We are told not to build our house on sand. When the winds blow and the rain falls, the house not built on rock is washed away. If that is a metaphor for faith and soul, how can the soul residing in a flawed faith be saved?
That question ties in with The Weekly Reading from James, 2:14-18
“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, 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? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
Martin Luther, whose original protests against The Only Church Jesus Founded weakened all Christendom, believed in Salvation by Faith. He repeatedly renounced, often in vulgar terms, the possibility of Salvation by Works.
There is a key difference between Martin Luther and the Apostle, Saint James, who wrote This Week’s Reading. Saint James was personally selected as an Apostle by Jesus Christ. Jesus did not appear, in front of witnesses, and select Martin Luther as an Apostle.
There is no contradiction in God. The Apostle chosen by Jesus said we are saved by faith that manifested itself in works. A self-appointed reformer, encouraged by powerful political interests who wanted to diminish the power of The Catholic Church, said we are saved by faith and by faith alone. To whom do we listen?
The Apostle, Saint James gives us an answer: “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.”
If you were a poor person who needed help, would you rather be in the presence of Martin Luther or Saint James? If you were God, judging how obedient souls had been to you, who would be doing God’s will, Martin Luther or Saint James?
When we think about it, we understand better that Salvation by Faith is vanity. Many Pastor Bobs encourage Salvation by Faith. “If they don’t insist that I do something useful with their donations, I get to keep them for myself!” Others have perfunctory “mission” works that look far more costly than they are.
In fact, the “Salvation by Faith” group, like the lost and selfish of every age, strives for salvation through the peculiar self-satisfaction that is the result of a self-loving vanity. Salvation by Faith proclaims proudly, “I am so important that my feelings help the poor more than food, medicine, clothing and shelter.”
Balderdash!
