Do we merit eternal life through our good works?

Scripture tells us that God does reward us for our good works (2 John 8, Revelation 22:12 etc.).  The kind of good works are mainly acts of charity and love (Proverbs 25:21-22, Marks 9:41, Luke 6:35) including almsgiving (Matthew 6:3-4), but also being righteous (Psalm 18:20, Proverbs 11:18), obeying God’s commandments (Proverbs 13:13), prayer (Matthew 6:6), perseverance under persecution (Luke 6:23) and fasting (Matthew 6:18).  They must be done without any personal motives (cf. Matthew 6:2, 5, 16), they must go beyond the norm (Matthew 5:44-46) and must be based on love or charity (1 Corinthians 13:3).   What kind of reward God gives us?  Scripture says that love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8) and that almsgiving delivers from death and purges sins (Tobit 4:10, 12:9, Sirach 3:30; note that Protestants do not accept Tobit and Sirach as Scripture).  By loyalty and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for (Proverbs 16:6, RSV).  Daniel told king Nebuchadnezzar to break-off his sins by practising righteousness and his iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed; by doing so God might lengthen his tranquillity (Daniel 4:27).  Because Ahab humbled himself and fasted, God will not bring evil in his days but in his son’s days (1 Kings 21:27-29).  Cornelius gave alms and prayed to God and God sent Peter to tell him and his family the good news and gave them the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:1-6, 44-48).   Does God reward us with eternal life for our good works?  Scripture says:

Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.

John 5:28-29

For he will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jews first and also the Greek, but glory and honour and peace for everyone who does good, the Jews first and also the Greek.

Romans 2:6-10

Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.  For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Galatians 6:7-8

Thus Scripture does say that we do merit eternal life from good works and that’s what the Catholic Church teaches.

If any one saith, that the just ought not, for their good works done in God, to expect and hope for an eternal recompense from God, through His mercy and the merit of Jesus Christ, if so be that they persevere to the end in well doing and in keeping the divine commandments; let him be anathema.

Council of Trent, Canon XXVI of the Decrees on Justification

The argument against the merits from our good works is based on what Jesus said in:

Will any one of you, who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep, say to him when he has come in from the field, `Come at once and sit down at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and gird yourself and serve me, till I eat and drink; and afterward you shall eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?   So you also, when you have done all that is commanded you, say, `We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty

Luke 17:7-10 

But if this parable is interpreted to mean there are no merits from our good works then it contradicts many verses cited earlier that say otherwise.  In this parable Christ reminds us that our merits come from God and are to be regarded as God’s gift, not something we deserve and that’s exactly what Catholics believe.   Catholics consider merits of good works as gift from God because we cannot do it unless we are first moved by His Grace.

Salvation by faith + works?

Some non-Catholics and even some Catholics think that Catholics believe in salvation by faith plus works.  But this does not give accurate presentation what the Catholic Church teaches for two reasons.   First, “faith plus good works” says nothing about the role of God’s Grace in both faith and obeying Him through good works.  It makes good works become our own efforts, which, as we will see later, is not the teaching of the Catholic Church.  Second, faith plus works might lead to the question: how much good works a Catholic must perform in order to secure a place in heaven?  One former Catholic rhetorically asked me: how many Masses?  How many good works?  Another former Catholic, James McCarthy, founder of Good News for Catholics Ministry, developed sets of card to “evangelize” Catholics.  He called it Pocket Evangelism Kit.  Unwary Catholics are asked to pick card of which brief statement describes their understanding of how to be saved – whatever card he/she picks McCarthy will point out that it does not work.

If he selects the “Doing Good Works” card, the question is, “How many good works do you have to do to get into heaven?”

McCarthy, Conversations with Catholics, page 51

There is no such thing as minimum quota of good works for salvation in Catholic’s teaching! 

The accurate Catholic position on salvation is Catholics believe that we are saved by God’s Grace.   Without God’ Grace that first moves us, both to believe in Him & Christ and to obey His commandments, we cannot reach our salvation.   The teaching that Grace precedes all our actions in relation to our salvation was declared by the Catholic Church in Council of Orange in 529 AD and reaffirmed in the Council of Trent in 1547.

If anyone says that God has mercy upon us when, apart from his grace, we believe, will, desire, strive, labor, pray, watch, study, seek, ask, or knock, but does not confess that it is by the infusion and inspiration of the Holy Spirit within us that we have the faith, the will, or the strength to do all these things as we ought; or if anyone makes the assistance of grace depend on the humility or obedience of man and does not agree that it is a gift of grace itself that we are obedient and humble, he contradicts the Apostle who says, “What have you that you did not receive?” [1 Corinthians 4:7], and, “But by the grace of God I am what I am” [1 Corinthians 15:10].

Canon VI of Council of Orange

For, whereas Jesus Christ Himself continually infuses his virtue into the said justified,-as the head into the members, and the vine into the branches,-and this virtue always precedes and accompanies and follows their good works, which without it could not in any wise be pleasing and meritorious before God,

Council of Trent, Decree on Justification XVI

If any one saith, that without the prevenient inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and without his help, man can believe, hope, love, or be penitent as he ought, so as that the grace of Justification may be bestowed upon him; let him be anathema.

Council of Trent, Canon III of the Decree on Justification

Augustine and Canon of Old Testament

Augustine (354 to 430) was bishop of Hippo, North Africa and, perhaps, the most well-known Church Fathers.  A prolific writer he wrote enormous volumes of works, which has profound impact on Christianity.   He was highly respected by both Catholics and Protestants (Calvinists).  In one of his many works, On Christian Doctrine, Augustine listed forty-four canonical books of the Old Testament and stated how they were selected.

Now, in regard to the canonical Scriptures, he must follow the judgment of the greater number of catholic churches; and among these, of course, a high place must be given to such as have been thought worthy to be the seat of an apostle and to receive epistles. Accordingly, among the canonical Scriptures he will judge according to the following standard: to prefer those that are received by all the catholic churches to those which some do not receive. Among those, again, which are not received by all, he will prefer such as have the sanction of the greater number and those of greater authority, to such as are held by the smaller number and those of less authority. If, however, he shall find that some books are held by the greater number of churches, and others by the churches of greater authority (though this is not a very likely thing to happen), I think that in such a case the authority on the two sides is to be looked upon as equal.

Now the whole canon of Scripture on which we say this judgment is to be exercised, is contained in the following books:-Five books of Moses, that is, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; one book of Joshua the son of Nun; one of Judges; one short book called Ruth, which seems rather to belong to the beginning of Kings; next, four books of Kings [equal to 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings], and two of Chronicles -these last not following one another, but running parallel, so to speak, and going over the same ground. The books now mentioned are history, which contains a connected narrative of the times, and follows the order of the events. There are other books which seem to follow no regular order, and are connected neither with the order of the preceding books nor with one another, such as Job, and Tobias, and Esther, and Judith, and the two books of Maccabees, and the two of Ezra, which last look more like a sequel to the continuous regular history which terminates with the books of Kings and Chronicles. Next are the Prophets, in which there is one book of the Psalms of David; and three books of Solomon, viz., Proverbs, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes. For two books, one called Wisdom and the other Ecclesiasticus, are ascribed to Solomon from a certain resemblance of style, but the most likely opinion is that they were written by Jesus the son of Sirach. Still they are to be reckoned among the prophetical books, since they have attained recognition as being authoritative. The remainder are the books which are strictly called the Prophets: twelve separate books of the prophets which are connected with one another, and having never been disjoined, are reckoned as one book; the names of these prophets are as follows:-Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi; then there are the four greater prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel. The authority of the Old Testament is contained within the limits of these forty-four books.    

Augustine, On Christian Doctrine 2:8

Following Cyril of Jerusalem and Athanasius, Augustine combined Lamentations, Baruch and Letter of Jeremiah with Jeremiah.  He cited Baruch 3:35-37 but attributed it to Jeremiah in one of his monumental works, City of God 18:33.  In the same book (18:36 and 18:43) he defended the use of LXX as the scripture of the Church.  From City of God 17:20 we know that he was aware that the Jews did not recognize deuterocanonical books but he accepted them based on the practice of the Church.  Baruch and Lamentations are now separated from Jeremiah to make forty-six books of the present Catholic Old Testament.  Augustine’s list of books of both Old and New Testaments was declared at Church Council in Hippo (Augustine’s see) in 393 and subsequently reaffirmed at third Council of Carthage, another provincial council in 397.  Another council at Carthage in 419 again confirmed the same list of Old Testament. The same councils also declared the canonicity of the 27 books of the New Testament. 

All our righteous acts are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6)

Isaiah 64:6 is, perhaps, one of the most cited verses to show that we should not (and could not) rely on our own righteousness for our salvation.   Other favourite verse is Romans 3:10 that say no one is righteous.  This leads to the concept of imputed righteousness of Christ to cover our unrighteousness.  It is the concept adopted by Protestants and “Bible only” Christians in their justification.  The suitable model for this justification is courtroom analogy where God is the judge and we are criminals, guilty of committed sins and are about to be thrown to jail (i.e. hell).   God then offers the only solution – He sent His Son, Christ, a free gift from Him, and if we believe in Him, Christ will pay the penalty of our sins.  This courtroom style or forensic justification fits well with Protestant’s belief that we are declared righteous through Justification.  We take Christ righteousness while He takes our sins and bore them on the cross.   This forensic Justification makes no room for purgatory and indulgences in Catholicism – Christ already paid the penalty of our sins, why are we still punished?

Catholics believe that our righteousness does come from God.  By ourselves, because of original sin, we cannot produce any righteous acts.   God, through Christ, helps us to become righteous but it needs our active cooperation.  His help comes in the form of His Grace and this Grace will first move us to do righteous acts.  Using our freedom we decide whether to cooperate with this given Grace or not.   Scripture says: He who does right is righteous (1 John 3:7), indicating our active participation.   Certainly we do need the righteousness that comes through faith (Romans 4:3, 13, Philippians 3:9).  To do what is right includes believing in Christ, but it is not the only one we need.  In Timothy 6:11 and 2 Timothy 2:22 Paul would not bother to ask Timothy to aim for righteousness – if the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ, which Timothy already had as Christian, was the only one he need.  Is being righteous necessary?   Scripture says whoever does not do right is not of God but the children of devil (1 John 3:10) and the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9) while the righteous will go to eternal life (Matthew 25:46).  The Psalmist cried: O LORD, who shall sojourn in thy tent? Who shall dwell on thy holy hill? (Psalms 15:1).  The next verse gives the answer:  He who walks blamelessly, and does what is right, and speaks truth from his heart.    Christ said: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6) and “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).  Blessed are those who do righteousness at all times (Psalms 106:3).  Keep in mind that being righteous is not the same as being sinless.  “To do what is right” in 1 John 3:7 certainly includes “to repent” but nobody needs to repent unless he/she sins in the first place.   Scripture says (Proverbs 24:16): “for a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again.”

Coming back to Isaiah 64:6 one should read not only that verse but the entire Isaiah 64 to see the context, as well as other part of the Bible.   In fact Isaiah 64:5 says: Thou [God] meetest him that joyfully works righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways.  God blesses the righteous (Psalms 5:12), He loves righteous deeds (Psalms 11:7) and does reward us for being righteous (Psalms 18:20, Proverbs 11:18).  Romans 3:10 say no one is righteous but at the same time Scripture mentions the existence of righteous men and women (Matthew 13:17, 23:29, Luke 1:6, Hebrews 11:4, 1 Peter 3:12).  In Old Testament Noah, Daniel and Job were righteous (Ezekiel 14:14).   No one can become righteous by their own will and power.  We do need God’s grace that first moves us and enable us to do so.  No one can be righteous continually either; we do fail from time to time.  But God helps us with His Grace (and with our cooperation using our freedom) to stand up again and that’s what we call as perseverance.  Thus Catholics believe that our righteousness does come from God through Christ – it includes not only faith in Christ but also other deeds that require our cooperation.     

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure

Philippians 2:12-13

But by the grace of God I am what I am. and his grace toward me was not in vain.  On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me

1 Corinthians 15:10

Catholics do not use courtroom analogy to model Justification.  The most suitable analogy to describe Catholic’s understanding of Justification is Family analogy.  God is our Father and we are His (adopted) children.  Adoption as sons of God is something biblical that Protestants also believe (cf. Romans 8:15, 23, Galatians 4:5, Ephesians 1:5).  However their forensic Justification model cannot fit in the Family analogy.  We are not only declared sons but also made and become sons (John 1:12, 1 John 3:1 & 5:1), become heir with Christ (Romans 8:17) and partake His divinity (2 Peter 1:4).  In Family analogy we receive our adoption through our faith in Christ (Galatians 3:26), not because of any righteous (or unrighteous) things we did – faith in Christ is a free gift from God.  Once belong to the family of God, we have our duties and must obey household rules.  No good human father will tell his children that because they are his, they can do whatever they like and there are no rule to obey and no duty in the house.  At the same time a father won’t tell his friends that his children must work in his house in order not to be thrown out of the house.  Any human father wants his children to grow up and to become good persons, not to become criminals, drug addicts, prostitutes etc. and he is more than willing to help his children to achieve that goal.  For example he is willing to spend money for their education (free gift from him, not student loan).  He spent time with his children to teach them not to associate with wrong companies; he makes sure they are in good health etc.  Obviously his children must cooperate with him and do their part.  Just because the father pays the tuition fee they will not get the degree or skills unless they study.  If they do not listen to their father’s advice they may end up becoming member of gangs or drug addicts.  Any human father will discipline his children for their own good when they do something wrong and reward them for being good (be it ice cream treat, a new bike etc.).  The reward is obviously a gift from the father, not their wages for being good.  Similarly our heavenly Father wants us, his children, to learn, to grow, to do our duty and to become mature, that is, to become like Him (Philippians 2:14).  In the process He will also sometime discipline us for our own good (Hebrews 12:6) and will reward us, a gift from Him, when we well behave.   This family analogy fits well with Catholic understanding of Justification – it is a process through which we are made righteous.