"All our justices as the rag of a menstruous woman" [
Isaias 64:6]. "Our Justices" are works of the Jewish law, the Jewish sacrifices, sacraments, and cleansing ceremonies. Without good works there can be no Salvation. It seems that when you left the Church you left God behind, or found a more likeable god. Citing this verse to mean every work of charity is a "rag of a menstruous woman" illustrates why St. Peter warned of "private interpretation".
[2 Peter 1:20] The verse means that works without the grace of God are not meritorious. Merit remains even with a prevenient grace or actual grace. As I've mentioned before, without the justification found in our Baptism every act is an act of deprivation and is without merit,
True, because it's built into the Protestant paradigm. "Once Saved Always Save", "Bible Alone", "Faith Alone" are categorical examples of the majority of Protestants fail the "True Faith"
True.
What? Are you denying Scripture? St. Paul explicitly states that faith does not stand alone but with the obedience to the faith of Christ.
[Romans 1:5;16:26].
I addressed
Isaias 64:6 above. Without St. Paul's obedience of faith, there is no work that merits. However obedience to faith moves us to the baptismal founts of the Catholic Church.
Once again, another out of context quote from the bible.The verse does not make your point that somehow works cannot be meritorious falls flat. God's works in our creation is does not merit us. However, failing obedience to His grace in good works fails faith. Mankind has free will, nothing 'makes' us do works of charity, we do so out of our obedience to love of Christ.
JoeT
Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith
What does the phrase "the obedience that comes from faith" mean? This phrase can be interpreted in one of two ways. The first way is to say it refers to the obedience that faith produces or is its result. The second way is to say the phrase means "unto obedience, the very nature of which is faith" or "faith, which is obedience." The Gospel message is not a suggestion. It is a command to repent and have faith - faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It is
propositional. We either obey the command of the Gospel or we disobey. What does obedience result in? Faith.
I think both interpretations have merit. Certainly, as James points out in his epistle, faith should and must produce obedience the fruit of that which is good works. "Faith" without obedience is dead faith. True saving faith
always results in obedience. We are still sinners and will not always obey but we will
intend to obey and be gradually
sanctified into increasing obedience. Where does that obedience come from - it comes from faith. Faith gives birth to obedience. Faith precedes obedience.
It is also true that our obedience to the Gospel results in faith. The Gospel is a command, a proposition. If we are obedient to that command we respond in faith. This is not commenting on the source of faith. While we do exercise faith, our faith is itself a gift of God's grace.
The first interpretation does not say that obedience is required for salvation. Paul negated that argument when he wrote:
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
This makes clear that salvation is "through faith" and "not as a result of works." How then can anyone say good works are a requirement for salvation? There is no other possible way to understand this verse than to conclude that
works have no part in salvation!
Then what about James?
What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. (James 2:14-17)
Some people use these verses to argue that salvation requires works. We first must understand that Scripture does not contradict itself. God does not say salvation cannot be the result of works then turn around and say salvation requires works! God is not of two minds and God certainly does not contradict Himself. So how do we reconcile what Paul wrote with what James wrote?
James answers the question for us. He contrasts two types of faith. One type of faith is "dead faith." It is an empty faith. It is the faith of someone who might have intellectually agreed with the Gospel but never surrendered their will to the Gospel. The Gospel is more than just a set of facts to be believed. Part of the Gospel is acknowledging that Jesus is Lord and what that implies. If you say Jesus is Lord but
do nothing to obey him, your statement is a lie. You do not truly see him as your Lord. If I say I believe that walking in front of a speeding car will kill me and that I have no desire to die but walk in front of a speeding car then I am either out of my mind or did not truly believe walking in front of a speeding car would kill me. The same if I said that drinking poison would kill me then drink poison. In obeying the Gospel we do more than acknowledge Jesus is Lord,
we surrender ourselves to his lordship. That is why Jesus said that whoever would follow him must talk up his cross daily. If you just mouth the words acknowledging Jesus is Lord but
make no commitment of the will to follow him as Lord, then you
don't have saving faith. That is what James calls "dead faith." It is not genuine faith and so it cannot save you.
Salvation is by faith alone but it does not leave us alone (or as James puts it in verse 17 "being by itself") God is not interested in just freeing us from the
penalty of sin but freeing us from the
power of sin. He wants to make us like Jesus. Jesus was free from the penalty of sin because sin had no power over him. In freeing us from the power of sin, God begins the work of sanctification in our lives by which sin gradually loses its power over us as we cooperate with his grace. To us, this cooperation is a choice but at the same time, it is done by the power of God's grace as
He changes us. Sanctification does not begin until after we receive salvation.
If sanctification preceded salvation then salvation would be dependent on works and Paul made it clear that works have no part in salvation. God doesn't wait until we have cleaned up our act before deciding whether or not to save us.
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
No, Christ died for us while we were sinners. Jesus didn't die just to make salvation possible for us. He died to actually save us. Revelation tells us that God's elect had their names written in the Book of Life before the foundations of the world. God chose to save you before He even created you. It is not that God could foresee your choices and act beforehand as a result of them. God knows the future because God wills the future. He foreordains events.
It is God who saves us. We don't save ourselves. God gives us faith and then the grace to obey Him. He does not merely forgive us but changes us. If we say we have faith but our lives show no sign of faith, then we have a dead faith and that is exactly what James addresses. There were people in his time as well as today who call themselves Christians but there is no evidence to support that claim. Such Christians give Christianity a bad name as non-believers meet such people and then conclude Christians are just a bunch of hypocrites who talk the talk but don't walk the walk. There is no friction between what Paul wrote and what James wrote. Salvation is not the result of works. We are saved before we have any good works (our works are as filthy rags). After we are saved, we walk in good works
God has prepared beforehand for us.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)
This verse comes right after Paul writes that salvation comes by faith and not by works. Good works come from God who has prepared them for us
beforehand. Why would works be required for salvation if God prepared them beforehand for us? How would that be a test of our worthiness? We are
His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.
Note the order. God gives us grace which produces faith which saves us and then He sanctifies us through good works He has prepared beforehand for us.
If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8)
James could have made a similar statement (and does but in more words) by saying,
If we say we have faith, but have not works, we are deceiving ourselves and our faith is dead.
There are two kinds of faith, wrote James, real faith that results in good works and dead faith that is alone without any good works. Real faith, wrote Paul, is the result of faith (given to us by grace) and not as the result of works that no man may boast.
