Faith Without Works Is Dead

February 17, 2012

Friday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

By Melanie Rigney

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. You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that and tremble. Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by the works. 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. See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. (James 2:18-26)

Blessed the man who greatly delights in the Lord’s commands. (Psalms 112:1)

“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35)

Piety

Lord, help me to walk the walk in an honest, inspired way during each and every day that You give me.

Study

Here it is, one of those pesky sections of the Bible that creates a chasm between Catholics and our evangelical Protestant brothers and sisters. Are we saved by faith alone, as evangelicals believe, or do we also need works to get into heaven, as some say Catholics believe? Put that way, it sounds like an unpleasant checklist—never mind about your relationship with God or what’s in your heart or soul, just put in XXX hours at a food kitchen, volunteer XXX hours helping the homeless, show up XXX hours for marches and letter-writing campaigns related to the sanctity of life and presto, you’re saved! (God must keep that list of minimum required hours by his side at all times, so that whenever judgment day comes, He’ll be prepared to quickly determine who measures up and who doesn’t, right?)

I’m not a theologian, so I can’t tell you all the fine points in the faith vs. works debate. But I earn a living in a setting where people sometimes get ahead in the short term based on how well they can spout buzzwords and clichés (old and new) like “rigor” and “alignment” and “tie back” and “the long pole in the tent” and “it’s a ‘both/and’ not an ‘either/or’” and “talking the talk and walking the walk” rather than on how well they deliver on a project’s goals. Then there are the people who deliver what they’re supposed to and more, ahead of schedule, but whose hearts and souls aren’t on fire for bringing excellence to the experience. They’re focused on the end result, not about the larger team, and can be judgmental, rude, and dictatorial. You might call them the faith without works, and works without faith types. Neither of them inspire. Neither of them last.

The people whom I want to follow or collaborate with know the buzzwords, and they use them when appropriate, but their vocabulary isn’t what got them to where they are. They’re in leadership roles because they know their stuff, and you seldom see them upset or flustered. They have a positive, upbeat, caring yet professional tone no matter what crisis arises. I think of them as the faith plus works. One begets the other. A good attitude and grace under pressure help others to attempt to exhibit the same… and so on, and so on.

To me, that’s where the joy in our shared journeys comes in. And it’s why it’s difficult for those of us in a religion as communal as Catholicism to think of a world in which faith and works aren’t inextricably intertwined. Once you’ve heard the Good News, you can’t help but share it with those you meet.

Action

Where are you letting either faith or works suffice in your life without the other? Ask God to help you find a balance that includes both.