Father Mike Schmitz

Faith without works is dead.

What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works?

Can his faith save him?

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit?

So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

But someone will say, You have faith and I have works.

Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith.

You believe that God is one.

You do well.

Even the demons believe and shudder.

Do you want to be shown, you foolish fellow, that faith apart from works is barren?

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

You see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by works.

And the scripture was fulfilled, which says, Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

And he was called the friend of God.

You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.

And in the same way, was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.

Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.

To write the same thing to you is not irksome to me and is safe for you.