Faith, Good Works, or... Grace
My family and I went to Lifest yesterday. Lifest is a Christian music celebration - a "party with a purpose" as they say of themselves. Bob Lenz, the guy in charge, was up on stage speaking between shows, showing off a new t-shirt design that they are selling. BGTF, it says - by grace through faith.
I have thought a lot about this idea of being saved by faith vs being saved by good works. Now, let's get one thing straight right off the bat. Protestants tend to think that Catholics actually believe we are saved by good works, and we Catholics get a lot of flack for that. But a Catholic that actually understands his or her faith understands that, while God does indeed care about our decisions and does indeed care about how we treat others and about what we do "for the least of [His] brothers," we are not "saved" by our good works.
I am onboard with this idea - no, this truth - that we are saved by grace. Let's examine this.
First of all, faith: are we "saved by faith?" If I walk to our dining area and say to my dining room table, I have faith in you. Heal me, or better yet, redeem me. Will the table do that? Or the tree in my backyard? Or, let's look at something with a soul. Will my husband do that for me? Will he redeem me? No? But I have faith! I can put all the faith I can muster into them, but they will not save me. Nor will my making an act of faith in them redeem me. But if I turn to Jesus and say the same thing, is He able to heal or redeem me? Yes! What is the difference? Jesus is God! He has the power to heal me, to redeem me, to save me. What do we call that power? Grace! We are "saved by grace!" Without the grace, even with all the faith we have, we cannot be redeemed.
Faith, however, does have an important role to play. Jesus has given us free will. He will not force Himself, His healing power, or His redemption upon us. No, He waits on us. He limits Himself, who is limitless, to waiting for our act of faith. "Your faith has made you well," he told many whom He healed as He walked the earth. As we have seen, it was not their faith, but His grace and power, that healed them; however, their faith can be said to have allowed or invited God to exercise that power. Without that faith, God would not have acted. An act of faith invites God to act, whether in our own lives or in another person's life. An act of faith invites God Himself into our lives and into our hearts that He may be present to us.
So, what of good works then? My answer will depend on the definition of "good works." If one speaks of good works in terms of the Jewish Law, we have to be careful. While Jesus says, "I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it," much of the old law does not apply to us. We are still held to the 10 Commandments, but we are not held to all the ceremonial washings, for example. Yet, though held to them, we are offered forgiveness when we do not fulfill the Commandments. A Catholic who understands his or her faith believes, just as a Protestant who understands his or her faith believes, that God desires and welcomes us, loves us deeply, no matter what we have done. He wants us to come to Him just as we are. He wants to wrap His arms, His very being around us, right now and forever.
But if we want to speak of good works in terms of love, then we really have something to talk about. This idea is very different from the "good works" of the Pharisees, who believed that following the Jewish Law and precepts would be their salvation. Those "good works" of the Pharisees are the same good works that St. Paul condemns in his letters. No, let's speak of love instead. St. Paul says, "These three remain: faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love." And he tells us, "...if I have faith that can move mountains but have not love, I am nothing." Clearly, love is important and is even more important than faith. True love, however, is best born of faith and grows out of faith and hope. There is an important relationship there, and the three work closely together.
Then, what is love? Love in the Bible is often translated "charity." This kind of love, charity, is not specifically giving money to the poor, though it certainly can take that form at times. Charity, love, is making a gift of oneself, a sacrifice of sorts, not unlike Jesus' sacrifice of love on the cross. We are called to offer this sort of love. We are not left off the hook, no matter how much faith we have (though we are always welcome to turn to God in a spirit of repentance when we do not love as we are called to do, and He will always forgive and welcome us back).
In fact, Jesus links this sort of charity to our being welcomed into eternal life. "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food, thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me.... Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me'" (Matthew 25:34-35,40). He directly links our charity and love for our fellow humans to love for Him. It is not simply about doing good and being good people but doing good out of love for Jesus. Our love is a response to His sacrifice, a faith called to action, and a demonstration of that faith. For us Christians, this sort of charity is not optional. God very clearly states its importance and its necessity for entering eternal life.
Both faith and love are necessary and work closely together. One cannot separate true faith from true love.
Despite this, neither our faith nor our love - even our faith in and love for Jesus Himself - will get us into eternal life. They will not redeem us. As with any act of faith, an act of love or any action on our part at all has no power over death. It is God alone - His power and His grace working through His sacrifice - that has power over death and true power to save us.
I was tempted to buy one of these t-shirts at Lifest yesterday. If the t-shirt had read BGTFAL - by grace through faith and love, I think you would have seen me sporting a new t-shirt today.
I have thought a lot about this idea of being saved by faith vs being saved by good works. Now, let's get one thing straight right off the bat. Protestants tend to think that Catholics actually believe we are saved by good works, and we Catholics get a lot of flack for that. But a Catholic that actually understands his or her faith understands that, while God does indeed care about our decisions and does indeed care about how we treat others and about what we do "for the least of [His] brothers," we are not "saved" by our good works.
I am onboard with this idea - no, this truth - that we are saved by grace. Let's examine this.
First of all, faith: are we "saved by faith?" If I walk to our dining area and say to my dining room table, I have faith in you. Heal me, or better yet, redeem me. Will the table do that? Or the tree in my backyard? Or, let's look at something with a soul. Will my husband do that for me? Will he redeem me? No? But I have faith! I can put all the faith I can muster into them, but they will not save me. Nor will my making an act of faith in them redeem me. But if I turn to Jesus and say the same thing, is He able to heal or redeem me? Yes! What is the difference? Jesus is God! He has the power to heal me, to redeem me, to save me. What do we call that power? Grace! We are "saved by grace!" Without the grace, even with all the faith we have, we cannot be redeemed.
Faith, however, does have an important role to play. Jesus has given us free will. He will not force Himself, His healing power, or His redemption upon us. No, He waits on us. He limits Himself, who is limitless, to waiting for our act of faith. "Your faith has made you well," he told many whom He healed as He walked the earth. As we have seen, it was not their faith, but His grace and power, that healed them; however, their faith can be said to have allowed or invited God to exercise that power. Without that faith, God would not have acted. An act of faith invites God to act, whether in our own lives or in another person's life. An act of faith invites God Himself into our lives and into our hearts that He may be present to us.
So, what of good works then? My answer will depend on the definition of "good works." If one speaks of good works in terms of the Jewish Law, we have to be careful. While Jesus says, "I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it," much of the old law does not apply to us. We are still held to the 10 Commandments, but we are not held to all the ceremonial washings, for example. Yet, though held to them, we are offered forgiveness when we do not fulfill the Commandments. A Catholic who understands his or her faith believes, just as a Protestant who understands his or her faith believes, that God desires and welcomes us, loves us deeply, no matter what we have done. He wants us to come to Him just as we are. He wants to wrap His arms, His very being around us, right now and forever.
But if we want to speak of good works in terms of love, then we really have something to talk about. This idea is very different from the "good works" of the Pharisees, who believed that following the Jewish Law and precepts would be their salvation. Those "good works" of the Pharisees are the same good works that St. Paul condemns in his letters. No, let's speak of love instead. St. Paul says, "These three remain: faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love." And he tells us, "...if I have faith that can move mountains but have not love, I am nothing." Clearly, love is important and is even more important than faith. True love, however, is best born of faith and grows out of faith and hope. There is an important relationship there, and the three work closely together.
Then, what is love? Love in the Bible is often translated "charity." This kind of love, charity, is not specifically giving money to the poor, though it certainly can take that form at times. Charity, love, is making a gift of oneself, a sacrifice of sorts, not unlike Jesus' sacrifice of love on the cross. We are called to offer this sort of love. We are not left off the hook, no matter how much faith we have (though we are always welcome to turn to God in a spirit of repentance when we do not love as we are called to do, and He will always forgive and welcome us back).
In fact, Jesus links this sort of charity to our being welcomed into eternal life. "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food, thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me.... Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me'" (Matthew 25:34-35,40). He directly links our charity and love for our fellow humans to love for Him. It is not simply about doing good and being good people but doing good out of love for Jesus. Our love is a response to His sacrifice, a faith called to action, and a demonstration of that faith. For us Christians, this sort of charity is not optional. God very clearly states its importance and its necessity for entering eternal life.
Both faith and love are necessary and work closely together. One cannot separate true faith from true love.
Despite this, neither our faith nor our love - even our faith in and love for Jesus Himself - will get us into eternal life. They will not redeem us. As with any act of faith, an act of love or any action on our part at all has no power over death. It is God alone - His power and His grace working through His sacrifice - that has power over death and true power to save us.
I was tempted to buy one of these t-shirts at Lifest yesterday. If the t-shirt had read BGTFAL - by grace through faith and love, I think you would have seen me sporting a new t-shirt today.
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