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How a person is put right with God

Is a person justified by faith alone, or by faith working through love, with the sacraments and good works?

The passage it turns on

What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? And 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”; and yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself. Yes, a man will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder. But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead? Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God. You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith. In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.

James 2:14-26In context. James, to Jewish Christians, on faith without works: a faith that gives a hungry brother only words is dead. Abraham’s offering of Isaac and Rahab’s welcome of the spies are his examples, and he says a person is justified by works and not by faith only.

James says it outright: a person is justified by works and not by faith only. Abraham’s obedience in offering Isaac completed his faith. The faith that saves is a faith that works through love; a faith that does nothing is dead, and a dead faith justifies no one.

James is answering someone who claims faith and shows none. His test is “show me”: works are how faith is seen, by people. The faith he calls dead is the demons’ kind, bare assent. Paul uses “justified” for how God counts a sinner; James uses it for how a claim is proved true. Both are right.

Press a reading to put the lamp behind the words that side leans on. The passage does not change.

What each side holds

This was the dispute of the Reformation. The Reformers said a sinner is counted righteous through faith alone, on account of Christ’s righteousness, and that good works follow as fruit. Trent answered that justification makes a person truly righteous within, begins at baptism, grows through the sacraments and good works done in grace, and can be lost by grave sin. In 1999 Lutherans and Catholics signed a Joint Declaration that the old condemnations no longer apply; many on both sides accept it, many think it papered over a real difference.

The points people make

Paul: justified by faith apart from works

What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the reward is not counted as grace, but as something owed. But to him who doesn’t work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Even as David also pronounces blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works, “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whom the Lord will by no means charge with sin.”

Romans 4:1-8In context. Paul continuing the argument with Abraham: Genesis says Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, before he had done any work. David is quoted on the blessing of a sin not counted.

Scripture states it. Paul says righteousness is counted to the one who does not work but believes, and rules out any work as its ground. Both sides confess that much; they still differ on whether justification is a verdict once given or a state that grows and can be lost.

The Catholic reading

Paul excludes “works of the law”, the Jewish boundary markers and the attempt to earn standing before God. He never writes “faith alone”; the one time the Bible puts the words together, James says “not only by faith”. Catholics agree that nothing we do earns the first grace.

“none of those things which precede justification-whether faith or works-merit the grace itself of justification.”

Council of Trent, Session 6, chapter 8, 1547

The Protestant reading

Paul says Abraham was counted righteous when he believed, before any work, and that the blessing is to the one who “doesn’t work, but believes”. Ephesians 2:8-10 puts it in order: saved by grace through faith, not of works, then created for good works. “Faith alone” is shorthand for that.

“it is clear and certain that this faith alone justifies us”

Luther, Smalcald Articles II.1, 1537

Judged according to works

“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’ “The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ “Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’ “Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Matthew 25:31-46In context. Jesus to his disciples, two days before his death: at the judgment the King separates sheep from goats by what they did for the hungry, the stranger, the sick and the prisoner, who are ‘my brothers’.

Scripture states it. Jesus says the King separates the nations by what they did for the least of his brothers, and the sheep inherit a kingdom prepared “from the foundation of the world”. Both sides confess judgment according to works; they differ on how it fits with Paul’s righteousness counted “apart from works” (Romans 4:6).

The Catholic reading

Jesus separates sheep from goats by what they did for the hungry and the stranger, and Paul says God will give eternal life to those who persist in doing good. Works bear on the verdict; that is what Trent meant by merit.

“the good works of one that is justified are in such manner the gifts of God, as that they are not also the good merits”

Council of Trent, Session 6, canon 32, condemning this claim, 1547

The Protestant reading

Judgment according to works is not justification because of works: the works show whose a person is. The sheep inherit a kingdom prepared “from the foundation of the world”, and Paul, a chapter after Romans 2, says no one is justified by works.

“Our works ‘justify’ our claim to faith in the eyes of human beholders. Such ‘justification’ or vindication is not necessary for God”

R. C. Sproul, Faith Alone, as read on Catholic Answers, 2026

Can a justified person fall away?

So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

Philippians 2:12-13In context. Paul to the church at Philippi, which he loves, after the hymn about Christ’s humility: work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for God is the one at work in you.
2 more passages: Philippians 1:6; Galatians 5:4

being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6In context. Paul’s thanks for the Philippians: he is sure that God, who began a good work in them, will complete it.

You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace.

Galatians 5:4In context. Paul to Galatians tempted to be circumcised: those who seek to be justified by the law are cut off from Christ and have fallen from grace.

Scripture’s words can be read more than one way. Paul tells the Philippians to work out their salvation with fear and trembling, because God is at work in them, and is sure that “he who began a good work in you will complete it”. He tells Galatians who sought justification by the law, “You have fallen away from grace.” Whether a justified person can finally fall can be read more than one way.

The Catholic reading

Paul tells the Philippians to work out their salvation with fear and trembling and warns the Galatians that they could be severed from Christ. Grace can be lost by grave sin and restored by repentance and confession.

“If any one saith, that the justice received is not preserved and also increased before God through good works”

Council of Trent, Session 6, canon 24, condemning this claim, 1547

The Protestant reading

Protestants differ among themselves: the Reformed say the elect cannot finally fall; Lutherans, Anglicans and Methodists say a believer can lose faith. All agree the warnings are real and that the remedy is to return to Christ by faith, not a sacrament that restores a lost state.

“yet is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love.”

Westminster Confession 11.2, 1646

What Trent condemned, and what the Joint Declaration said

“We, being Jews by nature, and not Gentile sinners, yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law. But if, while we sought to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is Christ a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a law-breaker. For I, through the law, died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me. I don’t reject the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing!”

Galatians 2:15-21In context. Paul to the Galatian churches, who were being told to keep the Jewish law: a person is justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, and Paul now lives by faith in the Son of God who loved him.

Not a question Scripture answers. Paul says he lives by faith in the Son of God who loved him. Whether the two churches now mean the same by that is a question about their documents, not about the passage.

The Catholic reading

Trent condemned faith alone in the sense that nothing else is needed and the will does nothing, and the claim that justification is only being counted righteous, with no inner change. It affirmed that grace comes first and no one can merit the first grace.

“Luther's phrase: " faith alone " is true, if it is not opposed to faith in charity, in love.”

Benedict XVI, general audience, 2008

The Protestant reading

The Reformers meant by faith alone that Christ’s righteousness is received, not that the will is idle or that works do not follow. Many Protestants read Trent as condemning exactly that, and the 1999 declaration as saying Lutherans no longer teach it; others welcomed it as real agreement.

“the Roman church maintains the same stance today as it took in the sixteenth century at the Council of Trent”

R. C. Sproul, Ligonier

Watch

One talk from each side, chosen for making its own case well. Each loads from YouTube only when you press play.

The Counsel of Trent. 30 min. Trent Horn on James 2 and why he holds that justification is by faith working through love, not faith alone. Open on YouTube
Ligonier Ministries. 22 min. R. C. Sproul on Paul and James: how Protestants hold that both teach justification by faith alone. Open on YouTube

Sources on this page

Every quotation above, with the page it comes from and the day it was read. Primary documents first where a side has one.