By: Christopher Start | Youth Minister

Importance of this topic
The preeminence of faith is such that it precedes and is intrinsic to all religious pursuit.

One Line Summary
“Faith is a Divine virtue by which we firmly believe the truths which God has revealed.” - Baltimore Catechism, part II #107, 1891.

Important Scripture Passages
Genesis 3:7-11 – Man chooses to disregard God’s commandment.
John 3:16 – It is out of God’s love that Jesus came to earth, that believers might live for ever.
First Corinthians 13:13 – Three virtues persist and among these is faith.
Ephesians 2:8-9 – Salvation is a gift from God, via grace, that works cannot gain.
Hebrews 11:1 – Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the convictions of things not seen.
James 2:24 – Faith without deeds fails to justify.

Discussion Points

God’s love for man is such that in the fullness of time, He sent his Son to take on the fallen nature of man and make right what the pride of Adam had wrought. This was to restore the immortality of man that he might know and love, that is, believe God.

Faith, hope and love are the three persistent virtues. Faith and hope must be infused with love if they are to be, at all. Or, to look in the other direction, love will fulfill faith when the object of faith is seen. Faith sees, as in a mirror and can only partially know. Then, in the fullness of time, love subsumes faith and brings about the goal of faith- to be fully known, as I am known ( 1 Cor 13:12).

Salvation is a free movement of God, a gift of grace. Nothing man can do is able to earn this gift; no deed lofty enough to deserve it. Grace precedes faith, and it is only in the unfathomable love and mercy of the Lord that He granted it to man.

Faith guided and moved the people and events of the Old Testament. Many left homes, in pursuit of the Promised Land, trusted in God even for what seemed impossible, and followed Him through every peril. By faith we please and obey God, though, in the Old Testament they had yet to see Him. Though they did not live to see what was promised: Moses never walked into the Promised Land, Abraham never saw his descendants outnumber the stars, yet they trusted in the Lord to bring about His Word. In time, God sent His Son in order to fulfill the promises made to the Patriarchs and heroes of Israel.

A true faith must be lived out by works. To wish someone well and fail to supply the necessary means to attain such is at the height of cruelty, so a faith that does not act lacks all life and efficacy. As discussed above, grace is the free movement of God acting towards a soul, faith is the response to God, and works are the expression of faith. Faith cannot be merely an inward expression for man. Man is at once a spiritual and material being, so much so that “the soul [is] the form of the body (CCC365). Thus, that which animates his supernatural- that is spiritual- end must find expression within his natural- that is physical- end. In the union of the physical and spiritual within man, there can be no divorce between the two, except at death (and even that is a temporary separation(CCC 366)).

Common Misunderstandings

Faith is unreasonable and opposed to human thought and logic. “There exists a twofold order of knowledge, distinct not only as regards their source, but also as regards their object. With regard to the source, because we know in one by natural reason, in the other by divine faith. With regard to the object, because besides those things which natural reason can attain, there are proposed for our belief mysteries hidden in God which, unless they are divinely revealed, cannot be known” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith Dei Filius IV: DS 3015). Faith, then, is not opposed to reason, but rather expresses truth beyond the reach of mere reason.

The Catholic concept of faith and works is, at best semi-pelagian. This is a blatant error that has persisted ever since the Protestant reformation began. Semi-pelagianism a heresy that teaches, 1) faith can precede grace, 2) works can merit grace, and 3) grace is unnecessary for final perseverance. However, this charge, so often launched against the Catholic Church neglects her true teachings. All merit is primarily a motion of God the Father and of which no man can merit. It is a free and gratuitous action of God, through the merits of Son, by the movement of the Holy Spirit. It is through these merits that man collaborates (through the gift of grace) and receives merit and ultimately heavenly rewards (CCC 2008, 2011). Thus, God-given grace precedes all faith and motivates and fulfills all deeds. In this light, the perceived contradiction between Ephesians 2 and James 2 is shown to be in perfect accord: it is by God’s free gift of grace that one gains faith, and through faith works are expressed.

(CCC refers to the Catechism of the Catholic Church)
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