I guess I missed the “works based salvation” aspect of your article. To be honest I never understood the whole “Works based” concept and it was never taught to me or to anyone I knew.
Salvation comes by grace. Works, which are a fruit, come from the prompting of the Spirit of God within us.
The Rich Young Ruler seems to seek a works-based Salvation because it is always: What good thing can I do to inherit eternal life? He claimed to have obeyed all the commandments since his youth (impossible, both according to Jesus’ commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, 1 John 1:8 and Romans 3:10) and kept asking what more he could do. Well, if you want to Save yourself, then you must be perfect and ‘good’. Nowhere else does Jesus issue such stringent demands for Salvation because most everyone else figured out that Salvation through personal perfection is impossible.
The man wanted to Save himself through being perfect (what good thing can
I do?) and Jesus answered: to be perfect you have to be like God (and thus follow the example of God Incarnate, Jesus Christ).
I would not disagree with your statement. However it is necessary to remember that Salvation comes via a two edged blade. Faith without works is just as empty as works without faith.
Faith/belief is the vessel. The bucket into which is poured the living waters of Christ. That water must be used, not hoarded. We are tasked by our faith to use that water to refresh the world. To give drink to those thirsting. If we do not, then the living waters of grace will stop and will dry up.
God cannot pour this living water out for us unless we have teh bucket of faith. Otherwise the living waters of grace just flow past us spiling on the ground.
Jesus knows that the rich young man wants to feel justified that by following the Law he has assured his salvation. He is no different than many of us who feel that, so long as we “obey the commandments” attend mass on Sunday and drop an envelope in the basket, we will make it to heaven. Jesus will not let this person, or any person, feel that complacent. There is always something more to be done. What else can be done for the Glory of God and to show my love and thanks for the blessings He has poured out on me.
The rich young man was right in asking Jesus what more he could do. This is what we all must do. Always seek to do more. Jesus knows that at some point, we will all turn away sad because we cannot do what He asks. That is where the Salvic grace comes in.
I believe by Roman Catholic theology, Salvation is attained through Baptism and faith, maintained through Mass/Eucharist and obeying the moral law and Church law, and repaired through Sacramental Confession and/or perfect contrition. It seems like you’re overspiritualizing the story (which is not a parable BTW, except for perhaps Jesus’ statement about the camel/eye-of-a-needle).
The lesson of the incident seems summed up in the ‘after-action’ dialogue between Jesus and the Disciples:
Matthew 19:25-26:
When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
If you want to Save yourself, you must be perfect (as God is perfect) and it is impossible. If you wish to be Saved, it must be through the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Just another take on the same parable.
It’s not a parable. I am not trying to be a grammar-nazi, but whenever we start to think of a story/incident as a parable, it almost always leads to overspiritualization and generalization.
No argument here.
I think the other poster who referenced Fulton Sheen said it best. It isn’t how much you give, it’s how much you have left after you give.
This really is not addressing the Salvific issue, but more how much ‘treasure in Heaven’ somone will have stored up.
I would not see this story as a parable on wealth at all. Clearly it deals with honesty, honor and Keeping faith with our God and our Church.
Again, not a parable. Obviously, the incident addresses the importance of honesty (lying is a sin and lying to God is very grave, no pun intended) and not doing your works to be seen by men (Ananias and his wife sold the land and claimed to give all the proceeds to the Church in order to appear as good and whatnot as Joses [aka Barnabas] who sold his land and donated all the proceeds to the Jerusalem Church at the end of Acts 4).
Read St. Peter’s words again. If they had never sold the land, they would not have sinned. If they had sold the land and kept all the proceeds, they would not have sinned. If they had sold the land and donated only a portion of the proceeds and honestly stated they were only donating X% of the proceeds, they would not have sinned. It was when they lied (having claimed to have donated all the proceeds to the Church when they hadn’t and trying to fool St. Peter and, as Peter puts, the Holy Spirit as well) that they committed a sin.
EDIT NOTE: I want to add that I am not trying to say it is alright to be stingy and greedy. Certainly, such a person might face temporal punishment (i.e. being frowned upon by other Christians and, perhaps, even some kind of negative consequence such as loss of the money and seeing what it is like to have the shoe on the other foot) and loss/lack of ‘treasure in Heaven’. I am pointing out that I do not believe it is connected to Salvation (unless, like the Rich Young Ruler, you wish to Save yourself through personal perfection). Besides being I think Scripturally incorrect, I think it leads to people with a lack of faith and love. After all, if I am only doing something because I feel it will help me avoid Hell, then am I truly doing it out of love for God and neighbor? Even the issue of ‘treasure in Heaven’ has to be dealt with carefully: again, is it true love if I am simply doing things because I think it will lead to reward later?
