Does the Roman Catholic Church teach Justification by Faith Alone?

[Martin Marprelate]

This is a question for @Cathode and any other Roman Catholics who may frequent this forum.
I have been having a discussion on one of the Baptist only forums with @Craigbythesea concerning Justification which has turned on the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. @Craigbythesea has posted the following, and I would be very interested in your comments:

Should we toss out as heresy the doctrine of justification by faith alone simply because Roman Catholics have taught it throughout the history of their church, and staunchly and unreservedly teach it today?

The Saint Joseph Edition of the New American Bible (1971) has the following note on Rom. 3:21-31,

The justice of God is his mercy whereby he declares guilty man innocent and makes him so. He does this, not as a result of the Law, but apart from it (v 21), not because of any merit of man, but through forgiveness of his sins (v 24)in virtue of the redemption wrought in Christ Jesus for all who believe (22-24f), No man can boast of his own holiness, since it is God’s free gift (27), both to the Jew who practices circumcision out of faith, and to the Gentile who accepts faith without the Old Testament religious culture symbolized by circumcision (29f).


The Saint Joseph Edition of the New American Bible with the second edition of the New Testament (1986) has the following note on Rom. 3:21-31,

These verses provide a clear statement of Paul’s “gospel,” i.e., the principle of justification by faith in Christ. God has found a means of rescuing humanity from its desperate plight: Paul’s general term for this divine initiative is the righteousness of God (21). Divine mercy declares the guilty innocent and makes them so. God does this not as a result of the law but apart from it (21), and not because of any merit in human beings but through forgiveness of their sins (24), in virtue of the redemption wrought in Christ Jesus for all who believe (22.24-25). God has manifested his righteousness in the coming of Jesus Christ, whose saving activity inaugurates a new era in human history.

The Saint Joseph Edition of the New American Bible with the second edition of the New Testament (1986) has the following note on Rom. 4:3,

Jas 2, 24 appears to conflict with Paul’s statement. However, James combats the error of extremists who used the doctrine of justification through faith as a screen for moral self-determination. Paul discusses the subject of holiness in greater detail than does James and beginning with ch 6 shows how justification through faith introduces one to the gift of a new life in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Yes, this is a Roman Catholic Bible with Roman Catholic notes published by the Catholic Book Publishing Company in New York with both the Imprimatur and the Nihil Obstat.

The late Monsignor Patrick Boylan, M.A., D.D., D. LITT., Consultor of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, Professor of Eastern Languages, University College, Dublin. Formally, previously Professor of Sacred Scripture and Oriental Languages, St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, in his 1947 commentary, St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, Translation and Commentary, writes on Romans 3:28,

He [Paul] wishes only to state that it is not a man’s fulfillment of Jewish, or other, prescriptions, that supplies the basis for his justification, but only his faith in Christ. Even in the Old Dispensation, faith was precisely as it is now, the sole means of approach to salvation.

The Roman Catholic New Testament scholar, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, in his 1993 commentary on the Greek text of Romans, writes,

Paul uses anthrōpos even without the article, as in 1 Cor 4:1 and 7:1, and speaks generically and indifferently of “a human being,” making no specific reference to Greek or Jew. But his emphasis falls on pistei, "by faith," as Kuss, Bardenhewer, and Sickenberger recognize. That emphasis and the qualification “"apart from the deeds of (the) law" show that in this context Paul means “By faith alone.” Only faith appropriates God’s effective declaration of uprightness for a human being. These words repeat what Paul already said in v 20a.

Early Christians who taught justification by faith alone include the following:

Origin
Hilary
Basil
Ambrosiaster
John Chrysostom
Cyril of Alexander
Bernard
Theophylact
Theodoret
Thomas Aquinas

So, does the Roman Catholic Magisterium promote the doctrine of Justification by Faith alone?

 

[Cathode]

This is a question for @Cathode and any other Roman Catholics who may frequent this forum.
I have been having a discussion on one of the Baptist only forums with @Craigbythesea concerning Justification which has turned on the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. @Craigbythesea has posted the following, and I would be very interested in your comments:

Should we toss out as heresy the doctrine of justification by faith alone simply because Roman Catholics have taught it throughout the history of their church, and staunchly and unreservedly teach it today?

The Saint Joseph Edition of the New American Bible (1971) has the following note on Rom. 3:21-31,

The justice of God is his mercy whereby he declares guilty man innocent and makes him so. He does this, not as a result of the Law, but apart from it (v 21), not because of any merit of man, but through forgiveness of his sins (v 24)in virtue of the redemption wrought in Christ Jesus for all who believe (22-24f), No man can boast of his own holiness, since it is God’s free gift (27), both to the Jew who practices circumcision out of faith, and to the Gentile who accepts faith without the Old Testament religious culture symbolized by circumcision (29f).


The Saint Joseph Edition of the New American Bible with the second edition of the New Testament (1986) has the following note on Rom. 3:21-31,

These verses provide a clear statement of Paul’s “gospel,” i.e., the principle of justification by faith in Christ. God has found a means of rescuing humanity from its desperate plight: Paul’s general term for this divine initiative is the righteousness of God (21). Divine mercy declares the guilty innocent and makes them so. God does this not as a result of the law but apart from it (21), and not because of any merit in human beings but through forgiveness of their sins (24), in virtue of the redemption wrought in Christ Jesus for all who believe (22.24-25). God has manifested his righteousness in the coming of Jesus Christ, whose saving activity inaugurates a new era in human history.

The Saint Joseph Edition of the New American Bible with the second edition of the New Testament (1986) has the following note on Rom. 4:3,

Jas 2, 24 appears to conflict with Paul’s statement. However, James combats the error of extremists who used the doctrine of justification through faith as a screen for moral self-determination. Paul discusses the subject of holiness in greater detail than does James and beginning with ch 6 shows how justification through faith introduces one to the gift of a new life in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Yes, this is a Roman Catholic Bible with Roman Catholic notes published by the Catholic Book Publishing Company in New York with both the Imprimatur and the Nihil Obstat.

The late Monsignor Patrick Boylan, M.A., D.D., D. LITT., Consultor of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, Professor of Eastern Languages, University College, Dublin. Formally, previously Professor of Sacred Scripture and Oriental Languages, St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, in his 1947 commentary, St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, Translation and Commentary, writes on Romans 3:28,

He [Paul] wishes only to state that it is not a man’s fulfillment of Jewish, or other, prescriptions, that supplies the basis for his justification, but only his faith in Christ. Even in the Old Dispensation, faith was precisely as it is now, the sole means of approach to salvation.

The Roman Catholic New Testament scholar, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, in his 1993 commentary on the Greek text of Romans, writes,

Paul uses anthrōpos even without the article, as in 1 Cor 4:1 and 7:1, and speaks generically and indifferently of “a human being,” making no specific reference to Greek or Jew. But his emphasis falls on pistei, "by faith," as Kuss, Bardenhewer, and Sickenberger recognize. That emphasis and the qualification “"apart from the deeds of (the) law" show that in this context Paul means “By faith alone.” Only faith appropriates God’s effective declaration of uprightness for a human being. These words repeat what Paul already said in v 20a.

Early Christians who taught justification by faith alone include the following:

Origin
Hilary
Basil
Ambrosiaster
John Chrysostom
Cyril of Alexander
Bernard
Theophylact
Theodoret
Thomas Aquinas

So, does the Roman Catholic Magisterium promote the doctrine of Justification by Faith alone?

Catholics do teach Faith alone if the understanding and definition of “Faith” is correct, yes.

The problem is centred around what constitutes Faith, a saving Faith, and people’s misunderstanding of it.

 

[Cathode]

Peter was not wrong warning people about Paul’s writings, they can be hard to understand unless clarified by the Apostolic Church.

Paul’s writings are precisely where Protestantism went wrong, which was made easy by the making the Bible’s meaning subject to each man’s opinion. Bible alone made the word of God subject to each man’s opinion, and devalued it to a matter of each man’s opinion.

Does mere intellectual assent alone mean we are saved? No.

You can believe Jesus was real, is your Lord and saviour, that He is God and came to earth, and died for your sins, rose again and ascended to The Father in Heaven and will return in glory as He said. Does this save you? No.

What about a Faith where a man expresses total confidence in his salvation, a confidence so powerful that it could move mountains? No. That’s presumption.

What then is a saving Faith? A justifying Faith?

Faith working through Love is The Justifying Faith. Not just believing in Christ intellectually, but a Faith that puts on Christ and Incarnates Christ in us that does The Will of the Father which is to Love. We must exude Christ and His Love by Good Works.

“Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.”

Can you have Faith without the works of Love that should automatically flow from it?

Sure, if we believe Paul, yeah, otherwise he wouldn’t say this?

“ and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. “

We have been given the instant grace to first believe called Faith, but there is also the daily ongoing Graces we receive to Love and do, that we must cooperate with, received as our daily bread from The Father.

We can believe in an instant, but we can not Love in an instant, being in time, we must Love day by day doing The Will of The Father as our lives unfold.

We recognise a true Christian by his life of Love, and this is how The Father recognises His Son in us as well.

By our Love we a judged.

 

[DaveXR650]

"We are justified by faith alone, but we are not justified by that faith which can be alone. Alone respects it's influence into our justification, not it's nature and existence. And we absolutely deny that we can be justified by that faith which be alone; that is, without a principle of spiritual life and universal obedience, operative of it, as duty does require". The Doctrine of Justification By Faith, John Owen.

Now more than a few Protestants claim the above is too close to Rome. But I think the idea that we are talking specifically about justification when we say faith "alone" explains a lot I think. In the Roman Catholic view of this you do indeed initially come to Christ by faith. And then there are a series of prescribed things you do under the guidance of the church to complete your journey to final salvation. Resting and feeling secure in your faith as an assurance of salvation is a great sin in the Catholic church, unless they have rescinded Trent. But most (or at least many) Protestants believe that the path of your life is a valid indicator of the genuineness of your faith and still teach the truth of ideas like "without holiness, no man will see the Lord".

We have been given the instant grace to first believe called Faith, but there is also the daily ongoing Graces we receive to Love and do, that we must cooperate with, received as our daily bread from The Father.

Yes, and we would say that such a one is truly saved - and, such a one will and must be involved in the following:

We can believe in an instant, but we can not Love in an instant, being in time, we must Love day by day doing The Will of The Father as our lives unfold.

We recognise a true Christian by his life of Love, and this is how The Father recognises His Son in us as well.

By our Love we a judged.

By our love we manifest who we are and what we are. I have no problem with saying we are judged in the since of showing that but that is not how we are saved.

Of course the question is, do I condemn someone who messes up the theology of justification if their only error is that they are confused on the idea that a faith that is never alone is different than faith in addition to something?

 

[Cathode]

By our love we manifest who we are and what we are. I have no problem with saying we are judged in the sense of showing that but that is not how we are saved.

Salvation is a process, it is Faith working through Love throughout our lives, persevering in Hope to our deaths.
That’s why Jesus tells us to remain in His Love, and we will bear much fruit, and that fruit is how we are judged.

Of course the question is, do I condemn someone who messes up the theology of justification if their only error is that they are confused on the idea that a faith that is never alone is different than faith in addition to something?

It depends on how the messed up theology plays out in people’s lives.

Like the Protestant man that committed suicide by jumping from a tower. A note was found on him saying that people should not worry for him, because he had complete faith in his salvation.
These kinds of terrible results are enabled by bad theology.

 

[DaveXR650]

Salvation is a process, it is Faith working through Love throughout our lives, persevering in Hope to our deaths.
That’s why Jesus tells us to remain in His Love, and we will bear much fruit, and that fruit is how we are judged.

Roman Catholicism amounts to a shell game. Here they were arguing that we all believe that salvation is by faith alone and then you come back with this, which is not faith alone, but a probationary period which will be judged at the end. That is classic works based salvation. I don't have anything against the average catholic layman who doesn't understand the difference, but I do have something against this deliberate cloaking of your true doctrine.

Like the Protestant man that committed suicide by jumping from a tower. A note was found on him saying that people should not worry for him, because he had complete faith in his salvation.
These kinds of terrible results are enabled by bad theology.

That's just a purely moronic thing to bring into the argument. It has nothing to do with anything. I personally know a Catholic man who I once asked how he stood as far as God and religion. His reply was "Hell, I'm Catholic", which although I could say this was the result of his theology it would be almost as stupid of an answer.

 

[Martin Marprelate]

Catholics do teach Faith alone if the understanding and definition of “Faith” is correct, yes.

The problem is centred around what constitutes Faith, a saving Faith, and people’s misunderstanding of it.

Thank you for this; very helpful.
So Rome does not believe in Justification by Faith alone. Got it!

By our Love we a judged.

How terrible! How can I ever know if I have worked up enough love to be right with God?
No! My warrant to come to Christ is that I am a sinner, and the Lord Jesus receives such. It was the Pharisee who fasted twice a week and gave tithes of all he possessed; "And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner.' I tell you that this man went down to his house justified rather than the other' (Luke 18:11-13).

 

[Blank]

Is there an official statement put out by the Roman Catholic Church that makes this issue clear?

 

[JesusFan]

Catholics do teach Faith alone if the understanding and definition of “Faith” is correct, yes.

The problem is centred around what constitutes Faith, a saving Faith, and people’s misunderstanding of it.

No, Rome at Trent apostatized, as declared Pauline Justification itself was heresy, as one must merit to be good enough o have God save them, by how well they adhere to the system of Rome Sacramental gracing

 

[JesusFan]

This is a question for @Cathode and any other Roman Catholics who may frequent this forum.
I have been having a discussion on one of the Baptist only forums with @Craigbythesea concerning Justification which has turned on the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. @Craigbythesea has posted the following, and I would be very interested in your comments:

Should we toss out as heresy the doctrine of justification by faith alone simply because Roman Catholics have taught it throughout the history of their church, and staunchly and unreservedly teach it today?

The Saint Joseph Edition of the New American Bible (1971) has the following note on Rom. 3:21-31,

The justice of God is his mercy whereby he declares guilty man innocent and makes him so. He does this, not as a result of the Law, but apart from it (v 21), not because of any merit of man, but through forgiveness of his sins (v 24)in virtue of the redemption wrought in Christ Jesus for all who believe (22-24f), No man can boast of his own holiness, since it is God’s free gift (27), both to the Jew who practices circumcision out of faith, and to the Gentile who accepts faith without the Old Testament religious culture symbolized by circumcision (29f).


The Saint Joseph Edition of the New American Bible with the second edition of the New Testament (1986) has the following note on Rom. 3:21-31,

These verses provide a clear statement of Paul’s “gospel,” i.e., the principle of justification by faith in Christ. God has found a means of rescuing humanity from its desperate plight: Paul’s general term for this divine initiative is the righteousness of God (21). Divine mercy declares the guilty innocent and makes them so. God does this not as a result of the law but apart from it (21), and not because of any merit in human beings but through forgiveness of their sins (24), in virtue of the redemption wrought in Christ Jesus for all who believe (22.24-25). God has manifested his righteousness in the coming of Jesus Christ, whose saving activity inaugurates a new era in human history.

The Saint Joseph Edition of the New American Bible with the second edition of the New Testament (1986) has the following note on Rom. 4:3,

Jas 2, 24 appears to conflict with Paul’s statement. However, James combats the error of extremists who used the doctrine of justification through faith as a screen for moral self-determination. Paul discusses the subject of holiness in greater detail than does James and beginning with ch 6 shows how justification through faith introduces one to the gift of a new life in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Yes, this is a Roman Catholic Bible with Roman Catholic notes published by the Catholic Book Publishing Company in New York with both the Imprimatur and the Nihil Obstat.

The late Monsignor Patrick Boylan, M.A., D.D., D. LITT., Consultor of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, Professor of Eastern Languages, University College, Dublin. Formally, previously Professor of Sacred Scripture and Oriental Languages, St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, in his 1947 commentary, St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, Translation and Commentary, writes on Romans 3:28,

He [Paul] wishes only to state that it is not a man’s fulfillment of Jewish, or other, prescriptions, that supplies the basis for his justification, but only his faith in Christ. Even in the Old Dispensation, faith was precisely as it is now, the sole means of approach to salvation.

The Roman Catholic New Testament scholar, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, in his 1993 commentary on the Greek text of Romans, writes,

Paul uses anthrōpos even without the article, as in 1 Cor 4:1 and 7:1, and speaks generically and indifferently of “a human being,” making no specific reference to Greek or Jew. But his emphasis falls on pistei, "by faith," as Kuss, Bardenhewer, and Sickenberger recognize. That emphasis and the qualification “"apart from the deeds of (the) law" show that in this context Paul means “By faith alone.” Only faith appropriates God’s effective declaration of uprightness for a human being. These words repeat what Paul already said in v 20a.

Early Christians who taught justification by faith alone include the following:

Origin
Hilary
Basil
Ambrosiaster
John Chrysostom
Cyril of Alexander
Bernard
Theophylact
Theodoret
Thomas Aquinas

So, does the Roman Catholic Magisterium promote the doctrine of Justification by Faith alone?

No, Rome at Trent apostatized, as declared Pauline Justification itself was heresy, as one must merit to be good enough o have God save them, by how well they adhere to the system of Rome Sacramental gracing

 

[JesusFan]

Is there an official statement put out by the Roman Catholic Church that makes this issue clear?

Yes, its called the council of Trent, never was repudiated nor changed! basically, declared views of Pauline Justification of Reformers heresy

 

[DaveXR650]

Yes, its called the council of Trent, never was repudiated nor changed! basically, declared views of Pauline Justification of Reformers heresy

Yep. That's why I said they play a shell game. You can read where they consider us as Baptists "lesser brothers" and will say they accept our baptism as valid. But if you examine it further it seems that they mean lesser brothers that haven't come around to the Roman system yet. Anyone who consciously and knowingly believes in salvation by faith and fails to recognize the sacramental system is lost. They can't repudiate Trent or it would mean they were wrong but they dance around it and sort of deemphasize it when it suits them.

That's not to say that individual Roman Catholics do not fully accept you as a fellow believer. I think some of them are real believers too. I enjoy sites like First Things while realizing the issues that are very real.

 

[Cathode]

Thank you for this; very helpful.
So Rome does not believe in Justification by Faith alone. Got it!

You aren’t listening, you aren’t genuinely trying to understand.

There are the types of faith that do not save of themselves, and then there is the type of Faith that does save.

Do you understand the distinctions?

The type of Faith that saves works through Love, it’s in the doing, not just in the believing.

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

It’s not enough to merely believe intellectually, we must do the good works of Love, do the Will of The Father. That is the ultimate expression of Faith,

People can believe at an intellectual level, but not Love, not put that belief into action by Love.

Daily Grace prompts us to Love, being sensitive to these prompts of grace allows us to see the Lazarus at our doorstep and help him. Otherwise we are blind to him, and don't give him something to eat or drink, and don’t clothe his nakedness etc. Even though we might believe in Jesus intellectually.

How terrible! How can I ever know if I have worked up enough love to be right with God?

You can’t work up Love, we have no Love. We must fill up on Love from the source by living in Jesus Presence. We are infused by His Love and Light.

“ Without me, you can do nothing”

No words need to be exchanged so much as just the awareness of Him, to be with Him.

“ Be still and know that I am God “

Our bodies and intellects can be busy, but our hearts can always be fixed on Him. The only thing that can disrupt that is self and other loves, and then we aren’t in His Presence, the eyes of our soul are looking elsewhere.
But then you start again, deny self then follow Him back into the inner Temple.

“One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.”

No! My warrant to come to Christ is that I am a sinner, and the Lord Jesus receives such. It was the Pharisee who fasted twice a week and gave tithes of all he possessed; "And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner.' I tell you that this man went down to his house justified rather than the other' (Luke 18:11-13).

The Pharisee had no Love, his fasting and tithes were not motivated by Love, and he was showing nothing but contempt for others, but he believed in God intellectually.

The Pharisee had Faith without love, but hate, and he wasn’t at rights with God.

 

[Blank]

Yes, its called the council of Trent, never was repudiated nor changed! basically, declared views of Pauline Justification of Reformers heresy

Yes, I quoted from Trent here post #53

Col. 1:19-22: Saved Through the Blood of the Cross

Merriam-Webster bases all of it definitions upon their own massive database of actual word usage. That database clearly shows that in the English-speaking world, the word Parousia does not express the concept “presence” but rather it expresses the concept: in Christian theology : the time when...

www.baptistboard.com

I just wondered if they had a more recent document expressing their view.

 

[Martin Marprelate]

You aren’t listening, you aren’t genuinely trying to understand.

One of us isn't listening, but I think you'll find it's you.

There are the types of faith that do not save of themselves, and then there is the type of Faith that does save.

Do you understand the distinctions?

I do. An intellectual love cannot save. To believe that there was such a person as Jesus of Nazareth who lived a long time ago and did a lot of good stuff saved no one. Even to believe that He is the Son of God who rose from the dead saves no one. To believe that one's deeds or attitudes can make one acceptable to God, or that if one tries a little harder, God will accept you, cannot save . What saves is the knowledge that one is a sinner and that God would be quite just to send you to hell. To lay hold of Christ by faith as a drowning man would lay hold of a lifebelt thrown to him is a saving faith.

'Not the labour of my hands
Can fulfil Thy law's demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling.
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.

All our good deeds are like filthy rags before God before we are justified by faith. Then, He clothes us with the garments of salvation, gives us the Holy Spirit and leads us in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

The type of Faith that saves works through Love, it’s in the doing, not just in the believing.

No, a thousand times no! Mark 1:40-42. 'Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, "If You are willing, You can make me clean."' So what did Jesus say to this man? "Go away and do some acts of love and then come back and I'll heal you"? No! 'Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed."'

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

These words were spoken to those who were already our Lord's disciples (Matt. 5:1-2).

It’s not enough to merely believe intellectually, we must do the good works of Love, do the Will of The Father. That is the ultimate expression of Faith,

People can believe at an intellectual level, but not Love, not put that belief into action by Love.

Daily Grace prompts us to Love, being sensitive to these prompts of grace allows us to see the Lazarus at our doorstep and help him. Otherwise we are blind to him, and don't give him something to eat or drink, and don’t clothe his nakedness etc. Even though we might believe in Jesus intellectually.

Once again, you are conflating justification with sanctification, which is one of the errors of the Roman Catholic church. First God saves through Christ "Without Me, you can do nothing." Then, and only then, can we do the 'good works, which God prepared before hand that we should walk in them.'
If there is any non-Christian, but under conviction, reading this exchange, don't look into your own heart to see if you're good enough; you're not, and never will be in your own strength. You'll find nothing to help you there. Look to Jesus! See Him bleeding and dying on the cross, and believe that it was for you He died. He says, "Look to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God and there is no other' (Isaiah 45:22). 'This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief' (1 Tim. 1:15). If the Lord Jesus came into the world to save the very chief of sinners, how much more will He save you!

 

[Blank]

If there is any non-Christian, but under conviction, reading this exchange, don't look into your own heart to see if you're good enough; you're not, and never will be in your own strength. You'll find nothing to help you there. Look to Jesus! See Him bleeding and dying on the cross, and believe that it was for you He died. He says, "Look to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God and there is no other' (Isaiah 45:22). 'This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief' (1 Tim. 1:15). If the Lord Jesus came into the world to save the very chief of sinners, how much more will He save you!

AMEN!

 

[Cathode]

All our good deeds are like filthy rags before God before we are justified by faith. Then, He clothes us with the garments of salvation, gives us the Holy Spirit and leads us in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

No, a thousand times no! Mark 1:40-42. 'Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, "If You are willing, You can make me clean."' So what did Jesus say to this man? "Go away and do some acts of love and then come back and I'll heal you"? No! 'Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed."'

“Then Jesus, moved with compassion” moved with Love, it is right before your eyes and you do not see.

I remember years ago being totally run down from work in exploration, but it was my turn that morning to be a at the bush clinic to help out. I was dreading what I would find, and I was kind of praying that it would be an easier day. Months in the jungle and hard work had made me very down, mentally and physically.

I went anyway and the first patient I saw was a woman who had been walking for days through the jungle to get there. She was holding a bundle of rags which she placed on the table. As I opened up bundle I saw a little toddler boy covered head to foot in scabies and sores, it was very bad, the last thing I wanted to see in my state.
But as I sat him up, he was looking down, looking ashamed of himself and his condition, very self aware. When I raised his chin and looked into his eyes, it was like both our two miseries met, and I had a great love filled me from the heart like fire with great power. Love is the Holy Presence of the Lord in the both of us.
Do you think he got the greatest care and help after that?

“ Then Jesus, moved with compassion”

I know what that is.

“What you did for least of these, you did for me”

These works of Love are not rags, they are loving service to Jesus Himself by Grace.

It’s not just believing intellectually from the head, it is Love from the Heart.

“ This people honours me with their lips, yet their hearts are far from me “

Jesus is interested in Hearts.

Three things remain, Faith, Hope and Love, the greatest of these is Love.

 

[Martin Marprelate]

“Then Jesus, moved with compassion” moved with Love, it is right before your eyes and you do not see.

We are talking past each other. You are constantly conflating justification with sanctification. Your story about yourself is great, but you did not treat that child in order to be saved, but because, presumably, you are saved. Before someone is saved, his good deeds are of no avail to him. 'So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God' (Romans 8:8). There are doctors in Medecins sans Frontieres who are atheists or agnostics, who do wonderful work in field hospitals all over the world, and it would be very churlish to say that they have no love for the people they treat, but It cuts no ice with God, because whatever they do is mired by sin.
First these people must be justified - declared righteous by God - on the basis of faith alone. Acts 13:39. "...And by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.' Romans 3:28. 'Therefore we conclude that a man is justifiedby faith apart from the deeds of the law.' But then, having been justified, the Holy Spirit will lead us to do the acts of love of which you speak, But they cannot justify us. 'For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. But to him who does not work, but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness' (Romans 4:3-5). Yes, God justifies the ungodly! Alleluia! Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!

Come, ye sinners, poor and wretched,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity joined with power.
He is able,
He is willing; doubt no more!

Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream.
All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel you need of Him.
This He gives you;
'Tis the Spirit's rising beam!

Come, ye weary, heavy-laden
Bruised and broken by the Fall.
If you tarry till you're better,
You will never come at all!
Not the righteous -
Sinners Jesus came to call.
Joseph Hart (1712-68)

 

[Craigbythesea]

Peter was not wrong warning people about Paul’s writings, they can be hard to understand unless clarified by the Apostolic Church.

Paul’s writings are precisely where Protestantism went wrong, which was made easy by the making the Bible’s meaning subject to each man’s opinion. Bible alone made the word of God subject to each man’s opinion, and devalued it to a matter of each man’s opinion.

Does mere intellectual assent alone mean we are saved? No.

You can believe Jesus was real, is your Lord and saviour, that He is God and came to earth, and died for your sins, rose again and ascended to The Father in Heaven and will return in glory as He said. Does this save you? No.

What about a Faith where a man expresses total confidence in his salvation, a confidence so powerful that it could move mountains? No. That’s presumption.

What then is a saving Faith? A justifying Faith?

Faith working through Love is The Justifying Faith. Not just believing in Christ intellectually, but a Faith that puts on Christ and Incarnates Christ in us that does The Will of the Father which is to Love. We must exude Christ and His Love by Good Works.

“Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.”

Can you have Faith without the works of Love that should automatically flow from it?

Sure, if we believe Paul, yeah, otherwise he wouldn’t say this?

“ and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. “

We have been given the instant grace to first believe called Faith, but there is also the daily ongoing Graces we receive to Love and do, that we must cooperate with, received as our daily bread from The Father.

We can believe in an instant, but we can not Love in an instant, being in time, we must Love day by day doing The Will of The Father as our lives unfold.

We recognise a true Christian by his life of Love, and this is how The Father recognises His Son in us as well.

By our Love we a judged.

Thank you for this excellent post that says it like it is

 

[Cathode]

If there is any non-Christian, but under conviction, reading this exchange, don't look into your own heart to see if you're good enough

Our heart is where Jesus dwells, spend much time there.

“ The Kingdom of God is within you “

We are talking past each other. You are constantly conflating justification with sanctification. Your story about yourself is great, but you did not treat that child in order to be saved, but because, presumably, you are saved. Before someone is saved, his good deeds are of no avail to him. 'So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God' (Romans 8:8). There are doctors in Medecins sans Frontieres who are atheists or agnostics, who do wonderful work in field hospitals all over the world, and it would be very churlish to say that they have no love for the people they treat, but It cuts no ice with God, because whatever they do is mired by sin.
First these people must be justified - declared righteous by God - on the basis of faith alone. Acts 13:39. "...And by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.' Romans 3:28. 'Therefore we conclude that a man is justifiedby faith apart from the deeds of the law.' But then, having been justified, the Holy Spirit will lead us to do the acts of love of which you speak, But they cannot justify us. 'For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. But to him who does not work, but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness' (Romans 4:3-5). Yes, God justifies the ungodly! Alleluia! Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!

Come, ye sinners, poor and wretched,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity joined with power.
He is able,
He is willing; doubt no more!

Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream.
All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel you need of Him.
This He gives you;
'Tis the Spirit's rising beam!

Come, ye weary, heavy-laden
Bruised and broken by the Fall.
If you tarry till you're better,
You will never come at all!
Not the righteous -
Sinners Jesus came to call.
Joseph Hart (1712-68)

Don’t you understand that faith is not just a “personal relationship” with Jesus, it is Incarnating Jesus within us.
Our lives imitate His.

“It is no longer I that lives but Christ who lives in me “

That little kid said everything with his eyes “ If you are willing, you can make me clean “.
The same Love that goes out and saves, saves us, that Love is Jesus.

When we are weak, He is strong.

If our Faith does not manifest Love, it does not manifest Jesus, it is not the saving Faith.

“if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing”

Human works are nothing, but Good works are God works by Grace, by Jesus acting through us in Love.

“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”

“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.”

The evidence of Jesus in our lives is the evidence of Love in our lives.

The fruit is the Love, just as the tree is judged by its fruit, we are judged by our Love.

By this the sheep and goats are separated.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’