I John 4:7-21 * Luke 16:19-31
The subject of faith and good works has been very
important throughout the history of the Church, and it was especially important
during the sixteenth century in the various forms taken by the Reformation. It
was no less a burning issue in England
In fact, Luther
did not call the Epistle of James an “epistle of straw” exactly. Rather he
wrote:
"St. John's Gospel and
his first Epistle, St. Paul's Epistles, especially those to the Romans,
Galatians, Ephesians, and St. Peter's Epistle-these are the books which show to
thee Christ, and teach everything that is necessary and blessed for thee to
know, even if you were never to see or hear any other book of doctrine.
Therefore, St. James' Epistle is a perfect straw-epistle compared with them,
for it has in it nothing of an evangelic kind." (Preface to
the New Testament)
That is, he thought it was of lesser importance.
Now, I do not
think we need dwell on that, for he was not suggesting that anyone should fail
to read all of Scripture. Nonetheless, to this day people contend that
between St. Paul
Works
of the Law and works of faith
The most significant passages are the third chapter
of Paul’s Epistle to the Church in Rome St. Paul
“Now we know that what
things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore
by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the
law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the
righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come
short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a
propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the
remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I
say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By
what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” (Rom.
In this passage St. Paul
“’The condition of man after the fall of Adam is
such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and
good works, to faith and calling upon God.’
“Is this telling us not to prepare ourselves, or not to do good works? Read
that way it can provide an excuse for laziness and disobedience to the
commandments of God. On the contrary, we would sin by not doing these things.
But, even our performance of them, were it the best we possibly could do, could
not make us righteous…
“It would all look completely hopeless if we did not have the second sentence
of this brief Article. ’Wherefore we have no power to do good works
pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing
us that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good
will.’
“There we see
that word, ‘grace.’ That is the whole difference. However good our good works
may be, God’s standard of ‘good’ is too high for even our best efforts.
Righteousness by His true and perfect standard exceeds our reach. We cannot
achieve it. That is not because His standard is unjust. In fact, it is because
His standard is just, in fact perfectly just. This is why
no one can understand the doctrine of grace unless and until he understands the
reality of human sin.”
It is, as Paul said, “by the law is the knowledge of sin.” That is, in
the work of the great Physician of souls, the Law is diagnostic. As St. Paul said to the Galatian Church
It all boils down
to the fact that justification is a gift given, not a reward earned. St. John
So, when works of
the Law are good and commendable it is only by the grace of God in Christ. On
their own, works of the Law come up short, failing to meet God’s perfect
standard. Works of the Law do not justify. Such good works are not weighed
against sins to see which are heavier on the Day of Judgment. They are
commanded and must be done; but are not counted or weighed against sins in some
eternal ledger. Only the blood of Christ cancels out sin. The Law does not
justify, for that is not its purpose.
But, it appears
at first glance that James contradicts Paul.
“What doth it profit,
my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save
him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of
you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye
give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say,
Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I
will shew thee my faith by my works.” (James 2:14-18)
After citing examples from the Old Testament
(Abraham & Rahab), James comes right out with the most direct line of all,
seeming to contradict Paul: “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified,
and not by faith only.” (v.24)
So, which is right? Is it Paul, who says, “a man is justified by faith without
the deeds of the law”? or James who says, “by works a man is justified, and not
by faith only.” Both men are right, both agree, for
both were inspired to write their doctrine by the Holy Spirit who guided them
in what to say.
Paul spoke of works of the
Law, and James spoke of works of faith. Paul explained
that the Law cannot make anyone righteous, but that only faith can justify; and
James explained that faith is evident by works. If we find a passage that sums
up what both men were saying, in full agreement, it from Paul’s Epistle to the
Church in Ephesus
“For by grace are ye
saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in
them.” (Eph. 2:8-10)
Paul, again to the Galatians: “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything,
nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.” (Gal. 5:6) And, to the
Corinthians, “And now abideth faith, hope,
charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” (I Cor.
13:13) “Faith without works is dead, being alone… For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is
dead also,” James tells us. This works well with Paul’s doctrine, that faith is
accompanied by love. James says that we show faith by our works, and Paul tells
us that faith "works by love.”
A true believer,
one who has faith in Christ, cannot live in that faith and not be changed by
it. The fact that “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good
works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them,” as Paul
wrote, simply has to find expression in our lives. Where faith is, a person
having been justified already, can be transformed by the Holy Spirit in day to
day life.
Love of neighbor
The second great
commandment, “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” comes with that
piercing diagnosis. It is the Law. It reveals to each heart its own
shortcomings and failure. But, God gives us more grace even still, to live as
John teaches us in today’s Epistle reading. We know that God loves us. How do
we know that God loves us? Because He gave His Son to be the Propitiation for
our sins. And, now we have been given a power to love God because He first
loved us. And, because we can love God, we have that power to love our brother
also.
The love that
springs from a life of true faith, due of course to the Holy Spirit (“The love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto
us.” Rom.
The rich man who
ignored the suffering of Lazarus, is lost, finally, because he did not hear the
word of God. “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be
persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” Had he heard the word of God
and believed, could he have left Lazarus out there at his gate? Would not faith
have worked by love? If the goats at the King’s left hand (in Matt. 25: 31-46)
had the faith of those sheep at His right hand, could they have failed to do
for “one of the least of these” His brethren?
The First Sunday
after Trinity is very important for reasons I have said before.
“The Summary of
the Law with the Two Great Commandments summarizes the Ten Commandments; we
have two commandments and two tables. For, in the Ten Commandments we have the
first Table, with four commandments about loving God. Then we have the second
table, with six commandments about loving your neighbor.
“In the middle of
the Church Year we turn to the second table on this day. Up until now we have
concentrated on the commandments to love the Lord thy God; now we look at the
commandments that tell you, and me, how to ‘love thy
neighbor as thyself.’
“Where, in all of
that emphasis from Advent through Pentecost, do we concentrate on the
commandments that tell us how to love God? It seems that the opposite is true.
What we have seen is the proof that God loves us. Exactly so. This is
what St. John
“And this
commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.”
