In ‘Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma’ written by Ludwig Ott and translated by Patrick Lynch, it states that, ‘Faith, as it is not the effective cause of justification …. need not be present. The faith which infants lack is … replaced by the faith of the Church’. This statement is contrary to the clear teaching of the Bible that states Justification is by Faith alone.
‘Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ (Romans 5:1).
The cry of the reformers in the 16thcentury ‘justification by faith alone, in Christ alone’, was a proclamation of the heart of the gospel message. The ground of evangelical preaching must be with an emphasise that a right standing in God’s sight depends on faith alone, not on faith plus works, because if we think we can do anything to earn God’s favour then we are saying the work of Christ was not alone sufficient to deal with my sin. The concept of baptismal regeneration must be rejected.