said. If it is not, it should be rejected.

This standard makes the Bible more important than church tradition, no matter how old a tradition is. For example, the Roman Catholic Church traces a line of succession back to Jesus and the apostles. Yet, according to Paul, the teaching of Jesus and the inspired writings of the New Testament carry more authority than any claimed line of church leadership.

Jesus warned against abandoning the Word of God to follow the traditions of men (Mark 7:7). It’s not that all church traditions are inherently wrong. In the right setting and for the right reason, traditions can be beneficial. However, the heart of the matter is whether a church’s beliefs or practices align with God’s Word. How then does the Catholic Church compare with the teachings of the Word of God?

Salvation and Good Works

The Catholic Church teaches that salvation is a gift of God’s grace through Jesus Christ, initiated through baptismal regeneration and sustained through the sacraments. However, salvation can be lost by mortal sin, which disrupts the state of sanctifying grace.

In contrast, the Bible teaches that sinners are saved by grace through faith. Paul explains this clearly in Ephesians 2:8–9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” He restates this point in a letter to Timothy: “He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace” (2 Timothy 1:9).

The Catholic Church also teaches that salvation cannot be guaranteed, whereas many Protestant denominations teach that believers can have assurance of salvation. Jesus’ words in John 10:27–28 are often cited by those who affirm assurance of salvation: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

Although good works aren’t the cause of salvation, they are an important result of it: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). Likewise, Paul writes to Titus that redemption comes before good deeds, not after, saying Jesus “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14). These good works may include practices related to the church, such as membership and tithing, but these deeds alone are insufficient for salvation.

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper

The Catholic Church practices infant baptism and teaches that, through it, a person is regenerated and receives new spiritual life. It also proclaims that baptism removes original sin. However, in the New Testament, people are baptized after they profess faith in Christ. For example, Acts 8:12 reads, “But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.”

Some Protestant traditions, such as Presbyterianism, also practice infant baptism but do not believe it removes original sin. Rather, they view the practice as a sign and seal of the New Covenant, comparable to circumcision in the Old Covenant, and emphasize that forgiveness of sin comes through faith in Jesus Christ, as God’s Word clearly teaches (John 1:29; Acts 4:12).

The Catholic Church teaches that a believer is infused with grace upon reception of the bread and cup at the Lord’s Supper. Although Protestant traditions have different views of the elements, they generally agree that the Catholic Church’s teaching on the subject is not biblical. This is because the New Testament consistently teaches that grace is received through faith in Christ. For example, Romans 5:1 states, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Prayer and Confession

The Catholic Church teaches a distinction between clergy and lay people, whereas the New Testament teaches the priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:9). Based on this distinction, it instructs members to seek the intercession of deceased Christians, asking them to pray on their behalf. However, Scripture teaches believers to pray directly to God. For example, Jesus instructs his followers, “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven…’” (Matthew 6:9; cf. Luke 18:1–7).

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that, unless a believer is unable to do so, the only way to receive forgiveness of sins is to confess them to a priest. On the contrary, Scripture teaches that confession of sins is to be made to God, as 1 John 1:9 reads, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

Mary

The Catholic Church’s teaching on Mary consistently differs from what the Bible says about her. The New Testament portrays Mary as a humble, obedient, faithful woman. Rather than adding to her legacy, the Catholic Church detracts from it by assigning her attributes that the Bible does not. Mary’s faith and character do not need embellishment. She is honorable as she is.

The Catholic Church’s teaching that Mary directly participates in salvation—beyond serving as the earthly mother of Jesus—exaggerates her role in a harmful way. The clearest response to the Church’s ideas about Mary’s role in salvation comes from her own words, as she calls Jesus her Savior, not herself (Luke 1:47). Likewise, Acts 4:12 declares that Jesus is the only redeemer, and 1 Timothy 2:5 says that he is the only mediator between God and men.

In the end, the Catholic Church has a storied history, and the acts of service its members have done in the world are too numerous to count. Yet it makes a serious mistake when it elevates beliefs and practices created by church leaders to the same level as, or even above, those taught in the Bible. In these cases, the Church makes the error that Isaiah warned about when he wrote, “The Lord says: ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught’” (Isaiah 29:13).