I’ve been reading this thread at the invitation of a friend and my mind is boggled that there are people still debating the question of faith vs. works. Just a few years ago, probably less than 15, the major players in Christianity: Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Lutheran, Anglicans (American Episcopalians), Baptists and Methodists reached an agreement on this question. They agreed that faith, hope and charity are necessary for salvation. How this did not trickle down to the masses of Christians in these churches boggles my mind.
They agreed on the following:
- Salvation comes from God alone. The Church is the teacher of the faith.
- By his glorious Cross Christ has won salvation for all men. He redeemed them from the sin that held them in bondage.
- Our salvation flows from God’s initiative of love for us, because “he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins” (1 Jn 4;10) “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor 5; 19).
- The flesh is the hinge of salvation. We believe in God who is creator of the flesh; we believe in the Word made flesh in order to redeem the flesh; we believe in the resurrection of the flesh; the fulfilment of both the creation and the redemption of the flesh.
- Divine providence works also through the actions of creatures. To human beings God grants the ability to cooperate freely with his plans so that our works are in union with the Divine plan for our salvation and in union with Christ’s work on the cross. Through our good works we cast in our lot with Christ on the cross.
- By charity we love God above all things and our neighbour as ourselves for love of God. Charity the form of all the virtues, “binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Col 3; 14). Therefore charity binds all things together in Christ who is perfect harmony. Without charity, there is no bond to Christ, for Christ’s saving act was the perfection of charity to which humans freely bind themselves through their love of God and neighbour or from which humans freely divorce themselves through injustice or indifference.
- The Apostle reminds us that “If I have not charity, I am nothing.” Whatever my privilege, service, or virtue, “if I have not charity, I gain nothing.” Charity is superior to all the virtues. It is the first of the virtues. “So faith, hope and charity abide, these three. But the greatest of these is charity.”
It was agreed by the major Christian Churches that Calvin and Luther’s teachings have been misconstrued, most likely due to the way the term “works salvation” was translated. For neither of them was against works of charity. Nor was either man of the belief that humanity had no responsibility in his own salvation. “Christ did save man, but man has to accept salvation in kind,” said Luther. In other words, man has to respond to God’s love through an act of selfless love. Calvin added asceticism to this. Man had to become detached from all that was worldly if he was to truly accept salvation. In the Wesleyan tradition (Methodist) man must engage in a method or a way of life that is consistent with Salvation, hence the term Methodism. As you see, the reformers were not against any kind of work or action on man’s part to achieve salvation. They were grossly mistranslated and misquoted. What they were opposed to was the idea that man could achieve salvation through his own efforts, but never did they deny that God grants man freedom to unite his efforts to those of Jesus. They never hold man free of responsibility; otherwise they would not have demanded methods of prayer, asceticism, reflection on the scriptures and even celebration of the sacraments. This is consistent with Catholicism and Judaism.
JR
There’s only so much you can do. Some people just like the straw man better.