February 17, 2004
Sola Fides 2: Understanding Faith and Works
I started a series of articles on the protestant doctrine of sola fides, which states that we are saved by faith alone apart from any works. My first article analyzed the Biblical evidence for salvation by faith alone and found it lacking (I recommend you read it first). I also found that some misunderstand the Catholic position, so this article explains Catholic thought using Biblical passages.
Catholics have always taught that we are saved by “faith working in love.” We believe that faith is a gift from God, just as protestants do. Where we differ is on the need for works. Catholics view faith and works as the two cutting edges of the scissors – both are required and neither is functional without the other. This is the only way to reconcile the various Biblical passages on faith and works (Romans and James seem to contradict each other from the protestant perspective, but Catholic though reconciles them perfectly). For example, James plainly states:
James 2:14. What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can his faith save him?
The remainder of James 2 makes plain the case that “faith without works is dead.” Yet some still claim that works are unnecessary to salvation. I read a blog entry at Dei Gratia today that asked, “Can you fulfill ‘the greatest commandment’ without works?” That is a good question and I don’t believe it is possible to really love your neighbor as yourself without helping to feed the poor, tend to the sick, and comfort the suffering. Do you?
This is an important issue in our lives. As the Bible tells us:
Matthew 7:26. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a man who built his house upon the sand. [my emphasis] See also Ezekiel 33:10-11, Matthew 12:50, and Romans 2:13.
When I was protestant, my pastor often suggested that if you were “really” saved, you would do good works, but that they were not necessary to salvation. In order to adhere to that argument, you must throw the book of James out the window. James is not unclear on the point – there is no getting around his basic argument that “faith without works is dead.” Protestants often point to Romans 3:28 as proof that we are “saved by faith alone,” but the word alone is not actually in the Bible – it was added by Luther to clarify what he wanted the Bible to read. In reality, Romans 3:28 supports the Catholic position, “You are saved by faith apart from works of law.” As we know:
James 1:22-25. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who observes his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer that forgets but a doer that acts, he shall be blessed in his doing.
We must do rather than just hear. As James notes, “Even the demons believe.” This is the first step in faith: doing what God asks of us. This is what the Church teaches – what do you believe?
I’ll continue this discussion soon with another analysis of Sola Fides.
God bless,
Jay
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I have been reading the information on this site. I do not mean to be confrontational in any way but Jesus says that the way to the Father is through Him. Of course if you truly believe and accept this, your heart will be lead by the Holy Spirit to do good works. "Works is a result of salvation, not a parellel or co-redeemer. If this were the case, then Jesus died and suffered for only part of our sins. I know His blood and grace are sufficient in redeeming me, not anything I could do on my own, otherwise He did not have to come down and die for us. Who are we to say, "it's not enough that you died God, we still have to have some sense of pride and believe that there is some way that we are responsible for going to heaven. Salvation has nothing to do with a scissor, it has to do with a cross
Posted by: Victoria at February 19, 2004 12:11 AMVictoria,
Thank you for commenting and welcome to our blog. I think one fact that you need to consider is that doing good (works) is not an act of pride or considered a "parallel" or "equal" to the saving power of God's grace. Rather it is a manifestation of that grace.
In marriage it is not enough for a man and a woman to say that they love each other, they must live it out each day. If a 90 year old man commits adultery, it is still adultery and a betrayal of that love he once had for his wife. So it is for Christians. We say that we believe in Jesus Christ and that we love Him, so naturally, in good faith, we have to live that love. It is not enough to just say it, we must live it. That is why St. James wrote:
So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
-James 2:17
Love never ends (1 Cor 13:8), therefore our works of love for God should never end. Faith and works go hand-in-hand. We must believe in Jesus Christ and we must live out that belief in love.
I hope this helps.
In Christ,
Joe
Victoria,
One more thing to consider in addition to Joe's comment is the distinction between faith and works. So many people say "I don't have to do anything; just believe in Jesus." This is a paradoxical statement because belief itself is an action. The belief that you reference is a voluntary action by the individual. It is not a physical action, but then many "works" aren't either (i.e. compassionate words, prayer, and pure thoughts on the one hand, or hatred and lust on the other hand.) Think about it: if you believe that "giving your life to Jesus" is necessary, than you do believe in works being necessary to salvation!
In Christ,
Dave
Which came firts the Chicken or the Egg? (couldn't resist)
This "argument" sounds like typical Catholic/Protestant animous. Most Protestants in practice believe that a fellow parisioner who professes faith but lives a life opposite to gospels or is indiferent(worse than hate) to his fellow man is lacking in faith. Most Catholics in practice don't believe a charitable person who professes hatred for Christ in his heart to on his way to heaven. This issue unlike the eucharist, saints and mary is a non issue. Just my opinion.
Posted by: Stan at February 19, 2004 04:14 PMLuther translated the Bible into German, not English, etc. So you need to drop that little tidbit, for it cannot be true.
I think that there is a lot of misunderstanding here.
Your pastor was right, real faith will *necessarily* produce good works. Real faith cannot be without good works, as James wrote. But our good works can never pay the penalty for the guilt of our sins. Christ did that on the Cross, and He finished the job. He even told us that when He said "it is finished"
Luther thought, and many Catholics of his day thought, and sadly, most lay Catholics today catechized since the sixties, think that they have to perform a certain number of good works to get into heaven, and maybe curry favor with our Lord's mother, on the thought that Jesus might not really have died for us. This was based on some theories developed by people like Peter Lombard, and the Catholic Church, as well as the Protestant denominations, rejected that long ago.
Now, are we to be sanctified, you bet. There is no Biblical basis for "easy believism" or anti-nomianism. And yes, salvation as a term in the Bible does include not only justification, where we recieve grace and forgiveness through faith as the means, but also sanctification, which is cooperative, and glorification, which to Protestants is instantateous and grace alone when we see Jesus, and for Catholics, as a continuation of sanctification in purgatory.
Posted by: Steve at February 19, 2004 11:59 PMMy take on the faith-works issue is this: ONLY the grace of God saves us, not faith or works. While faith is the primary response to God's grace, true faith can't exist without the desire to do good works, the ones God set out for us to do.
I think something missing from this discussion is the good works we do are really God's works with a promised reward. NOTHING we do on our own can save us, the Catholic Church does NOT teach this. Otherwise we'd be doing a lot more good works. I explain this over and over to my evangelical friends and they don't seem to want to understand it.
Even C.S. Lewis, the Protestant saint, believed that faith and works can't be separated. He said trying to decide whether faith or works are more important is like asking which blade on a pair of scissors is more important. The blades must be connected to work.
Posted by: Kris at September 17, 2005 12:44 AM
