DESCRIBING THE PROBLEM- IS THERE REALLY ONE?

Introduction

This is my article on the topic, one of the most hair-raising topics that Christians will argue endlessly about that is completely incomprehensible to anyone outside the faith and for understandable reasons- it should never have been a cause of division in the Church, and of all the reason that Christianity is divided, this is easily the weakest, without a doubt, for the reason that the argument cannot even be logically worded in secular language. I will try to convince the reader of this in the article:

The debate about whether a Christian is saved by “works or by faith” is one that was never even considered until the late 16^th century post-Reformation period. This is because the ancients and the Church Fathers in their sanctity understood the specific interaction between the two and never set them up in competition, or as antithetical to one another in their clear theological exposition of the Faith. These days the issue which is really a poorly framed question is hotly debated among those who really would have their time better spent debating those essential doctrines of the faith. IN any case this false dichotomy that has been set up between faith and works has enjoyed such great success that it is worth writing this article about it of only in order to demonstrate that it can safely be laid to rest. The typical Protestant accusation against the Catholic religion is that it is a “works based” religion, when it is in fact Pelagianism (and one could also add to it semi-Pelagianism) which is works based, a heresy that has been roundly criticised by the Catholic Church at a time when the Protestant Church did not even exist! So this is already a straw-man from the onset. Catholicism is not a “works-based religion” if by that we are to understand a religion which teaches rewards meted out in proportion to human tasks performed, ie “works”. In fact Islam is a typical example of a works based religion as are most of the oriental “karmic” religions, in which there is a sort of spiritual bank account. Muslims are usually told that they will on Judgement Day literally be weighed up against their good deeds, while in the Hindu and Buddhist religions, this spiritual calculating “app” is fully automated, not requiring in some schools, any intervention from God! The problem with a works-based is obvious then, because the role and relevance of God becomes debatable.

However incredible such teachings are not without their problems as with any erroneous root that appears innocuous at the outset. For taking their cue from here some Protestants have taken to believe in a “once saved always saved” doctrine, which is then a second poorly framed proposition, for in it the initial term “once saved” is ridiculous, one cannot point to a human being in mid-life and say “you are saved” any more than one can one can point at a kettle and say “tea, you are made”. Salvation is a process, and one cannot substitute a process with a point event. That process has a definite terminus which is Heaven and one cannot claim the attainment of an end by shifting it to the beginning, any more than one can shift the goal post in a football field to the start line! But there will as a consequence of this absurdity be those who believe that a Christian, as though Christianity were not already incredible enough, is saved merely by the point event of the act of mental assent. Even Islam and the oriental religions place more importance on the spiritual journey than that, one that then becomes irrelevant in Christianity! Sanctification is Christianity, it is the fruit of man’s interaction with the triune God. It is all that separates Christians from other religious traditions. Any error in comprehension and teaching of holiness (sanctification) will as a necessary result produce the fruit unholiness. But a good question that a Protestant who asserts that Catholicism is “works-based” must ask, and receive and answer, is what are the works that Catholics believe gain for them Salvation? Do they mean the Holy Eucharist, to Holy Confession, or the Holy Rosary, or Intercessory prayers to the Saints? Do Protestants not also say the Lord’s Supper, pray the Bible, confess their sins and ask for intercessory prayers? How is one more “works” than the other?

In the article I will provide a plethora of Bible verses that how that works are clearly necessary for Salvation. Further in the few verses in which St Paul says that works do not save, he is clearly referring to the works of the Old Law, the Law of a Judaism that was, indeed prescriptively works-based. The quote is from the Protestant theologian Dr Robert Bowman’s opening statement from a debate between and the Catholic Theologian Dr. Scott Hahn in which he says “ Charles Hodge (an eminent Protestant theologian) is no friend of the Roman Catholic Church, adamantly opposed to much of what it taught. This is what he had to say “indeed it is a matter of devout thankfulness to God that underneath the numerous grievous and destructive errors of the Romish church, the great truths  of the Gospel are preserved: the Trinity, the true divinity of Christ, the true doctrine concerning his Person as God and Man in two distinct natures and one Person forever, Salvation through his Blood , regeneration and sanctification through the almighty power of the Spirit, the Resurrection of the body and eternal life are doctrines in which the people of God in that communion live and which have produced such saintly men such as St. Bernard, Fenelon and doubtless thousands of others who are among God’s elect…”…”

Faith is Man and God “Working Together”- a Co-operation

When I say man and God “working together”, it implies that there are two who are required to work for us to be saved. Of these, the one is not disputed, there are numerous passages where Jesus describes his earthly ministry as doing the work of the Father, and what’s more He also says that the Father is “always working”. The seemingly simple matter of the definition of the terms “faith” and “belief” (which should be taken as to mean the same thing, derived from the same Greek word pisteos) have given rise to disproportionately great dispute among Christians. No Christian doubts that there are greater forces working behind these issues than the simple matter of linguistics.

We shall therefore attempt to define them: When we speak of “faith” and “belief”, and owing to the fact that the human person is not alone in his belief, we are presented in it with two elements: the human “believer”, and the divine, the one who is believed in. The divine element is not obviously one of belief, or “faith”, because God is not said to have these as his essential attributes. Rather God upholds these attributes in man through “Grace”.

We might use the act of mental assent of the human person as a somewhat arbitrary point of commencement of what can be called the “life of Faith”. Catholics believe that all the life of the person is grace, but that the part preceding the commencement of the faith journey God acts imperceptibly through what we have termed “prevenient grace”. This is also admitted of perhaps in the Protestant hymn “Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come,

‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far And grace will lead me home.”

The event of the mental assent opens the door to the life of what we call “Christianity” or the “Christian Faith”. What is implied by the terms then, is the entire “lived experience” of faith. Faith and belief have their existence only in their lived experience. Every voluntary act that is performed in the life of faith is then called a “work of faith” or a “good work”. This is demonstrated in the Gospel passage:

“Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God (ἔργον τοῦ Θεοῦ), that you believe in (πιστεύητε εἰς) him whom he has sent.” (Jn 6:28-29).

Belief is a work in itself, these are Jesus’ own words, that “this is the work…that you believe”. Belief is a work, and indeed it is a divine vocation, the “work of God that we must perform”. The very essence of Christianity is that the believer strive with every fiber of his being to achieve the best that he possibly can for God, this is the action of the believer, his “work”. God supplies the grace necessary to strengthen the believer in resolve, holy desire and love, and this is the act or “work” of God. So faith simply cannot be defined in exclusion of works. That which we call the “life of faith”, is a spiritual occurrence where God acts in the soul of a person enabling him to live the life of virtue which includes prayer, charitable works and those times in between where he is neither actively performing charitable works nor consciously praying, which are the mundane and unavoidable tasks of life, but all of which he has dedicated to God in advance as he offers his whole life up to God.

The late Catholic theologian and priest, Hans von Urs Balthasar writes (Theo Drama III-Dignitatis Personae p241):

“Christ’s mission on our behalf is more than a work and a suffering on his part to spare other the punishment they have justly deserved (This is prevalent in Luther but also in Karl Barth), it involves his co-working and co-suffering with those who are estranged from God. In this way, the Second Adam opens up an area of Christian mission in which the latter, en Christoi, can be given a share in his salvific work and suffering for the world…”

Faith and belief are a co-operation between man and God. To co-operate contains the term “operate” which is the same as “work”, the operative term. If we are to define faith as anything other than the mere mental assent of a moment or split second, then we have no choice but to do so in terms of the Life of Faith including all of its good works. Or else there is no means of extending faith in time. On the other hand, we can certainly give a broad definition of the “good works” performed in the life of Faith that contribute to our Salvation: these are every voluntary activity of the human mind and body in response to the call of God. “…the only thing that counts is faith working through love” (ἀλλὰ πίστις δι ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη) (Gal 5:6b)

Thus Sola fide is difficult to state coherently, but it is essentially it is the attempt to assert that we are saved in the moment of our mental assent to a certain proposition: “Jesus’ Sacrifice saves us”. At this moment God is seen to perform an action that is supremely effective and completely irreversible in the life of the believer. There is no possibility whatsoever that the believer can choose to begin to disbelieve in Jesus. This possibility is completely eradicated through the action of God at that incident in the persons life.

The problem is that it simply cannot be shown that the proposition Jesus presents us with in the Gospels is “if you believe in me you are saved at the instant of your mental assent” rather it is “if you believe you are saved”. Jesus’ Sacrifice is effective per se, but the moment that the efficacy or Saving action comes to fruition is simply not linked to the very first instance of Faith. The believer gives their assent to “if you believe you are saved”, not the latter. The second clause in the confession of belief is a Reformation addition to the confession of Faith: “…at the first instant of belief”.

The assertion “We are saved at the instant of our belief that Jesus can save us”, in the Sola Fide, is taken as the condensation of all of Christianity, and although consciously leaving out much of its detail, yet in and of itself is taken to be constitutive of its entire creed and the essential formulation of the message of Christ in its entirety. The reason that it can be called a complete formulation is because it is the point of “saving”. What saves does everything necessary in a human person and in performing that through which he is saved, the human person does all that is necessary.

Everything that a man does prior to this moment is the labour that brings him up to the capacity for this moment of making the act of belief in the single line credal line stated. It might well be that the build up to this moment involve considerable study on the part of the Individual, yet it involves none of that which other Christians might seem essential: “prayer in the Spirit”. In other words all the work that enables a man to be saved, is performed in exclusion of the Spirit’s indwelling of the individual, and Christian life of grace.

In order to exclude Catholics from this salvation it is necessary the addendum: “We do not hold that sola fide applies to Catholics because of the their belief that Jesus’ Sacrifice is not sufficiently saving; firstly because they “re-represent it” at the Holy Mass and secondly because they seek the intercession of heavenly beings.

It is a straw man because the Catholic “belief” in the Eucharist (whatever might be the theology behind it) is that it is the same sacrifice of Jesus at Calvary and is not stated in any other manner. We “re-present it” what we believe is sufficient, not insufficient. The reason we do it is our belief that Jesus asked us to.

Secondly did intercessory prayer truly deny the sufficiency of Jesus sacrifice, then all intercessory prayer should be abolished as harmful.

Therefore it can be shown that Catholics do believe in the sufficiency and effectiveness of Jesus’ Sacrifice and are really saved as per sola fide.

The “Good Thief”- a Radically Truncated Faith Journey

The “Good Thief” is probably the only Catholic saint that gets idolised by Protestants as a model to follow. The reason is that being nailed down, he is unable to perform works and therefore fits in quite well with the “faith only” theology. Being unable to obviously attend his own Baptism, or any other of the sacraments, they use this example as deeming all sacraments unnecessary: No Works, No Baptism, No Church, No Saints, No Theology, No Dogma. The Exception, a sort of a “Death-Bed” Conversion” has become their Entire Model of Faith.

Apart from the obvious fallacy of making the exception into the rule there is the huge implication of the fact that the thief is not saved under the New Covenant, since at the time of His death, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is not yet available, nor has Jesus actually died for our sins! The Thief is saved in the manner that those of the Old Testament are saved: Without Baptism, Holy Communion etc.

In basing their faith upon the model of the good thief, Protestants seek to preclude the very signification of the “life of faith”. The misappropriated model serves the purpose then of precluding the need for any models in the life of faith at all, apart from the good thief. The heroic lives of Christians who have passed on is not regarded at all, since the greatest and only work that is necessary is seen as already having been done, the act of belief itself (which they are careful not to call a “work”, although John 6:29 calls it just this).

Jesus finished all the Work?

Yes, Jesus forgave all our Sins one the Cross, everyone agrees that this is a “finished” work, in the sense that Jesus has done for man all that He set out to so and all that He needs to do. But man has hardly “finished” repenting for his sins, and nor has he finished co-operating with grace. Man has certainly not finished doing what he needs to do, his “work”! None of this is taken into account and so the examples of those who have done so heroically are not regarded, even though they be biblical figures like St Paul with the heroic sufferings he endured and enumerated for us for our inspiration. What’s more there is absolutely no doubt that Christians that wilfully neglect the Lord’s Supper and Baptism will not be saved, for these are commandments of Jesus!

Although forgiveness can be given in advance by God (or theoretically by a human being eg., I know you are about to harm me but I have resolved to forgive you), but to say “Jesus forgave all sins on the Cross” is a partial truth to begin with: He forgave all those sins in advance of those that would be received by Him into Heaven through his Mercy. He does not forgive the unrepented sins of the damned, for example. Those remain forever unforgiven.

Damned for Having the Wrong attitude towards Works?

Protestants find it incumbent upon them to assert that Catholics are hell-bound. Such a claim is perfectly understandable in a sense, for were this not true, then the divisions created in the Church ostensibly to preserve truth are unwarranted. They base this accusation not on the dearth of good works among Catholics, but on a nuanced argument against the attitude of Catholics toward those works which is so vague that is can barely be understood, leave alone pinned down. This is kind of how it goes:

They claim that unlike Catholics, they work without any expectation of Heaven, or “not for reward”. This is already strange, because Protestants certainly do all expect to go to Heaven. We have all asked the question of St Peter “what will be there for us?” and Jesus answers this question with kindness. The more nuanced form of that argument is to state “we work for the love of God, you work to be saved”. However even a superficial consideration of this reveals that those are both the same thing. Should we not love God and to be with Him we should not wish to be saved! And then it finally comes down to “we work as the saved, you work as the unsaved”, as though that constitutes a deadly sin in itself!

All I can say at the ed of this discussion is that I will do my utmost and with every fibre of ny being, to co-operate with the work of Christ, to join all my work to his work, and there is not power on this Earth which can stop me, of this I am confident because I have this confidence not in myself, but in God’s grace. Those who co-operate with every fibre of their being to do the Will of God, will certainly not be lost. In fact this is exactly what a Christian person is to do to “be found in Christ”. I am perfectly happy to strive with every fibre of my being, to co-operate with God’s holy Will, and to offer my life as sacrifice in union with His. Thus I will be God’s “co-worker” (synergoi) (1 Cor 3:9 above). It will be a strange kind of “Hell” indeed were it filled with God’s co-workers!

You need to co-operate with grace. God never sent anyone to Hell for co-operating with him. How did this ever become an issue among believers?

The Pelagian Strawman

Protestants set up a strawman argument against Catholics, accusing them of seeking to “earn their salvation through their works”. Knowing little of early Church history as a rule, they are rarely aware that Pelagianism is precisely the position that the Church declared anathema. In opposition to this, rather than revert to the proper position, which is co-operation with grace “in order to” be saved, they invent the “sola gratia” position which implies that co-operation with grace is seen “as a result of” being saved. (Technically this is “Semi-Pelagianism”, which again has been addressed in the past by the Church, as given below, which is midway between the two extremes.) Although both the notions to the untrained eye seem similar, involving some mix of the four terms “salvation, Grace, work”, yet in the Protestant position placing salvation at the beginning of the sequence obviates the possibility of desiring salvation, being already possessed as a certainty (“eternal security”, as some put it). Thus purportedly the works are performed purely out of love for God, for having saved them, and therefore, again purportedly the works are untainted by the desire. IN reality this assertion does not work, since there is not reason why man cannot be desirous of God, and work lovingly for salvation which is expected in the future to come, like Heaven. When the question is put in this manner to a protestant the usual reply is that it is somehow an insult to Jesus because it implies that we do not believe that He “finished the work” on the Cross and that we insult Him by implying that we can add two bits of our own effort. Catholics believe that works on the Journey of Faith need be performed with the sacrificial notion of offering our lives and ourselves to God through these actions, out of  love of Him. In fat removing that notion obviates love for God, since there is no other model of love for God. This can only be replaced by a robotic performance of good deeds that lack desire, there being nothing more to desire, all being possessed that could ever be desired. The “Work” that Jesus finished on the Cross is the Work that was required to break the chains of sin, that keep us form the love of God, and having broken these, we can indeed love God, and therefore love and sacrifice for him precisely through our works.

This is from the Wikipedia excerpt which I use for the sake of brevity:

“Semipelagian thought stands in contrast to the earlier Pelagian teaching about salvation (in which people are seen as affecting their own salvation), which had been dismissed as heresy. Semipelagianism in its original form was developed as a compromise between Pelagianism and the teaching of Church Fathers such as Saint Augustine, who taught that people cannot come to God without the grace of God. In semipelagian thought, therefore, a distinction is made between the beginning of faith and the increase of faith. Semipelagian thought teaches that the latter half – growing in faith – is the work of God, while the beginning of faith is an act of free will, with grace supervening only later.[1] It too was labeled heresy by the Western Church at the Second Council of Orange in 529.

Catholicism teaches that the beginning of faith involves an act of free will, that the initiative comes from God, but requires free collaboration on the part of man: “The fatherly action of God is first on his own initiative, and then follows man’s free acting through his collaboration”. “Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification, at the beginning of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life.”

Jesus does not pay our penalty in exclusion of us. Rather He enables us to join our offering to His. In doing so we are saved, at the end of our lives. So no, the RCC does not teach “salvation can be lost” either. It teaches Grace can be lost, Salvation can be had.

Free Will

Grace does not preclude the preservation of man’s Free Will. Therefore to say “grace is enough” is to say “grace is enough to enable man to do what it takes for him to be saved”. It is not “grace precludes any effort in the part of man”. The latter is the Protestant interpretation of sola gratia. No amount of grace, not even infinite grace takes away from man the responsibility for freely choosing good works in preference to bad. Grace “merely” gives him the strength to do so.

Grace does not preclude the preservation of man’s Free Will. Therefore to say “grace is enough” is to say “grace is enough to enable man to do what it takes for him to be saved”. It is not “grace precludes any effort in the part of man”. The latter is the Protestant interpretation of sola gratia. No amount of grace, not even infinite grace takes away from man the responsibility for freely choosing good works in preference to bad. Grace “merely” gives him the strength to do so. Nick Bevilacqua (continued) if you add justification in then “grace alone” really means that it is through grace alone that man, having been reconciled to God, stands justified before him, “in friendship” with God. That doesn’t preclude man having, or “requiring” to “freely” choose to do good works. There is nothing in the Bible to that effect, and much to the contrary.

To summarise: If it is to be held that man chooses freely to do good works in the life of grace, then it must necessarily be that he can choose freely also not to do any. Were this not true then neither would his freedom to choose good be true freedom. But if he can choose to not, then he can lose his grace too.

For Grace is what gives to man, or “graces man with” the ability to choose good works. Indeed it is so great and fundamental a truth that without God we are nothing, and are capable of nothing, that without Him, not only can we do nothing good, but we cannot even desire anything good. Grace makes it possible for us to freely choose, out of a loving decision (loving decisions are always made in freedom), to do the works of God. The “certainty” and “security” of faith lies in this, that through grace, man has the “ability”, to work to Salvation. Because it is a truly free decision, there is also the real possibility of choosing not to perform those works, in spite of grace. Put another way: it is the belief that Christians can go to Hell, and be damned.” Grace can truly be lost but it is not for lack of SUFFICIENT help. This is the only true and coherent way in which such words as “sufficient”, “alone”, etc. can be used in relation to Grace. This view of grace opens up the beautiful vista of the “spiritual journey”, one in which hope and certitude, love and fear, peril and safety are all held in beautiful and yet incomprehensible harmony by God.

Thus in the spiritual journey of a moment the following truncations occur: the obviation of Free Will, the obviation of the spiritual journey, thereby the obviation of the sense of appreciation of the spiritual journey of the saints gone before us, culminating with a myopic view of sanctity itself and the failure to appreciate thereby, where the error culminates, the sanctity of the Mother of God herself. Jesus indeed says “the last will be first and the first last”, and indeed Mary from the position of the greatest exalation in the Annunciation and the Magnificat, goes to the position of the “least”, for no further word is heard  from her, although she is ever-present. Thus it is truly fitting that she is “first”, and indeed what else is the meaning of Jesus’ words “those places have been reserved”

Such a conception of Salvation is a corruption even of the Way of the Cross, the path that Christians must take in following of Christ “deny yourselves, carry your Cross and follow me” which is a path of the supreme exertion of the Will, as Christ did on His own Way.

Misinterpreted Verses

“Sola fide” is term used for the formulation that essentially is meant to convey this single sentiment “Works are not required for Salvation”. What is then required is left open to interpretation, because the proffered option of faith according to any conventional understanding of it, includes the works of faith. How Christianity brings this dichotomy between the two is not explained apart from pointing to certain verses in the Bible which are interpreted literally. From this we get the allegation against Catholics “works do not save you”, which has become the bumper sticker for many “sola fide” Protestants. It is a strawman because the Catholic Church never taught that “merely” one’s works saved you. As we saw earlier,  all is “co-operation” between man and God. It is error is to create a false dichotomy between “belief” and “works”, or “prayer” and “Faith”, when they are all the same thing, or if this is too difficult to understand it can at least be agreed that they are a substantial and indispensable part of each other. In deed Jesus Himself as we have seen above very clearly states it. “Sola fide” is a supposed interpretation of the verse from John 6:28,29 and Ephesians 2:8,9, Romans 3:26-28, 1 John 5:13. There is justification by faith in Romans, there is saved by grace, the “free gift of God” is Ephesians, and belief linked to eternal life in 1 John 5:13. And John6:28,29.

SCRIPTURAL ANALYSIS

Grace Can be Lost, This We Must Actively Guard Against

No one ever asked anyone such a question in the Bible as “are you saved?”, yet it has become the Protestant mantra, used perhaps even more commonly than a Catholic can say “Hail Mary!”.  But the point to consider it this: is anyone justified in saying, at the point in time at which they come to give mental assent to Jesus, “I am now saved” with the implication that they possess the subjective certainty of entering one day the Gates of Heaven. It is without doubt that the person who perseveres will indeed not be lost for Jesus does say: “I have lost none of those that you gave me” (Jn 18:9), and “He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” (2 Cor 5:5), and so the only question is “will I persevere”? This question cannot be answered with certainty, since it is a question about us and not about God. God certainly is not unfaithful, but we certainly can be, as we shall see in the ongoing. Most would consider some gift of the Holy Spirit like speaking in tongues (typically) else healing or the gifts of prophecy or visions as the closest things to an objective sign that they were in a state of Grace and friendship with God. Personally I think that belief itself, the subjective conviction that Jesus is Lord, is a sure sign of God’s grace, since I am convinced that without it, belief is impossible. But a positive affirmation of certitude of persevering/ remaining in grace is simply not supported by the Gospels.

Bible Verses:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’ ²³ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock… Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. (Matthew 7:21-24).

This seems to negate the assurance of Salvation not only for those who believe (evidenced by them calling Jesus “Lord, Lord”), but also those with the gifts of the Holy Spirit!

” For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first. ²¹ For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment that was passed on to them. ²² It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “The dog turns back to its own vomit,” and, “The sow is washed only to wallow in the mud.” (2 Peter 2:20-22)

Luke 9:62 “Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Phil 2:12b “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”

1 Cor 10:12 “ 12 So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.”

“…he who perseveres to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13).

Colossians 1:21-23 “And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²² he has now reconciled^[a] in his fleshly body^[b] through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him— provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel.

Not “I am saved” but “I am being saved” and “will be saved”

“I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.” (1 Cor 4:3ff)

1Cor1:18 “…but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”

Philippians 1:19 for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.

Philippians 3:12 “Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly^[j] call of God in Christ Jesus.”

We REQUIRE Good Works as a CONDITION for Salvation

Jesus clearly teaches that works are required for Salvation in the Gospels when He is asked this as a direct question:

(Matthew 19:16,21)  “And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life…keep the commandments, (Jesus said to him),If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” (repeated in Mark 10:17 and Luke 18:18)

(Luke 10:25) begins with the same question, a lawyer stood up to test Jesus “Teacher”, he said, “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus’ reply is the love of God and neighbour, he then further interrogates Jesus’ “who is my neighbour” causes Jesus to launch into one of his most famous parables, that of the Good Samaritan, a parable of “work” rather than belief.

In the second chapter of Romans itself, St Paul asserts the importance of works no less than three times:

Rom. 2:6 “ For he will repay according to each one’s deeds: 7 to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;”(Δικαιοκρισίας τοῦ Θεοῦ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα)

Rom 2:10 “but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.” (ὑπομονὴν ἔργου ἀγαθοῦ)

Rom 2:13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified.”  (εἰρήνη παντὶ τῷ ἐργαζομένῳ τὸ ἀγαθόν)

“…and trouble and distress on every soul working the evil” (Rom 2;9)

From Second Peter:

2 Peter 1:11 “for doing these, you will never stumble” (ταῦτα γὰρ ποιοῦντες οὐ μὴ πταίσητέ)

2 Peter 3:11,14 ”…what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness…while you are waiting for these things, strive (σπουδάσατε– be diligent/eager/zealous/make haste, “make every effort” as in 2 Tim 4:9,21,Tit 3:12) to be found by him at peace. Without spot of blemish…”

1 Cor. 13 If I have faith so as to move mountains but don’t have love, I have nothing

Philippians 1:9 “And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight ¹⁰to help you to determine what is best, so that on the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.” It can be seen once again that sanctification is linked here to “having produced” and conditional to it.

1 Cor 15:2 “By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.”

1 Cor 3:9 “For we are co-workers (synergoi) in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.”

In a passage we will examine again in the discussion on Purgatory St Paul says “If (the work)…survives (the fire of the Last Day),…will receive a reward, if the work is burnt up, will be saved but only as through fire.” (1 Cor. 3:15)

“…I complete in my body what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ” Col 1:24. The use of the term “lack” with reference to Christ’s “work”, implies that there is that which is the portion of man, that “work” which Christ has appointed to be done by man.

Matthew 25:31-46 “¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, ³³ and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. ³⁴ Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave me food……………………….” 

In the letter to Titus, Paul is exhorting the people to good works, and relating this to purity:

“He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.” (Titus 2:14) “The saying is sure. I desire that you insist on these things, so that those who have come to believe in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works; these things are excellent and profitable to everyone.” (Tit.3:8) “ And let people learn to devote themselves to good works in order to meet urgent needs, so that they may not be unproductive.” (Tit.3:14)

James 2:14-26 “…… so faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.  But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. ¹⁹ You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. ²⁰ Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is barren? ²¹ Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works. ²³ Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. ²⁴ You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another road? ²⁶ For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.”

These just from the Book of Revelations:

Revelation 2:(19, 23-26) “I know your works: your love, faith, service, and endurance. I know that your latest works are greater than the first…And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve. ²⁴ But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call ‘the deep things of Satan,’ to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden; ²⁵ only hold fast to what you have until I come. ²⁶ To everyone who conquers and continues to do my works to the end, I will give authority over the nations,…”

Rev 14:12,13 “ Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the faith of Jesus”

 ^“And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.”

Rev 19:8 “….for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints”

Rev 20:12,13  ^“And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books.  And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done.”

Rev 21:7 “those who conquer will inherit these things…”

Rev 22:12 12 “See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work. 

Shortest Sermon: A Lutheran pastor wanting to get home early one Sunday to watch the football decided to teach about the importance of good works. The sermon went as follows:

“My dear brethren, you are all saved. Therefore you will OBVIOUSLY produce good works. Amen, thank you and now for the final blessing…!!!” 

It’s about Works of the Law!

In Romans:

In fact in the book of Romans it is clear that when St Paul is speaking about works he has in mind the works of the Law of Moses, and He is speaking particularly about the “Judaizing” group among the early Christians, who are advocating for new Christians to be “Judaized” through circumcision, follow kosher etc. This is evidenced in the very next verses 3:28-31“For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.”,

In Ephesians- Its Works of the Law
and in Eph 8:11 once again after asserting that we are justified “by grace…through faith…not result of works” 2:8-10, he goes on to explain how it is not the “physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands” that matters.

In Galatians- Again, its Works of the Law

This is more firmly put into perspective in Galatians which specifies the “works of the law”. In this letter, after specifically stating circumcision, eating with Gentiles as the works of the Law, St Paul asserts that they are non-essential “ We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;  yet we know that a person is justifiednot by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus ChristAnd we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.”

He makes the context amply clear in Galatians 1:5

“ Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you.  Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith workingthrough love.”

When St Paul states that (Phil 3:5) “so that no one may boast (about their works)”, he is very obviously speaking about the same works of the  law as he goes on to make his own boast about his own exalted pharisaic pedigree, “pharisee of pharisees…”.  ”.

In setting up works vs faith, two sets of verses are set up in conflict. What is the principle of deciding between the two. And were it so that all believers are “saved” then are all the denominations of believers saved or is it necessary to define a true believer. If one were to say “belief saves you”, then one is yet to explain why a person who believes in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, but does not believe that this belief saves them, rather that they are being saved gradually by it, is not saved through their belief in Jesus. 

THE LIFE OF FAITH FOR SANCTITY

Increasing Sanctity in the Journey of Faith

Sola fide doctrine undermines the manner in which God acts intimately in the life of the human person. It thereby undercuts the entire structure of the Christian life with its cycle of failure, repentance and the mercy. We continue to stumble in the faith journey, but each time we do stumble it is not to the extent of the last time that we stumbled. A reformed drug addict or criminal  may not stumble back not his addiction or criminality, but he may well stumble in a minor occasion of pride or anger like anyone else. He did not lose these sins on the same day that he lost his addiction or criminality. You are not saved when you fall, you are not saved when you repent and neither are you saved when you are forgiven. Because it all simply happens again, but to a lesser degree and this is why Faith is a journey. Because of this neither is the least pious Christian damned at the point of his furthest separation from God nor the most pious saved at the height of his holiness.

One cannot test a certitude, certitudes require no testing by definition. Faith becomes increasingly firm from being tested; faith and sanctity grow in tandem, for as we said, we do not separate them. It cannot be credibly held that the certitude it present at the beginning of the period of testing. A certainty cannot be tested. For example if you have a son, there is no means to test your faith in the fact that you have a son, that is a certainty. One’s faith in one’s son’s abilities on the other hand can be tested. “your faith…tested by fire” (1 Peter 1:7).

1Cor 3:12-15 “² Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— ¹³ the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. ¹⁴ If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.”

There is the clear assertion that a person’s “works” will be “revealed” on the “Day” (this really should be seen for practical purposes as the day on which the person dies) “what sort of work” each has done. This means that a person’s good works and bad works are both revealed, and there is a consequence, which is “fire”. Catholics interpret this to be a teaching about Purgatory, but in any case it shows that there is importance, even in one of Faith, for the morality of his works. It does not serve even to say that the “fire” merely represents trials for it is impossible that the other persons passed through to Heaven without any trials. Fire is certainly purifying fire in the afterlife, not the fire of testing.

St Paul says, “…the only thing that counts is faith workingthrough love” (ἀλλὰ πίστις δι ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη) Gal 5:6b (repeated). We are saved by the life of the beautiful works for God we are given the strength to perform only through Faith in Him. We can only perform these works in the life of Faith, this we can both agree, both Catholics and non-Catholics.

”…that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Eph 3:18,19): The “fullness of God” only comes with the fullness of knowing, and not at an initial point.

The Role of Free Will in Salvation:

Catholics however see this formulation as being incomplete and will go that one step further to say, “and we REQUIRE to do good works in that Faith life, in order to be saved.  We choose to do these works with our Free Will, which is always preserved. We are not compelled unconsciously to do these works but must constantly make a conscious decision for the good. As a result we can be lost through choosing of our Free Will not to produce good works for God in spite of our Faith in Him. We need to have a conscious solicitude of the spiritual life in order to nurture it.

Lutherans are under the erroneous notion that Catholics are Pelagians, “working” their way to Salvation. In fact free from the belief that the “work” of Salvation is concluded at its very beginning, and cannot be affected adversely but also not positively,  Catholicism predisposes it’s adherents to continue to perform works voluntarily, driven by the desire to obtain the greatest possible purity of soul with which to present themselves to God at the time of their deaths as holy and blameless, in Christ. For is not love for God the love of His Purity and Holiness? The absence of certitude in Salvation also provides the absence of a limit to sanctification. Thus the Catholic prayer life predisposes the believer to continue to strive for ever increasing sanctity, in the only certainty given to him which is that he has not arrived at the sanctity of God. The notion that Salvation is a work in progress and not merely a point in time, is what engenders the desire in our soul for our destination, which is God himself. The desire to “work” which is to produce beautiful fruit for Him is nothing but an expression of this love for God. Love is given expression in the freedom of this journey of Faith, the freedom of freely co-operating in God’s work, freely chosen out of the loving desire for Him.

When Salvation is seenin the distance as that which is to be accomplished, then it is hoped for 2 Cor 4:18 “not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen”. In this desire of longing (hoping), one of the three greatest virtues 1 Cor 13:13 “¹³ And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”, and “hope does not disappoint for God is “poured into their hearts through the Holy Spirit which is given us” (Rome 5:5). It is not to doubt the power of God to save that we do not have the assurance of our own salvation, but rather it is in the humble doubting of our own strength. It is this very strength that we ask in prayer for God to increase, and this is how we grow. Thus although we are “being saved” and not “saved”, yet in this lies the genuine guarantee/pledge that we will be saved. Thus we can be more sure of “being saved” than “having been saved” which appears paradoxical. We can never be sure of “having been saved” because it is based upon a point in time involving our own mental assent and profession of faith, which are fallible. However we can be sure that God “will save us” because he is infallible.

The Revealing, the Greatest and the Least in the Kingdom:

Those works which a believer freely performs, are revealed only on Judgement Day as the soul of the Catholic is “revealed” as the love that he has for his Beloved Saviour and Lord. That “Day” is multiply attested in the Bible as in Luke 23:10, Hos 10:8, Is 2:10, Joel 2:11, 2:20 (or 3:4 in some). That the “Revealing” is left for last is also multiply attested in the Gospels: Rom 2:16 “in the day when God will judge the secrets of people”, Luke 12:3 “For everything that you will say in darkness shall be heard in the light and whatever you whispered in an ear in an inner chamber will be preached on the rooftops.” 

It is their love for God that Catholics express in the performance of good works and equally in the resistance of pleasurable temptations, “evil works”. It is truly Grace which enables us to perform good works, through voluntarily exerting our Free Will which is preserved at all times. The preservation of Free Will allows us to achieve by Grace, an ever increasing sanctity. However, precisely because that Will is free, sanctity and Eternal Life can be lost. As a result of the persistence and flourishing of Free Will it is possible for a believer also to perform no good works. Such a believer will be lost, by all accounts.

Therefore it is possible to “fall from Grace”, for eternity. This gives the interpretation of 1Cor3:15. The evil works that are burned are not something that exists outside the human person but exist within him as the evil affections of his heart. This explains the degrees of sanctification that are to be found among men which Jesus alludes to “the first… the last”, “the greatest …the least in the Kingdom of God”. We shall revisit this when we speak of the saints.

The Catholic strives that every such desire is removed so that he has nothing left but the affection for God. But even with grace, our free will is preserved, not consumed. We must still freely choose good works, and our Salvation, DEPENDS on this choice. A “spiritual struggle”/battle implies a struggle that has free choice. And there will be those who inspite of grace, will choose evil works and be lost. So faith did not save these. There are those that believe that the spirit is perfectly sanctified whereas the soul struggles with the flesh and wages this spiritual battle where victory is a foreigner conclusion. Does the sanctified soul then go to Hell? That would not seem credible.

To summarise, Catholics believe in Salvation as a process rather than a point event. The extension of an event to a process takes away none of the efficacy of God’ grace, for grace is received over time. It takes away none of the humility of the penitent, nor his virtue of hope, for humility is cultivated, and hope is increasingly anticipated. Over this process love grows, for love is a relationship and relations grow as a process (we see more of this in the next section). I once went to the home of a lovely Protestant friend, and elderly lady, who asks me if I am saved every time I meet her. On this occasion I said to her, “Doreen,” and indicating the cup of tea I held “as you were making me this lovely cup of tea”, this tea was “being made”. It was not “made” at the time that you began to make it. So also it is that I am “being saved””, not saved.

It is necessary to know what is true idolatory in order to know what is true worship. It is necessary to know what is impure in order to know what is true sanctity. It is necessary to know what is sin in order to know what is virtue.

Philippians 1:6 “…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” 

“…I have fought the good fight, I have run the race to the finish…” 2 Tim 4:7 

The Authentic Prayer Life for Sanctification

Such a notion of Salvation as a definitive process of completion rather than a “completion in process” (I use “completion in process as a literary figure, since it is the opposite of the Catholic “process of completion” and the fact that “completion in process” does not make sense lends credence to the assertion that sola fide does not make sense), opens up the vista of prayer, engendering in us the desire for God to work in our hearts and minds according to his Holy Will, the desire that we remove all encumbrances to His action in us, and the desire that He fill us more and more with his Holy Spirit so that we are filled less and less with worldly considerations. This notion of Salvation as “process in completion” is what gives the possibility of a prayer life and the desire for sanctity that is to come. Thus the Catholic view of Sanctification confers the possibility of authentic prayer, and this prayer is an opening up of our souls to the grace of God, making ourselves “receptive to” and desirous of God’s grace as that which is not yet possessed in due measure, and increasing that receptivity with ongoing prayer life. 

The Right Worship of God- Liturgy, and the right Disposition to Prayer

Because God is holy, it is only fitting that we worship Him aright. False notions and conception implanted in the mind give rise to false thoughts and falsehood in the words of one’s prayers. This is no loss to God, but it hinders our own spiritual growth. This is that which the Catholics means by “works”, it is liturgy, the prayer of the people, the prayer of the person, that which is the “prayer at all times”, that it the “offer of one’s body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” and that which is “right worship” (Psalm 51, Malachil 1:11).

But to pray correctly we must be correctly disposed towards the very graces that Jesus wants to give to us “that you may have life, and have it abundantly”. One of those gifts is His very Word, and the contemplation of that Word.(multiple verses can be quoted, from Joshua and King David). Therefore if it is that sanctity is to be related to prayer then the “quality” of our sanctity there is related to the quality of our prayer. The greatest prayer is the greatest possible worship of God, This is what is meant by “orthodoxy”. (Ortho=right, doxa =worship).The way to sanctity is orthodoxy. This is why traditional Christianity is very stringent about the manner of worship, both in Roman Catholic as well as the ancient eastern orthodox churches.

As the prophet says: Malachi 1:11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. Or King David:in Psalm 51:19 then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Baptism, the Holy Eucharist, Intercessory Prayer

Such a prayer life that is the “work of God” (Jn6:29) includes the requirements of what Catholics call sacraments, but are nonetheless indisputably biblical instructions, whatever their interpretation. The rite of Baptism, the Lord Supper are not given for any other reason than we REQUIRE them, and the interpretations follow after that. “Do this…” is an imperative.

Baptism required for faith- Romans 3:26.  But the main “work” of Christianity, the activity of a Christian is the same as the activity of the Jews, it is the Passover sacrifice which is the Lord’s Supper. Just as the Jews maintained a sacrifice that was a “shadow”, Christians practice the definitive Passover sacrifice, at which they pray the liturgy of the Holy Eucharist, the greatest and central prayer of the Christian religion, just as it was the greatest and central for the Israelites.

All Christians believe in the power of intercessory prayer, but the fullness of this intercessory prayer is only seen in our relation to angels and saints in prayerful fellowship. The way of Gods plan is one of intercessory prayer. No one prays themselves to salvation by themselves.

We Get what we Ask in Prayer- Sanctification

Every grace, every blessing that comes to us in the spiritual life, comes to us in and only in and through prayer. This is why the approach to the prayer life that engenders the desire for sanctity is that approach that also will surely achieve it. For it is not without reason that Jesus says “ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened to you.. how much more will your Heavenly Father give you the Holy Spirit”. (Matt 7) When we truly “ask” in prayer, what we receive is the Holy Spirit, in increasing measure and in proportion to the desire and the stage of spiritual growth of the person. The Holy Spirit increases us in holiness (after all his Name is Holy!) Thus true prayer takes us from impurity to purity. Any time spent in the presence of God increases our holiness, it cannot fail to do this, as God says “like the rain that produces fruit form the ground, my word does not return to me without accomplishing…” You cannot but increase in holiness if you spend time in the Presence of God. God is not so powerless that he has no effect upon you even though you were with Him! Yet apart from time spent in the contemplation of God, one cannot achieve holiness. We receive what we ask for and we ask for the Holy Spirit. There is no sanctity apart from the prayer life.

True Prayer is the Contemplation of God

Ultimately purity is linked to prayer and true prayer is true contemplation of God. “…With unveiled faces, we are being transformed from one degree of glory…”. Prayer is simply “placing oneself in God’s Presence”. The difference between one who is praying and one who is not praying is merely that the one who is not praying is not aware of God’s presence. This is why Jesus advices against “multiplying words” in one’s prayer.And what does it mean “to spend time with God“? For are we not always with God whether we are aware of it or not? Therefore the only difference between one who “spends time with God“ and one who does not, is that the former is “aware of God’s presence“. Therefore mental and authentic prayer is simply the act of turning the awareness to God. In this we derive all the benefits of the spiritual life. Indeed it is the Christian life, to place oneself in the presence of the thrice holy God. In the Holy Eucharist, based on words of Jesus like “unless you eat and drink …” what can words like these mean other than our lives as united to Jesus? This is where you eat sacrificial Body and Blood of Christ, and it the closest possible union with God, which is why it is the highest form of prayer. Mary and Martha both loved Jesus. Martha chose “works” for Jesus, while Mary sat at His feet in contemplation, in prayer. Both are required, yet one takes the primacy.

The new Christian that has just made his profession of faith is immature. He is neither fully clothed nor fully grown nor attained to the full stature, none of the the things that St Paul is exhorting us to strive for. In Catholic theology belief is the beginning. Therefore sanctity must depend on something we do. These are called “works”. Our own personal sanctity does depend on our labours in Christ. Else the variations are not explained. 

The Way of the Cross

Whatever else is under dispute, no Christian can dispute that the way to Heaven is the Way of the Cross, which is Jesus’ own words in at least two separate passages “daily deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me”, and again “come to me all you who are weary…take my yoke upon you…for my burden is easy and my yoke is light”. The yoke and the burden is the Cross of course. Finally at the Sermon on the Mount Jesus’ words “who are persecuted for my the sake of my Name”. This is not going into all the Paulin allusions to unity with Christ’s suffering on the Cross. The essence of the Christian life is the carrying of one’s own Cross in the manner of Jesus, which is nothing but through the supreme exertion of one’s own will, strengthened by God. At every point of their faith journey, the Catholic will make the decision to do the will of God, and place it above their own. Jesus say’s the night before Calvary “not my will but your be done”, which is not said lightly, for He sweats Blood while saying it. But this is hardly the “work of a moment”, for every step of the Journey to Calvary Jesus is exerting the same Will and every step involves a decision to conform it to God’s, this is necessary to believe if one believes that on every step of the journey Jesus is God, and therefore able to make the pain stop and vanquish his enemies in an instant. That is the faith journey also that is ordained for a Christian, that at every point in it he exerts his will and desire for the good, his desire for God in voluntarily choosing to do good works, which are summarised as the carrying of his Cross. The beauty of the journey is that at every point upon it he/she, like Jesus, retains the Free Will to choose not to do it.

Sanctity of the Saints and Catholic Veneration of Them

But within this view of the vastness of the spiritual journey to perfection we can begin to see the incredible sanctity that the saints of God are brought to. That is, if we are accepting that true perfection is possible, only then we can truly admire the beauty of saintliness. But the beauty is the saints is a reflection of the glory of God, and God is truly glorified in His saints.

This is the reason of the poverty of the non-RCC spirituality, for it is not just that the role models are not perfect, they don’t even have perfection as their goal, the literature is not about the pursuit of perfection. This awareness of the great sanctity of the saints brings a greater awareness of the sanctity of God Himself. We see a reflection of the holiness of God in the visible sanctity of his saints accomplished for us here on earth in our midst.

That’s why in the Roman Catholic faith it is possible to have this vast spiritual vista. It is within this spiritual Vista that the holiness of someone like the Mother of God can be appreciated, the ability of the omnipotent God to raise of his creature to unspeakable heights of holiness so great that to the uninitiated she appear divinised.

This is what is said in Hebrews “the spirits of the righteous made perfect”. The Reason that Catholics’ relation to Mary appears to other denominations as one of worship is a simple a reflection of the fact that the Roman Catholic appreciation of sanctity is of a higher order than those other denominations.

Not only is the sanctity is the angels and saints awesome to behold, by virtue of its greatness it is indispensable for our salvation . This, once again is a reflection of the manner in which God has planned out Salvation, which is through intercessory prayer. I once said to a Protestant adherent of sola fide that we are not saved by praying, “ok, stop praying for yourself, stop praying for others, and ask also that all stop praying for you. Let’s see then where you end up.” Mary’s righteousness is so far above every human righteousness that her prayers are effective like no other’s. It is why St Paul says “effective are the prayers of a righteous person”.

It is the journey of faith and increasing sanctity that is the reason that there are degrees of holiness among human beings which Jesus alludes to “the first… the last”, “the greatest …the least in the Kingdom of God”, and the possibility of those at the pinnacle of such sanctity that we venerate and ask for help, for they truly fulfil what is the best and most pertinent of the scant advise on intercessory prayer in the Bible “the prayer of a righteous man is imperfect” and when viewed in this manner it is seen that there are those who are more righteous than others, and therefore there are intercessory prayers that are more efficacious. At the zenith of sanctity we place the Holy Mother of God, Mother Mary herself.

Jesus Gives us the “Way of Perfection”- Why?

Jesus absolutely and incontrovertibly gives to us the “Way of Perfection”, if not there is no difference between Christianity and every other religion. It is not merely a “percentage increase” over the pagan religions. Holiness is not offered to us as an option, rather we are exhorted to it, we are commanded to be Holy. IT is not something that we leave for God to do after our earthly life is done, fro the Bible is a book that teaches us how to lie earthly life, it is to misinterpret it to conclude that the central teaching of the Bible is to be left for when that life is concluded.

 “…so that on the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless” (Phils 1:10)

It is God’s will that you should be sanctified. 1 Thess4:3a

Col3:16 Eph 3:19 ”…that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
“Deny yourself daily…”

“That you may gain knowledge of Gods perfect will “
“Sell everything you have an give the money to the poor…”

“Be perfect as you heavenly Father is perfect…”
“Offer up your bodies as living sacrifice, holy and pleasing…”
“Pray without ceasing…”

To avoid complicating an issue is easily confused, sanctification and holiness should be seen as nothing less than “perfection”. Every other nuance is subordinate to this. The Christian undergoes progressive purification in the life of faith is imperfectly purified at any point on it and therefore imperfect period. The reason Perfection is necessary is that it is what makes us fit to stand in the Presence of God. On account of the Nature of its Object, Sanctification is none other than perfect purity. Somewhere along the journey of faith, such perfect purity must be achieved. This is borne out in many passages from sacred Scripture like “so that you might know the depth…” “be you perfect”, “grow to maturity” “fullness of Christ may dwell in you” and so on

Sirach 2:4,5 “Accept whatever befalls you,

and in times of humiliation be patient.

For gold is tested in the fire,

and those found acceptable, in the furnace of humiliation.”

Wisdom 3:4-6 “For though in the sight of others they were punished,
their hope is full of immortality.
⁵ Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good,
because God tested them and found them worthy of himself

like gold in the furnace he tried them,
and like a sacrificial burnt offering he accepted them.”

Because Holiness essentially is one thing, not three. You’re either unholy, becoming holy, or holy. Holiness is just the spiritual equivalent of “perfection”. So to speak of it in terms of perfection, you’re either rubbish, imperfect or perfect. So the outline and general concept of holiness is not a great mystery. We either have it, have some of it, or don’t have it at all. The mystery is how to get it, how to reach perfection. I don’t doubt that all Christians have holiness in some degree. But what is perfection, holiness itself? To only speak of holiness as avoidance of/ protection from sins etc is a negative description. (Like saying Caroline is “not a man”:)) which is all true. But it doesn’t get to the heart of holiness itself. All you end up with I think is drawing up a list of sins to avoid.

That “Way”, (and this might surprise you) is prayer…prayer which is truly the contemplation of God. “we who gaze upon His face with unveiled face, are being transformed from one degree of glory to the next….” We have spoken of prayer already in a previous section. 

Faith as a Relationship

Faith with God is a relationship with God. It is from the very etymology of the word “religion” which is to “relate”. It is also impossible to say that the intensity of the initial belief is the highest point in terms of its quality. Even a casual consideration of relationships will reveal that trust develops over time, and relationships mature. A mature relationship is less corruptible than a new one. The highest point of marriage is not the wedding day, and in the same way the highpoint of faith is not the day of acceptance. That day is the highpoint only in reference to joy of “finding” one’s spouse. The wedding day is not the highest point of the loving relationship, rather love grows when it is tried and tested in numerous trials that come with that relationship and “refines like gold”. So also the love of God simply isn’t at the greatest intensity at the point of confession of faith, but grows in intensity in and through the Life of Faith.

The belief that one is at the peak of sanctity at the beginning of one’s faith life not only makes the rest of one’s life relevant, it makes the Bible irrelevant. Holiness is precisely what one strives for in  and through that journey of faith, that “transformation” which St Paul speaks of and “from one degree of holiness to the next” in Romans. The Catholic Church does not believe in a frail form of Salvation that is about to at any moment be whisked away. The frailty of Salvation is only a measure of the frailty of the desire of the believer. This desire is at its frailest when the relationship is at its newest.

Again this is merely a study of the human word “believe”: it is a word which denotes a spectrum of intensity and the word itself, unless qualified, denotes nothing of this intensity. Thus the statement “saved by belief” is not a qualified statement, because one can request this qualification with perfect validity: “Are we saved by weak belief?”.

A Protestant asks “If a Christian does not have certitude, what is the cause for their joy?”

Because your proposition is a contradiction. Faith is not certitude. Else it would be called “certitude”. What do we rejoice in? We rejoice in God’s love for us. Is this not the angelic announcement to the shepherds? “Joy to the World..” It is not as though we “worry” any more than Protestants do. We all share the same uncertainty, which is the mark of the human condition. Just because the Protestant saFaith ys “I’m certain” does not mean certitude is possible epistemologically for a human being. We both share the same uncertainty when it comes to the matter of “things invisible”. This is merely the nature of human knowledge. A Protestant has Faith of the fact that he was saved at some point in the past. A Catholic has Faith that God will save him when he dies/at the moment of death.