Thursday, May 10, 2007

Sola fides means works-ing your butt off

The Center of the Storm -- that is, former Evangelical Theological Society head Francis Beckwith, who brewed up a Category 5 cyclonic hell in the Gulf of Luther by returning to his Catholic roots -- has given an interview to Christianity Today.

Here's one bit, in which Beckwith discusses justification: Faith alone? Faith and works? Are we just talking past one another in an never-ending Reformation-Counter Reformation pissing match?

I still consider myself an evangelical, but no longer a Protestant. I do think I have a better understanding of what sometimes the Catholic Church is trying to convey. Protestants often misunderstand. The issue of justification was key for me. The Catholic Church frames the Christian life as one in which you must exercise virtue—not because virtue saves you, but because that's the way God's grace gets manifested. As an evangelical, even when I talked about sanctification and wanted to practice it, it seemed as if I didn't have a good enough incentive to do so. Now there's a kind of theological framework, and it doesn't say my salvation depends on me, but it says my virtue counts for something. It's important to allow the grace of God to be exercised through your actions. The evangelical emphasis on the moral life forms my Catholic practice with an added incentive. That was liberating to me.

Some of the people who have been critical say, "You've gone into the oppressive works system of Catholicism." That's not the way I look at it at all. I look at it as a chance to do good. It doesn't matter for my salvation, but it matters for the sort of person I can become. Unfortunately, the view of justification is sometimes presented clumsily by some Catholic laypeople.
BECKWITH IS RIGHT on this. Boy, that's a presumptuous and arrogant snippet of prose on my part, ain't it? Idiot non-theological layman gives renowned theologian his imprimatur. I'll bet Professor Beckwith, if he reads this, will laugh for days.

But, as a Catholic layman, let me clumsily present the Catholic view of justification, because I just might be dumb enough to present it in a manner even James White can understand
.

Since the Church is known, among other things, as the Bride of Christ, allow me to explore faith and saving grace in marital terms.

NOW, MOST MEN who love their wives at least once in a blue moon will tell the missus "I love you." Let's liken that to a declaration of faith, shall we?

Is that sufficient for a lasting marriage? Does merely saying you love your wife really mean you love your wife, at least in any proper understanding of the marital bond?

Do you really love your wife if you swear it up and down -- and yell it from the rooftop for good measure -- but that's the only damn thing you ever do for her? Do you really love your wife if you say so, but never visit her in the hospital if she gets really sick?

Do you really love your wife if she's starving to death, yet you refuse to give her even one Snickers bar out of your "rainy day" stash?

Do you really love your wife if you take the car and head out for the ballgame, leaving her to walk three miles to work later that morning?

Do you really love your wife if you delight in kicking her dog and stealing her widowed mother blind?

Do you really love your wife if you say "I love you" twice a day but pay her no heed and do her no good the other 23 hours and 59 minutes?

THE BIBLE SAYS we are all make in the likeness of God. Can we believe in God and love God if we ignore Him in His creation like we might ignore that hypothetical spouse?

And Jesus says this in
Matthew 25:31-46:

31
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne,
32
and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
33
He will place 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. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
35
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me,
36
naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.'
37
Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
38
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
39
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?'
40
And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41
Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
42
For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
43
a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.'
44
Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?'
45
He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.'
46
And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
SEE, FOR US CATHOLICS, there is no "faith vs. works" or "faith or works" -- or even "faith and works" -- dichotomy, just like there is no "say you love" vs. "love" (as a verb) between a husband and wife. Or sister and brother. Or parent and child.

In an interpersonal relationship, saying you love someone is meaningless unless the subject becomes a verb.

In the Christian life, saying you have faith is meaningless unless you live as if you had faith . . . as if you had love, both for God and for those whom God so loved "that He gave His only begotten Son."

Saving grace is not cheap grace. Grace is part of a dialog -- a relationship -- between us and the Almighty. Grace requires a right response.

James said it clearly, and believing Catholics hold to what he teaches -- in scripture -- as ardently as the most ardent Fundamentalist:

James
Chapter 2

1
My brothers, show no partiality as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.
2
For if a man with gold rings on his fingers and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in,
3
and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Sit here, please," while you say to the poor one, "Stand there," or "Sit at my feet,"
4
have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil designs?
5
Listen, my beloved brothers. Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?
6
But you dishonored the poor person. Are not the rich oppressing you? And do they themselves not haul you off to court?
7
Is it not they who blaspheme the noble name that was invoked over you?
8
However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well.
9
But if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
10
For whoever keeps the whole law, but falls short in one particular, has become guilty in respect to all of it.
11
For he who said, "You shall not commit adultery," also said, "You shall not kill." Even if you do not commit adultery but kill, you have become a transgressor of the law.
12
So speak and so act as people who will be judged by the law of freedom.
13
For the judgment is merciless to one who has not shown mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
14
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
15
If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day,
16
and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well," but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it?
17
So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18
Indeed someone might say, "You have faith and I have works." Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.
19
You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that and tremble.
20
Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless?
21
Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?
22
You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by the works.
23
Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called "the friend of God."
24
See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
25
And in the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by a different route?
26
For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Amen.

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