Catholic-Protestant Differences (Part 3)

by on October 22, 2025 | Comment

6. Purgatory

Catholicism teaches that there is a season of purification after death that prepares one for the full benefits of heavenly life: “The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines purgatory as a ‘purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven,’ which is experienced by those ‘who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified’ (CCC 1030). It notes that ‘this final purification of the elect . . . is entirely different from the punishment of the damned’” (Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC] 1031 as cited in Catholic Answers [CA]).” Protestants deny that there is such a season after death: “The communion in glory with Christ, which the members of the invisible church enjoy immediately after death, is, in that their souls are then made perfect in holiness, and received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies” (Westminster Larger Catechism 86; emphasis added). For Protestants, death itself purges us from the remains of indwelling sin, and no further cleansing is either possible or necessary. Protestants are primarily informed by Paul’s statement to the Philippians: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account” (Phil 1:21–24; also see 2 Cor 5:8).

7. Use of Images in Public Worship1

Unfortunately, one of the most unavoidable differences between Catholicism and Protestantism regards the religious use of images. At the Twenty-Fifth Session of the Council of Trent, the Council affirmed:

Great profit is derived from all sacred images, not only because the people are thereby admonished of the benefits and gifts bestowed upon them by Christ, but also because the miracles which God has performed by means of the saints, and their salutary examples, are set before the eyes of the faithful. . . . But if any one shall teach, or entertain sentiments, contrary to these decrees; let him be anathema.

Trent not only approved the religious use of images but it anathematized those who do not use them (which would include many, if not most, Protestants).

Protestants, on the other hand, observe that the first thing prohibited in the decalogue was the making or using of images, that those who made them were regarded by God as “them that hate me,” and that—only here in the decalogue—God would visit “the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation” of those who violated the command.

8. Justification by Faith Alone

Protestants and Catholics agree that we are justified by faith in Christ; they disagree about whether faith alone is the instrument of our justification, or whether faith and works together are the instruments of our justification. Trent’s Canon XI says:

If any one saith, that men are justified, either by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ, or by the sole remission of sins, to the exclusion of the grace and the charity which is poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, and is inherent in them; or even that the grace, whereby we are justified, is only the favour of God; let him be anathema. (emphasis added)

Westminster, by contrast, affirmed “Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification: yet is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love” (Westminster Confession of Faith [WCF] 11.2; emphasis added).

9. Infallible Magisterium

Protestants and Catholics both believe in an instructional role for the church and urge their ministers and teachers to devote themselves fervently to their task. Catholicism goes further, however, and argues that, under special circumstances, the teachers of the church do so infallibly: “Infallibility, (in general) exemption or immunity from liability to error or failure; (in particular) in theological usage, the supernatural prerogative by which the Church of Christ is, by a special Divine assistance, preserved from liability to error in her definitive dogmatic teaching regarding matters of faith and morals” (CA). Protestants expressly deny the infallibility of any church, including their own: “The purest churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error; and some have so degenerated, as to become no churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan. Nevertheless, there shall be always a church on earth, to worship God according to his will” (WCF 25.5; emphasis added).

10. Tradition Equal to Scripture

Catholicism affirms that God’s Word resides in two sources, tradition and Scripture: “Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God in which, as in a mirror, the pilgrim Church contemplates God, the source of all her riches” (CCC 97). While Protestants appreciate and learn from church traditions, they do not regard tradition as an equal expression of the Word of God with Scripture: “The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men” (WCF 1.6; emphasis added).

11. Infrequent Communion

Communion was observed only once annually before the Reformation, and only in one kind (bread but not wine); now Catholics practice frequent communion. Some Protestants practice infrequent communion; others (notably Anglican and Lutheran) practice weekly communion, as did the PCA church I pastored for nine years.

12. Ex Opere Operato Efficacy of the Sacraments

Catholicism affirms that the sacraments, administered in the Roman Catholic church, are effectual in conferring grace, by the very act of the church administering them: “If any one saith, that by the said sacraments of the New Law grace is not conferred through the act performed (ex opere operato non conferri gratiam), but that faith alone in the divine promise suffices for the obtaining of grace; let him be anathema” (CANON VIII). While Protestants agree that the “ordinary” means of divine grace are prayer, the Word, and the Sacraments (all properly administered), they do not believe that they always, merely by their being done, convey the grace therein signified. “The grace which is exhibited in or by the sacraments rightly used, is not conferred by any power in them; neither doth the efficacy of a sacrament depend upon the piety or intention of him that doth administer it: but upon the work of the Spirit, and the word of institution” (WCF 27.3; emphasis added).

13. Latin Mass

Until 1963, the Catholic Mass was only observed in its Latin form. At Vatican II, this was changed, and since then it has been permissible to observe the Mass in the vernacular languages.

Conclusion

Readers will observe that the above comments are profoundly brief; books—indeed multiple books—have been written about each of these matters, and I do not suggest that I have offered, or even attempted to offer, a definitive statement about any of them, or any defense of the Protestant position. I merely iterate (with Dr. Alan Shreck) that the decision to convert (in either direction) is profoundly complex, consisting of at least thirteen significant differences. Any decision to convert (in either direction) without giving significant consideration to these thirteen matters is a decision not to use the mind religiously, and to make religious decisions on other grounds (social, sociological, professional, aesthetic, et al.).

Note

  1. Greek Orthodoxy uses icons, but not images, and they use the language of “writing” an icon, not “drawing” or “painting” one. The Lutheran tradition was a “less-thorough-going” brand of Protestantism, and Lutherans do not always object to the religious use of images. The Reformed tradition, somewhat more-thorough-going, does not use images.

©T. David Gordon. All Rights Reserved.

You can find this whole series here.

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  • T. David Gordon
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    Dr. T. David Gordon is a teaching elder in The Presbytery of the Ascension. Before retirement, he taught at Gordon-Conwell Seminary (1984–98) and Grove City College (1999–2021).

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