I think this kind of writing is intended to inspire a "holy fear" of God, against those who might sin with complacency
Also to inspire a kind of love of virtue, and a striving towards doing good:
> "If you want to be certain of being in the number of the Elect, strive to be one of the few, not one of the many. And if you would be quite sure of your salvation, strive to be among the fewest of the few" -St. Anselm
6 days ago5 points(+0/-0/+5Score on mirror)2 children
The fewest of the few are those that believe in free grace salvation, that you cannot lose your salvation, and that Jesus Christ paid it all. The many are those that believe you have to earn your way to heaven by being a good person.
Amen. My favorite passage from Romans is chapter 4, verses 4 and 5.
>Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
So I think recently (Sunday?) the Gospel reading contained this Bible verse:
> But I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council. And whosoever shall say, Thou Fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. (Matthew 5:22)
Wouldn't a lot of passages not make any sense if works weren't needed for salvation at all?
"Faith without works is dead" James 2:26. This seems to emphasize that works are necessary for salvation.
In Matthew 19:16–30, a rich young man asks Jesus how to inherit eternal life, and Jesus says to "do something": namely to sell what he had, give to the poor, and come to follow Jesus.
I'm curious what these passages mean in your view, if people are able to simply "have faith" and continue to sin without any repentance.
Granted, this is an outstanding conflict of different beliefs over centuries, so I'm not expecting us to get to the bottom of it. But, if any progress could be made, that would be good to see.
In practice I see a lot of non-Catholics attempt to do good works, they just view themselves as doing good works "on the honor system". There was also a growth of non-Catholics that believed works to be necessary to salvation, according to some polls, even though this belief was associated with Catholicism. So... in practice there may be a lot of "faith and good works" going hand in hand, regardless if people believe those works to be necessary for salvation or not. (And hopefully this is enough for such people, who from a Catholic viewpoint seem to be mistaken, to be saved ultimately).
The thing is, regardless if you believe in free grace salvation or works salvation, there are passages that, on the surface, may appear to be contradictions. For example, if you believe James 2:26 preaches works salvation, then you're going to have a tough time making sense of Romans 4:4-5. The Bible, of course, is without error or contradiction, so the goal then is to find whichever explanation makes sense of all the passages.
I believe the point of Matthew 5:22 is not to teach you how to be saved, but rather to make the point that in order to theoretically be worthy of heaven, you must be perfect. It's supposed to break you and make you realize that your righteousness will never be good enough, and that you need the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ to save you. You need to realize that your works will always come short.
Matthew 19:16-30 is making the same point also. After describing various ways of how to be perfect (Jesus literally even says in verse 21 "if thou wilt be perfect" and continues on) we come to verse 25 and 26:
> When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
So after describing in detail how to live a perfect life, the disciples are astonished and wonder who could even do such a thing, and Christ answers that only with God can you be perfect (i.e. your works cannot save you, but putting your faith in the works of Christ and being covered in His righteousness will).
James 2 is not about salvation and entering heaven. If you read the full context, it's talking about the usefulness of your faith in this life, and is supposed to motivate you to not be a lazy Christian. This makes sense from a free grace perspective, because the natural first reaction to hearing free grace is "so I can just live however I want?" and, in theory, yes, you can (hence Romans 4:4-5), but that doesn't mean that you *should*. You'll still be saved, but not having works ruins your current life, prevents you from being able to help others, and you lose out on eternal rewards in Heaven.
How do I know for sure that James 2 is talking about the usefulness of your faith here on Earth and is not about salvation? The biggest clue is James 2:21:
> Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
But then earlier in Romans 4:2-3 we have this:
> For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
So is this a contradiction? Was Abraham justified by works or by faith? Romans is talking about how Abraham's faith justified him before God and is what saved him, while James talks about how Abraham's works justified him before men, and that your faith should also be backed by works so that it can be useful to others in this life.
Even though works are not required for salvation, I believe that in most cases people will have some amount of works anyway. When you're saved, the Holy Spirit is with you, and when you sin after being saved, it's never the same as before. Your guilty conscience is much stronger, and you're more inclined to do the right thing. Not because you have to, but because you just want to.
Most "christians" say sorry for sinning but will do the same shit over and over again without *really* trying to fix it. If they genuinely believed in Jesus they would try to fix their problems.
>Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
> But I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council. And whosoever shall say, Thou Fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. (Matthew 5:22)
Wouldn't a lot of passages not make any sense if works weren't needed for salvation at all?
"Faith without works is dead" James 2:26. This seems to emphasize that works are necessary for salvation.
In Matthew 19:16–30, a rich young man asks Jesus how to inherit eternal life, and Jesus says to "do something": namely to sell what he had, give to the poor, and come to follow Jesus.
I'm curious what these passages mean in your view, if people are able to simply "have faith" and continue to sin without any repentance.
Granted, this is an outstanding conflict of different beliefs over centuries, so I'm not expecting us to get to the bottom of it. But, if any progress could be made, that would be good to see.
In practice I see a lot of non-Catholics attempt to do good works, they just view themselves as doing good works "on the honor system". There was also a growth of non-Catholics that believed works to be necessary to salvation, according to some polls, even though this belief was associated with Catholicism. So... in practice there may be a lot of "faith and good works" going hand in hand, regardless if people believe those works to be necessary for salvation or not. (And hopefully this is enough for such people, who from a Catholic viewpoint seem to be mistaken, to be saved ultimately).
@CdnMAGA
I believe the point of Matthew 5:22 is not to teach you how to be saved, but rather to make the point that in order to theoretically be worthy of heaven, you must be perfect. It's supposed to break you and make you realize that your righteousness will never be good enough, and that you need the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ to save you. You need to realize that your works will always come short.
Matthew 19:16-30 is making the same point also. After describing various ways of how to be perfect (Jesus literally even says in verse 21 "if thou wilt be perfect" and continues on) we come to verse 25 and 26:
> When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
So after describing in detail how to live a perfect life, the disciples are astonished and wonder who could even do such a thing, and Christ answers that only with God can you be perfect (i.e. your works cannot save you, but putting your faith in the works of Christ and being covered in His righteousness will).
James 2 is not about salvation and entering heaven. If you read the full context, it's talking about the usefulness of your faith in this life, and is supposed to motivate you to not be a lazy Christian. This makes sense from a free grace perspective, because the natural first reaction to hearing free grace is "so I can just live however I want?" and, in theory, yes, you can (hence Romans 4:4-5), but that doesn't mean that you *should*. You'll still be saved, but not having works ruins your current life, prevents you from being able to help others, and you lose out on eternal rewards in Heaven.
How do I know for sure that James 2 is talking about the usefulness of your faith here on Earth and is not about salvation? The biggest clue is James 2:21:
> Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
But then earlier in Romans 4:2-3 we have this:
> For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
So is this a contradiction? Was Abraham justified by works or by faith? Romans is talking about how Abraham's faith justified him before God and is what saved him, while James talks about how Abraham's works justified him before men, and that your faith should also be backed by works so that it can be useful to others in this life.
Even though works are not required for salvation, I believe that in most cases people will have some amount of works anyway. When you're saved, the Holy Spirit is with you, and when you sin after being saved, it's never the same as before. Your guilty conscience is much stronger, and you're more inclined to do the right thing. Not because you have to, but because you just want to.