{"id":13772,"date":"2013-10-31T07:00:43","date_gmt":"2013-10-31T14:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/?p=13772"},"modified":"2017-11-08T13:48:35","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T20:48:35","slug":"faith-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2013\/10\/31\/faith-alone\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith alone?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MartinOne essential difference which divides Catholics and many Protestants is the question of faith and works in salvation.\u00a0The disagreement began at the Reformation. In fact, the “material principle”<\/em> of the Reformation was that we are saved\u00a0“Sola Fide”<\/em><\/span>, by “Faith Alone”<\/em>\u00a0and that works have no place in our\u00a0justification whatsoever.<\/p>\n

This subject often comes up when speaking with Protestants. I think most Catholics have had the experience at one point or another of being told by a Protestant that Catholicism doesn’t preach the Gospel, teaching instead that we have to earn<\/span> our salvation. St. Paul’s epistles to the Romans and Galatians are often cited during such an exchange.<\/p>\n

When this has happened to me in the past, I tend not to dwell too long upon the person’s interpretation of Paul’s epistles. I usually simply point out that in those letters St. Paul is contrasting faith in Christ with the works of the Mosaic Law<\/span>. I turn then to the Epistle of James,\u00a0since it presents a bit of a problem if someone wishes to say we’re saved by faith alone…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Epistle of Straw…which sends Sola Fide up in flames…<\/h2>\n

Martin Luther was not a fan of the Epistle of James, in no small part because it contradicted his newly-invented doctrine of “Sola Fide”<\/em>. James’ letter is the only time in Scripture that you find the words “by faith alone”<\/span><\/em>, but unfortunately for Luther those words are preceded by another word:\u00a0“not”<\/em><\/span>!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/sup>You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone<\/span><\/em> – James 2:24<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This caused such a problem for Luther that in his German translation of the Bible he excluded James from the canon of the New Testament, calling it an “epistle of straw”<\/em>, and relegating it to an appendix.<\/span>\u00a0Could you imagine a pastor doing that today?! Taking a book of Scripture out of the Bible because it interfered with his theories of salvation?!<\/p>\n

Anyway, Luther’s followers eventually managed to convince him to move James back into the New Testament canon (phew!). However, it is still a book of Scripture which causes all kinds of problems for those who hold to the doctrine of\u00a0“Sola Fide”<\/em>…<\/p>\n

One way to approach the discussion…<\/h2>\n

My approach when speaking to proponents of “Sola Fide”<\/em> is to ask them a series of Bible-based questions to see how well their answers fit with Luther’s 16th Century doctrine.<\/p>\n

1. Can a dead<\/span> faith save you?<\/span>
\n 2. Can a barren<\/span> faith save you?<\/span>
\n 3.\u00a0Can an incomplete<\/span> faith save you?<\/span><\/p>\n

Hopefully, they’ll say “No”<\/em><\/span> to each of these questions. I then go on…<\/p>\n

1. So you’re saying that you need a faith that’s alive<\/span>?<\/span>
\n 2. So you’re saying that you need a fruitful<\/span> faith?<\/span>
\n 3.\u00a0So you’re saying that you need a complete<\/span> faith?<\/span><\/p>\n

Hopefully, they’ll say “Yes”<\/em><\/span> to each of these questions. Lastly, I ask one final set of questions:<\/p>\n

1. How is faith given life<\/span>?<\/span>
\n 2. How is a barren faith made fruitful<\/span>?<\/span>
\n 3.\u00a0What is the difference<\/span> between a complete faith and an incomplete faith?<\/span><\/p>\n

The answer, according to the Epistle of James, is “Works”<\/em><\/span>.\u00a0In his epistle, James teaches that faith must be living<\/span>, fruitful<\/span> and complete<\/span>:<\/p>\n

1. Living Faith<\/strong>
\nIn the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action<\/span>, is dead<\/span><\/em>\u00a0– James 2:17<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Fruitful Faith<\/strong>
\nDo you want to be shown, you foolish fellow, that faith apart from works<\/span> is\u00a0barren<\/span>?<\/em>\u00a0– James 2:20<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Complete Faith<\/strong>
\n[Abraham’s] faith was made complete<\/span> by what he did<\/span><\/em>\u00a0– James\u00a02:22<\/span><\/p>\n

At no point does James complain about his readers’ faith. At no point does he tell them that they need a better faith. What he complains about is the absence of works. If you add these works, he says, you will have a saving faith.<\/p>\n

The Catholic Church does not teach that we earn our salvation. In fact, the Church condemned such an assertion in the Fifth Century! Instead, the Church teaches that we saved by grace through faith, but not<\/span> by faith\u00a0alone<\/span>.\u00a0The most succinct Catholic teaching concerning salvation comes from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians where he says the following:<\/p>\n

“The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” –\u00a0<\/em>Galatians 5:6<\/span>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One essential difference which divides Catholics and many Protestants is the question of faith and works in salvation.\u00a0The disagreement began at the Reformation. In fact, the “material principle” of the Reformation was that we are saved\u00a0“Sola Fide”, by “Faith Alone”\u00a0and that works have no place in our\u00a0justification whatsoever. This subject often comes up when speaking with Protestants. I think most<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,17],"tags":[1904,2969,1905,812],"class_list":["post-13772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apologetics","category-faith","tag-faith-alone","tag-featured","tag-reformation","tag-sola-fide"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13772"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65841,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13772\/revisions\/65841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}