Christian and Catholic!

Donald

Donald

Active Member
I'm Both Christian and Catholic

I believe I am saved by grace alone, received by faith alone, apart from works.

I am also a practicing Catholic.

A Catholic

I love the Mass. Welcoming Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is a very personal meeting with God for me. I go to Confession once a week and this discipline has fundamentally changed the direction of my life. I bless myself daily with holy water to remind me of my baptism while I recommit my day and life to Jesus Christ. I am a Catholic.

Unearned Love from God

But I don't do any of these things to convince God to love me. I do them because God has already decided to love me, without conditions, on the cross – before I ever did a single good or bad deed. You see, I'm not Catholic so I can deserve God's grace. I'm Catholic in response to God's unearned and undeserved grace. Nothing I can do can make God love me more. And nothing I can do can make God love me less. I am loved and saved apart from my works. To many people that sounds Protestant or Evangelical, but to me that's just being a Christian and I can't even begin to understand Jesus or my Catholicism without this truth.

A Christian Catholic

I am a Christian.

I am also a Catholic.

I used to wonder if it was impossible or dishonest to call myself "Christian" and "Catholic" at the same time – because that's so much of what the world, including much of the Christian world, says. My heart, however, wants nothing more than to be both. And I've learned that God intends me to truly be both fully as I walk with him through this life on my way to see him face to face in the next. Let me share my story and what I have learned with you.

How about you?

Are you a Catholic who has been blessed by Evangelical Christians and the message that salvation is a gift given by grace alone and received by faith alone apart from you works?

Are you a Born-Again Christian who wonders if your Catholic friends truly understand how God's free gift of grace saves us?

Read these passages from the Bible (passages both Catholics and Protestants believe in) and discover that as St. Jerome said, "God justifies us by faith alone."

Ask God to personally show you how he wants you to see your personal relationship with him, regardless of what church you attend, in a new light based on what you read in his Word now.

 
Apples to Apples

I've discovered that if you look closely and honestly, comparing Catholicism and Evangelical Christianity really is comparing apples to apples. Some are red. Some are green. But all are apples. Paul said, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person... but all are one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28). While there are real differences between Catholics and Evangelicals, if we are "in Christ Jesus" we are one in what matters most.

Are You "In Christ Jesus?"

I've discovered that we can be Catholic and be "in Christ Jesus." I've seen it and I've lived it.

I've discovered that we can also be nonCatholic Evangelicals and be "in Christ Jesus." I've seen that and lived it too.

Of course, we can also attend a Catholic or Evangelical Church, even with regularity, and still be outside of Christ Jesus. I've seen and lived that as well.

You see, being in Christ Jesus has less to do with which pew we sit in at which building on Sunday and everything to do with letting Jesus sit on the throne of our hearts when we're in those pews and buildings. There are valid reasons to choose one pew and building over another. And I respect those reasons enormously. But I've learned that Christ is able to meet us anywhere that he is personally welcomed. He also can't meet us when he is being personally rejected, regardless of the pew or building we are in.

No Trap Doors

So be at peace. This devotional is not a trap to make Catholics into Protestants or Protestants into Catholics. It's simply one person reflecting upon his story of meeting Christ in both communities, with the hope that it would help us all be more deeply "in Christ Jesus" and therefore more "one."

Disputable Matters

The Apostle Paul said, "Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters" (Romans 14:1 NIV). There are many "disputable matters" Christians in different churches disagree on. We need to ask ourselves: are we quarreling over "disputable matters" that are not essential to share faith in Christ?

The identity of Jesus as our God and Savior is not a disputable matter. To be a Christian is to believe that Jesus is who he says he is and welcome him personally. Salvation by God's grace is also not a disputable matter because if salvation was possible by any other means, the cross of Jesus would not be necessary.

Salvation by grace alone received by faith apart from our works is an essential Biblical principle and not a disputable matter. Our works are important because they demonstrate the reality of our faith and can even help us grow in our personal 'yes' to God that welcomes grace. However, our works don't cause God to love us. As imperfect people, our works also cannot make us worthy of Heaven by their value because none of us can offer God the complete lifetime of perfect works Heaven requires.

We need a Savior. We need a God who treats us better than we deserve. We need undeserved grace given as a free gift of unconditional love from God apart from our ability to deserve it. And that is what grace is: undeserved love given to us on the cross despite our imperfections.

Faith Alone

Did you know that the Catholic Church signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification which says, "Justification takes place by grace alone, by faith alone; the person is justified apart from works?" Did you know that Pope Benedict XVI said, "Luther's phrase 'faith alone' is true if it is not opposed to faith in charity, in love... In a faith that creates charity the entire law is fulfilled?"

The great Catholic theologian, St. Thomas Aquinas also wrote: "Justification is not found in the moral and ceremonial works of the law, but in faith alone; we consider a human to be justified by faith without works of the law." Similarly, St. Ambrose wrote: "This is the ordinance of God, that he who believes in Christ should be saved without works, by faith only, freely receiving the remission of sins."

In fact, if you read the Council of Trent (the Catholic Church council right after the Protestant Reformation) closely, the Catholic Church never condemns the phrase "faith alone" by itself, but only when it could be used to mean that Biblical worship and a moral lifestyle have no significance or role to play in our relationship with God. That understanding or application of the phrase "faith alone" would be opposed by both the Apostles Paul and James as well as any Biblical person. It is as Martin Luther said: "We are saved by faith alone, but faith that saves is never alone."

How about You?

Are there any potentially disputable matters that God may be asking you to set aside for the sake of a greater oneness with Christian brothers and sisters in different churches?

How can you better live these words of Thomas Aquinas when he said: "We must love them both, those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject, for both have labored in the search for truth, and both have helped us in finding it?"

Ask God to personally show you how he wants you to see your personal relationship with him and your fellow Christians, regardless of what church you attend, in a new light based on what you read in his Word now.


Encouraging and challenging you to seek intimacy with God every day.​

 
Day 3

A Burdensome View of God

I had a powerful and private experience of Jesus Christ as a child. And I believe that's when God really began to set me apart for him. But then I lived apart from Christ, because I associated him with a burdensome and condemning ideology. To be fair, that burdensome and condemning ideology did not come from the Catholic teaching. It came from some of the Catholic culture that surrounded me. It's not that all Catholic culture is burdensome and condemning – just some core elements of the culture I experienced were. Then as an adult the light switch went on. It was a light switch introduced to me by my Evangelical brothers and sisters, but to again be fair, it really was just Scripture, which is part of our Catholic Tradition, that they shared with me that contained the switch.

When the Lights Went On

I don't know when the lights when on for you in your relationship with God as a Christian or even if they're even on at all right now. But I can tell you with certainty when they went on for me.

It was when I read Ephesians 2:8-9. A lot of important moments in my spiritual journey led to that moment. And a lot of important moments followed that moment too. But it was when I read these words that the switch got flipped and I truly understood Christ for the first time as an adult. My search for the truth about God ended with this one sentence by the Apostle Paul written to the Church in Ephesus two thousand years ago:

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one may boast" (NABRE).

Until that moment I was stuck in a kind of mystical fog with the whole God thing. I knew there was a God. I knew also that my lifestyle didn't meet his standard no matter how much I wrestled with him and myself – and trust me I most certainly wrestled to be holy.

Yet, despite all my efforts, in this fog I lost myself as well as a clear understanding of who God was. Don't get me wrong. I was spiritual. But I was also lost. I most certainly desired God. And yet I most certainly recognized a huge gap between us – a gap I could not close.

That gap was no illusion. It wasn't hopeless thinking. It was truth. God was perfect and I was not. And as much as I tried to strip the imperfections away, I found myself inescapably flawed. Maybe you know what I'm talking about yourself.

Ephesians 2:8-9

By this point in time, I had done my research. I had come to believe that the tomb of Jesus was empty and that it wasn't a hoax – it was emptied by God. I wasn't entirely sure what to do with this conviction. I wasn't sure how the death and resurrection of Jesus had anything to do with my life personally. In fact, I didn't even understand the relationship between Christ's death and the gap I recognized between me and God.

It was at this point that I read Ephesian 2:8-9. I checked multiple translations to be sure it was true. Then I just sat with God and with that one sentence. And there was peace. A deep peace. A peace that pierced my heart and transcended my understanding. It is a peace that still pierces my heart today when I merely hold the Bible and sit with God. It is a peace that removes all the religious mumbo jumbo that would put me into that mystical fog. It was a peace that told me: "Yes, you are a sinner, but you have a Savior and you are saved simply because you have placed your life in His hands."

It wasn't until years later that I would read this quote from Mother Teresa: "Only open your heart to be loved by Him as you; He will do the rest." But that's exactly what I did. I opened my heart to Jesus Christ to be loved as I am and recognized that he would do the rest, not me. And the funny thing is that in the years since, He has!

When I look at the sins I've just walked away from, the doubts that just disappeared, and the fog that just lifted, I can see now it really was grace that did it, not me. I can also see that it really was only grace that could do it. It really is grace alone that conquers sin as St. Augustine said. It really is grace alone that saves. It really is grace alone that restores. My job, I've learned, is to simply welcome grace as I am, give it authority over me in my daily life, and allow it to lead me so it can do its work. And it has! It really has.

How about You?

Have the lights gone on for you in your relationship with God? Do you understand what was done for you by God on the cross? Are you in a spiritual fog with God because you are doing good things like going to church to try to get God to love you instead of accepting that he already does? Are your good deeds truly a response to God's unearned love for you or an effort to make him love you instead?

Ask God to show you how he wants you to see your personal relationship with him and your fellow Christians, regardless of what church you attend, in a new light based on what you read in his Word now.

View Day 3
 
Day 4 Devotional

Worship?

Understanding that my salvation was the result of grace alone received by faith apart from works was absolute bedrock for me. When I understood this everything else about Christ made sense. The Bible lit up. I wanted to give my whole life to Christ. My entire approach to life changed. I found peace with myself. I was at ease being who I really was. I became more positive and hopeful. I became less self-involved. I could see God clearly. I could hear and respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. I was unshackled by grace.

But the only place I could hear a message about grace as St. Paul explained it was in Evangelical Churches. The only people who really understood this relationship with Christ in this way were Evangelical Christians. So I began to worship at Evangelical churches – even though I still had a bit of a Catholic sensibility to my walk with God.

I was a perfect fit and a misfit all at the same time in these churches. I was falling more deeply in love with Jesus Christ, I wanted to worship him wholeheartedly and without pretension, and I wanted to learn all I could about the Scriptures and the message of grace. That was the part that fit. But I also had a longing for the quiet and personal space I found in a Catholic Mass. And I retained some of the uniquely Catholic nuances to my thoughts about Christ. In a way I left the practice of my Catholicism, but my Catholicism never left me. And to make a long story very short, God burdened my heart after a couple years to return to the Catholic Church of my birth. In prayer I simply knew it was my home.

Beautiful and Depressing

It was a beautiful and simultaneously depressing return. The words of the Mass like "Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again" echoed deeply in my heart. The silence of the worship was a beautiful change… but it also became a lonely change. Most of my Protestant friends abandoned me. My Catholic friends saw that I loved Christ but didn't understand me. And I set out on a journey to see if God was right, to see if the Catholic Church really was my home because it didn't feel that way.

I had a born again Evangelical Christian lens through which I understood the Catholic Church. When I looked through that lens everything made sense. And yet when I looked through that lens I felt like an outsider. I wondered, is this a credible lens? It was the only lens I had. It was how I knew God. So I wondered: can I really be Christian and Catholic at the same time? My heart cried out: "yes." My experience was saying: "no."

Catholic with an Evangelical Heart

I eventually realized that I didn't need some Catholic in authority to come pat me on the back and say I was a good Catholic. I didn’t need to find clones of myself sitting in a pew at a Catholic parish. I didn’t even need to have people understand my prayer life or spirituality. I just needed to know what the Catholic Church actually taught in its own words and see if its teachings were visible through the lens of my experience of Christ. And I needed Christ to show me the way and confirm my journey with his Holy Spirit.

Room for Me!

The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification changed the entire direction of my life within the Catholic Church.

I was stunned when I read the Catholic Church agreed that: "Justification takes place by grace alone through faith alone; the person is justified apart from works" (JDDJ Annex C). No matter what the culture of the Church was telling me, I knew that the teaching of the Church was saying I was home. If there was room for this statement in the Church, there was room for me! My personal 'yes' to God could have a home in the Catholic Church! And discovering this truth didn't mean Christ wasn't working also in other Christian churches. It just meant that God had shown me my home.

How about You?

Have you found a church home? No home in this world will be perfect, but God does have a spiritual home for you in his Christian community. He does want a personal relationship with him, but he doesn't want a private relationship! You were meant to have brothers and sisters in the faith. You will always be unique, but you will also always be called to community.

Ask God to show you how he wants you to see your personal relationship with him and your fellow Christians, regardless of what church you attend, in a new light based on what you read in his Word now.

Hebrews 10​

23Let us seize and hold tightly the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is reliable and trustworthy and faithful [to His word]; 24and let us consider [thoughtfully] how we may encourage one another to love and to do good deeds, 25not forsaking our meeting together [as believers for worship and instruction], as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more [faithfully] as you see the day [of Christ’s return] approaching.

Acts 2​

42They were continually and faithfully devoting themselves to the instruction of the apostles, and to fellowship, to eating meals together and to prayers.
43A sense of awe was felt by everyone, and many wonders and signs (attesting miracles) were taking place through the apostles. 44And all those who had believed [in Jesus as Savior] were together and had all things in common [considering their possessions to belong to the group as a whole]. 45And they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing the proceeds with all [the other believers], as anyone had need. 46Day after day they met in the temple [area] continuing with one mind, and breaking bread in various private homes. They were eating their meals together with joy and generous hearts, 47praising God continually, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord kept adding to their number daily those who were being saved.

1 Corinthians 12​

4Now there are [distinctive] varieties of spiritual gifts [special abilities given by the grace and extraordinary power of the Holy Spirit operating in believers], but it is the same Spirit [who grants them and empowers believers]. 5And there are [distinctive] varieties of ministries and service, but it is the same Lord [who is served]. 6And there are [distinctive] ways of working [to accomplish things], but it is the same God who produces all things in all believers [inspiring, energizing, and empowering them]. 7But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit [the spiritual illumination and the enabling of the Holy Spirit] for the common good. 8To one is given through the [Holy] Spirit [the power to speak] the message of wisdom, and to another [the power to express] the word of knowledge and understanding according to the same Spirit; 9to another [wonder-working] faith [is given] by the same [Holy] Spirit, and to another the [extraordinary] gifts of healings by the one Spirit; 10and to another the working of miracles, and to another prophecy [foretelling the future, speaking a new message from God to the people], and to another discernment of spirits [the ability to distinguish sound, godly doctrine from the deceptive doctrine of man-made religions and cults], to another various kinds of [unknown] tongues, and to another interpretation of tongues. 11All these things [the gifts, the achievements, the abilities, the empowering] are brought about by one and the same [Holy] Spirit, distributing to each one individually just as He chooses.

12For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts, though many, form [only] one body, so it is with Christ. 13For by one [Holy] Spirit we were all baptized into one body, [spiritually transformed—united together] whether Jews or Greeks (Gentiles), slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one [Holy] Spirit [since the same Holy Spirit fills each life]. [Rom 3:22; Gal 3:28]

14For the [human] body does not consist of one part, but of many [limbs and organs].

Day 4 Video
 
Donald said:
I'm Both Christian and Catholic

I believe I am saved by grace alone, received by faith alone, apart from works.

I am also a practicing Catholic.

A Catholic

I love the Mass. Welcoming Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is a very personal meeting with God for me. I go to Confession once a week and this discipline has fundamentally changed the direction of my life. I bless myself daily with holy water to remind me of my baptism while I recommit my day and life to Jesus Christ. I am a Catholic.
Click to expand...

I love your dedication.


Some of my favorite authors are:

Guyon
Fenelon
Molinos
 
Day 5

St. James

If you are Catholic or you have ever spoken to a Catholic about salvation you have probably heard this statement from St. James: "You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone" (James 2:24 NIV). Of course, one part of the New Testament does not nullify another as much as some Catholics or Protestants would like it to. Instead each piece of the New Testament compliments the other.

James clearly says we are not saved by "faith alone." Paul clearly says we are saved by "faith apart from works," which is the same as saying "faith alone." Can both be right? Of course they can be. It's like two people standing on difference continents pointing to the same ocean, for one the Ocean will be immediately to the East while for the other it is immediately to the West and both will be correct even though they are giving different directions to the same ocean. Recognizing this was critical in my own walk with God. Perhaps seeing how this is possible will bless and affirm you as well.

Faith Alone

When St. Paul says we are saved "apart from our works" he is saying that we are loved unconditionally by God and that we also need to be loved unconditionally by God because we have all made mistakes. He certainly does not tell Christians to go on sinning – that is obvious if you read the rest of his letters. St. Paul is simply revealing that nothing can separate us from the unconditional love of God if we merely welcome it into our lives – not even our continuing struggle with sin.

When St. James says that we are saved by faith and works together, he is certainly not saying that Jesus' death on the cross was unnecessary, that God does not love us, and that we can earn grace. He was saying that authentic faith includes and produces works naturally. In other words, if our faith is real, holiness will grow in our lives and show up in our works. Faith which never produces any change in our actions is therefore "dead" (James 2:14-26 NABRE).

We say we are saved by faith apart from works (faith alone) because we have a God whose love never changes despite our sins. We also say that faith without works is dead, because if we have real faith we have to be open to God changing us over time. St. Paul is pointing us to who God is because of grace. St. James is pointing us to see who we will become because of the same grace. It's all the same truth, just from different starting points or different sides of the ocean.

My Journey

I look at where I am in my walk with God today and am simply in awe. God, by revealing his truth about being saved by grace alone, has made me fall in love with his Son. Falling in love with God's Son through grace has made me fall out of sin. Literally, God's grace has saved me (as Paul says) and changed me (as James says) in that order. Recognizing that I am loved and saved apart from my works has inspired the greatest works in my life revealing and deepening my real faith. It's honestly amazing to behold. And it really is ALL GRACE. It makes me laugh to myself and almost want to cry just to think about it.

I go to Mass because of grace. I go to Confession because of grace. I love others well because of grace. I love myself well because of grace. Every good deed I do is because of grace. And every bad deed is because somewhere along the way I misunderstood or rejected grace in some way. It's so very simple: me with grace puts me right with God and me without grace leaves me on the outside looking in with God.

How about You?

Do you feel like you are on the outside looking in with God? We all are. However, God invites us into a relationship with him anyway through his free gift of grace given on the cross.

Ask God to personally show you the truth about his undeserved love called grace and the changes he wants to make in your life through his grace, regardless of what church you attend, based on what you read in his Word now.

 
Donald said:
James clearly says we are not saved by "faith alone." Paul clearly says we are saved by "faith apart from works," which is the same as saying "faith alone." Can both be right? Of course they can be. It's like two people standing on difference continents pointing to the same ocean, for one the Ocean will be immediately to the East while for the other it is immediately to the West and both will be correct even though they are giving different directions to the same ocean. Recognizing this was critical in my own walk with God. Perhaps seeing how this is possible will bless and affirm you as well.
Click to expand...

James and Paul teach the same principle of faith.


This is called the obedience of faith.

But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: Romans 16:26


If we zero in on the contextual usage of the word, “works” we will understand that the meaning of works in Romans and the meaning of works in James are referring to two different things.


  • Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?


Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?
James 2:17-22


The “work” Abraham did by which he was justified was to obey the voice of God, through which he received faith.


In Romans Paul is referring to the works of the law when he makes in declaration in Romans 4


Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
Romans 3:27-4:2


James is referring to the “work” of obedience: the obedience of faith.

Paul is referring to the “works” of the law of Moses.
 
JLB said:
James and Paul teach the same principle of faith.
Click to expand...
Yes. They also preach the same principle of salvation.

Not of works lest anyone should boast.

Paul said we are saved by Grace period. But God will not force it on you. hence it must be received in faith.

He then says after we are saved ( a completed action) we have been made a new creature created for good works. which we will do

James agrees.. Abraham did not just believe then go live however he pleased. He proved his faith by his works. and is a written testimony to all of us today.

If you claim to have faith but have no works. can that claimed faith save you?

No..
 
JLB said:
Amen. I agree. However, the context of how Paul is using the word “works”, and how James is using the word “works” is different.

And understanding the difference makes all the difference in the world.
Click to expand...
Yes it is

Paul used works as a result of being born again

James is using them as an apposition to people who claim to be born again. But have not been born again. as evidence of faith. and directing the people to test THEIR OWN FAITH. not for you and I to test their faith
 
JLB said:
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
Ephesians 2:8


Faith is involved. Faith is a gift.


Do you understand how faith operates?
Click to expand...
Faith is not the gift salvation is

yes, I understand

If I trust a person. and they say they are offering me a gift of salvation not because I earned it. but by his grace. because I could not earn it. I reciev it in grace and praise him every day of my life

If, on the other hand, i do not trust this person. i still have to much faith in self and my works. I may say yes, i want to recieve his gift. But I will try to work to continue to earn it.. thinking I may lose it. showing I do NOT trust in the person.

faith causes action.. No action. proves no faith.

Sadly. people think they have action/. but their actions prove their lack of faith..
 
JLB said:
We will do good works if we obey the leading of the Spirit to do them.
Click to expand...
he said we will do good works

now how many good works we do. yes. that is based on how we react to Faith in other areas of our lives by the leading of the spirit

Thats why many will get Gold silver and precious stone

and others will have everything they earned in this life burnt in fire and left as ashes.

But even they will still be saved.. They just did not have the great many works the former people had..
 
JLB said:
What “works” are you referring to?
Click to expand...
it does not matter
JLB said:
The works of the law?
Works that earn a wage?
Works of righteousness?
The work of obedience?
Click to expand...
all of them would be included technically

if we work to earn something or keep from using it. whether it be a work of the law. A work of righteousness, Or a work of obedience (obeying the law)

then we are trying to earn salvation as a reward or wage.

its not works to earn a wage

rom 4
2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. 5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,

its not works of righteousness

Titus 3:5
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

its not works of the law

Galatians 2:16
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

its not work period

Romans 11:6
And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace.

Grace plus works equals works

2 Timothy 1:9
who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,

Our salvation is completed, we are not still trying to be saved by our works

 
Eternally-Grateful said:
Yes it is

Paul used works as a result of being born again

James is using them as an apposition to people who claim to be born again. But have not been born again. as evidence of faith. and directing the people to test THEIR OWN FAITH. not for you and I to test their faith
Click to expand...

Please post the actual scriptures from Paul and James and make your post from the words of scripture.
 

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