Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. So says James in Chapter 1, vss. 23-24. You don’t just show up and see what’s going on. The Christian faith is about doing things in a new way.
There is an expression in the Reformed tradition of
the church, “Sola Fide”, which means ‘faith alone’. The fuller expression is “justificatio sola
fide”, justification by faith alone.
What that means is that salvation in Jesus comes through faith
alone. There is nothing that we, as
humans, need to do-nothing we can do-to earn a place in God’s favor.
This is important because at the time of its formulation, at the Reformation, there was an ‘abuse
of privilege’ that the church engaged in when it came to belief in Jesus and salvation
for the soul. The Crusades, generations
of invasions of the Holy Land by the Western church, gained traction
among the royalty, nobility, and every layer of society because of the bargain
made by the church. Go on Crusade and
have your sins forgiven and your salvation assured. In mass violence. Past sins, sins
while there, future sins.
This abuse of privilege only grew. Once forgiveness became a commodity, to be
bought and sold, taking it off the market required remaking the marketplace. When I was taught about
the Reformation, I was taught about ‘indulgences’, things the rich could buy that
were essentially “get out of hell free” cards.
So, you could do whatever you wanted and buy forgiveness afterward. If you could afford it.
When the pendulum swung away from that, it swung away
powerfully. It is not about what we
humans can do, it is about what God has done for us. We are sinners and there is nothing we can
do, on our own, to earn salvation. But
God’s got us covered. In Jesus Christ,
we have the free gift of salvation through His death and resurrection. We must have faith, we must believe. There is nothing we can do.
But then the pendulum swings in the other
direction. If there is nothing we need
do, faith is something where we need do nothing. We do not have the motivation of heaven or
hell behind our actions. Just mouth the
words. Sure, there is talk about ‘right
belief’ and ‘not fooling the Holy Spirit’, but fooling our fellow human
beings? Easy enough.
So James’ homespun theology. Get rid of moral filth. Do what the word says, do not just
listen. If anyone considers himself
religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself
and his religion is worthless. You
believe what Jesus tells you and you do what Jesus tells you. Those go hand in hand. Simply put, belief in Jesus is life changing.
It is changing in the life to come, as we receive the
gift of salvation, as we are justified for the sins we have committed. But it is also changing in the life right
now. We live differently. We work, in Christ, to change our behaviors
to reflect the law of love, loving God and loving neighbor.
How do they, faith and works, connect to each other? How do they, belief and actions, feed one another? That is good stuff too, deepens our faith in
heart and mind. But that comes next. It follows living our faith by faith and action, hearing and
doing, assurance of the new life to come and renewal of the life right
now. Thus we are taught by our Savior.
Peace,
Pastor Peter
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