Faith Without Works

One of the many heresies invented at the time of the Protestant Rebellion was the notion that man could be saved by faith alone.  In spite of their protestations that their sole and supreme source of belief was “the Bible”, this heresy plainly goes against the words of Holy Scripture.  The Epistle of St. James, for example, clearly proclaims that “Faith without works is dead,” an inconvenient truth for the Protestants who responded in simple fashion by removing the Epistle of St. James from their bibles.

What exactly do they mean when they say that man is saved by faith alone?  They intend to convey the impression that simply by acknowledging Christ as their Savior this is enough to get to heaven.  For them, it seems to matter little as to the kind of lifestyle they may lead once they make that acknowledgment about Christ as their personal Savior.  After all, Christ died for all our sins, past, present and future, which are washed away by his Death on the Cross.  So if they’re already washed away, there doesn’t seem to be much harm in committing them, right?  This is a most unfortunate interpretation of Holy Scripture, one that is obviously not sanctioned by the authority of our Holy Mother Church (which they neither seek nor accept), and one which has undoubtedly resulted in the loss of many thousands of souls.  It was Martin Luther who came up with the following blasphemous encouragement to his followers: “Be a sinner and sin strongly, but more strongly have faith and rejoice in Christ.”

Many Protestants have had the good sense and instinctive knowledge not to rejoice as they commit their sins and to privately follow Catholic teaching instead.  After all, so many other passages in Scripture refute Luther’s ridiculously impossible invention that works (in other words, good works, virtuous works and above all charitable works) are unnecessary for salvation.  Take for example the Gospel of St. Matthew, in which our Lord describes the Last Judgment and the separation of the sheep from the goats.  The words of the divine Judge can never be reconciled with the beliefs of Luther.  He addresses the goats: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:  I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.” Christ the Judge rebukes those at his left hand, not because they don’t believe in him but because they have not done good works.  The goats certainly believe on him—listen to their answer: “Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst,” and so on, “and did not minister unto thee?” as if they hoped by their dead faith to attain unto life eternal.

Think also of the Ten Commandments, the last seven of which prescribe our behavior towards our neighbor.  “If ye love me,” said our Lord, “ye will keep my commandments.”  These commandments are not merely the ten given to Moses.  These were condensed by our Lord himself to just two in number, to love God above all things, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  The virtue of charity in both cases, displayed not by words but by actions—good works.  “If I have all faith so that I could remove mountains,” says St. Paul, “and have not charity, I am nothing.”