More people on earth today ascribe to some form of Christian faith than any other religious belief. This even today in a world that is increasingly turning its back, especially in the West, away from God. And if we look historically, the predominant faith for the last 2,000 years has been Christianity. More people ascribe to some form of Christianity than anything else—and yet Jesus tells us that the gate is narrow; few will enter.

So we are faced with two options. Either Christ is wrong, which of course he is not because he is divine and he is perfect; or that faith, that belief system that many people are ascribing to, will not save them. There is something about this Christian faith that many people believe is the Christian faith, that does not bring them to salvation.

There is in Protestantism a fundamental error about the nature of salvation, a fundamental error which we must each address. However many times we’ve heard it from a pulpit, however many times we’ve read it in a Protestant paperback, however many times this has been reinforced in our thinking, the Protestant belief about salvation is a heresy. It will not save us. It is vital that we address this issue, because the main error of salvation is everything to us. If we have no salvation, then we live with a futile faith.

Of course, the Church has always taught—always—that the work of Christ in his incarnation—his death, his resurrection, his ascension, his taking our very humanity to the the throne of God—his work is complete; it is fulfilled. He died as a ransom to sin and death—not to the devil. God did not have to pay a ransom to the devil to release us. What kind of God would this be, who is bound by a creature? The perfect God who is omnipotent, who can do anything—what kind of God is this that we would believe that he has to pay off the devil with the blood of his own Son?

Christ came to overcome the impact of our sin and our death. He was resurrected in our very humanity. The error that Protestantism has made is really, first and foremost, to inherit—the early Reformers inherited the Roman Catholic understanding of sin itself. They saw sin purely in terms of a legalistic notion, that it is a matter of guilt or release from that guilt. And if Christ has died for this, in some form of atonement theory, then, yes, that guilt is lifted and we are saved and it’s all done that way.

Yes, Christ fulfilled his work, but sin is something different. It is not a matter of legalism. Our sin is a wound to the soul. It is a wound that results in sickness and death. We need to be healed. We need to be transformed in body and soul. This is our salvation, to draw close to Christ, to be transformed by his grace, by the presence of his Holy Spirit.

Christ fulfilled his work. It was completed for all mankind, but we are invited now to walk that road that is now open to us to the kingdom of God. This is what Christ has achieved for us: the possibility of entering the kingdom of God is there before every one of us. He calls us, he shows us, he teaches us: Be my disciple. Take up your cross. Follow me. Repent of your sins. Receive the Holy Spirit who will empower you, strengthen you for this task. There is no Christianity without the cross, without crucifixion. We must take up our cross, which is putting the old man to death, dying to our self. Repentance is to forgive others from their sins. Turn away from our anger and our judgment.

Jesus himself taught us: Forgive us our sins, our debts, as we forgive our debtors—as we forgive our debtors. He taught us we will be forgiven as we forgive. Without forgiveness, without repentance, without faith, we are not transformed; we do not walk this way, this narrow way. We will not be one of the few to enter the kingdom of God. It requires that we take up our cross. This is what the Christian faith consists of: faith in God, a willingness to be obedient even to the cross. Our calling is to accept and participate in what God offers to us, to trust in him and participate in this free offer of salvation. He says, “Look. I have completed this work. Will you now receive it? Will you now walk this way, this path to salvation?”

Protestantism, of course, has only existed, even those denominations at the earliest time were a few hundred years ago—a few hundred years, Lutherans, Anglicans—and I know many Anglicans who are very devout, who seek God. Their hearts genuinely long for God. And the pain of this is that they have been sold short. They have been sold an empty gospel that will not save them. They have all put their faith in something that has its roots in Roman Catholicism. And some denominations, of course, have only existed for decades.

So we may ask: Where is their connection? How are they rooted in the early Church? How is that faith that they express now in any way the faith of the apostles, taught by Christ? They have no link with the authentic teaching of the Church. They look to the Bible alone, but they don’t know how to read it. They believe they are inspired to interpret passages this way and that. And this is why we have thousands of denominations of Protestants. They have all become a little pope. They are separated from the teaching of the Fathers, the authentic faith that Christ gave us to save us.

I say this not to be harsh, certainly not to be accusative. It is not a loving thing to remain silent when we see those outside the Church putting their trust and hope in something that is beyond the faith of the Church and outside the faith, a heresy. Christ calls every one of us, every one of us to become members of his body on earth, to be part of his Church, to be willing—Christ calls us to be willing to repent and to be changed. Nothing unholy can be part of God’s holiness. God is holy. We must be purified. That process will not be completed and fulfilled in this life, and we are utterly dependent on the mercy of God.

But he calls us to struggle, to repent. It is not a reward, but we are not capable of receiving his grace—itt is not like we earn it—but when we turn our hearts in repentance, when we turn our hearts in faith and struggle, and attempt to root out the passions and the sin and the evil from our lives, then we are capable of receiving his grace. We have turned, once again, because until we repent we have turned away from him. Unless we repent, we have turned our backs to God and we have refused his grace; we have refused his Holy Spirit.

We can think whatever we want to think. We can have thoughts, lofty thoughts about God. We can have feelings, believing that these feelings somehow represent faith. Do not put your trust in feelings. They are things of psychology and of emotion, and they are generated within ourselves. That is not faith. Our feelings are not to be trusted. Our faith is a matter of obedience to the commands of Christ. It is about turning and receiving his grace: to be part of his Church, to be a living part of his body, through baptism and chrismation, the authentic Church of Christ.

So let us not be fooled by the teachings of men, the philosophies of our age, for Protestantism is of the age. It is now; it is a recent invention of man. Let us not be fooled. Let us not be taken away by these Protestant philosophies, for the gate is narrow, and few will enter.