My cousin told me that Catholics aren't saved because they are depending on good works to save them and the Bible says that we are saved by faith alone. 

Please clarify.

Thank you,

Ariel Dunz

Your cousin should read the Bible.

The only place in the New Testament that the phrase “faith alone” appear is James 2:24. “You see that man is justified from works and not from faith alone.” 

That seems pretty clear to me.

The Bible doesn't say faith alone saves or justifies.  Martin Luther who founded Protestantism 500 years ago said that.  I suspect he got the phrase from the hymn that we Catholics still sing on Holy Thursday, the “Pange Lingua.” 

Remember, Luther was a Catholic priest.  He had probably sung the “Pange Lingua” hundreds of times and the phrase “sola fides” (Latin for “faith alone”) probably got stuck in his mind.  I bet he thought it was in the Bible somewhere but it wasn't. 

He built his theology around it, and when he couldn't find it in the text, I suspect that he put it in, notably in his September Bible, a translation he wrote when he was hiding out from the German emperor.  He translated Romans 3:28 “ Man is justified by faith alone.”  The word “alone” doesn't appear in any other text.  Luther added it and from that addition he created a tear in the fabric of Christianity and Western society from which we have not yet recovered. 

Where did he get the phrase? 

As I said, from the “Pange Lingua.”  In the 4th verse we sing  that “sola fides sufficit,” “faith alone suffices.”  Suffices for what?  To perceive Jesus really present under the appearances of bread and wine. 

So faith alone is important, if we are to receive communion worthily. 

But for justification, I’ll say along with St. James, “Show me your works and I’ll tell you what you really believe.” 

So tell your cousin to actually read the Bible.  It’s the big book on the coffee table.  You can’t miss it.
 

Sincerely,

Rev. Know-It-All