Lion Heart,
I appreciate the passage you’ve extracted from Peter Kreeft’s work, explaining Justification by Faith as a Catholic Doctrine. However, in this passage, I believe that Peter misses the chance to explain the need to exercise one’s faith in order to maintain a living faith.
Thus, works maintain, not faith itself, but a living faith, and so have an intrinsic merit. This is easy to understand, because works are themselves a gift of God.
Thus while works follow out of Love of God, or should, it does not disqualify them from merit even though they are performed with some knowledge or hope that we may obtain merit through them. If there is only a spark of Love in the works, they are not without merit. What is a problem, however, is if the works we do which are not in faith, outweigh in their “demerits” in the producing of a deadened faith, the merits we obtain in our good acts that will produce an enlivened faith.
peace
steve
Greetings in Christ Thenobes,
CONDITIONS THAT OUR WORKS COUNT FOR ANYTHING:
The Catholic Church clearly teaches that one MUST be in a STATE OF GRACE, MUST be a member of the BODY OF CHRIST, MUST be SAVED, MUST be already JUSTIFIED before we do a SINGLE WORK that counts for anything.
Further conditions MUST BE PRESENT to make SUPERNATURAL merit possible:
“The meritorious work must be morally good, that is, in accordance with the moral law in its object, intent, and circumstances.
It MUST be done FREELY, WITHOUT any EXTERNAL COERCION or INTERNAL NECESSITY.
It MUST be SUPERNATURAL, that is, AROUSED and ACCOMPANIED by ACTUAL GRACE, and proceeding from a SUPERNATURAL motive.
Strictly speaking only a person in the STATE OF GRACE can merit, as defined by the Church.” (Denzinger 1576, 1582)
JUSTIFICATION IN CATHOLIC TEACHING by Jimmy Akin
Quote: “The essence of supernatural love is unselfishness—doing something NOT BECAUSE IT WILL HELP US SOMEHOW, but because we want to do it out of SHEER LOVE for the other person, whether that person is God or one of our fellow human beings out of the love of God.
This is THE ONLY KIND of love that ultimately pleases God and therefore the ONLY KIND that ultimately gets us a reward IN heaven.” End quote. Emphasis mine.
If we believe: Work is condition of our salvation, then our works can NEVER BE UP TO THE ABOVE STANDARDS because we do it for ourselves to purchase salvation not for love and for the Glory of God, and ALL our work goes up in smoke at the judgment. In reference 1 Cor.3:11-15.
CANNOT BE OVER EMPHASIZE: This is THE KEY to do supernatural merit that God accepts and recognize!!! – There is NO other way to achieve supernatural merit which is the only good works.
JOINT DECLARATION ON THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION by the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church
4/25 We confess together that sinners are JUSTIFIED BY FAITH in the saving action of God in Christ. WHATEVER in the JUSTIFIED PRECEDES or FOLLOWS the free gift of FAITH is NEITHER THE BASIS of justification NOR MERITS it.
4/27.The Catholic understanding also sees FAITH as FUNDAMENTAL in justification. FOR WITHOUT FAITH, NO JUSTIFICATION CAN TAKE PLACE. Thus justifying grace never becomes a human possession. While Catholic teaching emphasizes the RENEWAL OF LIFE by justifying grace, this RENEWAL in FAITH, HOPE, LOVE is always dependent on God’s unfathomable grace and CONTRIBUTES NOTHING TO JUSTIFICATION
Rom.4:5 (Jerusalem Bible)
“When a man has NOTHING to show EXCEPT FAITH in the one who justifies sinners, than his faith is COUNTED AS JUSTIFYING HIM.”
Rom.4:5 corresponding with 1 Cor.3:15; If anyone’s WORK is burned (NOTHING to show EXCEPT FAITH), he will suffer loss; but he himself will be SAVED, yet so as through fire (no work, no reward). – If work would be a condition of salvation, those whose work burned, they would end up in hell.
Work MUST be done FREELY, WITHOUT any EXTERNAL COERCION or INTERNAL NECESSITY.
If we would have to work in order to maintain a living faith, and so to have an intrinsic merit, that would PUT us into an EXTERNAL COERCION and INTERNAL NECESSITY, and we would have to work to purchase our salvation not for love and for the Glory of God, and ALL our work would go up in smoke at the judgment. In reference 1 Cor.3:11-15.
With other words: If we would have to work to maintain a living faith, then work would be compulsory for salvation and then NO ONE could work for the GLORY OF GOD!!!
God’s gift of faith for us is a LIVING and FORMED FAITH, and it is a LIVING and FORMED FAITH before God as well.
But it is a DEAD FAITH before our neighbors if we don’t work and our neighbors wouldn’t believe we are saved!!! – This is what James talking about.
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE by James Akin
Quote: “In fact, in TRADITIONAL WORKS OF CATHOLIC THEOLOGY, one regularly encounters the statement that FORMED FAITH IS JUSTIFYING FAITH. If one has formed faith, one is justified. Period. End quote. Emphasize mine.
With love in Christ,
LH.