Since the Church of Antichrist claims to be the true promoter of good works (Cardinal Gibbons: "The Catholic Church is a society for the sanctification of its members") and condemns the Church of the Reformation as one which, stressing unduly the doctrine of justification, habitually neglects sanctification, it is necessary to point out that the Church of Rome is not a promoter, but rather a perverter of the doctrine of good works.
The charge that Luther disparaged good works was made already in the early stages of the Reformation (Edict of Worms, 1521: "Luther teaches an unbound, self-willed life, which excludes all divine laws and is altogether bestial"). This unjust and untrue accusation is continued to this day despite the fact that both by word and deed it has been proved a malicious lie. As a matter of fact, just because Luther taught the true doctrine of justification, he taught also the true doctrine of sanctification, that is to say, he vigorously and ceaselessly insisted upon good works as fruits and proofs of the living faith of the true believers.
On the other hand, the Papacy, so far as it lies in its power, renders the performance of Christian good works impossible because it anathematizes the basic article of the Christian faith, the doctrine of justification by grace, from which all truly good works flow. True Christian good works are the fruits of justification by faith; hence wherever this doctrine is abolished and anathematized, good works in the sense of Christ and the Bible are out of the question. The Roman Catholic Church indeed insists upon works, but these are not "good," but pagan works, since they are done for the purpose of earning salvation, Gal. 3, 10; 5, 4. Whenever Christian good works do occur in the Church of Antichrist, it is only because individual believers reject for their part the pagan doctrine of work-righteousness taught them by their priests and believe in the gracious forgiveness of their sins for Christ's sake without the deeds of the Law, Rom. 3, 28. This faith puts them in a position where they can perform truly good works.
We condemn the "good works" of Romanism particularly for two reasons. In the first place, they involve a malicious denial and rejection of the sufficiency of Christ's redemptive work, being done to merit righteousness before God (meritum de congruo, meritum de condigno). But good works done for this purpose insult and mock God, who in His Word offers to all sinners through faith the entire, perfect righteousness which His beloved Son has secured for the world by His vicarious satisfaction (satisfactio vicaria). This is the clear doctrine of Scripture; for St. Paul writes emphatically: "If righteousness comes by the Law, then Christ is dead in vain," Gal. 2, 21. The "good works" of the papists are therefore "under the curse," Gal. 3, 10. When Cardinal Gibbons (The Faith of Our Fathers, p. 35) describes the Catholic Church as "a society for the SANCTIFICATION of its members," he attests officially that it is in principle an antichristian and pagan sect, which like all heathen cults bases salvation upon good works.
Luther is right in saying St. L., IX, 443: "The works which are done outside of faith, no matter how holy they may appear according to their external aspect, are sinful and under the curse. For this reason those who desire to earn grace, righteousness, and eternal life by them do not only fall short of these blessings, but also heap sin upon sin. In this way the Pope, the man of sin and the son of perdition, does good works and all who follow him. In this manner also all self-righteous persons and heretics, who have fallen from the Christian faith, do their works."
That the entire process of sanctification in the Roman Catholic Church proceeds along unscriptural and antichristian lines is proved by the fact that this Church has perverted and condemned Christ's Gospel (Council of Trent, Sess. VI, Cans. 11. 12. 20) and persecuted its adherents (Luther was officially called "the evil foe in the form of a man," "a wild, voracious boar," "a most rapacious beast," "whose memory ought to be blotted out of the communion of Christ's believers"), contrary to the express exhortation of Christ, Luke 10, 16; John 13, 20; Phil. 2, 29. The "good works" of the Papacy must therefore be condemned as a sanctimonious fraud, which Antichrist perpetrates for the purpose of deceiving the simple (2 Thess. 2, 9: "lying wonders").
In the second place, we repudiate the good works of the Roman Catholic Church because they are not done according to the norm of the divine Law; in other words, they are not done in the sense that God has commanded them. On the contrary, they are the products of "commandments of men" and thus fall under the condemnation of our Lord: "In vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men," Matt. 15, 9. Papistic sanctification is not Christian sanctification at all, but only a caricature of that true sanctification which God demands of His children as the fruit of faith.
According to Scripture the regenerate, justified by faith, serve God cheerfully and gratefully in every calling in which He has called them, either in the Church or without, Rom. 15, 16; 1 Cor. 7, 20
Ordinary Catholic Christians are taught to earn salvation as much as lies in their power by means of the "second board" (tabula secunda)~ that is, through penance (poenitentia), which formally consists in doing the "good works" of contritio cordis, confessioris, and satisfactio operis. The preferred class of papistic "goodworkers" (monks, nuns, etc.), in addition to poenitentia, cultivate the consilia evangelica, by which they are able to earn not only sufficient, but even superabundant merits (opera supererogationis), which, upon payment of a certain price, the Pope administers to the "poor souls" in purgatory. (Council of Trent, Sess. VI, Can. 30.) The wickedness of the papistic teaching is apparent to every Christian believer who has tasted the sweetness of the Gospel and knows the Biblical doctrine of justification by faith. As papistic justification (by way of sanctification) is diametrically opposed to Biblical justification, so also papistic sanctification is diametrically opposed to Biblical sanctification; it is a sanctification of the flesh, or the carnal heart, not that of the Spirit, Gal. 3, 1-3.
The pernicious doctrine of work-righteousness as presented by the Roman Catholic Church culminates in the perversions of the Jesuits, by which manifest transgressions even cease to be sins and become eminently good works if they are commanded by the superiors of the order.
The Index Generalis declares expressly: "The superiors may obligate members to sin by virtue of the obedience (which is due them), provided this will confer great benefits." "Superiores possunt obligare ad peccatum in virtute obedientiae, quando id multum conveniat." (Cp. Index Generalis, Vol. II, rub Obedientiae et Obedire; also, Christl. Dogmatic, III, p. 80 ff.) This blasphemous disavowal of God's Word and tyrannizing of consciences is but the inevitable result of the papal rejection of God's Word as the only source of faith (principium cognoscendi) and its frightful enslaving of consciences in general as this is practised throughout the Church of Antichrist (cp. the demand of sacrificium intellectm et voluntatis).
The Pope demands implicit obedience of all members of his Church, both in articles of faith and in matters of life, so that every Catholic sins mortally who rests his decisions on doctrine or life upon his own conscience or Holy Scripture. (Cp. Council of Trent, Seas. IV; Luther, St. L., XIX, 341 ff.; IX, 1235 ff.
Holy Scripture demands that every thought (πᾶν νόημα) be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 2 Cor. 10, 5; but the Pope demands that every thought of his deluded followers be brought into captivity to the obedience of his own perverted mind. It was in view of these abhorrent perversions that Luther called the Papacy a confluxus of all heresies and affirmed that the Papacy at Rome was founded by the devil.
It is true, all heretics teach ungodly doctrines; but the Pope not only adorns his ungodly doctrines with the name of Christ and the Christian Church, but also claims to be Christ's vicar upon earth and as such the infallible teacher of divine truth. Just that is the chief characteristic of Antichrist. To be a real papist means to believe ungodly doctrine and to do evil works contrary to God's Word, for salvation's sake.
As the Church of Rome, so also modern rationalistic Protestantism perverts the doctrine of good works. While the Church of Antichrist is swayed by the pernicious error of Semi-Pelagianism, rationalistic Protestantism corrupts itself by the equally pernicious errors of Arminianism and synergism. The result is the same in both cases.
As Romanism rejects the doctrine of justification, which is the necessary postulate of good works, so also rationalistic Protestantism, in both Lutheran and Reformed circles, rejects this central doctrine of Scripture. Since the forensic conception of justification, as taught by Luther and the Lutheran Confessions, is regarded as too "juridical" and not sufficiently "ethical," it is consigned to the scrap-heap of theological oblivion, and the sinner is taught to cooperate in his conversion and thus to rely on his good works for salvation. As a result also modern rationalistic Protestantism teaches justification by way of sanctification, or salvation by good works. The old Melanchthonian (Majoristic) claim that "good works are necessary for salvation" is thus revived as a dogma of the Church. Thus work-righteousness lands modern Protestantism in the camp of Semi-Pelagian Romanism, and both are enemies of the Gospel of Christ.