Judgment for conduct

[LoM_LdM]

In the light of Matthew 16: 27, “For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct,” (NAB) how can my Lutheran brothers claim that works do not matter at the judgment? It seems to me that there are too many references to works being the sign of valid faith throughout Scripture: Epistle of James; Matthew’s story of the sheep and the goats in chap. 25, and others, for a scripture based theology to rationally claim to believe in “faith alone.” It’s like they’re saying to me, “Oh all your sins are wiped clean by Jesus’s death on the cross, so don’t even worry about what you do or don’t do.” Can you help me understand their reasoning?

 

[Crumpy]

Not so sure I can rationalize what they say, but you’ve nailed the idea. If I’m not mistaken, Martin Luther taught that you could commit the equivalent of mortal sins all day and there would be no effect on your final judgment.

But, typically, that is the hinge point where Lutherans and Catholics differ, and certainly with reference at least in part to the verses you cite.

 

[Lutheranteach]

Not sure this will entirely answer your question, but it may be a start:

ntrmin.org/Be%20a%20sinner%20and%20sin%20boldly%20web.htm#b3

and

gotquestions.org/salvation-faith-alone.html

 

[LoM_LdM]

Not sure this will entirely answer your question, but it may be a start:

ntrmin.org/Be%20a%20sinner%20and%20sin%20boldly%20web.htm#b3

and

gotquestions.org/salvation-faith-alone.html

Thanks, Lutheranteach, for the references. The first one I will have to read again and more slowly. But now I have another dilemma: We know from St. Paul’s 13th chapter of 1st Corinthinans that love, or charity, is greater than faith. Christ’s very act of Salvation,
his death on the cross, was done out of infinite love and obedience to the Father. If faith is all that matters for salvation, and the good works just follow along like a cart behind a horse, not to be too simplistic, how do I explain that there are people in my life, who with no apparent belief or faith in Christ, have been extremely charitable to me and others and with good effect. Their kindness has had the result of deepening my own faith. I won’t say “faith in man,” but rather I believe that the Holy Spirit is at work in non-believers as well as people of faith and may in fact be leading them to faith through the actions of charity.

Then, too, I have to pull back a little from Luther’s logic when I read that he regarded certain Catholic devotions such as fasting, assisting at Mass and praying the rosary to be “pseudo-works,” and actually destructive of faith. Does not Jesus himself enjoin us to fast? Is he saying that the the rosaries and masses we say for others go into the void? I have seen the effect of the daily recitation of the rosary in my own life. As I offer it most often for the benefit of others, it has become the act and emblem of my love and a source of ever-deepening of faith. It draws me to Christ with a fullness I have not experienced outside the reception of the Eucharist.

 

[Ruthie_again]

This question is a very complicated one, with many subtleties.

James is unequivocal when he says “Faith without works is dead.” At the same time, Jesus said to a few people that their sins were forgiven and that their faith saved them.

How can we reconcile these? Start with “What is a work?”

Two of the “saved by faith” people did do some kind of work. The sinful woman in Lk 7:36-50 washed His feet with tears and anointed them with oil. The blind man in Lk 18:35-43 kept yelling for Jesus even after bystanders told him to be quiet. And the paralytic in Mt 9:2-6 got up and walked when Jesus told him to, plus his friends did some labor by carrying him there.

Let’s look at the explanation of the Parable of the Sower, Mk 4:10-20. The Word is available to each of us. But to be saved, we must accept it, and bear fruit. We can’t sit there while Satan takes it away, or not allow it to take root, or let it get away from us because of the clamor of the world.

The rare ones who think they can say “I accept Jesus as my personal Savior” and then go out and sin with impunity have faith without works - dead faith. They’re the seedlings on the rock. Some of us let stuff distract us from Jesus. We’re in the weeds. We still have a chance to cut down our weeds and become “fertile soil.” We have to work hard to clear those weeds, and keep them cleared. Then we must bear fruit!

It is when we accept the Word that our faith begins. That is also when our work begins.

As long as I’m into metaphors, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is the best weed-killer!

Ruthie
Tiber Swim Team '06