December 2, 2010 – Catechism 618-623

Most of the summary is review.  What are we suppose to make of the idea of taking our cross daily.  Especially those that believe Christ death on the cross is all we need, believing in that alone is enough to save us, the idea of faith alone.  Matthew 16:24  Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.  What does that mean if not some action on our part.  And not just the action of believing Christ is our Lord and Savior, but some type of suffering or sacrifice.  How else can that be interpreted.  This one verse contains, not in specific words, the teaching that a person needs faith and works in order to follow Christ.  “take up his cross” is a work, “follow me” is the faith.  Christ says you need both.  He doesn’t say that one is shown by the other or you get one from the other.  You need both, both are separate parts to following Him.  A person may have a cross they are barring, but not following Christ.  A person may be trying to follow Christ, but if they are not carrying their cross, not accepting it, ignoring it, or making others carry it, they are not following Christ.  We need both.  I will post again what I wrote about James 2:26 because it also talks about this idea of faith and works and their connection. 

(From October 30, 2010 post)

James 2:26 For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

There was a debate about James 2:24 at the beginning of Aug., but this is the verse I wanted to discuss.  This post is pretty much the last post of the debate that I added and there were no comments after that.  So either it stumped them and they had to reflect on it or no one read it.  But here it is.

Faith and works are analogized with body and spirit. The Body is Faith and the Spirit is Works. So, I was thinking about these together and separate. What is a Body separate from Spirit? The verse says it is dead, but not looking at the verse, just thinking about it, it is a corpse, a dead body. There is still a body there, to be buried or cremated or whatever, but there is still a body that exists. What is the other side, a Spirit without a Body? Well, that is what we consider an angel. I guess you could also say that this will be our existence after we die. Put them together, Body and Spirit, and you have a living human person.

So, what is Faith Alone? A dead body. What is Works alone? A Spiritual Being which can be good or bad. Angel or Demon. Someone in Hell or Heaven or Purgatory. But when they are together you have a person who is alive, in our situation, alive in Christ.

What does this do with the idea of being saved by faith alone and that being shown by our works? If you use the analogy of the verse, that doesn’t seem to fit. You are not a dead body that is given a spirit to live, they are created in you at the same time. God works in the process along with your parents to give you life at your conception. One is not the product of the other in either way. They are complimentary to the whole.