What's Right, and What's Wrong—Salvation Hangs In the Balance

The Catholic Church teaches us what actions are gravely sinful and must be avoided so we do not forsake our salvation.

Once, I was talking with a poised young Protestant woman who was adept at citing the Bible. The topic of James 2 and its insistence that a man is not justified by “faith alone” came up, to which she quickly responded,

“Of course, we are saved by faith alone. But true faith is never alone. Saving faith in Christ is always accompanied by good works. The works aren’t what save us, but their presence shows that we are truly saved. They are the fruit of salvation.”

I decided to take a break from trading Bible verses back and forth (which can often distract from a conversation’s main purpose) and ask her some basic questions: 

“What good works?”

“Excuse me?” she asked with a confused look on her face.

“You said that good works don’t save us, but they are a sign that we are saved.”
 
“Right.”
 
“And if we don’t have those good works in our life, that means we aren’t saved?”
 
“Yeah. The works don’t save us, but they are a sign that we are saved,” she said.

“But then it sounds as though I really need to know what those works are, because what if I don’t have them? Then I don’t have the signs of salvation in my life, which would mean I’m not saved.”

We talked a bit more, and she said that things like “feeding the homeless” are the good works that show that one has “saving faith.” 

“So, if I don’t feed the homeless, I’ll go to hell?” 

She assured me, “No, no, no. I mean, there’s lots of good works you can do to show you’re saved. It’s up to you to follow the Spirit on which ones God is calling you to do.”

“Okay. So, if God is calling me to provide free abortions for the poor, should I listen and do that good work?”

“Absolutely not. That’s the devil talking, not God.”
 
As our conversation progressed, we found a piece of common ground: a truly saved person will live a certain way. This person will believe the essential teachings of the Christian faith, which we’ve seen Protestantism has a hard time articulating. And what makes this more difficult for Protestantism is that many of these essential beliefs aren’t just theological in nature; they’re moral. They are beliefs about which acts are saintly and which are sinful. 

Catholics and Protestants agree about some manifestly sinful acts, like adultery and murder. We agree that these are incompatible with the Christian life. Although someone in friendship with God, like King David, might fall into these sins, a truly saved person won’t habitually engage in them.

But in my conversations with Protestants, I’ve found that many of them have grossly ignorant beliefs about gravely sinful acts. Without a universal teaching authority like the Catholic Church, they end up rationalizing all kinds of sins under the guise of sola scriptura.

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