Faith Alone
First of all, we have to understand the difference between what Catholicism teaches about salvation (how we are saved) and what Protestantism teaches. Once we understand the difference, we will then dive into Ephesians 2:8-9. Please be advised that there is not a specific belief that Protestants would agree on with regards to salvation. They range in number. Believe it or not, there are some that agree with Catholicism. The Protestant side that I will be presenting will be those who believe in Faith Alone the way I believe your co-worker believes it. Let's dive in!
Protestantism: Saved by faith alone. Works don't save you at all. You don't need baptism or the Eucharist or a priest in confession to be saved. All you need is faith. HOWEVER, you cannot claim you have faith unless that faith is backed up by your works. Works are not there to earn salvation but they show that you have genuine faith. So works are not completely out of the equation, but as far as being saved, they are unnecessary. If someone has faith, they believe works will follow but the works won't follow for the purpose of being saved, but they'll follow because of the love one has for God. They believe that before you are saved, you become saved by grace through faith alone. AFTER you are saved, you are still saved by faith alone and the works are only there to show genuine faith.
Catholicism: We believe that we are saved by faith (not alone). This faith comes through grace (gift from God). There is nothing that we can do (as far as works) that would make God say "WOW, this guy deserves to have faith…here you go!" Faith is a gift from God and no man can earn it. When someone has no faith at all, He will only receive faith through GRACE (gift). Once that faith has been received, he will perform good works through GRACE. A man cannot brag (boast) about the works that he is doing because they are all made possible by the Grace of God. We believe that Baptism is necessary for salvation not because we are doing the work and God is giving us a reward in exchange, but it's more about God is giving us the grace to make it possible for us to be baptized so essentially it is God (Grace of God) that is doing the saving. Our only role is to say "YES!" to everything that is His will. So in a sense, works are necessary for salvation (baptism, loving one's neighbor, Eucharist, confession, etc.) but they are NOT to be viewed as something a man can brag about because these things are only possible because God gives us the grace to do them.
Let's dig in to Ephesians 2:8-9:
[8] For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God --
[9] not because of works, lest any man should boast.
[9] not because of works, lest any man should boast.
One can read that and it would seem Protestant; however, if one thinks this is contrary to the Catholic Faith, then one is misunderstanding the Catholic Faith. As you saw above, the way I explained what we believe, it is on par with the two verses; however, I am going to show you the context of the whole passage and it will further point to the fact that it is VERY Catholic.
Scripture will be in black, my commentary will be in red.
[1] And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins
Who is you here? The saved person? No, he is talking about the person who was NOT saved and God made alive (saved). When we were dead in our sins, GOD saved us. So it is very important that we established that Paul is talking about a person who is NOT saved.
[2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
We once walked…walked where? In sin. Were we saved? No. Who were we following? The prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is at work in the sons of disobedience. Who is that? The devil. Does it sound like Paul is talking about a person who is saved? No. It is a person who was obviously DEAD in sin.
[3] Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
We were all unsaved at one point. We were all children of wrath by nature. When a baby is born, he is born in sin and is a child of wrath by his/her nature. This is due to sin and not the fault of the baby.
[4] But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us,
"BUT"…that "BUT" is HUGE. Now the focus has shifted from us being DEAD in sin to God being rich in mercy. Keep this in mind.
[5] even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
Even when we were DEAD through sins, GOD made us alive. How did He do this? "BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED". Who was saved by grace? The person that is saved and will continue to be saved by grace and faith alone? Or the person who was dead and is now SAVED by GRACE? The second one!
[6] and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
He saved us…
[7] that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Meaning that He is the one who keeps on giving even when we were dead in sin. HE gave us the grace to be saved when we were DEAD in sin.
And now we come to verse 8-9…Please be advised that Protestants believe verses 8 and 9 are talking about someone who is SAVED. The person that verse 8-9 is about (according to some Protestants) is the person who is already SAVED. But what do we see from verses 1-7? Paul is talking about someone who is NOT saved and he is explaining to us how that person HAS been saved. Let's see what he says…
[8] For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God –
Once we understand what Paul is saying here in context and once we understand what Catholicism teaches, there is absolutely no contradiction here. In fact, it is EXACTLY what Catholicism teaches laid out in verses 1-10. "For by GRACE you have been saved through faith;" Who has been saved by grace through faith? The person that is already saved? Or the person that was once dead? The person that was once dead of course! Protestants want to make this verse say: "The person that is saved is saved by faith and there is nothing that he has to do (while he is saved) to continue to be saved. Works won't save you." But is this what Paul is saying? Let's read verse 9…
[9] not because of works, lest any man should boast.
NOT because of works. Protestants will take that and say "See, we are saved by FAITH alone through GRACE and NOT by works. The Bible says so and it is explicit!" Sure, it is explicit when we isolate the 2 verses out of context. Once we place them back to where they belong, we come to understand that Paul is not saying that the person who is SAVED will continue to be SAVED by FAITH ALONE and NOT by WORKS. No, Paul is saying that the person who was NOT saved BECAME SAVED by GRACE through FAITH and NOT by works. The person who was dead did not do any good works so that God can say "Wow, awesome job buddy! You will now be saved!" No, the saving came essentially from God and nothing we do (works) would earn the approval of God.
The unsaved person has been saved by grace (it is a gift) through faith (God gives the unsaved person the gift of faith freely) and this is not of yourselves (we did nothing to earn it…we didn't do any works to receive faith) so that no one can boast (so you can't say, "I received faith because I did this and that"…No, "I received faith because God gave me the gift of faith and I did nothing to earn it so I can't brag about it."
Then we come to verse 10. After Paul talks about the person who was dead and is not made alive in Christ by Grace through Faith. What comes after that? Does one stop at faith alone? Once one has received faith, that's it? He doesn't have to do anything anymore? He can just sit in a couch and be saved? Let's see…
[10] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
For we are His workmanship created to do GOOD WORKS which GOD has prepared for us. So it doesn't stop at faith and grace alone…once we ARE saved (verses 1-9), then we are required to DO works (verse 10). But even then, when someone does a work, he cannot brag about it because it is the GRACE of God that made it possible for the person to do those works. We can do nothing on our own. Everything good that we receive (faith and works) ALL come from grace (gift) and it is freely given to us. It is like a gift under the Christmas tree…did you earn it? No. All you have to do is take it and open it and it is yours.
James 2:14-26:
[14] What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him?
[15] If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food,
[16] and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit?
[17] So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
[18] But some one will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith.
[16] and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit?
[17] So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
[18] But some one will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith.
[19] You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe -- and shudder.
[20] Do you want to be shown, you shallow man, that faith apart from works is barren?
[21] Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?
[22] You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works,
[23] and the scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness"; and he was called the friend of God.
[24] You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
[25] And in the same way was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
[26] For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.
[20] Do you want to be shown, you shallow man, that faith apart from works is barren?
[21] Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?
[22] You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works,
[23] and the scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness"; and he was called the friend of God.
[24] You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
[25] And in the same way was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
[26] For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.
Notice how I didn't take one or two verses and tried to prove a point. I showed the whole passage in context.
In a nutshell, WE believe that we are saved by GRACE ALONE through FAITH that WORKS.
