I was engaged in a conversation with a fellow that believes in Sola Fide, salvation by faith alone. He is certain that, as a Catholic, I am in very dire risk of eternal damnation because I believe I can earn my salvation through works. Sadly, he doesn't actually understand what the Church teaches, nor do I think he really wanted to hear the truth that the Church does teach. But, here's what I attempted to witness to him...
The Church fully agrees, we can not merit salvation. We are incapable of earning the eternal reward of Heaven, God's forgiveness or mercy. We don't deserve it, can't earn it, and it is a gift freely bestowed upon us if we simply accept and believe in Christ and His sacrifice on our behalf. But, God's gifts to us do not start and end with His gift of salvation. When we accept Christ as our Savior, we acknowledge God's power, God's mercy, God's love, and God's constant blessing us with grace and gifts that are equally undeserved.
It is our response to that where our faith is proven. Just saying, I believe Jesus is God and died for my salvation is not faith, it's the start of faith, it's the tip of the iceberg. In recognizing the Gospel Truth, we have to recognize the whole Truth. And part of that whole Truth is that God is constantly gifting us with blessing and graces that can enable us to hear and do His will. When we accept Christ, God does not take away our free-will. Accepting Christ as God opens the door to us having an authentic teacher of natural law, how God wants us to live. Accepting Christ, gives us a model to try and follow. Accepting Christ, we also accept that He has sent us the Holy Spirit to strengthen us to do God's will. Accepting Christ, we acknowledge that alone we are incapable of doing God's will, but that He gives us the graces, the tools, the opportunities to do God's will with His assistance, through the Holy Spirit.
Christ tells us we must not commit adultery. Alone, we aren't capable of following that law. I'm sure some of you will say, "No, I can stay faithful to my spouse." But you're wrong, you can't do it. God can give you the graces to be able to not be unfaithful to your spouse, but if God weren't giving you the grace to love, to be faithful, to resist temptation, and if you weren't accepting and using those gifts, you would fail But your faith in God, acceptance and use of His gifts and blessings, keeps you faithful. God's doing, not yours.
But, what the Church teaches us is that we have got to be open, alert, aware of God's law, of His blessings, of His gifts, and we have got to try and respond to them like Christ. Stating belief in God, but then ignoring His law, ignoring His will, ignoring the ways He attempts to increase your Holiness, that is dead faith. Live faith is acting in accordance of what you proclaim. You proclaim to be God's child, blessed by Him, oriented towards Him, receiving His law,and his graces. You have to act on that.
You can't merit salvation. But if you are given the grace to resist gossip, but choose to gossip instead of embracing God's law and the power He gave you to follow that law, you are denying the Truth you aren't worthy of the gift He gave you to resist gossip. But, if you recognize He gives you the strength to not gossip and don't gossip, you are worthy of that gift. And you remain faithful and accepting of all that Christ came to give you.
Christ's gift is God's gift to us. God's gift isn't limited to eternal life. It's every breath you draw, every morsel you eat, every person you love, every action you take, and you can't pick and choose the gifts you want to accept and those that don't interest you. You want the fullness of His mercy, His gift includes the ability to walk narrow path that leads to heaven, but you must accept every element of that gift. You must profess faith and act in faith.
Faith and works are inseparable.
Of course some observers of Sola Fide hold that one that has truly accepted Christ is incapable of sin, if they sin it proves they never truly had accepted Christ. Once you accept Christ though, you will be protected from making the sinful choice.
In a sense that is just another way of expressing what the Church teaches. Though, it seems to imply a loss of freewill takes place in accepting Christ. And that's wrong. God never takes that gift from us. We are always free to reject or accept God, Christ, every grace including salvation.
We don't make a one time choice to accept God's mercy and love and Christ's sacrifice on the cross. It is a choice we must commit and recommit to every moment of every day. Heaven, eternal life in Christ, living in union with God, that is our intended destination. The length of the journey varies person to person. But every choice we make, every action we perform, every thought we have is a step on that journey. And each step is either a step towards God or a step away. There are no neutral choices, no side-steps that have no effect on our relationship with God. We are moving towards Him or away and each step is a new step.
Faith plus works through the love of God. We've got to believe to see the path and the tools that we have been given to make the journey. Then we have to make the journey every moment of every day.
The Catholic faith does not teach that we can make ourselves worthy of God's free gift of salvation. It teaches that we have a choice to accept or reject that gift and that the gift and the acceptance is a process that takes our entire lives to resolve.
