Can We Be Saved by Works?
My article today at Forthright is the second in a series of articles on the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory. They base their doctrine on works salvation, which is completely foreign to the Gospel.
If we can be saved because of works, we are ostensibly saying that we can live perfectly enough that God would be forced to save us or be shamed before the world. That is laughable but is exactly the idea behind Catholic salvation.
I hope you will read Purgatory 2 and give your thoughts on their false claims.
Doug Post is discussing. 
Doug Post 10:38 am on August 31, 2011 Permalink |
Works are as necessary as faith – if you believe in Him, then you must also obey and do the works He has commanded. Of course, we also know that faith is a work, and yet without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb.11:6). Doing what our Lord has asked never obligates Him to us but not doing works separates us from Him. Therefore, what kind of works are should we consider doing? Not works of the law (of Moses), not works of boasting, not works of my own devising, not works of the flesh, etc. However, the works we are to do are the works associated with faith, and those works are simply obeying the positive and negative commands of the Lord.
Another thought: when it comes to sin, no one has to sin. There is not a soul who will stand before God and tell Him that on certain occasions he or she just had to sin. That won’t fly, especially since our Lord provides everyone with an escape for every temptation that comes down the pike (1 Cor.10:13). Paul says it like this, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” Yes, Christ died for sin, but that does not mean we must, therefore, sin. Those who say we must sin due to our humanity are forgetting Christ. Jesus was totally human like we and He did not sin. Yes, He was totally God too, but Satan tempted Christ’s human side. What good would it have done to tempt His God side? God cannot be tempted, but man can. God cannot sin, but man can. God is not vulnerable, man is. Therefore, Satan tempted the vulnerable side of Christ – His human side. This illustrates the point that since Christ did not sin, then it’s possible for us not to sin. This also clearly demonstrates the fact that we do not need direct help from the Holy Spirit, or any other member of the Godhead, to keep from sinning. Jesus didn’t receive any help in not sinning and neither do we.