As for faith alone, The Catholic Church can indeed agree with this so long as the type of faith we are speaking of his the type that Paul uses in Galatians. When he says that we are saved by faith apart from works so no man may boast. and we are not speaking of faith as it is used by James when he says faith alone apart from works is dead.
The Catholic Church tends to shy away from the term faith alone because she feels it's unwise to use it without further explanation. The fact is that the only time the words faith and alone appeared together in Scripture is in the Book of James where he says "faith alone apart from works is dead" (James 2:17) and even Paul says in Corinthians "... if I have faith that can move mountains, but not love I am nothing." (1 Cor 13:2) and also says "now these three things remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love". (1 Cor 13:13) You see Paul himself uses faith in different ways depending on the context.
As for Sola Scriptura this is the one that the Catholic Church tends to reject outright. But before I get into why she rejects Sola Scriptura first allow me to confirm some of the things that she does believe about Scripture. The Catholic Church believes the Bible is the inerrant word of God. And that it is completely binding on the Christian. This so far I think we can all agree on. But as for it being the only source of authority binding on the Christian, the bible itself does not teach that. I think it is one of the great ironies that Scripture Alone is not taught in Scripture.
The Catholic Church on the other hand teaches a triune source of authority with each of the three being equal to the others. The Holy Scriptures, Sacred Tradition and the Church.The analogy of a three sided stool is often used, take away one of the legs and the stool becomes unstable. Now Dr. MacArthur's states that the Catholic Church puts the Church above Scripture. But the Church yourself does not see it this way both the Scriptures and the Church herself are infallible sources of authority and one infallible source of authority cannot be placed above another. However I would say because of the fact that Holy Scripture still needs to be interpreted and Holy Tradition still needs to be passed on, that it is the Church herself which is the pillar and foundation of truth. I believe this also to be the biblical model.
Jim I hope none of this comes off as being argumentative, I really do not intend it to be that way. I just hope that through our discussion we can foster a greater understanding of each other's position.
- Kyle
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