Faith and Works; Catholics and Protestants

The issue of salvation sparked the Protestant Reformation and split the church. It seemed to both sides at the time that Protestants and Catholics taught two radically different gospels, two religions, two answers to the most basic of all questions: What must I do to be saved? Catholics said you must both believe and practice good works to be saved. Luther, Calvin, Wycliffe and Know insisted that faith alone saves you. Unfortunately, both sides have been talking past each other for 450 years. But there is strong evidence that it was essentially a misunderstanding and that it is beginning to be cleared up. 

Both sides used key terms, faith and salvation, but in different senses. 

1. Catholics used the term salvation to refer to the whole process, from its beginning in faith, through the whole Christian life of the works of love on earth, to its completion in heaven. When Luther spoke of salvation he meant the initial step-- like getting into Noah's Ark of salvation-- not the whole journey. 

2. By faith Catholics meant only one of the three needed "theological virtues" (faith, hope and love), faith being intellectual belief. To Luther, faith meant accepting Christ with your whole heart and soul. 

Thus, since Catholics were using salvation in a bigger sense and faith in a smaller sense, and Luther was using salvation in a smaller sense and faith in a bigger sense, Catholics rightly denied and Luther rightly affirmed that we were saved by faith alone. 

The official teaching of Catholicism ( as distinct from popular misconception) is that salvation is a totally free gift that we can do nothing to "buy" or produce. The Council of Trent's "Decree of Justification" is as insistent on the gratuitous nature of grace as Luther or Calvin. So is Aquinas in the Treatise of Grace in the Summa Theologiae, the bottom line of which is that we can do nothing without God's grace-- not be saved, not deserve grace, and even ask for grace. 

Scripture clearly says both that salvation is a free gift to be accepted by faith (Romans and Galatians) and that  "faith without works is dead" (James). "Work" means "love", and "love" means "the works of love," for Christian love (agape) is not a feeling, like worldly love (eros, storge, philia): if it were, it could not be commanded.

( Excerpt from HANDBOOK of CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS  BY Peter Kreeft & Ronald K. Tacelli : IVP, 1994) 

# Peter Kreeft is a professor of Philosophy at Boston College, and a convert of Catholicism while in college. Ronal Tacelli is a Jesuit Father and an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Boston College. 

Committee Members Training Camp, Gangtok 2011.

Committee Members Training Camp of UESI is one the most significant programmes for the formation of Christian life in India. For many decades God has used, and is still using, UESI to produce Christian men and women trained in CMTC to become leaders in the Church and society.

Each year some 100 students are trained to be witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ wherever God placed them. They are taught about doctrines of the evangelical Christian faith, trained how to study the Bible for oneself and also lead a Bible study group, impart discipline of prayer and quiet time, and also skills to handle various pressures and issues in life. And of course there is so much of fun and interaction between members as well. 

It was in 2000 that I first participated in CMTC @ Kotagiri, Tamil Nadu, as a student. Looking back, I would say that I would have never reached where I am I today without that training programme. I was too new a believer then and so I did not learn so much. The teaching just went above my head! But the environment there and the people I met changed my life. That two weeks in the training camp is the most awesome moment in my life so far!

This CMTC is a one time event in one's life. There are so many students in India who needed to be trained. And therefore one is not allowed to come again to the camp as a student. But because I joined as a staff worker I have been part of CMTC at various places in different years. I have been to Dehradun CMTC in 2006, Kalimpong CMTC 2007, Siliguri CMTC 2010 and Gangtok CMTC 2011. One as a student and four as a staff worker.

In all of these CMTCs I have never come across anyone who has regretted coming to CMTC. Of course, delegates are normally selected out of many students. That way only those who are more serious and would be willing to learn are selected for the training programme. Many of the leaders in the Church and society in India are trained in the CMTC. By God's grace UESI has been one of the most influential Christian organisations in India in shaping Christian men and women for the Church and society in India. Not that the organisation does not have shortcoming and flaws. After all it's human who run the organisation, so to speak. However, God has been gracious. And over the years thousands of students continued to be trained to faithfully witness for the Lord Jesus Christ and bring transformation in the area of social and political life of the nation too. My term as a staff worker ends this June. But all I have learnt about Jesus Christ and  about Christian testimony, God has used UESI to teach me. The things I have learnt and the vision I have received from the Lord through UESI, I shall cherish it. I may return to the staff team or I may not. But one thing I learnt: Jesus Christ is risen and He is Lord of all! 

Finally, those of us who have experienced CMTC and have tasted the significance of the programme in shaping our lives, let us encourage students to be part of the training programme during their student days. And let us continue to give our money, and also our time like those graduates who came to be with us during the camp.  And it would be great if some would choose to become staff workers. Without them CMTC would not have been possible!