What I believe, part 9
Faith and Works
It should be clear by now that if we will obey the teachings of Christ, we will be doing the best that we can do for ourselves and for those around us. And if we do not obey the teachings of Christ after hearing them, what hope can we have?
But what of those who argue that they do not have the "faith" to obey Christ? People in general say that it is difficult to have faith. But is it?
A man is drowning, and he asks to be saved. Someone throws him a rope – his only hope of being saved – and what does he do? Does he say, "I do not have enough faith to take hold of the rope"?
If he does not use all his ability and strength to catch the rope, it can only mean that he does not know that he is drowning.
How can a Christian, believing that Jesus is God and that all of his teachings are from God (and it is not important here that they be understood just as I have understood them)… How can a Christian believe all this and then say that he or she does not have the faith to obey Christ's teachings. Can you have faith in God without having faith in the rope he throws to you that you may be saved?
We hear God himself saying through Christ, "You have before you eternal pain, fire, darkness, and death, and you have my teachings, that alone will lead to life." It is impossible for a Christian to say that he or she believes Jesus is God and not take hold of the rope that Jesus gives. The only way you can say that you do not have faith to even try to obey Christ is if you do not believe that you are lost.
| Someone throws him a rope – his only hope of being saved. |
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Children jump from a ship into the water. They have fun playing there. They do not understand that the ship is leaving and that they will soon be alone in the middle of the ocean. Someone throws a rope from the ship, and people shout loudly to them that they will die if they do not take hold of the rope. But the children do not believe. It is not that they do not have enough faith in the rope. It is that they do not believe they are in danger. They do not believe the words of those who are shouting to them. Instead, they believe the children around them, who say that they will be free to swim as they like after the ship has left. They do not believe that there will come a time when their arms will be too tired to hold them up, and that they will go to the bottom. It is only because they do not believe this that they do not take the rope. This I can understand. But taking the rope is easy for people who are old enough to understand the danger that is in front of them. As the children do not take the rope because they do not believe they are in danger, so the world today does not obey Christ because it does not know the danger that it is in. Every place we look, both in and out of the Church, people act like they are going to live forever (or that they will if they can only get enough money). They believe what it is impossible to believe, and it is because of this that they turn away from the only thing that can save them.
They say that they must first have "faith" before they can obey Jesus. But that faith would come if they would stop doing the things that destroy them and start doing the things that will save them. The reason they do not take hold of the rope is because they do not want to take hold of the rope. It is as simple as that. Even when they see their friends die, they choose not to believe that they themselves are in danger. They put their faith in false teachings and then say that they do not have faith to obey Christ.
And the worst of the false teachings is the one that they can have saving faith in Christ and still not obey him. But, as James said in his letter, this is the kind of faith that the devil has. The devil believes in God in word only, but never tries to obey him.
James 2:14-26: "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if a person says he or she has faith, but does not do good works? Can that kind of faith save anyone? If a brother or sister needs food or clothes, and one of you says, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' but you do not give what is needed, what good is that? In the same way, faith in words alone, but not in actions, is dead faith. One could rightly argue, 'You say you have faith, but I am the one obeying God. I cannot see your faith when there are no works joined to it; but I can show you my faith by my actions.' You believe that there is one God? Okay. But then the devils also believe that, and they live in fear of God's anger. Don't you know, you stupid person, that faith without actions is like a tree without fruit? Didn't Abraham our father show that he had faith by giving his son to God? You see, what he believed worked together with what he did, and it was through his works that his faith was made real. From this we can see that we become right with God not just by what we believe, but by what we do as well. Just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." James was saying that faith which does not lead to actions is not faith at all. It will not save anyone, for it is only saying in words what the person saying it does not really believe.
Actions are what faith leads to. The Jews said to Christ (John 6:30) "What miracle can you give us so that we will believe?" Much the same was said to him on the cross (Mark 15:32): "Let the King of Israel come down from the cross now, so that we can see and believe."
But Jesus knew that they were going to believe only what they wanted to believe, and no miracle would make any difference. He said that only his sheep (those who followed his teachings) would believe him. (John 10:25-27) In John 5:44 Jesus told them why they (and the world today) had so little faith. "How can you believe," he asked, "when you receive teaching* from one another, but the teaching* that comes from the one who alone is God you do not look for?"
| *Most Bibles have "good thoughts and words" here, but Tolstoy argues that "teaching" is the right word for the Greek word doxa. He says that the word that doxa comes from (dokeo) means teaching. We cannot find this in our Greek dictionaries, but we can see how people would be happy to receive the teachings of those who say good things about them. D.M. |
To believe, says Christ, you must look for the teaching that comes only from God. Christ says that the person who teaches what he himself wants to say will not say what God wants. God's truth will only come from the one who is perfectly in the will of God. There will be nothing false in what he teaches. (John 7:18) So whose teaching have we put our faith in? The teaching of Jesus Christ, or the teaching of some Church "expert"?
There are really only two teachings: the teaching that your life is your own and that you can be happy by doing with it what you choose, and the teaching that you will only find meaning in life by doing the will of God.
If a person's faith is in the selfish teaching, it will show through that person's actions. All that he or she does will be toward getting wealth, power, and those things that will make him or her feel good. If a person has seen that the meaning to life can only be found in doing the will of God, then all of the actions of that person will show this kind of faith.
That is why people who are happy with their life as it is will never be able to believe in the teachings of Christ, even if they try. To change their faith such people would have to change their feeling about life as it is. Until that happens, their actions will always be in line with their understanding of life (which is their true faith), and saying that they believe in the teachings of Christ or even wanting to believe in the teachings of Christ will not make them believe. If they are happy swimming in the ocean, they will not be able to think of the rope as they must think of it before they can be saved.
Saying prayers, going to meetings, building churches, preaching to others, and doing small actions to help the poor will not be enough, if they do not come from people who, like Abraham, would give God their only son if God asked them. That is the kind of faith that Christ and his followers had, and it is the only kind of faith that will save you. It is because people do not have this kind of faith (because they do not really think that they are headed for eternal death without God) that they can say that they would like to live by the teachings of Christ, at the same time that they give all their strength to living in a way that is perfectly opposite to the teachings of Christ.
In Matthew 19:23-24 and Luke 14:25-33, Jesus says things that are just too much for people who have faith in this life. He tells us to give up everything – our wealth, our families, and even our lives – to follow him. Only those who have lost faith in this life, who know that they are drowning, who can see nothing but eternal darkness in front of them, will take hold of this rope. Christ told a story (Luke 17:7-10) about a worker who returned from working on the farm only to spend more time fixing a meal for his master; and he did it just because it was his job and not because he thought he was doing something special. By this, Christ was saying that anything God asks of the person who has real faith is not surprising to that person, because the person with real faith knows that he or she has nothing to start with. They do not argue with the rope that has come to save them. They do not say, "I do not have enough faith." The faith that moves mountains comes from knowing that death is out there waiting, and there is only one way to be saved. This faith takes hold of the rope and never lets go.