Faith and works

The Catholic Church never has taught, and never will teach, that works by themselves will merit salvation. And on the other hand, there is no trace in the historical record that any Christians, from the Apostles up until the Sixteenth Century, taught that Faith alone saves, while works are merely a sign of that Faith. Of course a living Faith will issue in Works, but that does not deprive the works of any merit, because they still depend on an act of our Free Will. A large part of the Epistle of S. James is devoted precisely to correcting this kind of error. James was always accepted as Scripture until Luther, who at one point was for rejecting it as 'a right strawy epistle' and who had the temerity to add the word "alone" to the passage in Paul "Salvation is by faith *alone*". Copies of this edition of Luther are still in existence.

Advocates of Luther’s ‘Faith Alone’ dogma invariably quote Ephesians 2:8 – “For by grace you have been saved by faith; and this is not your own doing., it is the gift of God – not because of works, lest any man should boast.”

This verse in fact refutes the Pelagian Heresy that the *first* step towards God is taken by Man, not by God. This verse was cited by the Council of Orange (529 AD) in refutation of this heresy. The verse does not, however, state that good works have no merit at all. In Catholic theology, this ‘First Grace’ is called (in Latinised English) Prevenient Grace, and it is infallible Catholic teaching.

The New Testament abounds with passages that emphasise the importance of works. Apart from James, we have for example,

*Gal 5:6- "Faith that works by charity".

*Mt 25: 31-46 describes the Last Judgment as being based on works of charity.

*Mk12:30-31 - we are commanded to love our neighbour as ourself.

*When the Rich Young Man asked Our Lord what he must do to gain eternal life, Our Lord replied, not "Accept me as your Saviour" but "Keep the Commandments". (Mt19:17).

*In the Apocalypse (20:12) we are told that every man will be judged according to his works. "And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done".

*S. Paul warns that neglect of certain works will lead to exclusion from Eternal Life with God: (1Tim 5:8)- "But if any man have not care of his own, and especially of those of his house, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel".

*Christ at the Last Judgment will say, 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant' (Mt 25: 21, 23). He could not say this if none of the credit at all went to the person being judged.

=

The teaching of the Catholic Church is that

Once we are given this Grace, by a free gift of God, we may exercise our free will either to ‘correspond with’ this Grace by good works done for the love of God, or to neglect it. If we continue to refuse our gift of Grace, and especially if we continue in habitual sin, this Grace may be taken back, and God is under no moral obligation to bestow it again.

We are given no certain promise today that we will be in a State of Grace when we die. That is why S. Paul says ‘I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection, lest having preached to others, myself might be cast away.’ But if we continue to correspond with His Grace, avoiding sin, doing good works and availing of the Sacraments that he has instituted, we may have every ‘Good Christian Hope’ of being saved. Good Works performed for a purely worldy motive will be rewarded by God, who is infinitely just, in this life alone. Only works that are done for the love of God can gain the Merit that leads to Supernatural Life.

Just what is this supernatural life?

In Catholic teaching, Heaven is not just free sweeties: it is more as if our pet cat and dog were given the power to talk and join our human world. It would be beyond their nature; supernatural. In the same way, we have actually been promised that we will be lifted beyond our natural abilities and allowed to participate in the Life of the Holy Trinity: forever. That is the promise. But just as a cat cannot learn to talk by its own efforts, so we cannot make ourselves fit for Heaven by our own efforts alone.

We need the Gift of Supernatural Grace. This begins at baptism, and is renewed through our lives by prayer, good works offered to God, and especially the Sacraments of the Catholic Church.

=

S. Catherine of Siena was resolved to do penances for the conversion of sinners. But eventually God said to her: "But Catherine, do you not realise that if you performed the most extreme penances for you entire lifetime, the merit would not be enough to atone for even one venial sin? It is when you attach your works to My Passion that they participate in its Infinite Merit. Then I look at the love with which you have offered your penances, and apply the Merits of My Passion to them. It is in this way that you atone for sins".