The Catholic view states that through faith Christ's righteousness is infused with mans nature, or it is attached to man's nature; half righteous-half natural. But man is still not completely righteous. They believe that man must improve that righteousness and make it complete with our works; thus, we are finally saved by the works we complete. This is not true.
When we come to a true faith in Christ we are made wholly and finally righteous in Christ and are becoming transformed to the image of Christ through God's grace not our own efforts. Romans 5:18 states that just as through ‘one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life for all men.' Note the verse says one act of righteousness... not Christ's act and then completed by our many acts. But one act, by Christ, on the cross. We are saved by faith in the obedient life of Christ, His suffering, death, and resurrection. We believe that Christ paid the penalty for us and that by trusting in His grace to pay our penalty and to uphold us forevermore we are saved. The essence of faith is believing this promise and savoring all that God is for us in Jesus, as promised in the scripture. Regardless of how many times you come to Crusade, go to BASIC, go to church, read your Bible, pray, help people, not tell lies, do missions work, wear Christian T-shirts, or WWJD bracelets, you are not saved unless you have faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin. Quite certainly there will be a number of people who have done a great deal of deeds and works on this Earth and yet are not saved. Christ describes this in Matthew 7:22-23 that many will come to Him saying, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And He will say to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.' Regardless of how great our works are on Earth, if they are not produced by faith we will not be saved.
So, what then is the place of works in a Christian's life? Let us look to James 2:14-24 for the answer. [READ TEXT] Did I just find a passage to contradict all that I've said? Note first verse 21, ‘Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?' Now many would want to say that this is old testament and therefore doesn't apply it to new covenant Christians. However, James is using this example as one we should model our faith after, we cannot cast it aside. Verse 24 states that ‘man is justified by works, and not by faith alone.' Wow! What does this mean!?
James is referring to the Old Testament when God commanded Abraham to take his only son Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice on the alter. At the moment Abraham is about to slay Isaac God stops him, provides him a ram to sacrifice, and Abraham is stated to have passed the test. So the questions we need to ask are: Is Abraham (and therefor we too) made righteous by faith or works? And, what about Abraham is ‘justified' by his works?
A clue to the beginning of the meaning comes in verse 22. It states that ‘faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness."' The text is very clear it is Abraham's belief, or faith, that is reckoned to him as righteousness. This is consisted with being saved by grace through faith, not of works. Abraham savored the promises of God, as we savor the promises of Christ, and was reckoned righteousness through faith, just as we are.
So what does it mean that Abraham was justified by his works? We have already seen that Abraham was made righteous by his belief, or his faith. James 2:14-26 is a passage regarding the evidences of a saving faith. It begins by posing the question of what sort of faith saves and it ends by concluding faith without works is dead faith, or unsaving. Preceding verse 21 is a question urging the reader to understand that faith without works is dead. Following verse 21 he is explaining to the reader that a faith that has works is complete, or perfect. So the context is stating that this sort of ‘justification' was an evidence of Abraham's faith, not a means for becoming righteous. That was done through faith. But Abraham's faith was evidenced by its fruit, its works. Simply put, Abraham was justified by faith before God, and his faith was evidenced (justified) by his works.
This term justification in the Greek means ‘to render (show or regard as) just or innocent'. This means that his faith was shown or regarded as just (or true) by the works it brought about. This is the same Greek word used by Christ in Matthew 11:19 and Luke 7:35, where he states: "Wisdom is vindicated (justified) by her deeds (or all her children)." This means that in this context to vindicate or justify means to take an action which demonstrates or evidences the worth or authenticity of something. We are rendered righteous before God by faith and our faith is shown true by its fruit.
That is how our works function in accordance with our faith. Works are the evidence that our faith is real. They are not the currency with which we purchase our place in heaven, but works are the receipt, or the evidence that Christ has purchased it for us and given us faith. Many people say I look like my father and sound like my father. Is this what makes me my father's son? No. I am my father's son because I am born of him. Looking like him and sounding like him are evidences that have occurred which bear testimony to the fact that I am his son. In the same way, talking like God, living Godly, laboring for God do not make us children of God. However, they are evidences that bear testimony to the fact that we have been born of God. [Example of King Solomon-1Kg 3:16-28]
Righteous works will result from every true faith, they are a necessary evidence. Christ spoke often about the necessity of this evidence. He stated in Matthew 7:17-19: "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, not can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." The good fruit doesn't make the tree good, but evidences its goodness.
So for us to have assurance that we are a good tree producing good fruit we must be able to recognize in ourselves the good fruit, so that we might produce more, and the bad fruit that remains from sin, that we might prune it away.
The first fruit of a Christian's faith is an inner-work, resulting in a changed heart. Galations 5:22-23 lists an example of these fruits: ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self-control...' Second Peter 1:5-7 gives another similar list: ‘In you faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge; and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness; and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.' Peter even goes on to say in verse 10 that Christians should ‘be diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing of you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.' Peter is saying that we can be certain about His calling of us (our salvation) when we see our faith producing these attributes and that it is such a faith that is supplied entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
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