On March 14, 2013, Dr. John Piper wrote this ‘clarification’ has only brought further confusion.

Dr. James White responded to Dr. Piper on the Dividing Line program today and I have transcribed part of his response below:

“I do not believe that the Bishop of Rome is a teacher of the Church. That’s not my Church. I do not recognize the Bishop of Rome as a valid Christian leader in any way, shape or form. I cannot recognize anyone who is called ‘Holy Father,’ ‘the Vicar of Christ,’ and an ‘alter Christus’ as a teacher in the Christian Church. So why is John Piper saying he is? That I don’t get.

But the real thing that bothers me here is that it seems that Dr. Piper, along with many others, don’t see the consistency of Roman Catholic teaching and think you can somehow separate out Rome’s doctrine of justification and put it on a plate over here, separate from all the rest of ‘that stuff’ and analyze it in that way and say ‘well, you know….” Now if all he is saying is ‘there are Christians within Roman Catholicism,” I’ve said that for years. But they are what they are not because of Rome but in spite of Rome – they’re the simple people who have put their faith fully in Jesus Christ and they don’t know the rest of this gobbledygook and they think they’re just following Him. I don’t think there are many of them but God’s grace is big. But they are what they are in spite of Rome’s gospel. Rome’s gospel cannot save; it cannot give peace; it is not the Gospel; it is under the anathema of Galatians Chapter 1, and I think a lot of folks just don’t recognize what Rome itself teaches on this. Rome itself teaches that the sacrifice of the mass is propitiatory, and that it is the central aspect of the Roman faith and the worship of God.

If you try to construct a doctrine of justification in Roman Catholicism without recognizing that it takes its form and shape first and foremost within the sacramental system of Rome and with the queen of the sacraments being the doctrine of the mass, the eucharistic sacrifice, then you do not understand Roman Catholic theology and you have not read enough of it. And I think a lot of my dear brothers in the Lord just haven’t listened to enough of what Roman Catholics say to Roman Catholics.

.. and so here’s the problem…

Dr. Piper writes an entire book against N. T. Wright – well N. T. Wright is a whole lot more closer than Rome is. He is not talking about a propitiatory sacrifice in the mass through the transubstantiation. The whole basis of Rome’s concept of justification is completely different – and they are all intertwined – they cannot be separated from one another.

So, the question is not ‘does any one of us have a comprehensive or perfect grasp of the Gospel?’ The question is not ‘can someone be saved with a partial knowledge or grasp of the gospel?’ The question is ‘can you be saved by a false gospel – that which was specifically designed, framed and promulgated as a response to and denial of the true gospel?’

Could you be saved by the Judaizer’s gospel? … and that’s why I read Galatians 5 first… because there would be a lot of people who would say, ‘well, yeah, sure…’

No, Paul said ‘Christ will be of no benefit to you,’ and I say to the Roman Catholic who understands what Rome teaches, understands the propitiatory nature of the sacrifice of the mass, ‘Christ will be of no benefit to you. You have fallen from grace. You have been severed from Christ.'”

Dr. James White: Transcript excerpt from the Dividing Line broadcast, 3/19/2013, found here.