The Relationship between Faith and Works – Faith and Acts of Charity (Senior 4 General and Religious Studies) | Ganzaa

Faith and Acts of Charity

Lessons

Senior 4 · General and Religious Studies

Faith and Acts of Charity

4 lessons

Lesson 3 of 4

The Relationship between Faith and Works

40 min

Two letters that seem to disagree

Put two New Testament sentences side by side:

Paul: "We maintain therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law" (Romans 3:28).
James: "You see then that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith" (James 2:24).

Read quickly, they contradict each other, and the disagreement helped to divide Western Christianity in the sixteenth century. Read carefully, as Unit 11 taught, they answer different questions. This lesson explains how faith and works relate in Christian teaching, compares Islamic teaching, and draws a conclusion that both traditions share.

Definition

Works: actions; in this debate, either the observances of the religious law (circumcision, food laws) or good deeds of love and justice.

Justification: being made or declared right with God.

Grace: God's free, undeserved gift (Unit 10). Merit: a claim to reward earned by one's actions.

Living faith: faith that trusts God and shows itself in love. Dead faith: mere words or opinions with no effect on life (James 2:17).

Reformation: the sixteenth-century movement, begun by Martin Luther in 1517, that formed the Protestant churches; it stressed justification by grace through faith (sola fide, "by faith alone").

Reading Paul and James carefully

	Paul (Romans, Galatians, Ephesians)	James
The problem he faced	People who thought they could earn God's favour by keeping the law	People who said "I believe" but ignored the hungry
What "works" means	"Works of the law": religious observances done to earn salvation	Works of love: clothing and feeding a brother or sister in need (2:15–16)
What "faith" means	Living trust in Christ	Bare assent: "the demons also believe" (2:19)
His point	We cannot earn salvation; it is a gift received by faith	Real faith always produces works; "faith apart from works is dead" (2:26)

Paul himself joins the two ideas. Right after saying "by grace you have been saved through faith … not of works" (Ephesians 2:8–9), he adds: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them" (2:10). What matters, he writes elsewhere, is "faith working through love" (Galatians 5:6). James puts it from the other side: "Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works" (2:18).

Figure 3: faith as the root, love as the trunk, good works as the fruit. Drawn by Ganzaa.

For centuries Catholics and Protestants argued about how faith, grace and works fit together. In 1999 the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, which confesses together: "By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works."

Faith and works in Islam

The Qur'an joins faith and deeds again and again in the phrase "those who believe and do good works". One of its shortest surahs puts the whole matter in three verses:

"By the declining day, Lo! man is in a state of loss, Save those who believe and do good works, and exhort one another to truth and exhort one another to endurance." (Surah 103:1–3, Pickthall)

True believers "strive with their wealth and their lives for the cause of Allah" (49:15, Lesson 1), and the hadith describes iman as including "activity with the limbs". Islam also teaches that deeds are weighed by the intention behind them and that a person is saved by God's mercy, not by counting deeds alone.

Shared conclusion	Christian teaching	Islamic teaching
Faith must be inward and real	Living trust, not bare assent (James 2:19)	Faith "entered into your hearts" (49:14)
Faith must show in deeds	"Faith apart from works is dead" (James 2:26)	"Those who believe and do good works" (103:3)
Deeds cannot replace God's gift	Saved "by grace … not of works" (Ephesians 2:8–9)	Salvation by God's mercy; deeds weighed by intention

Worked example: applying James 2:15–16

Illustrative case. A student group prays every week for refugees in a nearby camp. One member suggests collecting school materials for refugee children; another objects: "We have already prayed; God will provide."

James answers directly: "if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, and one of you tells them, 'Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;' yet you didn't give them the things the body needs, what good is it?" (2:15–16). Prayer is itself an act of faith, but faith that never reaches the hands is "dead". Surah 103 makes the same demand: believe and do good works. The group should pray and collect.

Warning

Common mistakes

"Paul and James contradict each other." They use "works" and "faith" in different senses to answer different errors.
"Protestants say good works do not matter." The Reformers taught that good works are the necessary fruit of faith, not the price of salvation.
"Catholics say people earn salvation by works." The 1999 Joint Declaration confesses salvation "by grace alone", with good works as the response.
"In Islam, deeds alone decide salvation." Faith, intention and God's mercy are all essential.

Important

Discuss. Someone says: "I don't need religion; I just do good works." Another says: "I have faith, so my behaviour doesn't matter." Using James 2, Ephesians 2:8–10 and Surah 103, explain what each person is missing, according to these scriptures.

BibleProject: "Book of James Summary: A Complete Animated Overview", about 8 minutes. Note what James means by faith and by works, and how he links them to care for the poor.

✦

Practice

Define justification, grace and merit.
Quote Romans 3:28 and James 2:24 and explain why they seem to conflict.
Explain the different meanings of "works" in Paul and in James.
Show how Ephesians 2:8–10 joins faith and works.
Explain what the 1999 Joint Declaration agreed.
Explain the teaching of Surah 103:1–3 on faith and good works.
"Faith is a private matter between a person and God." Evaluate this statement in the light of this lesson.

Show answersHide answers

Justification: being made or declared right with God. Grace: God's free, undeserved gift. Merit: a claim to reward earned by one's actions.
"A man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law" (Romans 3:28); "by works a man is justified, and not only by faith" (James 2:24). One seems to exclude works, the other to require them.
Paul means works of the law done to earn salvation; James means works of love that show living faith.
Salvation is a gift received by faith, "not of works" (2:8–9), yet believers are "created … for good works" (2:10): works are the purpose and fruit of salvation, not its price.
The Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation confessed together that we are accepted by God "by grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part", and that the Holy Spirit equips and calls us "to good works".
All people are "in a state of loss" except those who believe, do good works, and encourage one another in truth and endurance: faith and deeds belong together.
Partly true: faith begins in the heart (Surah 49:14; living trust). But both traditions insist it must show in deeds towards others (James 2:26; Surah 103:3; Ephesians 2:10). Faith is personal but never only private.

Quick check

Match each verse to its teaching.

Tap one on the left, then its partner on the right.

Key points

Paul (Romans 3:28) and James (2:24) answer different errors: Paul denies that law-works earn salvation; James denies that faith without deeds of love is real.
Ephesians 2:8–10 and Galatians 5:6 join them: saved by grace through faith, for good works; "faith working through love".
The 1999 Joint Declaration: accepted by God by grace alone, with the Spirit calling believers to good works.
Islam joins belief and good works (Surah 103:1–3; 49:15), with deeds weighed by intention and salvation by God's mercy.

Sources and credits

Scripture: Romans 3:28, James 2:15–26, Ephesians 2:8–10, Galatians 5:6 and Matthew 7:17, World English Bible, public domain. Qur'an 49:14–15 and 103:1–3 from Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), via the Internet Archive, quoted word for word.
Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0: the common confession of 1999, quoted.
Iman (Islam), Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0: the hadith on iman.
Video: "Book of James Summary: A Complete Animated Overview", BibleProject, embedded from YouTube.

Written by Ganzaa: the opening, Figure 3, the tables, the worked example and the exercises.

This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.

1Two letters that seem to disagree

2Reading Paul and James carefully

3Faith and works in Islam

Two letters that seem to disagree

Reading Paul and James carefully

Faith and works in Islam