Faith and Works According to John and Paul

Christians tend to get very imbalanced on the relationship between faith and works. This imbalance reflects itself in disagreements between Catholics and Protestants, and especially between conservative and liberal Christians. At least in the 20th century, it was too often the case that conservatives stessed radical individual faith while giving much less airtime to the role of works in the Christian life. Likewise, it was too often the case that liberals stressed good works while greatly deemphasizing the need for radical personal faith. Scripture offers little comfort to both positions, and this is certainly true in the writings of the Apostles John and Paul. For brevity's sake, this post will be limited to discussing faith and works in 1 John and Titus.

1 John offers the constant drumbeat of faith and works working together to demonstrate the power of salvation. Throughout 1 John, there is an emphasis on 'walking in the light' (1.6-7, 2.9-10), obeying God's commands (2.3-6, 3.22-24, 5.2-3), doing God's will (2.17, 5.14), doing what is right (2.29, 3.7, 3.10, 3.12), and tangibly caring for the brethren through good deeds (3.17-18, 4.20-21). The Apostle John clearly believes that the full measure of salvation is manifested in those whose lives give evidence that they are totally surrendered to Christ in deed. But John is not merely giving us a Kantian secular ethic to do good for goodness' sake. 1 John also has much to say about the necessity of faith in Christ as the Son of God who died for sinners. 1 John repeatedly emphasizes the need for belief in this Christ (1.2-3, 2.22-23, 3.23, 4.2-3, 4.14-15, 5.1, 5.6-13). For John, one cannot have works without faith, and one cannot have faith if he has no works to point to.

Paul's letter to Titus is very much of the same trajectory. Paul sees sound doctrine as a necessary means of fortifying faith (1.1-4, , 1.6, 1.9, 1.13, 2.2, 3.15). However, like John, Pauline faith is not an empty faith. In Titus especially, good living is presented as an apologetic for the truth of the faith and of Christ (ch. 2, 3.1, 3.8). Like John, Paul's words in Titus indicate that Christian conduct must rest on God's saving work in Christ. But in addition, as Reggie Kidd has eloquently pointed out, Paul's letter to Titus urges the believing community to demonstrate the deity of Christ by putting forward evidence that Christ really does change the people he has redeemed. Put simply, the people should reflect Christ's beneficence and noble deeds.

In both John and Paul, we must realize that their conception of belief and works is thoroughly intertwined. In both cases, theology is not just about operating in an abstract realm of ideas with no practical action. To the contrary, for both John and Paul, a people's true beliefs can be seen in how they live. Another way of saying this is to paraphrase Eph. 2.8-10 - we are not saved BY works, but we are saved FOR works. To minimize either faith or works is to set up shop squarely in the crosshairs of the apostles of Christ. We don't want to be there.