It begins with faith in Jesus Christ, Who died for our sins so that we could be forgiven, but then it is to go to the next step. This, again, is where there is the difference between a Catholic and a non-Catholic. For the non-Catholics, they say that you are justified by faith alone. Nowhere does Scripture say that. In the eighth chapter of Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans, which we will hear in a few days, Martin Luther put the word “alone” in there when he translated Scripture. It is not there. It is not there in any Protestant translation today; they have taken it out. But that was his justification for saying that you are saved by faith alone. He put the word “alone” in! It is not part of Scripture. In fact, the only place in the entire Bible where the words “faith alone” are mentioned is in Saint James 2:24 where it says explicitly: You are not saved by faith alone. So if we are going to look at Scripture to see what it says, it is very clear: We must have faith–there is no salvation without faith–but we must also act upon that faith. That is the point we have to understand.
If we believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins then we need to do what must be done in order for our sins to be forgiven. We need to go to Confession and then we need to change our lives to live according to the way of Christ. Otherwise, what is happening are two things. Just like the scholars of the Jewish law, according to Jesus they locked the door to heaven; they did not get in and neither did anyone else. It is the same basic principle. If all we are doing is saying, “Well, you have to have a generic faith that Jesus died for your sins, and you get to go to heaven,” it does not work that way. Remember, Jesus Himself told us the way that leads to perdition is wide and smooth. It is a pretty easy road, isn’t it? “Just believe in Jesus. You can do anything you want and you can still go to heaven.” It does not work. It never has and it never will. We must have faith in Jesus Christ–there is no salvation apart from it–but we must act upon that faith.
Saint James tells us, Show me your faith without works, and I will show the faith that underlies my works. Not empty works of the law, not just showing up and sitting with a bad attitude and saying, “Well, I went to church, didn’t I?” but to truly be there with a heart filled with love. If we truly believe what we profess and if we really, truly believe what we know to be true, that Jesus is present in the Blessed Sacrament and that the Mass is the sacrifice of Christ, then how could we ever possibly sit there distant and with a bad attitude? But having that faith, then we have to act in love because He is God, truly present among us. It must change the way that we live, the way that we act, the way that we are so that through faith in Jesus Christ we will put that faith into practice and we will truly be righteous in the sight of God."
-- From a homily by Fr Robert Altier, ocds (13 October 2005)
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Wonderful! Thank you for this, it makes so much sense!
12 If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw,
13 the work of each will come to light, for the Day will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire (itself) will test the quality of each one's work.
14 If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage.
15 But if someone's work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire.
16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy. (1Corinthians 3: 12-17)
In these passages - 1 Corinthians 3:12-17 - Paul is talking about how God judges our works after death by using a string of metaphors (we are God's building; works are good and bad materials, etc.).
Paul says that if a person builds with good materials, he will receive a reward (verse 14). If he builds with a mixture of good and bad materials, his work is burned up, but he is still saved (verse 15).
If he only builds with bad materials, he has destroyed the temple, and God will destroy him (verse 17).
These passage demonstrates several things. First, it demonstrates that our works serve as a basis for determining our salvation.
This is contrary to the erroneous Protestant belief that, once we accept Jesus by faith alone, we are saved.
Protestants have no good explanation for why Paul is teaching the Corinthians that our works bear upon our salvation.
Second, the verse demonstrates that, if a person does both good and bad works, his bad works are punished, but he is still saved.
The Greek phrase for "suffer loss" (zemiothesetai) means "to be punished" (Purgatory).
This means the man undergoes an expiation of temporal punishment for his bad works (sins) but is still saved.
The phrase “but only” or “yet so” (in Greek, houtos) means "in the same manner." This means that the man must pass through the fire in the same way that his bad works passed through the fire, in order to expiate himself of the things that led him to produce the bad works in the first place.
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