Faith and Works. -John Raspopin
Since the fall of human nature and the rupture between man and God, a longing for the lost paradise has been hidden deep within the souls of men. The curse, imposed as a punishment for the fall, often acts as a remedy for the soul, reminding each person of that blessed life and delight, of that divine joy which we have lost, which we exchanged for our present existence. And if a person does not attempt to flee from the consequences of sin through sin itself, if he does not bury this voice of longing beneath the weight of new transgressions, then he is always faced with the question—how could one return to that state? How could one atone for one’s guilt, and to whose help, to whose intercession, should one turn?
All human religious confessions have developed around this question, and it lies at the foundation of true worship. A person either convinces himself that he is at peace with God and that he himself is the measure of his life and salvation, or he seeks false, counterfeit ways to satisfy his conscience, or, realizing his own helplessness, he turns to God. At such a moral crossroads, every person, every society, every nation has once stood. The choice often became a doctrine, a teaching. But it always depended on the inner state of the one choosing.
Having chosen, with God’s help, as the only possible path to salvation, the establishment of peace with God, each person eventually comes to the question: What is my role in my own salvation, and what is the significance of God? And from ancient times, different people have answered this question in different ways. Over time, human experience has formed three distinct visible teachings, which to their adherents seemed the only possible and correct ones.
The first path proposes that a person take upon himself the work of his own salvation, labor at it for a certain period, and thereby become worthy, to “receive according to his merits.” This path has always been associated with uncertainty in one’s hope. A purely businesslike mindset wants to be assured of its position both in society and, even more so, in its relationship with God. For this, one must have a clearly pragmatic understanding of the means to achieve such assurance. The easiest way is to frame it in terms of “necessary works, without which salvation is impossible.” The fulfillment of these works, along with the correct mystical conduct, is the guarantee of salvation. It is precisely the desire to physically grasp one’s salvation—a desire rooted in a concealed element of pride—that is the cause of such a legalistic understanding of salvation.
The second path, in its simplicity and greater alignment with human emotions, arises as the opposite of the first. If a person can achieve something through his own efforts, then what role does God play in his salvation? A human being is incomparably lesser than God. Can a person truly cooperate with God? Consequently, one must completely surrender one’s salvation to God. Man must become like a “block of wood,” a “pillar of salt,” and take no action whatsoever. God will do absolutely everything Himself. Man needs only to assent to this. Moreover, he must be convinced that he is already saved, and doing anything further is entirely unnecessary. He may live as he pleases, so long as he never forgets for a moment that he is saved. The underlying reasoning behind this position is also quite apparent.
But there is also a third path. This is the path that leads to true salvation, true worship, and true spiritual life. It is the path upon which all the righteous and saints of God have walked since the creation of the world. Any person who takes this path and follows it to the end attains the true purpose of life and returns to his original homeland. This path was prepared for man by the Lord Himself. From an external perspective, this path may seem difficult and arduous. Yet it is the only possible way.
How then do God and man cooperate along this path? How is there a place for frail human will in the great work of salvation, which is accomplished by the infinite God? Throughout human history, much debate has arisen over this question. Many discussions followed even after the coming of Christ, leading to numerous divisions and disputes.
Man, as the most perfect creation of God, lost many of his natural advantages after the fall. However, he still retained the image of God within himself, which is expressed in his complete freedom of choice. He also retains within him a portion of the divine voice—his conscience. A life lived in accordance with truth, or in opposition to it, is determined by one’s obedience to this conscience:
“For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves” (Romans 2:14).
In carrying out His eternal promise of salvation, the Lord gave people the Law, which was a “schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.” The Law was a preparatory stage, serving its purpose for a designated time. It prescribed the rule of faith that led to God and served as the standard of righteousness. Yet very quickly, those who entered into the Covenant with God began to follow the first, legalistic path, regarding salvation as dependent on the fulfillment of the Law. This led to a mere mechanical observance of rituals and other external precepts. Righteousness before God was replaced with righteousness before men and before oneself. It became convenient for a person to have a visible framework of his own righteousness, using it to suppress his conscience.
The coming of Christ and the redemption of humanity by His Most Pure Blood exposed this incorrect understanding of the Law and its role in human life. A new condition was given to mankind for true reconciliation with God—the New Covenant. This new condition stood on entirely different ground than the requirements of the Law. Man was now required to have faith.
But faith is something that can only exist in the heart; it cannot be simulated or performed. Faith became the true measure of a person’s relationship with God. It became the foundational cornerstone of the new building of God—the Church.
Yet faith is the work of the heart. What, then, is the role of bodily works? Are they entirely irrelevant? Or do works still hold decisive significance in a Christian’s life? If so, how do faith and works relate to one another?
These were the very questions that the Church addressed in the earliest days of its existence. The answers were clarified and expanded upon in the epistles of the two great pillars of the universal Church—the Apostles Paul and James.
The Apostle Paul, a child of Pharisaic society, had absorbed from infancy a deep reverence for the observance of the Law. The vast system of Jewish legal observance was before his eyes from childhood. And after his conversion, more than any other Christian, he perceived the spiritual distortion that had developed within this system. In several of his epistles, the Apostle Paul pointed out the deficiency of the Jewish practice of relying on the works of the Law.
Since Christ is the fulfillment of the Law and the Law was merely a preparation for the acceptance of Christ, Paul taught that the Law had been superseded. He proclaimed that “Christ is the end of the law” (Romans 10:4). And since the Law no longer has authority over man, “by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight” (Romans 3:20).
At first glance, this might seem like a call to moral indifference. Throughout the Old Testament, a person’s righteousness had been measured by his works. Now, Paul appeared to render such reliance on works meaningless. Instead, he shifted the emphasis to the spiritual aspect of human salvation. Throughout his epistles, he spoke of salvation by faith: “A man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (Romans 3:28). By rejecting the works of the Law, Paul was rejecting the legalistic idea of salvation. The Jewish mindset had become deeply entrenched in legalism, to such an extent that Judaism had turned into a religion of ritual.
Paul spoke of “works” in the sense that they were understood in Judaism. The Jewish perspective had developed a transactional relationship with God—rooted in the concepts of contract and merit. They had been given the Law, and by fulfilling it, they believed they could accumulate merit before God and thus earn His reward. Righteousness was understood as a balance between meritorious and sinful deeds. Seeing this danger, and grieving for his brethren, Paul wrote an open letter to all Jews, strongly warning them against such a destructive view of the works of the Law.
The Epistle to the Hebrews was written by Paul amidst the controversy between Jewish and Gentile Christians regarding the supersession of the Old Covenant. The Jewish Christians, having lived under the shadow of the Law, sought to accept Christ as merely an addition to the Old Covenant while still placing the Law at the center of their religious life. The works of the Law were seen as necessary for entrance into the Church. Paul addressed this issue, among others, in his Epistle to the Hebrews.
The letter was directed to all Jews, both those living in Palestine and those scattered across the diaspora. Paul was not addressing a specific ethnic group or religious faction; rather, he was refuting a misguided theological position concerning the role of the works of the Law. Therefore, his message was relevant to the entire Christian community.
In his various epistles to local churches, Paul spoke of the importance of faith in salvation:
“We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (Romans 3:28).
“Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” (Galatians 3:2).
And in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Paul presents an especially clear and well-reasoned argument on the role of faith in salvation. In the eleventh chapter, he provides numerous examples of Old Testament saints who became righteous through acts of faith. Not a single one of them was justified by works alone; all were tested and proven through their faith. This long succession of faith-filled examples culminates in Christ Himself, “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).
All these historical references were well known to every Jew. The weight of the argument was undeniable. Such a compelling chain of faithful figures led the reader to the realization that never—neither in the Old Testament nor at any other time—was man saved by works alone. The driving force behind salvation has always been faith.
Faith, which is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1), is essential for man’s conscious and free striving toward God. Faith is the only true approach to the Law. Faith is the foundation of communion between God and man. As Scripture declares:
“Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).
Among the Old Testament figures of faith, special attention should be given to Abraham and Rahab. The Apostle Paul states, “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac” (Hebrews 11:17). “By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace” (Hebrews 11:31). Speaking of them, Paul affirms that they were saved precisely by faith—faith in its purest form, without the admixture of works of the Law. This was true righteousness before God, hidden from man until its appointed time. This is why faith is characterized as “the substance of things hoped for”—it is the foundational characteristic of a Christian.
What, then, do Paul’s words in his other epistles mean in this context? For example, “God will render to every man according to his deeds” (Romans 2:6), or “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). Does faith itself negate the necessity and significance of human works for salvation? Can one confidently say that salvation requires only faith? And most importantly, how can one discern whether there is faith in a person? What are the manifestations of faith, and how should they be expressed? If “by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified” (Romans 3:20), then for what works will the Lord render judgment to each person? These questions were answered in the response of the Apostle James.
The General Epistle of James can be seen as a response to the Epistle to the Hebrews. As the head of the Jerusalem Church, it was fitting for him to speak and address the misinterpretation of Paul’s words by some of his readers. The Bishop of Jerusalem, the Apostle James, accepted Paul’s position but formulated his own response as the leader of a Christian community. It would be incorrect to say that James wrote a refutation of Paul’s epistle. Rather, his work was a warning against the incorrect interpretation of Paul’s words.
His deeper pastoral experience in guiding Christians did not allow him to ignore the outward manifestations of faith. In contrast to Paul’s emphasis on the saving power of faith, James asks, “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?” (James 2:14). And he answers: “Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone” (James 2:17). True faith—not merely professed faith—requires works. “Since faith necessarily finds expression in works, the presence of works testifies to the presence of faith” (James 2:26). James’ admonition is directed primarily at those who misunderstood Paul’s words about salvation by faith.
“Saint James the Apostle emphasizes that cold intellectual faith alone is insufficient for salvation, for even ‘the devils also believe, and tremble’ (James 2:19). The meaning of James’ words is that true saving faith is closely connected with good works: faith comes first as the cause, and works follow as the effect” (5, p. 141).
It was previously noted that James was not opposing Paul’s teaching on faith and works, but rather correcting a misrepresentation of Paul’s message. In fact, James agrees with Paul even in minor details: just as Paul speaks of “dead works” (Hebrews 6:1), James speaks of “dead faith” (James 2:17). But even more striking are the significant parallels between the two apostles.
One particularly interesting correlation—confirming that the Epistle of James was a response to the Epistle to the Hebrews—can be observed in the way both apostles discuss Abraham and Rahab. Paul cites these figures as examples of faith, emphasizing that they were justified by faith alone. James, however, recalls the same figures but frames them differently, saying:
“Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?” (James 2:21).
“Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?” (James 2:25).
Thus, in the acts of both Abraham and Rahab, James sees the proof of their faith through their deeds. Does this not directly contradict Paul’s teaching that “a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (Romans 3:28)? Was James deliberately opposing Paul by using the same examples in a different way?
“It must be understood that these words about the necessity of living, active faith for salvation were written by Saint James precisely because many Jews had misunderstood the teachings of Paul. The Apostle Paul had persistently preached to the Jews that with the coming of Christ the Savior, the ceremonial Law of Moses had lost its significance, and that salvation required faith in Christ, not the works of the Mosaic Law. However, many Jews took this to mean the absolute negation of all good works and the sufficiency of mere faith in the coming Messiah” (5, p. 141).
It was precisely against this false understanding of Paul’s words that the Apostle James took his stand.
For the Apostle James, works are the evidence of the presence of grace in a person, and this grace is faith. Faith is fulfilled through works. For him, faith is works. “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26). These words encapsulate the very principle of human salvation. Faith is the foundation of our salvation; it is the body. But without the spirit that fills it—active love—it remains lifeless. Neither faith nor works alone can be beneficial by themselves.
Thus, the Apostle James clarifies the relationship between faith and works. Undoubtedly, every person enters the Christian life solely through faith and is justified regardless of the life they led before baptism. Justification is granted only through faith. However, faith is not a fixed constant—it can grow, weaken, or even disappear altogether. If one may draw an analogy, faith must be exercised, and this is done through works that are in accordance with faith. Herein lies their inseparable connection: faith inspires a person to do good works, and works, in turn, strengthen faith.
This teaching was not only proclaimed by the Apostles Paul and James. They spoke through the Holy Spirit, and thus their words are in complete harmony with the words of the Savior. Christ Himself taught, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). But not only that—He also declared, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). These are the foundational principles upon which the Apostles and the entire Church built their teachings and way of life.
Thus, we can conclude that the Holy Church has always maintained that faith by itself, if not confirmed by good works, does not lead to perfection. At the same time, works without faith are not salvific. A good deed is only beneficial insofar as it serves to unite us with God and to acquire grace; virtues are not the goal but rather the means of our transformation.
by John Raspopin