Faith and Works, Clement of Rome

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I am doing research on Clement I of Rome and his letter to the Corinthians, but he says that “works done out of holiness of heart do not justify”. Is this a contradiction to our understanding of faith plus works.

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Yes… do you have a question or a point you’d like to make?
 
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa said:
Is this not our theology. Faith and Works?
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What he says isn’t much different than the contrast we see between Paul and James. Paul “downplays” the importance of works in our justification because justification is a process, and he seeks to explain our initial justification (I assume like Clement is here), in which works play no purpose. We have just come to believe at this point, and we are justified in it.

James discusses our ongoing justification, at which point we will begin to be justified by our works. Our faith still needs to be present for this type of justification to occur, but now works plays a part.
 
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We do not merit initial justification by our own works, nor do the works we do apart from God have any merit. Works done in cooperation with God, with God as the first mover, are meritorious. This is Catholic teaching. Clement of Rome is not in conflict with this.
 
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Faith is first. Good works are second, they are the fruits of our faith. No conflict.
 
Yes but it says “in holiness of the heart” can the heart not be holy without first faith. This is why I thought there was a contradiction.
 
His words are in the context of justification. We are justified by faith. St Paul says the same thing.
 
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa said:
Yes but it says “in holiness of the heart” can the heart not be holy without first faith. This is why I thought there was a contradiction.
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Notice how frequently Clement emphasizes that it is what comes from ourselves. There’s:
  • “made greater, not for their own sake”
  • “or for the righteousness they wrought”
  • “not justified by ourselves”
  • “nor by our own wisdom”
It gets more implicit afterwards, but it could be reasonable to read the rest as “[own] understanding”, “[own] godliness”, and “[our] works wrought in [our] holiness of [our own] heart”. That would be consistent with his emphasis.

One of the biggest problems with the early Church were those seeking to justify themselves because of their works, race, or whatever. The Judaizers, one such group attempting to do so through circumcision, ended up prompting the first ecumenical council in Jerusalem (Acts 14-15), and despite the council deciding against them, they still infiltrated many churches. Paul’s letters to the Galatians and Romans dealt with their continued presence in the early church, and you can see evidence of it in Ephesians as well. The emphasis is clear - we can’t justify ourselves. We require God’s grace, but we do not and cannot earn that grace. We can only respond to what God currently offers in faith.

However, faith and works are tied together. That was what James emphasized in James 2:14-16, and even Paul hints at that in Galatians 5:6 with the added requirement of love. These are not works to earn God’s grace, as if we could offer anything to earn it. Instead, they are works in response to God’s offered grace, to receive and cooperate with it. These works, though, come from our faith in God’s grace and love for Him and others, which are themselves graces of God that we cooperate with.
 
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