Book I, Homily 4 Remixed: True, Living, and Christian Faith (Thomas Cranmer)

(1)

We first come to God through faith, which justifies us before God, as was discussed in the previous Homily. But let us be clear: faith is described in the Scriptures in two different ways.

            Scripture says that one kind of faith is dead. This faith does not yield good deeds, but is barren, idle, and unfruitful. St. James compared this kind of faith to the faith of devils, who can intellectually assent that God is true and just and shudder with fear at how true and just He is. Yet they don’t do anything good and indeed do all kinds of evil, being devils, after all (James 2:17, 19). And it is this kind of faith which some wicked and disobedient Christians hold, who St. Paul says,  “confess God with their mouths, but by their actions deny Him; they are detestable and lack true faith, being unfit for doing any good work” (Tit. 1:16). And this dead faith can be very large. It can be as wide as persuasion and belief in the human heart that there is a God and agreement to the complete truth of God’s most holy word contained in Holy Scripture. Indeed, at its maximum extent, this faith consists only in believing the word of God to be true.

            Yet mere belief in what I read is not really faith. If I read Caesar’s accounts of the Gallic or Civil Wars and believe them to be true, I gain knowledge of Caesar’s life and significant actions, because I believe Caesar’s account of history. Yet it cannot be properly said of me that I believe in Caesar. It’s not like I’m expecting Caesar to come to my aid or seek my benefit. In the same way, if I believe all that the Bible says of God is true, and yet I live in such an ungodly way that I cannot hope to enjoy the promises and gifts of God written in those Scriptures, no one can properly say of me that I believe in God. Let alone can they say of me that I have such a faith and trust in God that I may expect and seek grace, mercy, and eternal life from God. Instead, I merely believe words about God. A wretch like me only should expect indignation and punishment for the wickedness of my life. For, as it is written in a book attributed to Didymus Alexandrinus (an author of the 4^th century A.D.), “If faith without works is dead, it is not now faith, just as a dead man is not a man.” This dead faith therefore is not the certain and substantial faith that saves sinners.

            There is another faith discussed in Scripture, which is not like the first faith we have discussed. It is not idle, unfruitful, and dead, but works through love, as St. Paul says (Gal. 5:13-14). If the other useless faith was called a dead faith, so this faith can be called living or lively faith. And this faith not only consists of general belief in the articles of our faith but also of a sure trust and confidence in God’s mercy revealed in our Lord Jesus Christ, and of a steadfast hope in receiving every good thing from God’s hand; and of hope and trust that whenever we fall into sin through weakness, or temptation of the flesh, the world, and the devil, our sins will be forgotten and forgiven for the sake of His Son Jesus Christ, if we truly repent and return to Him; that he will make us heirs of his eternal kingdom; that until His kingdom comes, He will protect and defend us from all perils and dangers, whatever may come; and that, though sometimes he sends us misfortune and difficulty, He will be a loving Father to us, correcting us for our sin, but not taking his mercy from us forever, if we trust, commit wholly to, cling to, and call upon Him, ready to obey and serve Him.

            This is the true, living, and authentic Christian faith, and is not only about what we say and show in public, but about what lives and moves in our hearts. This faith does not lack hope and trust in God, the love of God and neighbor, the fear of God, the desire of hearing God’s word, and the desire to follow what we hear in order to avoid evil and do all good deeds gladly. This faith, as St. Paul describes it, is the firm ground and sure foundation of the benefits we ought to seek and trust that we shall receive from God: a certificate and sure encouragement that they are there, though we do not yet see them (Heb. 11:1). And St. Paul says thereafter, “Whoever comes to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). And nothing recommends good people to God as much as their faith and trust in Him.

            Let us note three aspects of true and living faith: (1) this faith does not rest dead in the heart, but is lively and fruitful in generating good deeds; (2) that no deeds are good or acceptable and pleasing to God without it; (3) the character of good deeds that are generated by this faith.

            Let us consider the first aspect. Just as light cannot be hid but will show itself in one place or another, so a true faith cannot be kept secret. When the time is right, true faith will reveal itself in good deeds. And just as the human body has a variety of regular needs, rhythms, and functions that prove that it is healthy and well, a lively faith demonstrates its health by good deeds and is never still.

            Therefore, when we hear faith so highly praised in the Scriptures: that it makes us please God, live with God, and to be the children of God, let us not fantasize that we are free from doing all good deeds and may live as we desire. For when we do so, we show disrespect to God and deceive ourselves. For when we do so, we are far from having a true and lively faith and far as well from the knowledge of what true faith means. For the very sure and lively Christian faith is not only to believe in the God proclaimed by the Scriptures but also to trust Him; to trust that He cares for us, as a father cares for his child who he loves, that He will be merciful to us for the sake of his Son, and that our Savior Christ is continually acting on our behalf as High Priest and Advocate before God. True faith is that we trust that Christ’s merits, oblation, and suffering continually cleanse and purge us of our offenses, whenever we truly repent and return to Him with our whole heart, steadfastly deciding within ourselves through His grace to obey Him, keep his commandments, and never turn back to sin. This is the true faith praised by the Scriptures, which when it sees and considers what God has done for us, is stirred by the continual assistance of the Holy Spirit to serve and please God, keep His favor, fear his displeasure, and to live as his obedient children. That stirs us to show gratitude again by observing his commandments, and observing those commandments freely out of true love rather than in fear of punishment or love of rewards in this world, always considering how clearly we have received his mercy and pardon freely without deserving it.

            This true faith always “will out” and cannot remain idle long. For faith becomes a biological function of the soul, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by being faithful” (Hab. 2:4). They do not sleep or are idle, when they should be awake and be occupied. And God has proclaimed through the prophet Jeremiah, “Blessed is anyone who trusts in the Lord, and rests his confidence on Him. He will be like a tree planted by the waterside, that sends out its roots along a stream. When the heat comes, it has nothing to fear; its foliage stays green. Without care in a year of drought, it does not fail to bear fruit” (Jer. 17:7-8). In the same way, faithful Christians who put away all fear of adversity will display the fruit of their good deeds as the opportunity arises. 

(2)

You have heard in the first part of this Homily that there are two kinds of faith: one dead and unfruitful and the other lively and functional through love; the first does us no good; the second is necessary for our salvation. This latter faith always is joined with love, and is fruitful, bringing forth all good deeds. Now I shall continue to speak on the same theme.

            The wise one of Ecclesasticus says, “He who believes in God will receive his teaching” (Ecclus. 32:18: V). For, if we do not prove our fidelity through how we love, we pretend to have faith, because the true Christian faith is only made manifest by good living, and not by words alone. As St. Augustine says, Good living cannot be separated from true faith, which functions through love.” And St. John Chrysostom says, “Faith of itself is full of good deeds: as soon as a man believes, he shall be showered with them.”

St. Paul teaches that this faith is fertile with good deeds and explains how it makes the work of one person more acceptable to God than another. He says that faith made the offering of Abel superior to that of Cain (Gen. 4:4-5; Heb. 11:4). This faith convinced Noah to build the ark (Gen. 6:22; Ecclus. 44:17; Heb. 11:7). This faith encouraged Abraham to abandon his country and all his friends to go a distant land and dwell among strangers (Gen. 11:31, 12:1-5; Heb. 11:8-10). Isaac and Jacob likewise depended on the help and trust of God alone. When they came to the country God had promised them, they did not build cities, towns, or houses; but lived like strangers in tents, that could be moved every day. Their trust in God was so great that they cared little about any material possession, for God had prepared and built places for them live in heaven (Heb. 11:13).

This faith readied Abraham to obey God’s command to sacrifice his own well-beloved son and heir, Isaac, through whom Abraham was promised innumerable descendants, including one through whom all the nations would be blessed (Gen. 22: 1-18; Ecclus. 44:20). Indeed, Abraham trusted so much in God that he imagined that if he or Isaac were slain, God’s almighty power would raise him from death so that God’s promise would be fulfilled. He trusted the promise of God, though everything about it seemed utterly irrational to him. He truly believed that God would not forsake him in crop failures and famine. And in all other dangers he encountered, he always trusted that God would be his God, his protector and defender, no matter what he saw to the contrary.

This faith was so active in the heart of Moses that he refused to be accepted by Pharaoh as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and receive a great inheritance in Egypt, thinking it better to share affliction and sorrow with God’s people than enjoy the transient pleasures of sin with the wicked (Heb. 11:24-27). By faith, he discounted the threats of Pharaoh, for he had so much trust in God that he did not set much store by happiness in this world but looked for coming reward in heaven, setting his heart upon the invisible God as if he had seen Him with his own eyes.

By faith, the children of Israel passed through the Red Sea (Ex. 14:22; Heb. 11:29). By faith, the walls of Jericho came tumbling down without any assault (Josh. 6:20; Heb. 11:30) and many other wonderful miracles have been worked. In all the faithful who have ever lived, faith has generated good works and obtained the good things God has promised. Faith has stopped the mouths of lions (Dan. 6:16-23; Heb. 11:33); faith has made fire unable to burn (Dan. 3:13-28; Heb. 11:34); faith has saved the faithful from the sword: giving strength to the weak and victory in battle; overthrown the armies of unbelievers; and raised the dead to life. Faith has allowed the righteous to bear adversity in good cheer: some have been mocked and whipped, bound and thrown into prison; some have lost all of their property and lived in great poverty; some have wandered in mountains, hills, and wilderness; some have been tortured, some killed with the sword; some stoned; some sawed in half; some dismembered, some beheaded, some burnt without mercy, but all of these did not surrender their faith to save themselves, because they expected to rise again to a better state (para. Heb. 11).

All these patriarchs, martyrs, and other holy people who St. Paul describes, had their faith focused firmly on God, when the entire world was against them. They not only knew that God is the Lord, Maker, and Governor of all humanity, but also had a special confidence and trust that He was and would be their God, their comforter, aider, helper, maintainer, and defender. This is the Christian faith; which these holy people had, and we should have as well. And although they were not called Christians, yet they still had a Christian faith, for they sought all of the benefits of God the Father through the merits of His Son, Jesus Christ, as we now do, The only difference between us and them is that they waited for the coming of Christ, but we live in the time when He has arrived. Therefore, St. Augustine said, “The time is altered and changed, but not the faith. For we both have one faith in one Christ.” The same Holy Spirit that we have, they also had, says St. Paul (2 Cor. 4:13). Just as the Holy Spirit has taught us to trust in God, and to call upon Him as our Father, so did He teach them to say, as it is written, “You, Lord, are Our Father and Redeemer, and Your Name is without beginning and everlasting” (Is. 63:16). God gave them grace to be his children then and he does the same for us now. But the coming of Our Savior Christ allows those of us in these present times to receive the Spirit of God in our hearts more abundantly than those who came before Christ, so that we can develop a greater faith and surer trust than many of them had. But we still share the same faith with them. What faith in God we have, they possessed as well. Indeed, St. Paul praises their faith so much in order to argue that we should excel them in giving ourselves completely to Christ, both in word and deed, now that Christ has come. And by everything St. Paul declares of the faith of the holy ones before Christ’s coming, it is clear that true, lively, and Christian faith is neither dead, vain, nor unfruitful but a thing of perfect virtue, wonderful operation, and strength, bringing forth all good thoughts and deeds.

All Holy Scripture testifies that a true and lively faith in Christ results in good works, and therefore every person must engage diligently in self-examination and reflection upon whether he or she possesses true and lively faith in his or her heart, genuine or not; which he or she will know by its fruits. Many who professed the faith of Christ were in error; they thought they knew God and believed in Him, when their lives declared the opposite. And it is this error that St. John addresses in his First Letter in this way, “It is by keeping God’s commands that we can be sure we know Him. Whoever says, ‘I know Him’, but does not obey His commands is a liar and the truth is not in Him” (1 John 2:3-4). And St. John also says, “No one who dwells in Him sins any more; the sinner has neither seen Him nor known Him” (1 John 3:6). And moreover he says, “This is how we shall know that we belong to the realm of truth and reassure ourselves in His sight, where conscience condemns us; for God is greater than our conscience and knows all. My dear friends, if our conscience does not condemn us, then we can approach God with confidence, and obtain from Him whatever we ask, because we are keeping his commands and doing what he approves” (1 John 3:19-22). Furthermore, he says, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God.” And “We know that no child of God commits sin; he is kept safe by the Son of God, and the evil one cannot touch him” (1 John 5:1, 18). And finally he concludes and describes why he wrote the letter in this way, “this letter is to assure that you have eternal life, because you have given your allegiance to the Son of God” (1 John 5:13). And in his Third Letter, he reiterates the whole argument regarding faith and works in a few words by saying, “The well-doer is a child of God; the evildoer has never seen God” (3 John 11).

And just as St. John testifies that the lively faith and knowledge of God results in good works, he bears witness to a complementary idea: hope and love cannot exist together with evil living. He writes concerning hope, “we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. As He is pure, everyone who has grasped this hope makes himself pure” (1 John 3:2-3). And of love, he says, “the love of God is made perfect in those who are obedient to God’s word” (1 John 2:5). And again he says, “For to love God is to keep his commands” (1 John 5:3).

And St. John did not come up with these ideas out of his own head to demonstrate his cleverness but otherwise teach no one anything useful. These ideas are sure and necessary truths, taught to John by Christ Himself, the eternal and infallible Truth, who often affirmed that faith, hope, and charity could not exist apart from good and godly works. Of faith, He says, “He that believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not believe in the Son shall not see that life, for the wrath of God remains upon him” (John 3:36). And He confirms the same idea with a double oath, “Truly, truly, I say to you that whoever believes in Me has eternal life” (John 6:47). Now, insofar as he who believes in Christ has eternal life, it must consequently follow that he who has this faith must also do good deeds and be careful to observe God’s commandments obediently. For those who do evil deeds and lead their life in disobedience and the breaking of God’s commandments and do not repent do not receive eternal life, but eternal death as Christ Himself says, “They who do well shall enter eternal life but those who do evil shall go into the everlasting fire” (Matt. 25:46; John 5:29). And again He says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give the well of the water of life without charge. The victorious shall have all things, and I will be His God, and he shall be my son, but those who are fearful, mistrust God, and lack faith, they who are cursed people: murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, will have a place in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Rev. 21:6-8). And just as Christ clearly affirms that true faith results in good deeds, so he says of love, “Whoever receives my commandments and keeps them is one who loves me” (John 14:21). And after He says, “He who loves me will keep my word” and “He who does not love me will not keep my word” (John 14:23-24).

And just as the love of God is tested by good deeds, so is the fear of God also, as the author of Sirach says, “The fear of God drives sin away” (Ecclus. 1:27: V). And he also says, “He who fears God will do good deeds” (Ecclus. 15:1).

(3)

You have heard in the second part of this Homily that no one should think he has the lively faith described by the Scriptures, unless he or she lives obediently to God’s law, for all good deeds spring from that faith. And we have provided you many examples that show that faith makes people steadfast, quiet, and patient in every adversity. I now will continue in the same vein.

            We may soon deceive ourselves and fantasize that we know God by faith, love Him, fear Him, and belong to Him, when we do not know, love, fear, or belong to God in any, way, shape, or form. The demonstrable proof of all of these things is a very godly and Christian life.

Let us describe someone who can rejoice in God: she senses that her heart is committed to seek God’s honor and is eager to know the will and commandments of God and to shape herself to follow them, and does not lead life according to the desires of the flesh, to serve the devil by sin, but commits her mind to serve God for God’s own sake and for God’s sake to love all her neighbors as well, whether they are friends or enemies, doing good to everyone, as the opportunity arises, and willingly harming none. She perceives by observing the course of her life that she truly and unreservedly has the right knowledge of God, a steadfast hope, a true and authentic love and fear of God.

To such a faithful person we may compare one who casts away the yoke of God’s commandments from his neck and lives his life without true repentance in pursuit of his own sensual pleasures, not caring to know God’s word, much less living his life according to it; such a man clearly deceives himself and is ignorant of the condition of his own heart, if he thinks that he either knows God, loves Him, fears Him, or trusts in Him.

As it happens, some imagine that they belong to God, although they live in sin; and so they come to church, and act as if they are God’s dear children. But St. John says plainly, “If we say that we have any company with God, yet walk in darkness, we are liars” (1 John 1:6). Others stupidly think that they know and love God, although they do not obey his commandments. But St. John says to this, “He that says, ‘I know God’, but does not obey his commandments, is a liar” (1 John 4:20). Some falsely convince themselves that they love God, when they hate their neighbors. But St. John has something clear to say to such as these, “If anyone says, ‘I love God’ and yet hates his brother or sister, they are liars. He who says that he is in the light and hates his brother remains in darkness. Whoever loves their brothers and sisters dwells in the light, but whoever hates his brothers and sisters is in the darkness and walks in darkness, not knowing where he or she goes, for the darkness has blinded his or her sight” (1 John 2:9-11). And moreover he says, “There is way to clearly distinguish the children of God from the children of the devil: he fails to do what is right is not the child of God, nor he who hates his brother” (1 John 3:10).

Do not deceive yourselves, thinking that you have faith in God, or that you love God, or that you trust or fear God, when you live in sin; for then your ungodly and sinful life declares the complete opposite, whatever you say or think. A Christian ought to have this true Christian faith and earnestly reflect on whether he has it or not. She should know what faith should yield and how faith is working in her.

Our trust should not be placed in the world. The world and everything in it is vain and useless. Only God is capable of defending and protecting us against all temptation of wickedness and sin, errors, superstition, idolatry, and all evil. If the entire world were on our side and yet God was against us, what could the world do for us? Therefore, let us set our whole faith and trust in God, and neither the world, the devil, nor all their power, shall defeat us.

Therefore, let us as good Christians, test and examine the true state of our faith. Let us not flatter our selves but look on our works and be fair judges of the condition of our faith. Christ himself says of this matter, “The tree is known by its fruit” (Matt. 12:33). Therefore let us do good works and thereby declare our faith to be lively and Christian. Let us display the virtues that should be springing from our faith and prove that God surely has chosen as his own, as St. Peter teaches, “do your utmost to establish that God has called and chosen you” (2 Pet. 1:10). And also St. Peter says, “make every effort to add virtue to your faith, knowledge to virtue, self-control to knowledge, fortitude to self-control, piety to fortitude, brotherly affection to piety, and love to brotherly affection” (2 Pet. 1:5-7).

Indeed, these are the virtues that will show that we have the very lively Christian faith; and may help convince our consciences that we are in the right faith as well as strengthen faith among others. We may bear the name of Christians easily, but we often lack the true faith that goes with the name. For true faith always is generating good deeds; as St. James, “Show me your faith by your deeds” (James 2:18: textual source unclear). Your deeds and works must be a public testimonial of your faith; otherwise your faith without good works is indistinguishable from the devils’ faith or the faith of the wicked, a fantasy of faith, and not a true Christian one. The devils and the wicked gain nothing on account of their counterfeit faith and indeed gain damnation all the more. So what can we say about those who are baptized and have been instructed in the knowledge of God and Christ’s merits; who decide consciously to live idly without good deeds, and think the name of a naked faith is sufficient for them, or else just whittle away their days in the world’s useless pleasures without repentance, not distributing the fruits that should come from such a high profession? We can say this: the great vengeance of God is coming for these overly entitled people and willful sinners. They will spend their eternity in hell along with the devil and wicked livers for whom it was prepared.

Therefore, as you profess Christ’s name, good Christians, do not be enticed by any fantasy or flight of imagination concerning your faith. Be sure of it. Test and examine it in the light of your life. Inspect the fruits that come from it. See whether love and generosity toward God and your neighbor are increasing within you.  And if you do, you have a true and lively faith. And if you find your faith to be so, rejoice in it, and be diligent to maintain and keep it within you. Let it increase every day and more and more by doing good deeds. And so, you will be sure that you are pleasing God by this faith. And when it is God’s will for you to leave this world and come to Him, like the faithful who have come before you, He will give to you the end and final reward of your faith, as St. Peter calls it, “the salvation of your souls” (1 Pet. 1:9). Let God, who has promised salvation to his faithful, grant this salvation to us. And to Him be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.    

Book I, Homily 3 Remixed: Jesus Saves (Thomas Cranmer)

(1)

We are all sinners, offenders against God, and breakers of the law and commandments. All of our acts, works, and deeds, no matter how good they seem, are powerless to justify and make us righteous before God. So each of us needs help. We need some other source of righteousness and justification to obtain the forgiveness of the many sins we have committed. And the only One with such righteousness is God. Happily, when faith is embraced, God’s mercy and Christ’s merits give us this necessary justification or righteousness, and God then accepts this righteousness as our full and perfect justification.

            Let us break down these ideas in greater detail. It is our position and duty to recollect the mercy of God. And the mercy of God is this: when the breaking of the law had wrapped the world in sin, God sent his only son our Savior Jesus Christ into this world to fulfill the law for us. The shedding of His most precious blood was a sacrifice, satisfaction, or amends (as it may be called) to His Father to calm his wrath and indignation toward our sins to the extent I outline.

This sacrifice washes away the sins of infants who are baptized and die in infancy, making them children of God and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven. This sacrifice also washes away the sins of those who sin by word or deed after baptism, but honestly turn again to God, and there is nothing left of those sins that would make them worthy of damnation. St. Paul speaks of this justification or righteousness in this way, “No one is justified by works of the law, but freely by faith in Jesus Christ” (Rom. 3:20,24) And he also says, “We have believed in Jesus Christ so that we can be justified freely by faith in Christ Jesus, and not by the works of the law, because no one can be justified by the works of the law” (Gal. 2:16).

            And while this justification is free to us, yet it did not come so free that no one paid a price for it.

            But this point sounds rather illogical. If a price was paid for our redemption, then our redemption was not freely given.

[In the time of Jesus, law or custom almost everywhere permitted slavery. The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, argued that some people were naturally free and naturally slaves. And one even could be sold into slavery involuntarily. There are, of course, still slaves today, but we cannot imagine that such an institution is legal or natural, even if it is common.]

Now consider someone in ancient times who was kidnapped, sold into slavery, and is then released upon payment of a ransom. They certainly are not released freely. For if this person could go freely, why pay a ransom? What does it mean to be able to go freely than not to have to do, pay, or suffer anything in order to be free?

            This logic is unraveled by the great wisdom of God in the mystery of our redemption. God has struck a balance between justice and mercy. He did not want His justice to condemn us to eternal imprisonment by the Devil in Hell without mercy or remedy, nor allow His mercy to gain our release contrary to justice and without price or penalty. [For we are slaves to sin and the devil by our very nature (John 8:34; Rom. 6:16)].  

Instead, He married His endless mercy with His most upstanding and fair justice. He showed great mercy to us in delivering us from sin and Hell without demanding us to pay the impossible price to do so. And since we could not pay the price for our sins, he provided us with the most precious body and blood of His own well-beloved Son Jesus Christ, who besides paying the price for our transgressions and our liberation also fulfilled the law perfectly on our behalf. And so God’s justice and mercy were united and thus completed the mystery of our redemption.

St. Paul describes how justice and mercy were knit together in this way, “All have sinned and are in need of the glory of God, but are justified freely by the grace of redemption by Jesus Christ, whom God has sent to us as a reconciler and peacemaker through faith in his blood, [the shedding of which] demonstrates God’s justice” (Rom. 3:23-25: V). And in another place, St. Paul says, “Christ is the end of the law and brings righteousness to every one who believes” (Rom. 10:4). And once more, St. Paul says, “What the law could not do, because human weakness robbed it of all potency, God has done: by sending His own Son in the likeness of our sinful nature and to deal with sin, he has passed judgment against sin within that very nature, so that the commandment of God may find fulfillment in us, whose conduct is no longer controlled by the old nature, but by the Spirit” (Rom. 8:3-4).

In these three passages, Paul specifically mentions three things that are necessary for our justification: (1) the great mercy and grace of God; (2) justice, specifically the satisfaction of God’s justice and payment of the price of our redemption by the offering of Christ of His body and the shedding of His Blood and, at the same time, the fulfilling of the Law perfectly and thoroughly; (3) true and lively faith in us concerning the merits of Jesus Christ, a faith which does not come from us but is from God working in us.

So that our justification does not come from God’s grace and mercy alone but also His justice, just as St. Paul says in Romans 3:23-25 when he talks of God’s justice. And this justice consists of paying our ransom and fulfilling the law. And so the grace of God does not exclude the justice of God from a role in our justification, it only excludes “human justice” as a means of our justification. Human justice, as I define it here, is based on the accounting of the good and bad things we think, say, or do.

And therefore St. Paul declares here no role for human beings in justification except a truly and lively faith, which is God’s gift to us (Eph. 2:8) and is not something we create independently of God. And yet that faith does not exclude repentance, hope, love, dread, and the fear of God from the heart of a justified person, in union with faith. All of these qualities, however, are not allowed to play any part in justification. They all may be present in the same heart, but they all together cannot justify the one in whom they are present. And faith does not remove justice from those things we do in dutiful obedience to God, for we are very much obligated to perform what God has commanded in the Scriptures all the days of our lives. But faith excludes the possibility of obeying God in order to be transformed into a good person by means of our own obedience.

For all the good works we can do are imperfect and therefore cannot obtain our justification. Instead, our justification comes freely by the unasked-for and undeserved mercy of God. Indeed, this mercy is so great and so free that no one in the world was able to pay any sum toward the price of our redemption. Therefore, it pleased Our Heavenly Father, because of his infinite mercy (and not because we deserved anything good) to prepare for us the most precious gems of Christ’s Body and Blood to pay our ransom in full, fulfill the law in full, and satisfy his justice in full.

Christ is now the righteousness of all who truly believe in Him. He paid their ransom by His death. He fulfilled the Law for them by his life. So that in Him and by Him, every true Christian may be called a fulfiller of the Law, for what they could not do for themselves, Christ’s justice has supplied.            

(2)

I have told you that we all should seek our justification and righteousness from Jesus. I have told you how this righteousness comes to us by Christ’s death and merits. I then told you that there were three things necessary for obtaining righteousness: God’s mercy, Christ’s justice, and a true and lively faith, the only source of good works. I also declared to you that no one is justified by his or her own good deeds, because no one fulfills the law to the extent it demands.

St. Paul spoke of this to the Galatians, saying, “If a law had been given which had power to bestow life, then righteousness indeed would have come from the keeping of the law” (Gal. 3:21). Indeed, he also says, “if righteousness comes by law, then Christ died for nothing” (Gal. 2:21). And in another place still, he says to us, “When you seek to be justified by way of law, you are cut off from Christ, you have put yourselves outside God’s grace” (Gal. 5:4). And he tells the Ephesians very much the same thing, “For it is by grace, you are saved through faith. It is not your own doing. It is God’s gift, not a reward for work done, so that no one should be able to boast of anything” (Gal. 2:8-9).

And the summary of all of Paul’s arguments is this: if justice comes from what we do, it does not come from grace; and if it comes from grace, it does not come from what we do. And the Prophets all point to this idea, as St. Peter proclaimed before the household of Cornelius, “All of the prophets testify about Christ that everyone who trusts in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name” (Acts 10:43).

The early Greek and Latin theologians, the ones we call the Fathers of the Church more than 1500 years ago, speak in the same vein about this principle: that we are justified by true and lively faith alone. I will discuss particularly three among them: Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers in France; Basil, Bishop of Caesarea in Turkey; and Ambrose, Bishop of Milan in Italy. St. Hilary says quite clearly in the Ninth Canon on the Gospel of Matthew, “Faith alone justifies.” St. Basil writes this, “There is a perfect and whole rejoicing in God, when a man does not count upon himself for his righteousness but acknowledges that he lacks true justice and righteousness, and is justified by faith in Christ alone.” And referring to St. Paul, St. Basil says, “he rejoices in the contempt of his own righteousness and seeks the righteousness of God by faith” (Phil. 3:9). These are St. Basil’s very words! And St. Ambrose says, “This is the ordinance of God, that he who believes in Christ should be saved without works, by faith alone, freely receiving remission of his sins.”

Closely consider these words. Without works, by faith alone, we receive remission of our sins. What can be said more clearly than to say: that freely, without works, by faith alone, we obtain remission of our sins.

And there is no need to stop here with the citations. You will find the same thing in every good ancient writer, Origen, St. John Chrysostom, St. Cyprian, St. Augustine, Prosper, Oecumenius, Photius, St. Bernard, and St. Anselm. Nevertheless, these writers never meant to say that justifying faith exists within the human heart in complete isolation, independently, and exclusively from true repentance, hope, love, and the fear and dread of God in any time or season. [Where those are absent, justifying faith is also absent.]

Nor do they mean when they say we are freely justified that we can live as spiritual slackers, from whom nothing is required thereafter; nor do they mean that because we are not justified by good deeds, we should not do good deeds at all. We will discuss this point later. But this saying, “that we are justified by faith alone, freely, and without works” is proclaimed to deny all merit to our works. Our virtues and good conduct are unable to earn us justification at God’s hands. Therefore, our free justification underlines human weakness and the goodness of God, our great weakness as well as God’s great strength, the imperfection of everything we do, and the abundance of grace given to us by Our Lord Jesus Christ. We therefore must attribute the earning of our justification to Christ and the shedding of His blood.

   The Holy Scriptures teach this faith; this is the strong rock and foundation of Christian religion; all old and ancient writers of the Church approve this teaching; this teaching advances and sets forth the true glory of Christ and whacks the false and fleeting glory of human beings on the head; whoever denies this faith should not be counted as truly Christian, nor a promoter of Christ’s glory, but as an enemy of Christ and His Gospel and a promoter of the false and fleeting glory of humanity.

This teaching is true and approved by the testimony of St. Paul and the Fathers, that we are justified freely, not on the basis of what we do, but only on the basis only of lively and true faith in Christ. Yet this true teaching must be quite carefully and clearly declared, so that no one uses it as an excuse to yield equally freely to the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. And because no one must make this mistake, I shall clearly declare the right way of understanding justification, so that no one will think it is a good idea to indulge the pleasures of the flesh, or commit sin, or live in any way contrary to the will of God.

First, you must understand that what God does for us in justification by Christ is not anything like what we do for God. Justification is not our job. It is God’s. We cannot do anything to make ourselves righteous, either totally or partly. The most arrogant and presumptuous thing I can imagine any enemy of Christ doing is creating frameworks within which we could take away and purge our own sins and so justify ourselves. But it is God’s prerogative to justify. We do not offer it as a gift to Him, we receive it as a gift from Him. We do not pay it to Him, we receive from Him out of his free mercy and by the unique merits of his most dearly beloved Son, Our Redeemer, Savior, and Justifier, Jesus Christ.

Therefore, the principle that “we are justified freely by faith without works” or that “we are justified by faith alone in Christ” does not mean that our belief in Christ is our own doing. It does not mean that our faith in Christ, which is within us, justifies us or earns our justification. For if this idea were true, we would be justified by some deed of our mind or good quality within us. But the true meaning of these principles is that although we hear God’s Word and believe it, although we have faith, hope, love, repentance, dread, and fear of God within us, and never stop doing good deeds, yet we must count all of these things as absolutely useless for the remission of our sins and our justification. We instead must put our trust in God’s mercy and the sacrifice of Our High Priest and Savior Jesus Christ, the Son of God, once offered for us upon the cross to obtain God’s grace and remission. Christ has obtained for us remission of our original sin, through baptism as well as of all sin committed by us after baptism, if we truly repent and honestly return to Him.

We know that John the Baptist was a more godly and virtuous man than anyone who had ever lived, but he pointed the people toward Jesus for the forgiving of their sins, saying, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). Similarly, lively faith turns us away from its own virtues and points us toward Christ as the source of the remission of our sins and justification. So our faith in Christ tells us, “It is not I that takes away your sins, but it is Christ alone. I send you for that purpose to Him alone. I help you to abandon any trust in your good virtues, thoughts, words, and deeds, and teach you instead to set your hope on Christ alone.      

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I have told you plainly that no one can fulfill the law of God, and therefore the law condemns all. It follows that there must be some other means of our salvation besides the law, and that means is a true and lively faith in Christ, which results in good works and a life according to God’s commandments. And I also told you of the Fathers’ reading of this saying, “Faith alone in Christ justifies,” which is so clear as to provide the true interpretation of this saying. The Fathers tell us that we are justified by faith alone in Christ in this way: We put our faith in Christ, so that we are justified by Him alone, that we are justified by God’s free mercy and the merits of Our Savior Christ alone, and that no virtue or good deed of ours, or which we can cultivate or do, is able to earn what Christ Himself alone deserves.

            Throughout this homily, you may have observed my frequent repetition of the same sentences about justification and careful use of language. I wish to avoid arguments with those that delight to debate about semantics as well as to show the true meaning of what I preach and to avoid evil talk and misunderstanding. And yet nothing I say will satisfy critics, for critics will find reasons to criticize, even when there are none. Nevertheless, my concern is for the rest of humanity, who desire to know the truth (when it is clear enough) than to obscure it with all manner of controversy.

Here is the truth. Our deeds do not justify us. They do not earn the forgiveness of our sins or make our unjust selves just before God. God, out of his one-way love and mercy, and because of what Christ did, earned, and deserved, justifies us. Nevertheless, faith sends us to Christ for forgiveness, and faith is given to us by God so that we may embrace the promise of God’s mercy and of the remission of our sins. None of our other virtues or deeds does this. Therefore, Scripture says that faith without works justifies.

Indeed, it is equivalent to say, “Faith without works justifies us” and “Only faith justifies us.” Therefore the Fathers of the ancient Church from time and time described our justification with these words, “Faith alone justifies us,” which means nothing different than St. Paul meant when he said, “Faith without works justifies us.”

Notice that all of this is brought to pass through the unique merits and earnings of our Savior Christ, and not through our merits, or through the merit of any virtue that we have within is, or of any deed we do. Therefore, our trust in the significance of the merits of Christ should overwhelm any trust in the significance of our faith, deeds, and all other virtues. The corruption of original sin touches every fiber of our being, so that all is imperfect within us: faith, love, hope, dread, thoughts, words, and deeds. Our own imperfection is so great, through original sin, that we are not fit to deserve any part of our justification. And we say these things in this way in order to humble ourselves to God, and to give all the glory to our Savior Christ, who is most worthy of it. [Our faith, love, hope are worthy for us to cultivate and are not to be disdained in everyday life but pale in importance to what Jesus Christ did for us on the Cross.]

            I have told you of how God has justified us without us doing or deserving anything from Him and how his mercy is freely showered upon us through the true and lively faith He has given to us. Now you will hear of our Christian duty to God, what we should return to God for his great mercy and goodness. Our duty is not to spend our lives as spiritual slackers after our baptism or justification, not caring how few good deeds we do to the glory of God and the benefit of our neighbors. And it certainly is not our duty, once we are part of the Body of Christ, to live like anything unlike or contrary to a limb of Jesus Christ. For instance, we are not to incorporate ourselves into the mystical body of the devil, running toward every temptation placed before us by the world, the flesh, and the devil. That would be the service of the world and the devil, not God.

            Come on! The faith that unrepentantly produces evil deeds or at least no good deeds is not a right, pure, and lively faith, but a dead, devilish, counterfeit, and pretend faith, as SS. Paul and James call it (2 Tim. 3:5; Tit. 1:16; James 2:17-20, 26). For if you take St. James at his word, the devils believe every article of the Creed from the virgin birth to the judgment of the living and the dead. [And if you read the Gospels, you may conclude that they well remember] that Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights, worked miracles to demonstrate His divinity, was crucified, died, was buried, and rose again on the third day.

            [They believe the Creeds and that the Holy Scriptures are inerrant in their autographs (or what have you]) and yet for all this faith, they are devils still, remaining eternally damned without a true Christian faith. For the right and true Christian faith is not only to believe the Holy Scriptures and the Creeds are true, but also to have a sure confidence in trust in God’s merciful promises to be saved from eternal damnation by Christ, from which comes a loving heart to obey his commandments.

            And this true Christian faith no devil possesses, let alone any one who outwardly professes the faith, receives the Sacrament, attends worship, and in all other ways appears to be Christian, yet whose life and deeds is very much to the contrary. For how can one have this true faith, this sure trust and confidence in God, that by the merits of Christ, his or her sins are forgiven and he or she is reconciled to the favor of God and is a partaker of the kingdom of God, when he or she lives ungodly and denies Christ in deed? Surely, no such person can have this faith and trust in God. For if they know Christ is the only Savior of the world, they should also know that the wicked shall not enjoy the kingdom of God. They know that God hates unrighteousness (Ps. 5:5-6), that He will destroy all who lie. They know that those who have done good deeds, which cannot be done without a lively faith, shall enter into the resurrection of life. They know that those have done evil shall come into the resurrection of judgment (John 5:29). And they should know also very well that to those who are not willing to be persuaded and will not be obedient to the truth, but will obey unrighteousness, will come indignation, wrath, and affliction (Rom. 2:8-9).

            Therefore in conclusion, I contemplate the infinite benefits of God showed and given to us mercifully beyond and without our earning them. God has created us out of nothing, in fact from a piece of vile clay. Yet out of his unending goodness, he has exalted us by giving us a soul after his own image and likeness. And when we managed to get ourselves condemned to hell and eternal death, He gave us His own natural Son (who is God, eternal, immortal, and equal to Himself in power and glory) to become flesh, and to take our mortality upon him with all of its weakness. And this Son in the form of a mortal consented to suffer and did suffer a most shameful and painful death for our sins in order to justify and restore us to eternal life. And therefore we are made Christ’s brothers and sisters and heirs with Our Savior of His eternal kingdom of heaven.

            These great and merciful benefits of God, if they are considered properly, do not provide us with any excuse to be slackers and live without doing good deeds, nor do they stir us by any means to do evil. On the contrary, unless we are desperate people with hearts harder than stones, they stir us to commit ourselves to God completely with all our will, hearts, might, and power; to serve Him in all good deeds, obeying his commandments during our lives; to seek in all things his glory and honor, not our sensual pleasures and our own fame; evermore dreading to offend voluntarily such a merciful God and loving Redeemer in word, thought, and deed. And the benefits of God, deeply considered, do encourage us also to be ever ready to give ourselves to our neighbors for God’s sake, and as much as we can, to be eager in all our all endeavors to do good to everyone. These are the fruits of the true faith, to do good, to the best of our ability, to every person; and above all things and in all things, to promote the glory of God, from whom alone we have our sanctification, justification, salvation, and redemption. To whom should be glory, praise, and honor, forever and ever. Amen.