How do Catholics and Orthodoxy explain this?

Question

Catholics and Orthodox believe in faith with works. Protestants believe in faith alone. One of the thiefs who was dying with Jesus on the cross said: Jesus remember me when you come into your Kingdom, and Jesus assured him he would be with him in paradise. The thief was a SINNER, yet he believed that Jesus was the Christ and was assured he was going to heaven. So, salvation MUST be by faith alone.

The passage you are refering to in the Bible: Not everyone that says to me Lord Lord shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father. Does it not say in the bible that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess to God that Jesus Christ is Lord. Even the unbelievers who will end up in hell according to the bible will bow and confess: Lord Lord. There is another passage in John that says what is work of God: It is to believe in the one he has sent (meaning Jesus Christ)

Answer 1

Here is the joint declaration of justification by Catholics (1999), Lutherans (1999), and Methodists (2006):

By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping us and calling us to good works.

As you can see, Catholics believe in salvation by faith alone.

But as a result of that Salvation and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we are called to do good works.

Jesus even commands us to perform works of mercy toward our neighbor in Matthew 25:34:

Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ’Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, ’Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink?’

And the king will answer them, ’Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me.’

The Corporal Works of Mercy are:
- Feed the hungry
- Give drink to the thirsty
- Clothe the naked
- Shelter the homeless
- Visit the sick
- Visit those in prison
- Bury the dead

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

Well perhaps you should study all forms of religions. By study I mean look into their actual doctrine and practices. Have you ever even been to services at another church? Have you read the Gita or Qur'ān....? Study these things and look for God in all. Make choices for your self instead of believing all that you are told. Aren't Fundamentalist also always warning of false prophets of the last days? Perhaps one leads your church where the strive to exclude and judge.

O.K. with that little rant over. Then why did Jesus spend so much time here. Why wasn't He just born of a Virgin, announced hey I'm God, die, come back in three days. Why all the examples on how to live and treat each other. Judging by how I have been treated by most "Christians" (meaning fundies) I would say you really could practice a few works.

Answer 3

Thats why i will never be a catholic they do not go by the bible for example the Catholic Catechism says mary saved people from sins. "The most infallible and indubitable sign by which we may distinguish a heretic, a man of bad doctrine, a reprobate, from one of the predestinate, is that the heretic and the reprobate have nothing but contempt and indifference for Our Lady, endeavoring by their words and examples to diminish the worship and love of her..." "INSTEAD OF DEVOTION TO THE HOLY VIRGIN, THEY COUNSEL HIM DEVOTION TO JESUS CHRIST." St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716, canonized 1947) (emphasis added) which that breaks the first commandment of you should only worship God
and they have a confession in catholic churches and the priest decides if you are forgiven, the only one who can forgive sins is Jesus. not a priest.
read this web site for more it uses all the catholic texts to prove these things and there is a lot more
http://www.bibleonly.org/exp/rccfalse.html

Answer 4

For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law. (Rm 3:28)
NB: this is the passage for which Luther took the editorial liberty of inserting "alone" after "faith".



"While "faith alone" is invalid, "grace alone" still applies: the works we do are originate in God and are energised by him. This is entirely distinct from the "man clawing himself into heaven" works envisioned by Protestants quoting Eph 2:8-9."



Just had to copy Sentinel's answer again because it's so correct.

Answer 5

You are wrong!......Faith without works is dead........Simply saying "I believe" without making accompanying life-altering changes is not sufficient. Acknowledging God's existence does not magically produce a right relationship with Him. As already noted, Jesus commands us to repent (Mark 1:15).
Repentance doesn't just happen. It requires effort and commitment. Living faith must be nurtured and spiritually fed and built. Jesus cautions us against the danger of false faith—faith that is immature and incomplete: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). But what about Paul's statement, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God"? (Ephesians 2:8). Did Paul preach a faith that did not involve a need for obedience?

Not at all. This passage shows us that God's grace—His undeserved favor toward us—is a gift. It is simply wrong to assume that, since grace is a gift, no actions—good works demonstrating a repentant heart and faith in action—are needed (James 2:14-26). The truth is that our salvation comes through God's gift of grace and faith, which God helps us develop throughout our lives. We must have living faith, not an empty, inactive faith.

The Bible tells us salvation is by God's grace and is not earned by good works "lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:9). But we are saved by grace through faith (verse 8). The danger we face is that our faith will die if we neglect our salvation by not living a life of obedience to God (Hebrews 2:1-3). That is why the apostle Paul wrote, ". . . I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified" (1 Corinthians 9:27).

Of themselves, works will not earn us salvation. But the book of James makes it clear that faith, if unaccompanied by works, is dead—utterly useless (James 2:17, 20, 26)
As a faithful elder in the Church and the half brother of Jesus Christ, he wrote: "Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says" (James 1:21-22, New International Version). He adds, ". . . The man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does" (verse 25, NIV).

True, living faith requires much more than words. It requires commitment and evidence of that commitment. James asks this rhetorical question: "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?" (James 2:14, NIV). He shows that mere words are useless when someone needs food and clothing (verses 15-17). James cited the example of faithful Abraham to show that "his faith was made complete by what he did" (verses 21-22, NIV).

Our faith lives when we respond obediently to the love of Christ by keeping His commandments (John 14:12-15). We are not saved by grace through inactive faith.

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Answer 6

The thief was a sinner who asked for forgiveness. Did you forget that part?

Second, Catholics DO believe that we are already saved because Jesus died for our sins. We also believe, however, that we should honor Jesus for his sacrifice by doing what he told us he wanted us to do. Now, what do YOU believe, if not that? I AM a Catholic who has studied my religion. You are only assuming what you ask is true. And you know what happens when you assume.

Answer 7

It's very easy to explain. You look at this and explain the same way you explain Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and Santa.
If you believe in Jesus and do not believe in the other three, you are very narrow minded or, whoever brainwashed you did do a good job.

Answer 8

I believe this is argument just for sake of argument. Catholics believe that people are saved only through the grace of Jesus' death on the cross but it is through this grace that we also act. Abraham believed God but it wasn't until he actually was in the process of sacrificing his son that God stopped him and said "Now I know..."

It is just like the Protestants say -- it is through grace that we are saved. Actions come with the grace.

Answer 9

You are incorrect.

Protestants are known their slogan that we are justified by "faith alone," but the expression "faith alone" only appears once in the Bible—in James 2:24—where it is rejected. This is a burr under the saddle for Protestants, for, if they wanted to use terms the way the Bible does, they would have to give up their chief slogan.

When Catholics point this out, many Protestants attempt damage control by attacking the faith being discussed in James 2, saying it is an inferior or bad faith. Some do this by pejoratively labeling it "dead faith." They treat "faith without works is dead" (vv. 17, 26) as if it were a definition and say, "If faith does not produce works then it is dead faith. It is this dead faith that James says won’t save us."

But reading the context shows that James is not using the phrase as a definition. He is not defining the term "dead faith." That term does not appear in the text. He is stating a fact, not offering a definition.

The interpretation flies apart at the seams when we test it by substituting "dead faith" wherever the text mentions faith.

On that reading, people would be boasting of having dead faith (v. 14). James would be making the redundant statement that dead faith without works is dead (vv. 17, 26) and offering to prove that dead faith is barren (v. 20). He would be offering to show his dead faith by his works (v. 18) and commending people ("you do well") for having dead faith (v. 19). He would be telling us that Abraham’s dead faith was active with his works (v. 22) and that Abraham believed God with dead faith and it was reckoned to him as righteousness (v. 23).

Another attempt to impugn "faith" in this passage uses the statement "Even the demons believe—and shudder" (v. 19). People ask, "What kind of faith do demons have? Only mere intellectual assent. They intellectually assent to the truths of theology, but this is as far as their faith goes." This understanding of the faith in James 2 is closer to the truth, but it still creates problems—in fact, many of the same problems.

People would be boasting of having mere intellectual assent (v. 14). James would be offering to show others his mere intellectual assent by his works (v. 18). He would be commending people for having mere intellectual assent (v. 19) and saying that Abraham’s mere intellectual assent was active along with his works (v. 22). He would be saying that Abraham’s mere intellectual assent was reckoned to him as righteousness, contradicting verse 23, which would state that mere intellectual assent is barren.

The "mere intellectual assent" solution fails just as the "dead faith" one does. In fact, any solution that impugns the faith James is talking about as a bad or inferior faith will fail. This can be seen by going through the passage and substituting "bad faith" and "inferior faith" wherever "faith" is mentioned. Such solutions fail because James does not see anything wrong with the faith he is talking about. The faith isn’t the problem; the fact it is alone is the problem.

To understand what kind of faith James has in mind, one must avoid the temptation to read something bad into it. This is where the "mere intellectual assent" solution went wrong. Its advocates correctly identified verse 19 as the key to understanding the faith being discussed, which is intellectual assent. The problems were created by adding the term "mere" to make it sound bad. Leave "mere" off, and the problems vanish. Someone can go around boasting that he intellectually assents to God’s truth (v. 14), prompting James’s need to show that intellectual assent without works is dead and barren (vv. 17, 20, 26). He could offer to show his intellectual assent by his works (v. 18). And he could commend a person for having intellectual assent (v. 19a), while saying that even the demons have it though it doesn’t stop them from shuddering at the prospect of God’s wrath (v. 19b).

Finally, he can speak of how Abraham’s intellectual assent was active with and completed by his works (v. 22) and can conclude that man is not justified by intellectual assent alone (v. 24). James views intellectual assent as good thing ("you do well," v. 19a), but not as a thing that will save us by itself (vv. 14, 17, 20, 24, 26).

Answer 10

For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law. (Rm 3:28)
NB: this is the passage for which Luther took the editorial liberty of inserting "alone" after "faith".

So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. (Rm 11:5-6)

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God-- not because of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

he saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit (Tit 3:5)

who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago, (2 Tim 1:9)

NB: In Romans, Paul is talking about "works of the law," that is the Jewish law.

Works Required
"Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Mt 7:21)

Mt 25:31-44-- At the Last Judgement, the Lord judges the sheep and the goats based on what they have done.

The good man out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure produces evil; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Lk 6:45)

Jesus answered him, "If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. (Jn 14:23)

``For he will render to every man according to his works'' (Rm 2:6)

There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for every one who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality. (Rm 2:11)

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love. (Gal 5:6)

to lead a life worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. (Col 1:10)

Take care, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ``today,'' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we share in Christ, if only we hold to our first confidence firm to the end,... (Hebrews 3:13-14)

You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. (James 2:24)

And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who keep his commandments abide in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given us. (1 Jn 3:23-24)

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done. (Rev 20:12)

Grace Alone
While "faith alone" is invalid, "grace alone" still applies: the works we do are originate in God and are energised by him. This is entirely distinct from the "man clawing himself into heaven" works envisioned by Protestants quoting Eph 2:8-9.