Catholic Christian Doctrine

Kim Romer R. Guadalquiver

AB-Philo 1 SVPCS

SALVATION OUTSIDE THE CHURCH

During the third century, Christian Bishop St. Cyprian of Carthage quoted in one of
his writings the Latin phrase, “extra Ecclesiam nulla Salus” or “outside the Church, there is
no salvation.” According to Christian writings, this phrase is frequently used as validation for
the doctrine that the Church founded by Christ is necessary to attain salvation. The Catechism
of the Catholic Church paragraph 846 to 848 offered a profound positive meaning and
understanding of the affirmation of this statement. The CCC declares in positive terms, that
“all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body”, and it “is
not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church”.
At the same time, it adds that “although in ways known to himself God can lead those who,
through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel to that faith without which it is
impossible to please him...” On the other hand, Lumen Gentium no. 16 of the Vatican II tells
us that even though many people are not in the true Church and didn’t have a chance to meet
Christ, the Gospel, and the Church, they still can attain salvation through sincerely seeking
God and being moved by His grace. Through striving in doing good deeds, following the
dictates of their conscience, living a moral life, and being faithful to the beliefs and principles
of the religion they grew within, people outside the Church can be saved through God’s
grace.
People outside the Church or from other religions are indeed worthy recipients of
God’s natural tendency of bestowing salvation because it is not their fault that they are
ignorant about God’s revelation of salvation through Jesus Christ. I strongly believe and
agree that those people who, without blame on their part, did not have a chance to meet the
true Church, the Good News and Jesus Christ, will not be automatically condemned to eternal
damnation for God will never commit such injustice and unmerciful act, as the Holy
Scriptures confirms to us that God is a merciful, compassionate and just God.
For me, the context of Lumen Gentium regarding salvation outside the Church serves
as an eye-opener for us who belong to the Church founded by Christ. It conveys to us that
even though we belong to the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church we must not put
into our hands the mercy of God and judge people regarding where their souls will end up in
the life after death, with the basis only of their deeds and diverse beliefs. As human as we are,
we cannot grasp and comprehend God and his mercy, and so there is no sense in concluding
that people of other religions or nonbelievers are not worthy of salvation. We must not also
make salvation exclusive only for us Catholic Christians, as other Christian sects claim. We
do not have the authority to conclude that outside our Church there can be no salvation,
because, for me, it is not our duty to condemn and criticize people of other religions and
beliefs, even those who committed grieve sins and the nonbelievers. It is all up to the mercy
and compassion of God, and not in our judgment. But the Church, through us, must still
persevere in its Christian mission in guiding souls towards Christ, in proclaiming the Good
News of Salvation, in evangelization and sacramentalization of the people who did not yet
encounter Christ. In other words, our duty as members of the true Church is to help and lead
the people to salvation and not condemn and discourage the people whom we do not share the
same faith with.
Animistic indigenous people that did not yet reach by Christian missions, atheists and
agnostics that seek truths and long for someone who is supernatural and powerful beyond
them are also worthy of salvation, as the CCC declares to us that “the desire for God is
written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never
ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never
stops searching for.” In the light of this statement, those animistic indigenous people, atheists,
and agnostics who are seeking and longing for truths in their lives can certainly attain
salvation for I believe that, if Christ is truly the goodness and the truth of God, we can say
then that those who seek the truth and respond with goodness must be somehow experiencing
Christ, and by this, they are also recipients of God’s salvation for humanity through his Son.
Moreover, those people who are not fortunate enough to be enlightened and evangelized by
the Christian faith are also, in God’s mysterious ways, worthy of salvation for we know that
they are being moved by God through his grace in the means of their rituals, practices, and
cultures for God is the one working in them.
Therefore, whatever religions and beliefs we are believing in, whether we are in the
Catholic Church or outside of it, we are always subject to salvation, for God wants us all to
be saved and to go back to him, but in order to attain that “salvation” we are looking forward,
we must entrust our lives and fate in God’s merciful hands and also do our part through
following God’s will for us. And by following God’s will, we must all live moral and
virtuous lives by doing great deeds, following the commands of our conscience, and being
faithful to our faith, especially in the Catholic Faith, because there is no sense of being in the
true Church if our purpose in life is not going back towards God. All of us are worthy of
salvation, for Christ’s death and resurrection did not only redeem particular people or
religions but the redemption and salvation made by God through Christ is for all of us, for we
are all people of God.