That is taught in Roman Catholicism.
Amen! Yet this statement becomes a contradiction by works-salvationists because what they really mean by it is -- we are saved by "these" works (works of faith/good works) and just not "those" works (works of the law). Yet you you cannot dissect "works of faith/good works" from the moral aspect of the law (Matthew 22:37-40) and then teach that we are saved by "these" works, but just not "those" works.
Of course not! Ephesians 2:10 - For we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
No, I am under grace, not law. (Romans 6:14)
In James 2:15-16, the example of a
"work" that James gives is:
"If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?" To give a brother or sister these things needed for the body would certainly be a
"work of faith/good work" yet to neglect such a brother or sister and not give them the things needed for the body is to
break the second great commandment "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39)
as found written in the law of Moses (Leviticus 19:18).
In Matthew 22:37-40, we read: Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'
On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. Now please explain to me which good works are there that a Christian could do which are
"completely detached" from these two great commandments which are found in the law of Moses? (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18).
In James 2:20, "faith without works is dead" does not mean that faith is dead until it produces works and then it becomes a living faith or that works are the source of life in faith or that we are saved by works. James is simply saying faith that is
not accompanied by evidential works is dead. If someone
says-claims he has faith but
lacks resulting evidential works, then he has an
empty profession of faith/dead faith and not authentic faith.
Exactly! -- "empty profession of faith/dead faith" and NOT authentic faith. In James 2:14, we read of one who
says/claims he has faith but has
no resulting evidential works (to validate his claim). That is not genuine faith, but a
bare profession of faith. So when James asks, "Can
that faith save him?" he is saying nothing against genuine faith, but only against an
empty profession of faith/dead faith. *So James
does not teach that we are saved "by" works. His concern is to
show the reality of the faith professed by the individual (James 2:18) and demonstrate that the faith claimed (James 2:14) by the individual is genuine. Simple!
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