Is faith without works dead as mentioned in James 2:14 through 23 or is
it a gift from God not as a result of works as stated in Ephesians 2:8 through
9.
yeah, faith and works, this is an issue and a
problem that was basically created when Martin Luther during the Reformation ...
well, started the Reformation objecting the requirement of the Roman Church at
the time for people to have indulgences and pay money and and their
works was part of their salvation and the thing of money to have sins forgiven
and things like that was part of that process. And of course, Luther was
right that there was no such thing, that it could not be supported by the
Christian tradition and by the Scriptures. But he he went too far in
some ways to reject works and he used the scriptures to do that but did the
scriptures actually talk about works as he understood it or was it something
different? And that's where I I think we need to focus. And here is
what I would say that, in the Eastern Church, in the Orthodox Church, there was
never a dichotomy between faith and works because faith produces works, good
works. And good works can be the reflection of that faith that we have so
we don't reject the one versus the other and we don't focus on the one
versus the other, the two go together and and we have had that all a long.
Now, what happened now with Luther is that he speaks about, he rejects the concept of
works based on what Saint Paul said and then
he focuses on faith alone and that Sola Fide, the faith alone
is really what that the emphasis of Luther on Sola Fide
is what people bring up today to basically dispute works. So, he's based
on the verse, "for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves
and it is a gift of God," which is from Ephesians 2:8 ... "not of works lest anyone
should boast," that's Ephesians 2:9 and I actually
agree with him and I think the Orthodox Fathers, the eastern Fathers
and the Orthodox Church still agrees with that. That it's not anything that we
would do that would save us but it is the faith in Christ. So our faith is
Christocentric, it is based on Christ and that is what saves us. But that doesn't
mean that we shouldn't do any works because at the same time Christ, in his
parable of the Last Judgement, says I was hungry and you didn't feed me, I was
thirsty and you didn't give me water, I was in prison you didn't come to visit
me, I you know I was naked and you did cloth me. Well, isn't that works and he
in a way bases salvation only on works. In that case if you look at it
independently of everything else, okay. So, somebody can take the parable and say
look he's only talking about works, good works, so good works will help
you to enter the Kingdom of God. Is that so?
Not really. It's faith in Christ that produces good works that will save us,
that brings us to salvation. So, I think that that is reflected in Saints James, in
the Epistle of Saint James, in chapter 2 verses 14 to 22 basically, where
he talks about faith balanced by works. And he really gives a good
description of really how we should look at this and unfortunately it was Martin
Luther who saw this, because he was so focused on faith alone, he
actually wanted to basically discard the book of James and take it out of the New
Testament because it was working against his teaching. Of course,
he didn't do that in the end but that is an indication of how far to one side
Luther went and we need to be careful not to be one-sided either. There is a
balance and there is no dichotomy between faith and works. So, what does it
profit my brethren if someone says he has faith but does not have good works
Can faith save him if a brother or
sister is naked and destitute of daily food and one of you says to them depart
in peace be warmed and filled but you do not give them the things which are
needed for the body what does it profit? What does it profit you and what does it
profit them? You can claim your faith but you left the person naked and hungry is
that really what the Lord is asking for you to do? Thus, also faith by itself, if
it does not have works, is dead. Faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead.
But someone will say you have faith and I have works show me your faith without
your works and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there
is one God and you do well. Even the demons believe and they tremble. So the
demons have faith and they tremble in front of God but are they saved?
So the demons know who God is, they know better than we do and they believe
in Him, they believe in him as God because they, you know, I mean they are
under Him and they tremble in front of Him more than human beings. But are they
saved? That's the question but do you know, do you want to know, oh foolish
man, that faith without works is dead? I'll give you an example, Saint James says, and
he gives the example of Abraham. Was not Abraham our Father justified by
works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Ok, that was the ultimate
test of his faith. So do you see that faith was working together with his
works and by works faith was made perfect, faith was proved in Abraham
through his obedience to God that in a way that he was willing to sacrifice his
son at the command of God. So, I'll go back and say that this this debate about
faith and works is a deviation in a way from where we should be because
there's no dichotomy between faith and works and faith without works is dead
and works without faith have no effect on us. So, Christ is at the center,
our faith in Christ is really what's important and that faith in Christ will
produce good works in us. Now, we're simple talks about faith and works in
other cases he's talking about the Old Testament requirements or the Jewish Law
requirements of works and Saint Paul says that we moved beyond the requirements of
the Old Testament works of the Law to fulfill the Law and that may be another
way to look at what that was. But the commandments are still there and the
commandments are about good works. The Ten Commandments. It's faith in God,
honoring your parents, not stealing, not committing adultery, not lying, not coveting,
other people's things or wives or whatever they have. That is good works as
well and we still hold to that even as Christians. We never gave it up.
So the commandments are an expression of our faith in God
when we surrendered to Him and we obey Him and we do them. So, there are
multiple ways to look at these combination of faith and works and the
two belong together and the two are dependent on each other and one cannot
be without the other.