What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? – James 2:14

Today's Scripture Reading (March 10, 2024): James 2

Does faith save us? I almost feel dirty in asking the question. I mean, people have died because of this question. People who are wiser than I am have struggled with this question. Martin Luther decided this question for all of us on this side of the Reformation. And I know that you know the story, but before the Reformation, the stand of the established church (the Roman Catholic Church) was that faith was not enough. Works were necessary for salvation. And the established church had ritualized the idea of works. You went to the priest and confessed your sins, and then he gave you this thing called penance. Penance has come down in popular culture to words and prayers. It is so many "Hail Marys," "Our Fathers," or "Glory Be's." One of the penitent packages consists of one Our Father, ten Hail Marys, and one Glory Be. So it would be like this –

One Our Father

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,

and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. 

 

Ten Hail Mary's

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen

 

One Glory Be

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, it is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

 

And that would be it. Well, not really. Maybe one of the most significant abuses of the works righteousness (at least for me) was during the Crusades. The idea was that if you went and fought in the Crusades against the Muslims, then all of your sins would be forgiven, including the atrocities committed in the name of Christ. Going on a crusade became another way of working our way into heaven.

It got so bad that, during the time of Luther, the church was involved in a building program, collecting money to build these ornate structures. The church needed money, and so they had developed a penitence theology that said that if you made payments to the church building program, you could get your dead relatives out of purgatory and into heaven. And Luther said enough is enough. Works do not save us. We are saved by faith alone. Righteousness is impossible by our actions; we are made righteous only through faith. And so, as Luther started to preach this message, he rejected the Epistle of James because he felt it preached a form of works righteousness.

Does faith save us? And the answer is yes. There is absolutely no doubt that Paul was right; it is by faith we are saved. In Ephesians, he adds, "not of works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:9). Salvation is about nothing but faith, but ... and don't you hate the buts. Here is the problem with which James was struggling. True faith gives birth to works. Works don't save you, but your faith is unhealthy if works do not accompany it. True faith compels you into works. True faith compels you into love. True faith compels you into service. True faith makes it so that you get up on Sunday mornings and can't wait to go to a place of worship because you are anticipating how God will use you. You might not even be on the schedule responsible for some aspect of the service, but you can't wait to get to church because you know God will do something. True faith prohibits you from just sitting on the sideline and watching the show.

Does faith save us? Yes. Will faith result in works? Yes. Works can never save us, but if we truly have faith, then works will not be absent from our lives. But this kind of works goes beyond the penitence of the past. It is more than just words that we say to a priest or attendance at worship services. We have faith in God, and that faith saves us, but it also ensures that we are written into God's story. So, when God loves, we love. When God serves, we serve. When God forgives, we forgive. His story becomes our story. And God becomes all that we need.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: James 3