June 27, 2010 – Isaiah 57-58

This is not the first, nor probably the last time this will be a topic, but here it is. I was reading this reading from the Bible I received from David. I have enjoyed some of the commentary that it provides. However, it set me on a rant in my mind with its foot note regarding 57:12-13. It talked about being saved by faith alone and used this as a proof. It also points to Ephesians 2:8-9 in the footnote. I understand the arguments, maybe not understand them, but know they are out there, but what really set me off were the footnotes for the beginning of the next chapter. This chapter talks about actions that on the surface appear good and holy but are done only for show and not done with the right intentions. The footnotes talk about actions need to be done with the right intentions. But it makes very clear that those actions are not enough to save you. This is exactly what the Catholic Church teaches. The Church does not teach that you are saved by works alone, but by faith and works.

This verse it talks about here in saying that I will expose your works and they will not save you and using it to prove that we are saved by faith alone is taking it way out of context. This entire passage is talking about works that are inappropriate or not pleasing to God. Of course these works will not help you. But this does not say you are only saved by your faith. It doesn’t say anything about faith. It only talks about good works and bad works and you should do good works.

Read Matthew 25:31-46. If you read that out of context I could make an argument for being saved by works alone. There is no talk in that of whether you had to believe anything or not. Just be kind to the least people and you go to heaven. The footnotes in from the Bible I was reading say that there is nothing a person can do to get into heaven; it is a free gift of grace from God. This idea either has two results, either everyone is in heaven or the notion of predestination were we are all destined one place or the other and can’t do anything to stop it. Both ideas scare me because it gives us the excuse to do whatever we want here on Earth. I cannot begin to make a connection to that result and the teachings as I understand them from Christ.

Like I said, I have enjoyed some of the commentary in the footnotes of this Bible, but it tends to lose its credibility in my mind when its explanations don’t logically make sense.