Question in brief: Do Orthodox affirm that they are save by faith alone, but not that a faith that is alone for true faith includes works?
Background: I am trying to work through the role of works, if any, in justification. Being that I come from a Reformed background, much of our view of works and merit is predicated upon, and contrasted with, the Roman view.
Canon 24 of the Council of Trent reject the premise of the question in brief:
Canon 32 of the Council of Trent makes clear that works merit/deserve salvation on behalf of the believer:
Eastern Orthodoxy never has hammered out an official statement on the issue. I have found the following in my research, and I want to make sure I am not misunderstanding them:
Jeremias II
Father John Beck of OCA.org
Now, it sounds to me that Orthodoxy teaches that faith alone saves, but faith by definition is not merely an intellectual assent, but rather a conviction by necessary consequence given time results in works. God blesses good works, and gives us the ability to good works, and commends us to do good works, but good works are not given to us by God in order to merit salvation as the Roman view asserts.
I also have found the statements of several Fathers that appears to teach the same:
Oecuminus:
Cyril of Alexandria:
Clement:
Bede:
Thank you for your help.
Background: I am trying to work through the role of works, if any, in justification. Being that I come from a Reformed background, much of our view of works and merit is predicated upon, and contrasted with, the Roman view.
Canon 24 of the Council of Trent reject the premise of the question in brief:
If anyone says that the justice received is not preserved and also not increased before God through good works, but that those works are merely the fruits and signs of justification obtained, but not the cause of its increase, let him be anathema.
Canon 32 of the Council of Trent makes clear that works merit/deserve salvation on behalf of the believer:
If anyone says that the good works of the one justified are in such manner the gifts of God that they are not also the good merits of him justified; or that the one justified by the good works that he performs by the grace of God and the merit of Jesus Christ, whose living member he is, does not truly merit an increase of grace, eternal life, and in case he dies in grace, the attainment of eternal life itself and also an increase of glory, let him be anathema.
Eastern Orthodoxy never has hammered out an official statement on the issue. I have found the following in my research, and I want to make sure I am not misunderstanding them:
Jeremias II
"good works are not separate from, but necessary for, true faith. One should not trust in works nor be boastful in a Pharisaic manner."
One should not boast of them [works] nor depend on them, for that would be sinful; but as much as you are able, fulfill the works which are the result of faith and are necessary.
Therefore, wherever religious awe of divine things and obedience to the words of the Holy Fathers are abandoned, there no good works can be built up, nor the true faith which proves itself by good works.
Father John Beck of OCA.org
[T]hrough the action of the indwelling Spirit, enables us finally to share in Christ’s own resurrection and glorification, attaining what the Greek Fathers call theôsis or “deification” (which means existential participation in God’s life, and not ontological confusion between God and His human creatures).Good works should thus be understood to be a response rather than a means to salvation.
Now, it sounds to me that Orthodoxy teaches that faith alone saves, but faith by definition is not merely an intellectual assent, but rather a conviction by necessary consequence given time results in works. God blesses good works, and gives us the ability to good works, and commends us to do good works, but good works are not given to us by God in order to merit salvation as the Roman view asserts.
I also have found the statements of several Fathers that appears to teach the same:
Oecuminus:
(p. 28).It is not enough to believe in a purely intellectual sense. There has to be some practical application for this belief. What James is saying here does not contradict the apostle Paul, who understood that both belief and action were a part of what he called “faith”
Cyril of Alexandria:
What can we say to those who insist that Abraham was justified by works because he was ready to sacrifice his son Isaac at the altar?…Abraham piously believed that all things are possible with God and so exercised this faith…So even if Abraham was also justified by his willingness to sacrifice Isaac, this must be regarded as an
evident demonstration of a faith which was already very strong.
Clement:
Abraham, who was called the friend of God [James 2:23], was found faithful, inasmuch as he rendered obedience to the words of God…and in the exercise of obedience, he offered him as a sacrifice to God on one of the mountains which He showed him (1 Clement, Chapters 10).
For what reason was our father Abraham blessed? Was it not because he wrought righteousness and truth through faith? Isaac, with perfect confidence, as if knowingwhat was to happen, cheerfully yielded himself as a sacrifice (1 Clement, Chapter 31)
not justified by ourselves, nor by our own wisdom, or understanding, or godliness, or works which we have wrought in holiness of heart; but by that faith through which, from the beginning, Almighty God has justified all men (1 Clement, Chapter 32).
Bede:
Although the apostle Paul preached that we are justified by faith without works, those who understand by this that it does not matter whether they live evil lives or do wicked and terrible things, as long as they believe in Christ, because salvation is through faith, have made a great mistake. James here expounds how Paul’s words ought to be understood. This is why he uses the example of Abraham, whom Paul also used as an example of faith, to show that the patriarch performed good works in light of his faith. It is therefore wrong to interpret Paul in such a way as to suggest that it did not matter whether Abraham put his faith into practice or not. What Paul meant was that no one obtains the gift of justification on the basis of merit derived from works performed beforehand, because the gift of justification comes only from faith
Thank you for your help.