Good Works
James 2:22-26: You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works, and the scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness"; and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was also Rahab the harlot justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3: If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Matthew 7:21: "Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven."
Mark 16:16: "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned."
Both faith and good works are necessary for salvation. This is the witness of Scripture. Martin Luther was so possessed by his "faith alone" theory that he even inserted the word "alone" into his version of the bible. When told about his error, he responded that he would not remove it even if an angel from heaven were to tell him to do so. Catholics rightly contend that faith must be actualized with charity. We profess and make real our faith, not only with an assent of the mind and our words, but with our heart and our actions. Christ is only "our personal Lord and Savior" if we exercise necessary faith and good works. The incarnation of Christ, first into human flesh and now into our souls by grace, allows him to perpetuate his ministry through our lives and us. Good works have merit precisely because the Lord living in us ultimately performs them. Since faith and good works are required, it becomes an imperative that we reject the view of Luther. It does make a difference what we believe. The consensus on this issue from modern day Lutherans and Catholics is evidence of a positive development in mainline Protestantism upon this point as well as a reconciliatory stance from Catholicism.
posted by Father Joe Jenkins | 11:27 PM
2 Comments:
GOOD WORKS
For you to think this kind of salvation is exactly like New Testament salvation, only proves you do not accurately study your Bible (2 Tim. 2:15).
According to the text you pull to try to prove a "works" salvation, you "conveniently" left out verse 21.
"Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?"
Concerning Abraham's "justification," note that verse 21 separated Abraham's IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS (see Rom. 4:22) from his JUSTIFICATION by more than 15 years! (it was not done simultaneously like ours is in the church age.) Not only that, Abraham's sins were not "taken away" ever after righteousness was imputed to him (see Hebrews 10:4), ours is!
Let's look a little more closely comparing Scripture with Scripture. Here we have:
"For if Abraham were justified by works, [James says he was] he hath whereof to glory; but not before God." --Rom. 4:2
Okay, we see that Abraham's works did not justify him in the way we're justified for salvation, because if Abraham could have gloried, he couldn't have before God. But let's not stop there. Look at the next verse:
"For what saith the scripture? Abraham *believed God,* and it was counted unto him for righteousness." --Rom. 4:3
Now, what you read so far is that Abraham was justified by faith, Abraham was not justified by works, Abraham believed God, and was imputed to him for righteousness. There were no works involved when Abraham was imputed with righteousness.
Now go to James 2.
"Was not Abraham our father justified by works, [Paul said he wasn't] WHEN he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?" -James 2:21
Now, look closely. Paul, in the Book of Romans, wasn't talking about that. In Rom. 4:2 and 3, Paul wasn't talking about Abraham offering up Isaac, he was talking about Abraham going out there at night and believing that he would have as much seed as the stars in heaven. So we have to make a distinction here. When God calls Abraham out and tells him to look at the stars and says "so shall thy seed be," and he believed in the Lord and is imputed him for righteousness, that's Genesis 15. Then many years later, after Isaac is born, he takes him out there and he's "justified by works" when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar. Then they are not the same passage at all. Paul is talking about one thing and James the other. Righteousness was imputed to Abraham (by simply believing God) 15 years before he got justified (WHEN he did something...offer Isaac). Abraham's righteousness and justification was not simultaneously applied in his life like ours is. Abraham wasn't justified completely until he offered up Isaac on the alter. His works completed his faith.
Yes, Abraham was justified by works WHEN he offered up Isaac upon the altar. (He did something for justification)
Yes, Rahab was justified by works when she hid the spies.
Yes, works were involved in their justification. Does your justification involve works? If so, then you are depending on WORKS to save you and not the Blood of Jesus Christ. Your completed justification does not come by your good works as Abraham's did. I don't know about you, but every born again believer's justification is by the grace of God (Rom. 3:24), we are justified by faith (Rom. 5:1), and a Christian is justified by the blood of Christ (Rom. 5:9), and notice that not once does it say we are justified by water baptism and works.
SCRIPTURE CITATIONS
1 Corinthians 13:1-3: If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Matthew 7:21: "Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven."
I don't know why you are quoting these passages. Do you think these deny born again Christians eternal life? They don't. Besides, you would do well to know there is a difference between the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God. (see Kingdom of God Vs. Kingdom of Heaven)
SCRIPTURE CITATION
Mark 16:16: "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned."
Does the last part say, "but he that believeth not and is not baptized shall be damned? No. It simply says "he that believeth not shall be damned." It is unbelief that damns a person, not the lack of city water baptism. Water baptism doesn't save.
FAITH & WORKS
Nowhere for a New Testament Christians does it say that "faith and good works are necessary for salvation." You are the one who is wanting the Bible to teach it what YOU think it means. You have wrest the Scriptures and are purely preaching ANOTHER GOSPEL. (Gal. 1:8-9)
Every true born again Christian knows he is not justified by God by "his own works." The Bible even tells us that, "not of works, lest any man should boast..Eph. 2:8,9.
In relation to Salvation, the Bible says it is not of works:
Not by works (Titus 3:5)
Not of works (Eph. 2:8,9)
No more of works (Romans 11:6)
Time does not permit, so I refer the reader to "Rightly Dividing" which shows how people will take passages like this Catholic priest just did to try and justify a 'works plus faith' salvation.
MARTIN LUTHER
No, Martin Luther added nothing, you are the one who added "good works." Eph. 2:5 makes it clear that "by grace ye are saved." Do you see anything else? It stands ALONE. It doesn't say we are saved by "grace and good works" as you have added.
Martin simply believed the Scriptures where it concerned the free gift of salvation. He knew it was by grace ONLY and not by GRACE PLUS WORKS which every Catholic Church, every Jehovah's Witnesses, every Church of Christ, Seventh Day Adventists, et. al. preach. You preach "another gospel." (Gal. 1:8,9). The Bible is clear that we are SAVED BY GRACE PLUS NOTHING. Grace, period. In Ephesians we read,
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."
Why do you have a problem with this? What are the complexities with such verses as Titus 3:5, Rom. 11:6, Eph. 2:8,9 etc.? Only an unregenerate man will run with passages that emphasize WORKS (Acts 2:38, Matt. 24:13, James 2:26, etc.). An unregenerate man will run to to complex verses to negate the clear ones. You would do well to "study" the Bible so you may engage in rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Tim. 2:15).
In Ephesians 2:8 and 9, it is clear that one is saved by GRACE and NOT OF WORKS. Grace is not of works (Rom. 11:6). In the Church Age, God will never justify a man who "works" for his salvation (Rom. 4:5). By works shall no man be justified (Gal. 3:11). No one has to work for salvation, it is a GIFT (Eph. 2:8), and a FREE GIFT (Rom. 5:15,16; Rom. 6:23). No one can work for it nor purchase it. It is a "gift of righteousness" (Rom. 5:17) which no Roman Catholic Church could ever give me. One must come to Christ (not the Roman Catholic Church) and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for this gift of eternal life and the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Now, not only are we saved BY GRACE, for Eph. 2:5 makes it clear "by grace ye are saved," but we are saved by grace THROUGH FAITH; and THAT not of yourselves." The "that" has to do with "faith." Faith is the medium.
LUTHER REFUSED TO ADMIT ERROR
The man was not in error, just like the many before him, all the way back to Acts 8 with the Ethiopian. Martin Luther simply had the courage to face the falsehood and wickedness of the Roman Catholic Church and her errors. Like so many others, he knew salvation was not by works. When confronted with the the gospel of Christ he believed, "for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth;" (Rom. 1:16)
FAITH AND CHARITY
You can reject anybody's view all you like, it doesn't negate the word of God. The bottom line is that the Roman Catholic Churches teaches that one must earn ("faith and good works") his way into heaven. If one must "earn" his way into heaven by "good works," then Christ's death on the cross was for nothing; this would make the "gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23), as stated in the Bible, a lie according to Rome.
CONSENSUS WITH LUTHERANS
Consensus on the issue from modern day Lutherans and Catholics means nothing.
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. " -Matt. 7:13,14
Jesus is elaborating a familiar doctrine found from Proverbs. (Prov. 14:12 and 16:25) The majority is wrong when it comes to matters of spiritual salvation (Roman Catholics, Calvinists, Campbellites, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormon , herans, Christian Science), and any other organization who teaches a "faith plus works" for salvation.
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