Faith without works is dead ... What?
But I thought we are saved by faith and not of ourselves! It's a gift of God, not our works! How does this tie together?
Jam 2:22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
Let's say one carries a blinding searchlight into a room covered with blackout curtains. The room is lit, but from outside there is no sign of the light inside. Add layers of drapery over everything in the room, covering dark corners and smothering furnishings. Light shows up these coverings, but doesn't necessarily illuminate what is beneath them.
Now, let us say that this room is a person. Christ's emergence into a life shines like the brightest light. Yet it isn't always seen so clearly from outside. Self-righteousness in any form will block the light. But the light of Christ has special properties. It dissolves the curtains between it and anything that needs to be revealed or illuminated.
What does this have to do with works and faith? When Christ illuminates, that is faith. The dissolving of obstruction to the light is works. Where the light shines through, that activity will be the acting out of faith. Sometimes the work of the light is internal, removing the blocks and sins of the heart. But there will always be a glimmer of light shining through.
It isn't that we do anything to deserve redemption from sin, it's that once we're redeemed, Christ WILL shine through. It isn't our business to cover up our sins, but to uncover them before Christ so His light can pierce and purify. It isn't our business to claim the beams of light as our own, but to rejoice that they are there even when we feel we're submerged in sin. Faith without works is dead, just as a room without light is dead.
Works without faith are dead too. We can do the right things and have the right furniture in our lives, but without the light of Christ shining out from within, these things become just another drapery between us and the glory that penetrates through our facade to self's core, dislodging whatever we esteem the most to make place for an eternal light that will never fade.
So, when one walks up to a believer to say, "I want to be like you," or, "You're so great!" what is really meant is, "I see Christ shining in you and it's attractive."
I'm so grateful that people have seen Christ in me despite my failures, sins and weaknesses. I'm so glad He's brighter than my darkness. Praise God for piercing my life and changing it. May all the darkness fade away till only Christ's light can be seen!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
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Alexei Khomiakov (Russian theologian of the 19th Century):
Is one saved by faith alone, or by faith and works?
This argument, an argument that in the light of Apostolic Tradition is so obviously pointless, has never troubled the Church, and in fact could never trouble It. In fact, faith is not an operation merely of comprehension, but an operation of the entire intellect and reason; i.e. of internally united comprehension and will. Faith is at the same time both life and truth; it is an operation by which man, condemning his own imperfect and evil character, seeks to unite with a moral being, with the righteous Jesus, with God Incarnate, with God-Man. Faith, in its very essence, is a moral imperative; a moral imperative that would not also entail a striving for discovery would thereby condemn its own impotence, or, more precisely, its nothingness, its non-being. Discovery of faith is precisely the matter, for a prayerful sigh, just barely conceived in the depths of a grieving heart is a matter like unto martyrdom. They are distinguished from one another only in the times and situations through which God deigns to allow a person to utilize the gifts of grace.
What work could the thief, nailed to the Cross, have performed? Or was his work, his simultaneous repentance and confession insufficient? Or does God show mercy by removing [him]? Thus, both those who say that faith alone is not a saving faith, that works are also needed, and those who say that faith without works is salvific are foolish: without works, faith is dead, is not true faith, for in true faith Christ is truth and life; if it is not true, then it is but false and external knowledge. And can falsehood save? If [faith] is true, it is alive, i.e. performing works, and if it is performing works, then what other works are needed? The God-inspired Apostle stated, “Shew me thy faith [of which thou boastest] without thy works, [as] I will shew thee my faith by my works.” Does he recognize two different faiths? No, he condemns foolish boasting. “Thou believest that there is one God; the devils also believe, and tremble.” Does he then recognize the faith [held by] devils? No, he proves the lie in boasting of a quality even demons possess. “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” Is he comparing faith with body and works with spirit? No, for that would be a false analogy. However, the meaning of his words is clear. As a soul-less body is no longer a person and cannot be called a person, but rather a corpse, so faith without works cannot be called true faith, but only false faith, i.e. external knowledge, knowledge that is fruitless, and is attainable even by demons. What is written plainly must also be read plainly. Thus, those who cite the Apostle as proof that there is dead faith and live faith, that there are two distinct types of faith, do not grasp the meaning of the Apostle’s words; they in fact oppose, rather than support [those conclusions]. Likewise, when the great Apostle to the nations says, “[what use is it without love, even] though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains…” he does not affirm that without love such faith is possible; rather, in that assumption, he states that [such faith] would be useless. The Sacred Scriptures should not be read with a spirit of secular wisdom, debating over terms, but with the spirit of Sophia, God’s Wisdom, and candor and simplicity of soul. In delineating faith, the Apostle states, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen…” (not only that which is expected in the future); if we have sure hope, then we wish for; if we wish for, we love: for it is impossible to wish for what we do not love. Or do demons also possess such sure hope? — Hence there is but one faith, and when we ask “Can true faith save without works?” we are posing a foolish question, or to put it another way, no question at all, for true faith is a living faith that performs works: it is faith in Christ and Christ in faith.
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Khomiakov's treatment of the passages are neither exhaustive nor meant to be a final word on the matter, but I have found that they do serve as a great alternative views that often dominate the debate over faith and works (that of, generally speaking of course, Protestant exegesis vs. Roman Catholic piety).
Perhaps it it rhetoric, perhaps it is living in a world where faithless faith is accepted (the corpse called a person, whatever). However, I like that he refuses to call what is not faith, "faith". Perhaps our flaw is to apply a word where it doesn't belong, and that is where the confusion lies. All the same, real vs. false faith is a question in the modern, spiritual culture due to rhetoric or confusion as the case may be.
One must look into the heart and say, "Am I deluding myself with rhetoric, or is there truly a Light within?" This should be continual, lest we should be so egotistical as to count on our faith instead of Christ's work in us. And so... once the object of faith is established, there is then an acknowledgement that knowing isn't the same thing as living the knowing. Thus, an imperfect servant looks for signs of light.
But, I think, we often define light as our own efforts, and that is what I was addressing. God has been showing me more and more that, because I have Him, He will shine through. It isn't my efforts. It is my exposure to Him... oh, this is imperfect as all I say is, but thanks for the helpful illumination on the subject.
http://codexjustinianus.blogspot.com/2007/12/diversion-christmas-meme.html
I've tagged you.
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