S3 E2: Is the Treasury of Merit in Roman Catholicism Biblical?

Speaker 1 00:00:05 All right, pastor Michael, we have our next question in our series of questions on Roman Catholicism. Is the Treasury of Merit in Roman Catholicism biblical? Speaker 2 00:00:15 That is a really, really great question, and I wanna start off with a simple answer. Uh, but if you're Roman Catholic, I want you to keep listening, uh, because what we're about to talk about is really important. You are not gonna find the Treasury of Merit anywhere in the scriptures. Um, it's not hinted at, talked about explicitly or even implicitly. If you are a Roman Catholic watching this, you have probably heard of it, but you don't know what it means. Hmm. If you're a Protestant, you have likely never heard of this. Speaker 1 00:00:46 I had never heard of Speaker 2 00:00:47 It. And once we describe it, it's gonna actually make sense of a whole bunch of other doctrines. We actually will call this the Spine of Roman Catholic Doctrine because it's a doctrine that holds up all of these other ideas. So let's dig into this. Uh, the Treasury of Merit is an actual, we'll say treasury. It is something of great value, and inside, we'll call it this treasure box mm-hmm. Is a thing called merit. Now, when when people think of merit, they think of like a good work. Mm-hmm. I want you to think of merit like a currency, and it's a currency of righteousness. And in order to get into heaven, you need a certain quantity of this currency or merit to get in. Now, this currency, there's a whole bunch of it in the Treasury of Merit, and now the question is, if, if I don't have enough merit, how do I get merit outta that treasury right into my personal account Speaker 1 00:01:47 So that I can go to heaven? Speaker 2 00:01:48 Absolutely. Hmm. So already there are gonna be some people who are saying what? Hmm. All right. So the Treasury of Merit gets its righteousness or its merit currency from three primary sources. And could you read from the catechism of the Catholic Church? And each of these sources are gonna be identified by Rome itself. Speaker 1 00:02:09 Got it. Alright. So the first source, the treasury of the church is the infinite value, which can never be exhausted, which Christ's merits have before God. They were offered so that the whole of mankind could be set free from sin and attain communion with the Father in Christ, the redeemer himself, the satisfactions and merits of his redemption exist and find their efficacy. Speaker 2 00:02:37 All right. So source number one of righteousness in the Treasury of Merit is the, it's called the super abundant excess of the merits of Christ. Hmm. So, because Christ is fully God, he is fully righteous. And so there is no humanly possible way to exhaust the righteousness of Christ found in the Treasury of Merit. Sure. But the righteousness of Christ or the merits of Christ are not the only source of merit in the tr in the, the treasury of merit. Right. There are two more. Speaker 1 00:03:10 I've got your next one ready. All this treasury includes as well, the prayers and good works of the blessed Virgin Mary. They are truly immense, unfathomable, and even pristine in their value before God. Speaker 2 00:03:23 Okay. So we didn't make that up. That's from Rome itself. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So not only does the treasury of Merit have the excess righteousness of Christ, uh, it also has the excess righteousness of the Virgin Mary, uh, as well as all of her prayers for the saints or for Christians also go into the treasury of merit. Now, in Roman Catholic doctrine, they believe that Mary was sinless or perfect. Um, she was immaculately conceived. Most people think that applies to Jesus actually talking about Mary. And, uh, and so she has an abundance of merit. Um, she had more than enough to get herself into heaven, um, but she also has excess. So all of that goes, and I love this line, they are truly immense, unfathomable, and even pristine. And their value before God implying not all merits Hmm. Is of the same. There's Speaker 1 00:04:19 A ranking value system of some kind. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:04:22 Yeah. So there might be like $1 merit bills mm-hmm. <affirmative> and $5 merit bills. I'm speaking a little bit crassy, but in the terms of currency Yeah. For the sake of analogy, but there's a third source Sure. For the Treasury of Speaker 1 00:04:31 Merit. All right. I've got it here in the Treasury. Two are the prayers in good works of all the saints, all those who have followed in the footsteps of Christ, the Lord, and by his grace, have made their lives holy and carried out the mission the Father entrusted to them. In this way, they attained their own salvation and at the same time cooperated in saving their brothers in the unity of the mystical body. Speaker 2 00:04:55 Right. So let's say, um, you have been faithful to God your whole life, and you have more than enough merit, uh, to get you into heaven. The discrepancy between the two, the excess, all of that also goes into the treasury of merit as well as while you're in heaven, as you pray for Christians on earth, all those prayers, they go and they are translated into merit, and they all go into the treasury of merit. So to summarize, the treasury of merit is all of the excess merit of Jesus, Mary, and dead saints who all had more than enough merit currency to get into heaven. Al already, if you are a Protestant, you're sort of like, what is happening? Hmm. This is very, very foreign because for Protestants, um, we will never have enough merit. Right. Um, we regularly communicate and preach the gospel, which is that, um, anybody who goes into heaven, it's not because of their own merit, merit, it's all the righteousness of Christ. Speaker 2 00:05:59 Right. And Christ alone has enough righteousness, and his righteousness is applied to our account in our behalf. Right. So there, there is a framework, and I think it's important to understand this nature of accounts and righteousness, and that somehow we don't have enough righteousness or merit, if you will, to get to heaven. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, the, the real discrepancy comes like, well, whose righteousness gets put into my account? Right. And so this is where we step back and say, I know the scriptures teach that it is exclusively and only the righteousness of Christ that gets put into Speaker 1 00:06:30 Our account. Right. Well, and we can see that in Ephesians two, eight and nine, which we've referenced, referenced in another episode in Roman Catholicism. It is not a works based Speaker 2 00:06:40 Salvation. It is not. And what merit, what what the Treasury of Merit does is it makes salvation essentially works based. Right. And if I don't have enough of it myself, a a number of it gets applied to my account, but there's this, um, principle that I have to fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ right now that's taken from the book of Philippians. But it is a massive gross mis translation of what that means. Uh, but the idea that Christ accomplished something for me, now I have to fill up what is lacking. He has done his job, now I have to do my job. And, uh, the Treasury of Merit is not found in scripture. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, you're never gonna see those words. You're never gonna see anywhere where there's this idea that Mary and her good works and her prayers, uh, her merit essentially goes into this treasury or, um, Christians who had excess like nowhere in scripture. Speaker 2 00:07:31 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, are you ever gonna find that when you do find is that every person lacks righteousness, and that if we're gonna go to heaven, we need the righteousness of Christ applied to our account. And that happens when we trust in Christ. Right. When we believe, uh, the legal term in scripture is justification. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> justification is when I am declared righteous, not because of my own righteousness, because the righteousness of Christ. Right. And logically it could be, uh, like I am now a billionaire, not because I did anything, but because the money of Christ was applied to my right account. I now have what I need to enter, but it's all of him from him through him. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and it's only ever applied through faith, not by works. Hes Ephesians, chapter two. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> verse eight, nine and 10. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's, it's a really hard doctrine, but you can see now out of this doctrine came ideas like purgatory. Speaker 1 00:08:21 Right. Speaker 2 00:08:21 Purgatory is where you go when you don't have enough merit. Speaker 1 00:08:25 Right. So it's not full enough. Speaker 2 00:08:27 You get this principle of, of praying to saints mm-hmm. <affirmative> because as you pray to them, they pray for you. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and when they pray to you, merit is taken out of the treasury. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> put into your account and your years of suffering in purgatory are lessened. Speaker 1 00:08:42 And can you also purchase merits? Speaker 2 00:08:45 Well, you can Speaker 1 00:08:46 With dollars. Speaker 2 00:08:47 This is the principle of indulgences. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so, uh, most Protestants are familiar with Martin Luther really just mm-hmm. <affirmative> rebelled against this. An indulgence is, is typically a monetary gift. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, given to the church, uh, in order to reduce either your or somebody who has already died mm-hmm. <affirmative> their time in purgatory. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you, you can understand why Protestants Yeah. Recoil at this doctrine. Speaker 1 00:09:12 Well, Anne, as you said, as you are explaining it, if you are of the Protestant, you know, belief system, you've heard of purgatory, you've heard of indulgences, it is all tied into this treasury of merit that you maybe have never heard of. Yeah. Now, the Treasury of Merit does have one person in control of it. Yep. Can you talk a little bit more about that? Speaker 2 00:09:33 Yep. So, um, there is one person kind of like a hu I'm sorry, human being, not Jesus. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> who has authority over it. Technically the treasury of Merit is Christ's to distribute, but he is given the keys in Roman Catholicism or the authority to the Pope. And the Pope has the freedom to access and to distribute merit at his will. He's called the vicar of Christ, meaning Christ lives and leads vicariously through the Pope. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So the Pope has the authority of Christ to access this treasury. And so if we go back 500 years to Martin Luther, and Martin Luther was a Catholic priest and he was very, very frustrated. He wrote the 95 thesis mm-hmm. <affirmative> and, um, I'm not gonna quote this directly, but I'm gonna kind of give my own summary mm-hmm. <affirmative> of one of them. He said, if basically Op Pope, if you're so godly and righteous and you have full access mm-hmm. <affirmative> to the Treasury of Merit, and you're supposed to be filled with love, why wouldn't you by fiat take all this excess treasury mm-hmm. <affirmative> and release all the damn souls in purgatory. Right. That are suffering right now out of simply love and compassion. And why wouldn't you actually apply that to all of our current accounts mm-hmm. <affirmative> right now, if you are so loving. Now, he did this to out the Pope because what the popes were doing is they were selling indulgences to raise money for St. Peter's Basilica. Speaker 1 00:11:00 They built beautiful. Yes. Mm-hmm. Speaker 2 00:11:02 <affirmative> beautiful architecture. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> beautiful, um, cathedrals. But, um, and he was basically saying, you're doing this by manipulating people's attorney, the on the backs Yes. On the backs of poor people. And it's working because they, most of them can't read. Right. They can't open up the scriptures to see, wait, the Treasury of Merit is not found in scripture. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> anywhere nor is the rosary, nor is the macular conception of Mary. I mean, you go down the line Sure. And you start realizing there are a whole bunch of doctrines connected by the, the spine of the Treasury of Merit mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, that really do create a works-based salvation mm-hmm. <affirmative>, where the blood of Christ, the righteousness of Christ is not enough, and where we now have to cooperate not for the mission of the Great Commission mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but for our own salvation. Speaker 2 00:11:53 Sure. Yeah. And you can, again, Protestants sometimes don't have the vocabulary they keep saying, oh, it's it's by works. And, and most Roman Catholics kinda like, they're like, no, and we're talking past each other, but hopefully in this, what we can do is give some vocabulary both to Protestants and Roman Catholic Catholics to say, uh, no. This really is at its core a workspace religion. Christ does his part. Now, if you wanna be sage in Roman Catholicism, does he have to do your part mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and if you don't have enough, you can also hope that other people can do your part for you in your place. Right. And reallocate that merit through prayer, et cetera, indulgences, um, the Pope can actually release indulgences at any time. Um, hey, if you do X, Y, and z X amount of years in purgatory will be released. And I don't know how the formulas work, to be honest. I've never Speaker 1 00:12:39 Quite Yeah. Could it change day to day person to person? Does everybody have a certain amount that they, is my amount to get into heaven different from your amount? Speaker 2 00:12:48 Merit is a mystery. Yes. Um, that, uh, is the Pope apparently has some level of understanding, part of me. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> feels like they're all just winging it. And Yeah. And, uh, it's a really effective fundraising tool. It's a really effective tool at, um, controlling, we'll say, access to the sacraments, which will be our next episode, because in, in the participation of sacraments is a reallocation of merit. So Speaker 1 00:13:13 Oh yeah. Speaker 2 00:13:13 You, you can see how you, you start to Speaker 1 00:13:15 Like, and like you said, it's all connected in this treasury of merit. It is kinda like that spine, like you said, Speaker 2 00:13:20 It's, it is one of the most important unknown doctrines in Roman Catholicism. That if you get this, we'll begin to make sense of everything. Speaker 1 00:13:27 Oh, interesting. Thanks so much for explaining it. My.