What I see in the replies from Catholics is that the Sacrifice by Christ was not enough. If you can lose your justification by committing a sin, and in order to regain that justification you have to perform penance, then your salvation is not of faith but of works. If this is so, then you can boast of what you did to regain your justification. Christ's sacrifice becomes meaningless.
If baptism is a requirment for salvation, then you are performing a WORK of which you can boast. Christ's sacrifice becomes meaningless.
Penance and baptism are WORKS, no matter how much it is stated that these are "misunderstood" by Protestants.
James said faith without works was meaningless because the faith is not real if we are not performing works. If we profess faith and then do nothing but sin and blaspheme, then our faith is untrue. Even demons know that Jesus is the Christ, but that "faith" does nothing to save them from eternal torment. I believe that not eating McDonald's hamburgers everyday will keep my arterys from clogging up. But if still eat a Big Mac everyday, then that "faith" is meaningless because I will still likely die of a heart attack by the time I am 40. The same is true with salvation. I can believe in God and believe that Christ died on a cross. But that is not a true faith if all I do is believe it and not live it. That is what James is saying.
The crux of the matter is that Christ died on the cross for our sins. If we continue to crucify Jesus every time we sin, then we are rendering His sacrifice useless. We are effectively saying that Christ died for nothing.
Paul said that the gospel he taught was the ONLY gospel.
If baptism is a requirment for salvation, then you are performing a WORK of which you can boast. Christ's sacrifice becomes meaningless.
Penance and baptism are WORKS, no matter how much it is stated that these are "misunderstood" by Protestants.
James said faith without works was meaningless because the faith is not real if we are not performing works. If we profess faith and then do nothing but sin and blaspheme, then our faith is untrue. Even demons know that Jesus is the Christ, but that "faith" does nothing to save them from eternal torment. I believe that not eating McDonald's hamburgers everyday will keep my arterys from clogging up. But if still eat a Big Mac everyday, then that "faith" is meaningless because I will still likely die of a heart attack by the time I am 40. The same is true with salvation. I can believe in God and believe that Christ died on a cross. But that is not a true faith if all I do is believe it and not live it. That is what James is saying.
The crux of the matter is that Christ died on the cross for our sins. If we continue to crucify Jesus every time we sin, then we are rendering His sacrifice useless. We are effectively saying that Christ died for nothing.
Paul said that the gospel he taught was the ONLY gospel.
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