Faith vs. Works
Faith does not need to push the river because faith is able to trust that there is a river. The river is flowing. We are in it. Richard Rohr
Gregg’s Reflection
Martin Luther’s core theology, reflecting the Apostle Paul’s, is Salvation by Grace through Faith. Luther tells us,
If we esteem them too highly, good works can become the greatest idolatry.
Luther was fighting against the idea of works righteousness. While I and many others give intellectual assent to the idea of Grace instead of Works being our salvation, often there is an operating system that is still trying to prove ourselves worthy to God. I lived in that place for 50 years. I use this illustration in my structural coaching to show how our attempts to be worthy rest on a lie:
This image shows that God extended Grace when he sent Jesus to point the way to God. We are invited to place our identity in Christ as the source of all good flowing out of our lives. When we acknowledge Christ, we turn towards Submission and Obedience. but as the arrow indicates, this movement is also empowered by Grace. But, if I am trying to prove myself worthy to God and try to live into the law in my own strength, I am attempting to reverse this flow of Grace. In that case, God would owe me for being such a good boy.
If we could prove ourselves worthy, why would we need Christ? God has let me hit the wall time after time, because God has no desire to prop up the idea that I can do this on my own. Our self-salvation structures make us our own savior, and results in Works Righteousness. So, what does this even mean?
From Chat AI:
Works righteousness is a theological concept primarily associated with Christian thought. It refers to the belief that individuals can earn God's favor or achieve salvation through their own actions, good works, or adherence to religious laws and commandments. This idea contrasts with the doctrine of justification by faith, which emphasizes that salvation is a gift from God received through faith in Jesus Christ, rather than earned through human effort.
Key Points of Works Righteousness:
Basis of Salvation: Proponents of works righteousness maintain that performing good deeds, following religious precepts, or leading a morally upright life can contribute to one's standing before God.
Contrast with Grace: Works righteousness is often seen as conflicting with the idea of grace, which posits that salvation is granted freely by God, not as a result of human merit. This is particularly emphasized in the writings of the Apostle Paul, who argues that no one can be justified by the works of the Law (e.g., Galatians 2:16).
Historical Context: The concept heavily influenced the Reformation, particularly in the teachings of Martin Luther, who vehemently opposed works righteousness and championed justification by faith alone. Luther’s 95 Theses were in part a response to the abuses he perceived in the church, such as the selling of indulgences.
Catholic View: While the Catholic Church upholds the importance of faith, it also teaches that works, nourished by grace, play a role in the process of salvation. The Catholic perspective sees faith and works as intertwined, where genuine faith expresses itself through acts of love and adherence to God's commandments.
Modern Implications: In contemporary discussions, works righteousness can manifest in various ways, including religious legalism or moralism, where individuals may feel pressure to perform well to be accepted by God or their faith community.
God created us as human beings, incapable of perfection in our own strength. Anyone striving for perfection knows this to be true, as they fall short of perfection every day, and feel shame because of it. The evil one just twists one wire in our subconscious, to leave us believing it is our job to BE worthy, to BE good enough. Uncovering that lie is a path to a grace-filled life.
When we recognize that is God’s design of humans, and the God uses imperfect people to do incredible works, empowered by grace, we can move beyond shame and become the person God desires us to be. Wade into what Scripture, the saints and mystics have to say about Grace vs Works. Blessings.
Journaling Prompts
In all your attempts to be worthy, to be good enough, how has that worked out for you? How have you made good works an idol in your life? Has all your striving ever made you feel you have become worthy, good enough to please God? Perhaps that’s because it never can. What would it be like to let go of the lie that it is possible to please God in our own strength?
Scripture
And he believed the Lord; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness.
Genesis 15:6. Abraham‘s faith is what brought him to righteousness.
I lift up my eyes to the mountains, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:1
They asked him, “What must we do to do the work God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he sent.”
John 6:28-29
Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
John 14:23
Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you had heard? Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law; for “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”
Galatians 3: 2-3, 6, 11
For by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-not the result of works, so that no man can boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
Ephesians 2:8-10 (RENOVARE Bible note on the verse: Works are to faith as exhaling is to inhaling. They complete the gift of salvation. Good works are not what we do to win salvation they are what we do to demonstrate and enjoy it.)
Ancient Writings
Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe. Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.
St. Augustine
Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.
Martin Luther
Truly, if faith is there, the believer cannot hold back... he breaks out into good works.
If we esteem them too highly, good works can become the greatest idolatry.
Many have been deceived by outward appearances and have proceeded to write and teach about good works and how they justify without even mentioning faith.... Wearying themselves with many works, they never come to righteousness.
This is faith: a renouncing of everything we are apt to call our own and relying wholly upon the blood, righteousness and intercession of Jesus.
John Newton
Modern Writings
Faith and works are bound up in the same bundle. He that obeys God trusts God; and he that trusts God obeys God. He that is without faith is without works; and he that is without works is without faith.
Charles Spurgeon
Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.
Helen Keller
Faith is not an art. Faith is not an achievement. Faith is not a good work of which some may boast while others can excuse themselves with a shrug of the shoulders for not being capable of it.
It is a decisive insight of faith itself that all of us are incapable of faith in ourselves, whether we think of its preparation, beginning, continuation, or completion.
Karl Barth, Reader
Faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God.
A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God
Self-confidence is a precious natural gift, a sign of health. But it is not the same thing as faith. Faith is much deeper, and it must be deep enough to subsist when we are weak, when we are sick, when our self-confidence is gone, when our self-respect is gone.
Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, p. 187
If the faith is not a living reality in the home, if the parents are not truly disciples of Jesus and living out the belief that he has the words of eternal life, then there is little possibility that the faith will be a living reality in the homes of their children.
Basil Pennington, Lectio Divina, p. 99
Faith gives us the eyes to see not what God is but who God is. He is to be found at the root, the ground, of our very existence. To discover Christ as the ground of our being is to discover God enmeshed in our lives.
Ilia Delio, Christ in Evolution, p. 132
Unfortunately, the notion of faith that emerged in the West was much more a rational assent to the truth of certain mental beliefs rather than a calm and hopeful trust that God is inherent in all things, and that this whole thing is going somewhere good.
Richard Rohr, CAC Morning Devotion 2/3/21
Faith does not need to push the river because faith is able to trust that there is a river. The river is flowing. We are in it.
Richard Rohr, Falling Upward
Faith is not for overcoming obstacles; it is for experiencing them—all the way through!
Richard Rohr, Falling Upward
Aliveness, he will teach, is a gift available to all by God's grace. It flows not from taking, but giving, not from fear but from faith, not from conflict but from reconciliation, not from domination but from service. It isn't found in the upper trappings of religion: rules and rituals, controversies and scruples, temples and traditions. No, it springs up from our innermost being like a fountain of living water. It intoxicates us with the best wine ever and so turns life from disappointment into a banquet.
Brian McLaren
The Bible really seems to clinch the matter when it puts the two things together into one amazing sentence. The first half is, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”—which looks as if everything depended on us and our good actions: but the second half goes on, “For it is God who works in you”—which looks as if God did everything and we nothing. I am afraid that is the sort of thing we come up against in Christianity. I am puzzled, but I am not surprised.
You see, we are now trying to understand, and to separate into water-tight compartments, what exactly God does and what man does when God and man are working together. And, of course, we begin by thinking it is like two men working together, so that you could say, “He did this bit and I did that.” But this way of thinking breaks down. God is not like that. He is inside you as well as outside: even if we could understand who did what, I do not think human language could properly express it. In the attempt to express it different Churches say different things. But you will find that even those who insist most strongly on the importance of good actions tell you you need Faith; and even those who insist most strongly on Faith tell you to do good actions.
C. S. Lewis Institute, Reflections: Faith or Works, April 1, 2007.