Msg Base:  AREA 3  - ASK FATHER (AMDG)
  Msg No: 188.  Sun 12-13-92  4:13  (NO KILL)
    From: Father Mateo
      To: Joan Stromberg
 Subject: Justification by Faith

JS|Dear Father,
  |  I recently had a discussion with my sister, an ex-Catholic who is now an
  |evangelical Christian, about the Bible's support of "Justification by
  |Faith Rather than by Works."  Of course, she quoted Luther's favorite book,
  | Galatians.  I countered with the context Galatians was written and that
  |the works referred to the Law, the Jewish Torah and that many Jews were
  |telling the Galatians that they must become Jews and follow the Law before
  |becoming Christians.  She said that it was a matter of interpretation.  So
  |I then pointed out the book of James where good works are paramount to
  |salvation as well as the story of the sheep and goats in Matthew.  Of
  |cousre, I learned all this from Karl Keating's book, Catholicism and
  |Fundementalism.  She countered with something that I have not been able to
  |refute, at least not to her satisfaction.  She says that in Revelation,
  |there are two judgements and that the first one will be who is saved by
  |faith and the second one will be at the end of the world and that those
  |who are saved will then be judged by their works and given different
  |degrees of happiness in heaven.  Of course, I think this is just a matter
  |of interpretation, but I was unsure of what the Chruch teaches about these
  |two judgements.  Could you help?
  |  God bless you for your work and the series in This Rock is wonderful.
 
Dear Joan,
 
Thank God for your patience and zeal in talking to your sister.  More
than anything else, you will need prayer and then more prayer.  Then
you will need to know more and more about the Bible, and your message
tells me that you are striving for more of that saving
knowledge.
 
Hurling Bible texts at each other will prove to be of limited value
for either of you.  God's revelation is a seamless robe, and texts
from one book may be used to illumine texts from another book, but
texts do not cancel out other texts.  To cling to one's favorite
texts to the exclusion of all other considerations is dishonest.  It
does not lead to salvation.
 
It is also dishonest to pooh-pooh an uncomfortable text by saying,
"It's a matter of interpretation."  That is not to say that it is
always easy to know what the sacred writers intended.  But the
difficulties are challenges to get busy and find out the *correct*
interpretation.
 
But God knows our time is limited and so are our talents.  And so in a
matter of such great importance as our eternal salvation, He has
given us the Church.  Ask your sister, "What is the pillar and
foundation of Truth?"  The odds are very long that she'll say "Why,
the Bible, of course!"  Then lead her to 1st Timothy 3:15.  Without the
Church, the bare Bible is corpse for dissection.  It engenders
squabbles and produces a multitude of denominations.  These are not
the Body of Christ (Col. 1:24).
 
To grapple with your questions: Revelation does not and cannot cancel
out James.  James teaches that faith without works is dead (2:17) and
a delusion (1:22). Such faith cannot save, for the devils in Hell
have faith and are not saved (2:19).
 
Paul in Galatians says that what counts is "faith *working* through
love" (5:6).  Furthermore, faith itself is a human act and therefore a
work.  We believe under the impulse of God's grace, it is true, and so
all the glory of faith belongs to God, nevertheless it *is* our action.
 
I would like to study the two judgements of Revelation to see to what
extent I can agree with your sister.  To do this I must have the
precise chapter-verse references.  Will you please send them?
 
                                                Sincerely in Christ,
                                                        Father Mateo
 
 
 * OLX 2.1 TD * Cry out with joy and gladness;  for among you
                is the great and Holy One of Israel.