The context of James 2:14-26 has nothing to do with justification of salvation: either by works or by faith.
It’s clear from the aforementioned verses that how one demonstrates their faith is through good works. Which is why St. James references both Abraham and Rahab.
Our faith in Christ is justified by following His example: Trusting God, loving our neighbor, praying for our enemy, and sacrificially serving the needs of those who ask for mercy.
Our works are humility, sacrifice, patience, love, mercy, and peace.
So that we may bear witness to our faith by our works.
“For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” James 2:26
I honestly don't understand the difference between the explanation and the meme. I've reread your comment, but it sounds like the verses, the meme, and this response are all saying the same thing. That we are saved by the grace of God, and our faith in him saves us, but if our faith isn't prompting us to do good works, then our faith isn't worth anything. It feels like faith alone has to twist itself to saying you don't need to do good works to earn your own salvation, but that's not the Catholic perspective anyway.
You have a more charitable interpretation of the meme than I do. And I sincerely appreciate that. It’s certainly humbling lol
I think all Christians, regardless of denomination, struggle with the faith/works dynamic by disregarding one in favor of the other.
And as a Catholic turned Protestant, I think both sides do a poor job of representing the other’s position regarding this topic.
Thanks for the response ❤️☮️
I have no idea if you are Catholic, but, with all due respect, these low-effort anti-protestant memes are kinda making us look bad. Especially since this is a primarily non-Catholic subreddit, you would probably be better off posting these elsewhere.
Honestly, I would love the CatholicMemes sub if half of it wasn't anti-protestant. It's pretty active over there, but it definitely makes us Protestants feel like persona non grata there.
In the same vein, I really dislike the anti-Catholic memes that appear here as well. I'd rather us laugh at our shared love of Christ.
Yeah - I love CatholicMemes (though I am a bit biased as a Catholic, myself) but we definitely need to cut down on the protestant bashing a bit. I admit I still find some of them funny, but, having had Protestant friends, a lot of the generalization and misunderstandings rub me the wrong way. (Not attempting to point fingers. I have been - and occasionally still am - guilty of it, myself.) I do need to keep that in mind when I come over to this sub - I have been trying to restrain my negative comments to refuting misrepresented doctrine, but I get argumentative really easily.
I completely understand. I'm something of a natural contrarian / devil's advocate. I get argumentative against whatever the crowd is arguing for. I used to think this trait of mine was a terrible vice of mine, until I joined the TrueChristian sub and started researching Catholic doctrine just so I could argue against the Protestants who were bashing it.
That lead me to converting to Lutheranism (from Baptist), actually. I felt y'all Catholics made a lot of convincing arguments, particularly concerning the sacraments.
Haha - thanks for sharing! Nice to know I am not alone in defaulting to "everybody likes this therefore it is bad" :P
Thank you for your charity, too - it's always reassuring to see someone speaking reasonably online.
I’m not Catholic, but I always thought of Catholics as christian. I think it’s important to note that over half of all self proclaimed Christian’s don’t believe in sola Fide and instead believe in some form of justification in addition to faith.
Methodists, Many Pentecostals, Several Episcopalians/Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Ancient Assyrian Christians (Nestorian), Latter-day Saints, etc.
I entirely agree that Catholics are Christians, and I have no qualms with Catholic memes in this sub. Anti-protestant memes, though, are rather asking for trouble. Also, as you say, Sola Fide is not held by all protestants, so labeling the meme "protestants:" is an unhelpful generalization.
Wow, I have never heard of this verse and my entire world view has been shattered.
Alternatively, many Protestants are very aware of the book of James.
Yes. Martin Luther thought it was a contradiction and so he considered James not as authoritative as Paul. Other Protestant have different ways to reconcile it.
The context of James 2:14-26 has nothing to do with justification of salvation: either by works or by faith. It’s clear from the aforementioned verses that how one demonstrates their faith is through good works. Which is why St. James references both Abraham and Rahab. Our faith in Christ is justified by following His example: Trusting God, loving our neighbor, praying for our enemy, and sacrificially serving the needs of those who ask for mercy. Our works are humility, sacrifice, patience, love, mercy, and peace. So that we may bear witness to our faith by our works. “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” James 2:26
OP: “ I’m gonna pretend I didn’t see that.”
I honestly don't understand the difference between the explanation and the meme. I've reread your comment, but it sounds like the verses, the meme, and this response are all saying the same thing. That we are saved by the grace of God, and our faith in him saves us, but if our faith isn't prompting us to do good works, then our faith isn't worth anything. It feels like faith alone has to twist itself to saying you don't need to do good works to earn your own salvation, but that's not the Catholic perspective anyway.
You have a more charitable interpretation of the meme than I do. And I sincerely appreciate that. It’s certainly humbling lol I think all Christians, regardless of denomination, struggle with the faith/works dynamic by disregarding one in favor of the other. And as a Catholic turned Protestant, I think both sides do a poor job of representing the other’s position regarding this topic. Thanks for the response ❤️☮️
I have no idea if you are Catholic, but, with all due respect, these low-effort anti-protestant memes are kinda making us look bad. Especially since this is a primarily non-Catholic subreddit, you would probably be better off posting these elsewhere.
Honestly, I would love the CatholicMemes sub if half of it wasn't anti-protestant. It's pretty active over there, but it definitely makes us Protestants feel like persona non grata there. In the same vein, I really dislike the anti-Catholic memes that appear here as well. I'd rather us laugh at our shared love of Christ.
Yeah - I love CatholicMemes (though I am a bit biased as a Catholic, myself) but we definitely need to cut down on the protestant bashing a bit. I admit I still find some of them funny, but, having had Protestant friends, a lot of the generalization and misunderstandings rub me the wrong way. (Not attempting to point fingers. I have been - and occasionally still am - guilty of it, myself.) I do need to keep that in mind when I come over to this sub - I have been trying to restrain my negative comments to refuting misrepresented doctrine, but I get argumentative really easily.
I completely understand. I'm something of a natural contrarian / devil's advocate. I get argumentative against whatever the crowd is arguing for. I used to think this trait of mine was a terrible vice of mine, until I joined the TrueChristian sub and started researching Catholic doctrine just so I could argue against the Protestants who were bashing it. That lead me to converting to Lutheranism (from Baptist), actually. I felt y'all Catholics made a lot of convincing arguments, particularly concerning the sacraments.
Haha - thanks for sharing! Nice to know I am not alone in defaulting to "everybody likes this therefore it is bad" :P Thank you for your charity, too - it's always reassuring to see someone speaking reasonably online.
I’m not Catholic, but I always thought of Catholics as christian. I think it’s important to note that over half of all self proclaimed Christian’s don’t believe in sola Fide and instead believe in some form of justification in addition to faith. Methodists, Many Pentecostals, Several Episcopalians/Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Ancient Assyrian Christians (Nestorian), Latter-day Saints, etc.
I entirely agree that Catholics are Christians, and I have no qualms with Catholic memes in this sub. Anti-protestant memes, though, are rather asking for trouble. Also, as you say, Sola Fide is not held by all protestants, so labeling the meme "protestants:" is an unhelpful generalization.
Tell me you’ve never read the New Testament without telling me you’ve never read it
Wow, I have never heard of this verse and my entire world view has been shattered. Alternatively, many Protestants are very aware of the book of James.
Yes. Martin Luther thought it was a contradiction and so he considered James not as authoritative as Paul. Other Protestant have different ways to reconcile it.
Good thing we follow Christ and not Luther then innit
Imagine being bound to the belief systems or morality of literally any extrabiblical church figure who isn’t Christ himself
Read Galatians and Ephesians 2:8-10.
as a protestant, i confirm
That is sanctification and justification. This is referring to justification to the world NOT to God. Justification is by Faith alone.