The Truth: We Are Saved By Faith Alone

[Grace_Seeker]

Sorry to be jumping into this debate so late, and therefore I have not read all of the posts, but if no one has said it before, I think that it is important to understand how this conflict that seems to be at work today developed. Luther didn’t just invent the concept of “by faith alone” ex nihlo, he did it within a very particular context and to address very important issues of his time.

‘For nearly half a century, the Church was split into two or three obediences that excommunicated one another, so that every Catholic lived under excommunication by one pope or another, and, in the last analysis, no one could say with certainty which of the contenders had right on his side. The Church no longer offered certainty of salvation; she had become questionable in her whole objective form–the true Church, the true pledge of salvation, had to be sought outside the institution. It is against this background of a profoundly shaken ecclesial consciousness that we are to understand that Luther, in the conflict between his search for salvation and the tradition of the Church, ultimately came to experience the Church, not as the guarantor, but as the adversary of salvation.’

Well, if you can’t turn to the Church for assurance, what can you turn to? The answer, for Luther, was the same place that the Church herself had always turned throughout its history. He turned to scripture, and in scripture he found these great truths of God, that one is not saved by any of one’s own work (not minimizing the importance of working out one’s own salvation and doing good works in response), but by the work of God in one’s life. God does this work as an act of his own abiding grace and we respond to it and appropriate it by faith. Nothing beyond that is necessary, though much beyond that is expected and is the visible confirmation of what God has already invisibly done.

 

[LittleDeb]

If you look at Ephesians 2:8-10—it says we are saved through faith and it is a GIFT and not of yourself–so it cannot be a work. Otherwise we can boast and really the only thing we should boast about is Christ’s work on the cross. make sense

There is a scripture that refers to only boasting in Christ. It is in one of Paul’s letters. Ill see if I can find it…
I found it----Galations 6:14

These are both addressing ‘works of the law’ again. Both passages lead directly into discussions on circumcision. In fact, Ephesians 2:10 says we are “created in Christ Jesus for the ‘good works’”… directly after verse 9 rejects “works.” He is reiterating that ‘works of the law’ are not Works. He is telling the former Jews that works of the law do not put them on a higher level like they think and are boasting to the Gentiles.

Ephesians is speaking to both former Jews and former Gentiles. Paul (or his disciple) is saying that circumcision means nothing now, so Gentiles are on the same footing as the circumcised Jews, one in Christ, by His blood. (vs. 11-13.)

 

[Grace_Seeker]

Justification implies a relation with a judgment rather than a mode of being. The term for Paul, always has a certain forensic flavour which prevents its becoming a mere synonym of regeneration or re-creation. In later theology, however, this sense is often lost, and justification comes to mean nothing more than the infusion of grace. Now when St. Paul applies the juridical terminology to the new Christian reality, it acquires an entirely new meaning. It refers now not to the future but to the past (Rom.5:9), not to the just man but the sinner (Rom.4:5). And so the basis of justification must also be different. It can no longer be observance of the law. It must be Christ, whom God has made our righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Cor.1:30), which is the same thing as saying that we are justified by faith in Christ (Rom.3:28).

Paul made use of a word which in the Greek language had the technical meaning of legal acquittal. And if the word can have no other meaning than that, one could scarcely dispute the interpretation of justification as implying no more than to be accounted as righteous or not guilty in the sight of God.

 

[SirOscar]

Hello,

I am a recent convert to the Catholic Faith, and fairly new to its teachings, but I would like to say one thing:

“Saving Grace” is the gift Jesus gave when he died on the cross. Embracing the gift “opening it” that is our choice.

Nothing is more humbling than falling at the feet of Jesus (through the Blessed Sacrament) and laying bare our soiled hands. We are all sinners and in need of Jesus’ sacrafice for without it we would never enter into heaven.

For the 1st time in my life I can say that I love Jesus and through this love I want to be more like him and we are all called to be Christlike…thus the “Beatitudes”

“Do all things as if you are doing them for the Lord”

Every action of faith, work, deed, sacrafice that we do is done not for our merit but FOR THE GLORY OF GOD

We do…because we love…

 

[ALLFORHIM]

These are both addressing ‘works of the law’ again. Both passages lead directly into discussions on circumcision. In fact, Ephesians 2:10 says we are “created in Christ Jesus for the ‘good works’”… directly after verse 9 rejects “works.” He is reiterating that ‘works of the law’ are not Works. He is telling the former Jews that works of the law do not put them on a higher level like they think and are boasting to the Gentiles.

Ephesians is speaking to both former Jews and former Gentiles. Paul (or his disciple) is saying that circumcision means nothing now, so Gentiles are on the same footing as the circumcised Jews, one in Christ, by His blood. (vs. 11-13.)

Hi,
I didnt realize the CC taught that there are two different types of work. Could you show me where this difference is pointed out in scripture.

Thanks

 

[ALLFORHIM]

Hello,

I am a recent convert to the Catholic Faith, and fairly new to its teachings, but I would like to say one thing:

“Saving Grace” is the gift Jesus gave when he died on the cross. Embracing the gift “opening it” that is our choice.

Nothing is more humbling than falling at the feet of Jesus (through the Blessed Sacrament) and laying bare our soiled hands. We are all sinners and in need of Jesus’ sacrafice for without it we would never enter into heaven.

For the 1st time in my life I can say that I love Jesus and through this love I want to be more like him and we are all called to be Christlike…thus the “Beatitudes”

“Do all things as if you are doing them for the Lord”

Every action of faith, work, deed, sacrafice that we do is done not for our merit but FOR THE GLORY OF GOD

We do…because we love…

AMEN!!!

 

[SirOscar]

Hello again,

I would also like to say that it is only by “God’s Mercy” that we are allowed to be united with him in heaven. It’s all that we have. He “thirsts” for us. HE knows we are sinners and will constantly fall short of pleasing him. It is our human weakness and free will. He looks upon us with mercy.

I sugguest every Catholic should read St. Faustina’s Diary. The message is very clear that on our day of judgemet it is only by God’s mercy that we will be united with him.
Pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. For by the eating of the body and blood of Christ we are united with him. Thus we become “body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord, Jesus Christ” and we need to offer ourselves up to do the will of God so that we may reconcile our sin.

It is a very powerful prayer as is the Rosary.

Take care

 

[Contarini]

You must believe that Christ died for your sins and rose again. See I Corinthians 15:1-4. Where in scripture does it say that believing is a “work”?

Where in Scripture does it say that baptism is a work?

Edwin

 

[SFLCatholic]

Not so. Paul in Ephesians 2:8-9 makes it clear that it is only by faith we are saved when he writes;
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Then how do you interpret Galatians 6:4?

“Each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason to boast with regard to himself alone, and not with regard to someone else” Gal 6:4

It as clear as day that Paul acknowledges works as endemic to salvation.

 

[SFLCatholic]

This is surely why he spoke of the works more to clarify what happens when your faith is correct.

When your “faith is correct”? According to you all faith is equal.

If there are differing degrees of faith predicated on the kind of works you do, then it easily follows that faith is a by-product of works. How can it be otherwise?

So again, faith without works is dead, totally dead.

 

[SFLCatholic]

Jesus said to the prostitute who was washing his feet with her hair, “It is your faith that has saved you”. Jesus said to his disciples, “you must accept heaven as a child accepts a gift.”

There are numerous examples in the Gospels of Jesus proclaiming that your faith has saved you.

But have you ever looked at how these proclamations came about? It is always triggered by some physical act. A reaching out to Jesus. An outward expression of thier love and belief in Him.

“Washing his feet with her hair”. An act of submission and respect to His Divine Presence coupled with her Faith. How is this faith alone?

“Accepting Heaven as a child accepts a gift”. It calls for a complete release of ego and all emotional attachements and behaviors along with an acceptance.

To reach the level of an innocent child when you are a grown adult as the Apostles were, takes huge amounts of interior work. Like changing all your perceptions and biases. Any one ever tried this to any great success? Its hard work, right? How is this faith alone?

I have yet to find an act in the Gosples where faith alone, with no act attached, caused Jesus to respond.

Can someone point out to me an example where Faith was not the result of an act?

Is there an example where the Faith action happened only in the person’s thoughts and Jesus acted on it? Responded to it?

 

[SFLCatholic]

ACCEPT

Accept is a verb which is an action word.

Explain Faith without using any verbs.

 

[SFLCatholic]

Oh please do give yourself a break maam. Maybe you need to explain what YOU mean by the term “works”. I know what scripture says, for goodness sake, I have quoted from it several times in just a few posts. No offense here, but I do not need you to be my savior ok? I have one already and I know what it took to get it.

You know what it took to get it? You make it sound like you had to work for it.

Interesting development…

 

[SFLCatholic]

very profitable church (business)

Like TBN and the Holy Land Experience? Like Cavalry Christian Church? Like 700 Club?

Can you be more explicit about which " very profitable church (business)" you are refering to?

 

[Grace_Seeker]

Where in Scripture does it say that baptism is a work?

Edwin

Baptism is a work of God, but what does that have to do with anything. Baptism is a means of grace, not a means of salvation. Grace does not necessarily equal salvation. Consider prevenient grace, all persons are recipients of God’s prevenient grace, but not all persons are saved. Salvation is a result of justifying grace, and justifying grace is not what baptism expresses. Rather baptism is a sign of that grace (prevenient grace) which is already at work, and of sanctifying grace which we believe the person will mature in. But salvation is a work of God that comes as a result of God’s justifying grace, which is quite obviously something that God declares to be at work and true in our lives.

The ground of the sinner’s justification is thus a divine and gracious one. God works in the sinful soul to will and to do, and by making it inherently just justifies it. And all this is accomplished through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ; so that, in justification there is a combination of the objective work of Christ with the subjective character of the believer.

(William G. T. Shedd, History of Christian Doctrine, 2:322-323)​

When we speak of the Biblical concept of justification, we are referring to the Greek term dikaiosune which means “to declare righteous”; it is a legal term as in the declaration of a verdict. Now, the Latin Vulgate had translated this Greek term dikaiosune with the Latin word justificare, and many of the doctrines of the Church were built around it. Justificare means “to make righteous”. Close in meaning to, but though subtlely, still importantly different from the idea “to declare righteous”. But it is important to note that it was not Luther than made the change, rather it was a loyal Catholic, Erasmus. He and a host of classical scholars recognized that the Greek text required an understanding of justification that referred to a change in status rather than a change in behavior or mode of being. Remember, Erasmus had no doctrinal stake in this matter. He was not only a loyal son of the Roman church; he had engaged in heated polemics with Luther over free will. Nevertheless, he was Europe’s leading authority on the classical languages and could not overlook the glaring mistranslations.

J. A. Fitzmyer, a New Testament scholar teaching at Catholic University, Washington, recognizes that justification is understood in the biblical text to mean legal acquittal and not a process of growth in inherent righteousness. Fitzmyer writes: “Justification in the Old Testament denotes one who stood acquitted or vindicated before a judge’s tribunal…This uprightness (righteousness) does not belong to human beings (Rom. 10:3), and is not something that they produced or merited; it is an alien uprightness, one belonging to another (Christ) and attributed to them because of what that other had done for them…This justification comes about by grace and through faith” (Fr. Joseph Fitzmyer, SJ, The New Jerome Biblical Commentary). [Emphasis mine.]

So, justification is something that happens in a moment, it is not something we work at over time, rather it is an instantaneous act of God who simply declares it so and it is. The verbal ending of dikaiow is declarative; if the biblical writers intended by ‘justification’ a process of moral transformation, there is a perfectly good verbal ending for that sort of thing in Greek: adzo rather than owhagiodzo,’ and this word is never rendered ‘to justify.’ When the biblical writers refer to justification, they use the declarative ending; when they refer to sanctification, they use the progressive ending.

Now, this is not to argue that justification is all there is. We are saved and (contrary to the teaching of some reformed theology) we must continue to work out our salvation, this is the process of sanctification. For though God declares us righteous, we have no righteousness of our own, it is holy that of Christ attribute to us without merit. But, God’s active grace continues to work in us whereby we might indeed be transformed and find that we actually grow in holiness before God. In this we actually cooperate with God so that holiness is both an act of God’s grace and our own works of faith. But salvation has already been accomplish merely by God’s own action of declaring it so.

 

[Grace_Seeker]

When your “faith is correct”? According to you all faith is equal.

If there are differing degrees of faith predicated on the kind of works you do, then it easily follows that faith is a by-product of works. How can it be otherwise?

How? I don’t know, but I know that what you claim is not the teaching of the Catholic church, unless it says one thing at one time and another on a different occasion. The Council of Trent declared:

If any one saith, that man may be justified before God by his own works, whether done through the teaching of human nature, or that of the law, without the grace of God through Jesus Christ: let him be anathema.

To me it is clear that grace gives birth to both salvation and to faith. Then by faith in the receipt of that gift of salvation one continues to do works as an expression of thanksgiving for that gift. In the end, I don’t see works as having anything to do with the means of our salvation. The means is totaly God’s grace, but I think works has a lot to do with giving the evidence of God’s grace actually being present in our lives. So, a person with no works, is in essence giving evidence that God’s grace is not present, and thus that it is unlikely that they are truly saved for if they were saved they would show that God’s grace was present in their lives by their works.

 

[ALLFORHIM]

Baptism is a work of God, but what does that have to do with anything. Baptism is a means of grace, not a means of salvation. Grace does not necessarily equal salvation. Consider prevenient grace, all persons are recipients of God’s prevenient grace, but not all persons are saved. Salvation is a result of justifying grace, and justifying grace is not what baptism expresses. Rather baptism is a sign of that grace (prevenient grace) which is already at work, and of sanctifying grace which we believe the person will mature in. But salvation is a work of God that comes as a result of God’s justifying grace, which is quite obviously something that God declares to be at work and true in our lives.

When we speak of the Biblical concept of justification, we are referring to the Greek term dikaiosune which means “to declare righteous”; it is a legal term as in the declaration of a verdict. Now, the Latin Vulgate had translated this Greek term dikaiosune with the Latin word justificare, and many of the doctrines of the Church were built around it. Justificare means “to make righteous”. Close in meaning to, but though subtlely, still importantly different from the idea “to declare righteous”. But it is important to note that it was not Luther than made the change, rather it was a loyal Catholic, Erasmus. He and a host of classical scholars recognized that the Greek text required an understanding of justification that referred to a change in status rather than a change in behavior or mode of being. Remember, Erasmus had no doctrinal stake in this matter. He was not only a loyal son of the Roman church; he had engaged in heated polemics with Luther over free will. Nevertheless, he was Europe’s leading authority on the classical languages and could not overlook the glaring mistranslations.

J. A. Fitzmyer, a New Testament scholar teaching at Catholic University, Washington, recognizes that justification is understood in the biblical text to mean legal acquittal and not a process of growth in inherent righteousness. Fitzmyer writes: “Justification in the Old Testament denotes one who stood acquitted or vindicated before a judge’s tribunal…This uprightness (righteousness) does not belong to human beings (Rom. 10:3), and is not something that they produced or merited; it is an alien uprightness, one belonging to another (Christ) and attributed to them because of what that other had done for them…This justification comes about by grace and through faith” (Fr. Joseph Fitzmyer, SJ, The New Jerome Biblical Commentary). [Emphasis mine.]

So, justification is something that happens in a moment, it is not something we work at over time, rather it is an instantaneous act of God who simply declares it so and it is. The verbal ending of dikaiow is declarative; if the biblical writers intended by ‘justification’ a process of moral transformation, there is a perfectly good verbal ending for that sort of thing in Greek: adzo rather than owhagiodzo

,’ and this word is never rendered ‘to justify.’ When the biblical writers refer to justification, they use the declarative ending; when they refer to sanctification, they use the progressive ending.

Now, this is not to argue that justification is all there is. We are saved and (contrary to the teaching of some reformed theology) we must continue to work out our salvation, this is the process of sanctification. For though God declares us righteous, we have no righteousness of our own, it is holy that of Christ attribute to us without merit. But, God’s active grace continues to work in us whereby we might indeed be transformed and find that we actually grow in holiness before God. In this we actually cooperate with God so that holiness is both an act of God’s grace and our own works of faith. But salvation has already been accomplish merely by God’s own action of declaring it so.

Thank you for the mini lesson. AMEN!!!

 

[SFLCatholic]

If you look at Ephesians 2:8-10—it says we are saved through faith and it is a GIFT and not of yourself–so it cannot be a work. Otherwise we can boast and really the only thing we should boast about is Christ’s work on the cross. make sense

There is a scripture that refers to only boasting in Christ. It is in one of Paul’s letters. Ill see if I can find it.

You need to re-read the whole verse.

“For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them” Gal 2:10

Paul is not necessarily saying that Faith alone is it. You have only concentrated on the lines that serve your purpose while casting away verse 10.

Faith has enabled you to recieve God’s grace. But it doesn’t end there.

Paul is saying that once you recieve the Grace as a result of your faith act, you are now an instument to manifest works. You are now a part of the Body of Christ and are under an obligation tp manifest good works.

Again, your Faith has opened the door. But you must and are commanded to act on that gift of Grace.

 

[SFLCatholic]

How? I don’t know, but I know that what you claim is not the teaching of the Catholic church, unless it says one thing at one time and another on a different occasion. The Council of Trent declared:

I agree with you. I was asking BrandenRush

But you are right on target with your post!

 

[MelanieAnne]

This is just my opinion, but my belief is that everyone nitpicking words here should be ashamed.

Catholics do not believe that they can “earn” salvation by good works. Anyone who says that/believes that is wrong and does not understand the Catholic faith and they should STOP because they are WRONG. To do otherwise only shows their own ignorance or bias.

Similarly, it is preposterous to believe that you can accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior and be “born again” and then go out and commit serious sin, such as murder, under the illusion of “once saved always saved”.

Faith and good works are intertwined. If we are truly “born again” as the evangelicals like to talk about, which is a change of heart, a change in how we behave, no matter what you might call it, then we experience a change of our life too. We change. We act differently. We behave differently. We do that because of that change of heart, that change in how we behave. We don’t do “good works” because we are trying to “earn salvation”, we do them because we value the salvation we have been given and because of that we glorify God.

Stop and think. God knows your heart. He doesn’t need “works” to know your heart. But He has also asked us to do good works to glorify Him. He wants us to do this and, in view of the salvation already given to us, how can we refuse?

I call on all of my Christian brothers and sisters to have a care as to the grief you are causing for our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who sacrificed so much for us, who now has to look upon all this nitpicking argument. How sorrowful He must be to watch this unfold.

And I will leave you with a passage of scripture ~

Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Heavenly Father.

Mathew 5:16

Let us go forth in peace to Love and Serve the Lord and show the world our faith as we glorify our Heavenly Father.