Apologetics for the Masses #429 - Salvation By Works? (Part 2)

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Topic

Some questions about works and salvation.

General Comments

Hey folks,

I recorded four talks for a series done by the Office of Evangelization of the Diocese of Birmingham, which I happen to run (the Office of Evangelization, that is, not the diocese). Episode 1 is titled: "Call No Man Father - Common Sense Strategies for Evangelization and Apologetics". It's basically a video presentation of my "Apologetics for the Scripturally Challenged" talk. If you're interested in watching it, you can find it here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkduRADTHQE.

I'll let you know as the other episodes get edited and posted to YouTube in the near future.

Introduction

Last week's newsletter on how works play a role in our salvation prompted a reader to send in an email with some additional questions on the topic. His email is below in its entirety, and then I break out his 3 questions and answer each of them individually.

Challenge/Response/Strategy

Questions From a Reader

Dear John,

Your newsletter on salvation by faith was very informative but raised a couple of additional questions which I hope you will address, either in an email or a future newsletter.

You wrote: “[Salvation] is a free gift that we receive through faith, but not because of our faith.” Please explain the difference between through and because of. They sound like simply different ways of saying the same thing.

If salvation is imparted at baptism, then yes, it is clear the infant has no faith or works. But it sounds like he is saved through the works of others: the parents and the priest. If the parents or the priest failed to act, he would not be saved. Please explain this conundrum.

Lastly, if salvation is free but we need to do works to keep it, then the question arises: how many works are necessary to keep it? Or how many bad deeds are enough to lose it? Aren’t we now leaning toward a Muslim teaching (as little as I understand that) where one’s deeds are weighed in a balance, and if the balance tips to one side, one is saved, but if it tips the other way one is condemned.

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My Answers

Q: You wrote: “[Salvation] is a free gift that we receive through faith, but not because of our faith.” Please explain the difference between through and because of. They sound like simply different ways of saying the same thing.

A: In many instances those two terms are indeed interchangeable, but I differentiate between them here in order to explain the difference between Scripture saying, in Ephesians 2:8, that we are saved "through" faith; yet, the Council of Trent makes it very clear that we are not saved just because we have faith. So, to say it another way, my faith - or the faith of my parents if I am baptized as a baby - gets me to a place where God can then save me because of His grace. So, I am saved by God's grace alone, in Baptism. But, it is through faith that I got to the point where God could save me. If I am saved "because of" my faith, then I would be saved the moment I had faith. There would be no need of Baptism since I would have been saved "because of" my faith.

Or, imagine a fountain that is surrounded by a tall fence. The fence has but one gate. No way to get to the fountain except through the gate. The gate has a name on it...Faith. This fountain flows with the waters of eternal life. I have to walk "through" the gate of Faith to get to the fountain of eternal life, but I don't bathe in the waters of the fountain and receive eternal life "because of" the gate. Hope that makes sense.

Q: If salvation is imparted at baptism, then yes, it is clear the infant has no faith or works. But it sounds like he is saved through the works of others: the parents and the priest. If the parents or the priest failed to act, he would not be saved. Please explain this conundrum.

A: This answer is very much related to the answer to your first question. Yes, the baby is saved "through" the works (and faith) of the parents and the priest, but not "because of" those works. The priest could pour water on the baby's head and recite the baptismal formula all day long and the baby would not be saved unless God acted...unless God poured out the Holy Spirit and sanctifying grace upon that baby. That is how the child is saved. It is not the pouring of water that saves the baby. It is not the words the priest utters that saves the baby. It is not the faith of the parents that saves the baby. It is the sanctifying grace poured out by God upon that child's soul that saves that baby.

So, God's grace, and God's grace alone, saves that baby. Furthermore, the priest is acting in persona Christi - in the person of Christ. So it is Jesus Christ, acting in and through the priest, who baptizes the baby. It is the grace of God that powers the faith of the parents. It is the grace of God that empowers the priest to act in persona Christi by virtue of the Sacrament of Holy Orders. God's grace, and God's grace...alone!...bring salvation to the child's soul.

To say that the child would not be saved, "If the parents or priest failed to act," is true, in a sense (although we put no restrictions on who, or how, God can save someone). But the actions of the parents and the priest did not, in and of themselves, save that child. One could also say that if the parents had not engaged in marital relations and thus conceived the child, then the child would not be saved. And, if the grandparents had not conceived the parents, then the child would not be saved. And if the great grandparents had not conceived the grandparents...and on and on we could go back to the beginning of time. So, technically, we could say that millions of works went into the salvation of that child. However, none of those works were the primary cause of the child's salvation. They all got the child to the point where he or she could then be saved by God's grace. So, we can say, without any hesitation whatsoever, that none of the works done by the baptized, or for the baptized, before the actual Baptism, merited the grace of salvation. That grace was a free gift of God. So, again, God's grace, and God's grace alone, saved that child.

Q: Lastly, if salvation is free but we need to do works to keep it, then the question arises: how many works are necessary to keep it? Or how many bad deeds are enough to lose it? Aren’t we now leaning toward a Muslim teaching (as little as I understand that) where one’s deeds are weighed in a balance, and if the balance tips to one side, one is saved, but if it tips the other way one is condemned.

A: Sorry, no, this is nothing like Muslim teaching (as you understand it). "How many works are necessary to keep [salvation]?" The answer to that question is different for every single human being. There is no hard and fast number of works that are "necessary" to maintain's one salvation. God's will for everyone's life is different. The "good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them," (Ephesians 2:10), are different for each and every person based on their state in life, their abilities, their circumstances, etc.

If a person is baptized on their death bed, there may be absolutely zero works necessary to keep their salvation. A person baptized as a baby, but who dies before they reach the age of reason, may also have zero works necessary to keep their salvation. The worker who comes late to the vineyard at the end of the day, and does very little work, receives the same wages as the worker who got there first thing in the morning and has been doing all sorts of work all day long in the hot sun. Scripture also tells us that to whom much is given, much is required.

We each have to discern through prayer and reading Scripture what God is telling us through our circumstances and through others in order to decide what works we need to be doing and what works we don't need to be doing. We need to be continually striving to grow in holiness - "Strive for peace with all men and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord," (Hebrews 12:14) - to maintain our salvation. We need to forgive others to maintain our salvation (Matt 6:14-15). We need to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Lord in order to maintain our salvation (John 6:51-58). We need to bear good fruit in order to maintain our salvation (John 15:1-6). We need to seek for glory and honor and immortality in order to maintain our salvation (Romans 2:6-7). We need to do the will of the Father in order to maintain our salvation (Matt 7:21). We need to be pure in heart in order to maintain our salvation (Matt 5:8). We need to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the sick and imprisoned in order to maintain our salvation (Matt 25:31-46). We need to do all of these things, and more, in order to maintain our salvation. And we can only do them by the grace of God.

But, even though there is no black and white answer as to how many works one needs to do to maintain their salvation, there is indeed a black and white answer as to how many "bad deeds" are enough to lose it - one. One mortal sin is all it takes to lose one's salvation. "Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteouness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered; but in the iniquity that he has committed he shall die," (Ezekiel 33:13). Just as someone who has been a sinner their entire life can repent and come to salvation at the end of their life, just so someone who has been righteous their entire life can fall and come to ruin at the end of their life.

I hope I have adequately answered your questions. If you need further clarification, don't hesitate to ask.

Closing Comments

I pray that you had a wonderful summer and that you and your families are all doing well this 1st day of Autumn. Hope you have a great week!

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