James 2:14-18 Reflection

I have always heard that Protestants believe in Faith Alone and that Catholics believe in Faith and Works. Is this true?

Likewise, I have heard many say that they do not need God because they live a good life and do good “works” for others. Therefore, they are “loving their neighbor” so why do they need God.

So, which is it? Faith alone, Works alone, Faith and Works, or something completely different. In today’s world there are so many messages out there and everyone speaks with great conviction it is hard to know the truth. Thank God, as Catholics we can find the truth in our Catholic teachings. First off we have Sacred Scripture.

Our reading today from Sacred Scripture is from James and James has much to say on the topic. Just in these 4 verses in the reading today taken from James we have the following:

What does it profit a man if he has faith but not works?

Can his faith save him?

Faith by itself, if it has not works, is dead.

These are strong statements that point to us needing faith and works. Yet, there are other scripture passages that say

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. Romans 3:28

or therefore having been justified by faith Romans 5:1.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God—9 not because of works, lest any man should boast., Eph 2:8–9).

So , these scriptures point to us just needed faith.

On the flip side I searched for bible verses on works alone but I could not find any. So, there are lots that say not by works but none that say by works. So, from the bible I would say it is clear that we can rule out Works alone.

..but what about faith alone? We have verses that say we are justified by faith and not by works but then we have our reading passage today from James that state Faith without works is dead. In fact even further in James, he seems to double down on the faith plus works in the following verse:

You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works. James 2:22

So, if I just read the bible it is a little confusing to me. Are we justified by faith alone or faith and works?

A great thing about being Catholic is that we have the magisterium to help the faithful in the interpretation of Sacred Scripture. So, what does the magisterium say. This issue has been addressed many times over the years. Once of the most famous times was at the Council of Trent. The Council of Trent was held primarily to address the issues brought about by Martin Luther. Luther argued for Sola Scriptura and Faith Alone. The council of Trent defined how a person was justified. The CCC also addresses Justification using the documents from Trent as one of its main resources. I do not have time to go in depth on what is said in Trent, the CCC, and the many other documents that are out there on the topic. However, I will use some of the General Audiences give more recently by Pope Benedict XVI which i think do an excellent job of explaining the Catholic position of faith and works.

Here are 2 excepts from his General Audiences. The first shows that Catholics and Protestant views are quite similiar when it comes to faith and works.

He says, For this reason Luther’s phrase: “faith alone” is true, if it is not opposed to faith in charity, in love. Faith is looking at Christ, entrusting oneself to Christ, being united to Christ, conformed to Christ, to his life. And the form, the life of Christ, is love; hence to believe is to conform to Christ and to enter into his love. So it is that in the Letter to the Galatians in which he primarily developed his teaching on justification St Paul speaks of faith that works through love (cf. Gal 5:14

In the second excerpt he again talks about faith being just part of

General Audiences of Benedict XVI (English) Wednesday, 26 November 2008

In the Catechesis last Wednesday I spoke of how man is justified before God. Following St Paul, we have seen that man is unable to “justify” himself with his own actions, but can only truly become “just” before God because God confers his “justice” upon him, uniting him to Christ his Son. And man obtains this union through faith. In this sense, St Paul tells us: not our deeds, but rather faith renders us “just”. This faith, however, is not a thought, an opinion, an idea. This faith is communion with Christ, which the Lord gives to us, and thus becomes life, becomes conformity with him. Or to use different words faith, if it is true, if it is real, becomes love, becomes charity, is expressed in charity. A faith without charity, without this fruit, would not be true faith. It would be a dead faith.

So, to me these excerpts show that yes we are justified by faith but that because of our faith in Christ we will be in union with Christ. If we are in union with Christ then we will be converted to live like him, according to his characteristics of doing good works.