# Faith Without Works Is Dead - Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon

An episode of [Daily Sermons With Bishop Robert Barron](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6783446284), 28 Jul 2026, 14 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73038767/faith_without_works_is_dead_bishop_barron_s_sunday_sermon.mp3



## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Peace be with you, friends. I guess some fools rush
[0:04] Speaker 1: in where angels fear to tread. I'm going to go
[0:06] Speaker 1: once more into this great issue that has been a
[0:09] Speaker 1: dividing Western Christianity since the Reformation, the issue of faith
[0:13] Speaker 1: and works. I do it not just because I have
[0:15] Speaker 1: a you know, I'm a glutton for punishment, but because
[0:17] Speaker 1: it's in our second reading from the Letter of James,
[0:21] Speaker 1: which is a key text for Catholics on this issue.
[0:25] Speaker 2: Let me just read you a couple of lines from
[0:26] Speaker 2: the Letter of James.
[0:28] Speaker 1: What good is it, my brothers and sisters, If someone
[0:31] Speaker 1: says he has faith but does not have works, can
[0:35] Speaker 1: that faith save him? So? Also, faith of itself, if
[0:40] Speaker 1: it does not have works, is dead. So pretty strong stuff, huh.
[0:47] Speaker 1: That faith and work seem both necessary for salvation. Now
[0:52] Speaker 1: you know where this issue emerged, and emerged out of
[0:55] Speaker 1: the very powerful experience of a young Martin Luther, this
[1:00] Speaker 1: intense Augustinian monk. So at the beginning now of the
[1:02] Speaker 1: sixteenth century, Luther brilliant, a teacher of theology, expert in scripture,
[1:08] Speaker 1: but wrestling with this problem of do I know I'm saved?
[1:13] Speaker 1: Luther was a monk. He was a friar, and so
[1:15] Speaker 1: he had all kinds of works at his disposal, if
[1:18] Speaker 1: you want. He had the sacraments and sacramentos, and disciplines
[1:21] Speaker 1: and ascetic practices and all these things. And he said, famously,
[1:25] Speaker 1: if a monk were ever saved by monkishness, I was
[1:28] Speaker 1: that monk. So he tried in all these ways to
[1:31] Speaker 1: convince himself that he was saved, but it didn't work.
[1:35] Speaker 1: He still had this inner turmoil. And then it's somewhere
[1:39] Speaker 1: probably around the year fifteen sixteen or fifteen fifteen, Luther
[1:44] Speaker 1: has what was called in the technical literature his tum
[1:47] Speaker 1: Elebnies German for his his tower experience. So in the
[1:52] Speaker 1: tower of the monastery Luther comes as great insight and
[1:56] Speaker 1: he gets the text from the beginning of Romans, the
[1:59] Speaker 1: just shall live by faith.
[2:03] Speaker 2: Hmm.
[2:04] Speaker 1: It struck him as the solution to his problem. It's
[2:07] Speaker 1: not by all these works, all these monkish exercises, that
[2:10] Speaker 1: he saved, but by the great act of faith by
[2:13] Speaker 1: which he laid claim to the grace of Christ, the
[2:15] Speaker 1: blood of Christ now covering him. It's in that great
[2:19] Speaker 1: act of faith that he found salvation. As I say,
[2:24] Speaker 1: for Luther, this was like a liberation. And you know,
[2:27] Speaker 1: even though there's all kinds of different expressions of the
[2:29] Speaker 1: Protestant religion, I think at least the vast majority would
[2:33] Speaker 1: have this great principle in common justification by grace alone
[2:40] Speaker 1: sees through faith alone, works not necessary for salvation. Now,
[2:46] Speaker 1: just to be fair and to be clear, Luther himself
[2:49] Speaker 1: and everyone that's followed him has always been insistent that
[2:53] Speaker 1: good works follow from justification. So once you've accepted the
[2:57] Speaker 1: Lord in faith and you know you're saved, well, now,
[3:01] Speaker 1: in Luther's language, you want to bring the outer person
[3:04] Speaker 1: in line with the inner person. So of course you
[3:07] Speaker 1: want this faith of yours to express itself in works. However,
[3:12] Speaker 1: the works are not ingredient in salvation. Okay, that's a
[3:18] Speaker 1: quick summary of the basic Protestant position if you want. Now,
[3:23] Speaker 1: Martin Luther himself knew the text I just read. Remember
[3:26] Speaker 1: he was he was a scripture man, you know, Sola
[3:29] Speaker 1: scriptur by the Bible alone. Bible was the clear, infallible
[3:33] Speaker 1: source of authority. So Luther knew this text was a problem,
[3:37] Speaker 1: which is why he even suggested perhaps it doesn't belong
[3:41] Speaker 1: in the canon of scripture. Now, how did Catholics deal
[3:45] Speaker 1: with this problem. Can I urge, especially my Catholic listeners,
[3:49] Speaker 1: go online. It's a great thing about the internet. Now
[3:51] Speaker 1: we can find anything we want. Go online and look
[3:54] Speaker 1: up the decreadles of the Council of Trent. So the
[3:58] Speaker 1: Council of Trent that happened now after the Reformation was
[4:02] Speaker 1: the Catholic Church's great response to Luther and to Calvin.
[4:07] Speaker 1: Now there were very powerful people at Trent, I mean
[4:10] Speaker 1: of ecclesiastics and theologians who didn't dismiss the Protestant reformers
[4:15] Speaker 1: by no means. They read them with great care, and
[4:18] Speaker 1: they nodded even vigorously in their direction. So if you
[4:23] Speaker 1: read the decretals of Trent, you'll see we're not justified
[4:26] Speaker 1: by our works. It is really only through grace, the
[4:31] Speaker 1: grace of Christ, that we will come to salvation. What's
[4:34] Speaker 1: the difference, then, the Catholic view is faith, indeed is
[4:40] Speaker 1: in this is the language of Trent, is the initzsio
[4:43] Speaker 1: etrotics omnus ustificacis. It's the origin and root of all justification.
[4:52] Speaker 1: But then through works, the works of love, through the sacraments,
[4:58] Speaker 1: through the life of the Church, there is an increase
[5:02] Speaker 1: in justification It's not a one and done deal. The
[5:08] Speaker 1: root and origin of all justification is indeed faith. When
[5:12] Speaker 1: I opened my life to the power of Christ. But
[5:15] Speaker 1: now Christ working in me, in my cooperation with His grace,
[5:22] Speaker 1: I grow in justification. Okay, So, as I say, this
[5:27] Speaker 1: debatesment going on for now over five hundred years, and
[5:30] Speaker 1: I'm not going to settle it. I'm quite sure in
[5:32] Speaker 1: this sermon, but I want to draw attention to something. Notice, please,
[5:37] Speaker 1: how this whole discussion is drawn from the world of
[5:42] Speaker 1: the courtroom. The prime metaphor here is a forensic metaphor,
[5:48] Speaker 1: the declaration of righteousness. Think of someone now in a
[5:51] Speaker 1: courtroom there before a judge. The judge declares them guilty
[5:56] Speaker 1: or innocent. So Luther's insight was, even though I am guilty,
[6:02] Speaker 1: I'm covered in my own sins through the grace of Christ,
[6:05] Speaker 1: I've been declared nevertheless righteous. Now, in a juridical framework,
[6:12] Speaker 1: it is kind of a all or nothing, isn't it.
[6:15] Speaker 1: You're not a little bit innocent a little bit guilty.
[6:17] Speaker 1: You're either innocent or you're guilty. And so Luther saw
[6:20] Speaker 1: that as a key moment when, through the grace of Christ,
[6:23] Speaker 1: I'm declared righteous. Okay, But can I suggest something? Now,
[6:29] Speaker 1: that's one set of metaphors drawn from that forensic world
[6:33] Speaker 1: of the courtroom. I think this language of the letter
[6:37] Speaker 1: of James is drawn from a different context. Listen again,
[6:43] Speaker 1: if someone says he has faith but does not have works,
[6:46] Speaker 1: what good is that? Can that faith save him?
[6:53] Speaker 2: Can that faith save him?
[6:55] Speaker 1: So one metaphor is this legal one, this forensic one
[6:58] Speaker 1: of the declared righteous business. But now we have a
[7:02] Speaker 1: different metaphorical context. What doesn't mean to be saved? The
[7:08] Speaker 1: word Think about our word English, our English word save
[7:12] Speaker 1: from solus in Latin. That's why Jesus is called the
[7:18] Speaker 1: salva tour. He's the one who brings solus what solus
[7:24] Speaker 1: health healing. I find it very interesting that our word
[7:31] Speaker 1: sv salve is maybe the closest relative of that. In
[7:35] Speaker 1: ancient Roman times, if you said salve a to someone,
[7:38] Speaker 1: that's the way of saying hello, how are you salve
[7:41] Speaker 1: meant good health to you? How are we saved? How
[7:48] Speaker 1: are we cured? How are we healed? I think what
[7:53] Speaker 1: you see in James and the Catholic Church has expressed
[7:55] Speaker 1: in its own teaching is indeed that process has to
[7:59] Speaker 1: begin with faith, where we accept the grace of Christ
[8:04] Speaker 1: into our lives. Yes, indeed, but now through our cooperation
[8:11] Speaker 1: with that grace, we come increasingly to salvation to health.
[8:19] Speaker 1: Go back to that first metaphor. Yes, justification being set
[8:23] Speaker 1: right begins with faith, but then there's an increase in justification.
[8:30] Speaker 1: Let me give you another comparison. A lot of us
[8:33] Speaker 1: today would be familiar with this now from the various
[8:35] Speaker 1: twelve step programs. I suppose somebody is caught in an addiction,
[8:41] Speaker 1: addiction to alcohol or drugs or pornography or whatever it is.
[8:47] Speaker 1: What's a fundamental move If you want to find healing,
[8:53] Speaker 1: you have to admit that you can't solve this problem
[8:57] Speaker 1: on your own. Talk to anyone who's been in the
[9:00] Speaker 1: grip of an addiction. If you think, oh no, I'll
[9:03] Speaker 1: solve it myself, don't worry. I can do this. I
[9:05] Speaker 1: can kind of pull myself up by the bootstraps and
[9:08] Speaker 1: I can solve this problem. Uh, what's step one in
[9:13] Speaker 1: twelve step processes? But to turn your life over to
[9:18] Speaker 1: a higher power, indispensable, indispensable in the twelve step programs,
[9:24] Speaker 1: you can't save yourself. You have to surrender to a
[9:29] Speaker 1: higher power, which can now work in you and through you. Okay,
[9:36] Speaker 1: but now stay with the twelve step process. Does it
[9:40] Speaker 1: end with that? It is indeed the indispensable root and
[9:47] Speaker 1: origin of the process of healing. But what does someone
[9:51] Speaker 1: now who's wrestling with an alcohol addiction, for example, have
[9:54] Speaker 1: to do? All? Right, you surrender to the higher power.
[9:59] Speaker 1: Now you have to see your sponsor on a regular basis.
[10:05] Speaker 1: Now you have to go to AA meetings. You got
[10:10] Speaker 1: to be faithful to it. And above all, you have
[10:14] Speaker 1: to stop drinking. So someone were to say, you know what,
[10:19] Speaker 1: I'm I'm a alcohol addict and I've turned my life
[10:24] Speaker 1: over to a higher power. And let's say you really have.
[10:27] Speaker 1: There was a key moment when you said, I can't
[10:29] Speaker 1: do this, Lord, you come and help me.
[10:33] Speaker 2: Okay, good, good?
[10:35] Speaker 1: But after that, you know what, I never call my sponsor,
[10:38] Speaker 1: I never go to meetings, and you know what.
[10:41] Speaker 2: I still drink from time to time.
[10:44] Speaker 1: Well what's the reaction there, I says, Well, you're not
[10:47] Speaker 1: going to be cured, you're not going to be healed,
[10:52] Speaker 1: you're not going to be saved. Listen, if someone says
[10:55] Speaker 1: he has faith but does not have works, can that
[10:59] Speaker 1: faith save him?
[11:01] Speaker 2: See? According to the metaphor, I've been developing.
[11:03] Speaker 1: The answer is clearly no, it won't heal him. There's
[11:08] Speaker 1: an old addage to the Catholic tradition that God created
[11:11] Speaker 1: us without our cooperation. That's true, because we're created from nothing.
[11:15] Speaker 1: But He won't recreate us without our cooperation. He won't
[11:20] Speaker 1: save us without our cooperation. God's not in competition with us.
[11:25] Speaker 1: He wants us now, through our works of love, to
[11:31] Speaker 1: grow in salvation, in spiritual healing. Okay, one more step
[11:37] Speaker 1: in a couple of minutes. I haven't so Christ wants
[11:40] Speaker 1: to save us, to heal us from the from the
[11:43] Speaker 1: effects of sin. Yes, indeed, pau Francis said, the church
[11:47] Speaker 1: is like a field hospital. Say metaphor right, we're deeply wounded.
[11:51] Speaker 1: People come to be saved. But what's our version of
[11:56] Speaker 1: seeing your sponsor and not drinking and going to meetings? Well,
[11:58] Speaker 1: it's like the sacraments and Mass and the Eucharist and
[12:02] Speaker 1: the works of love. Those are all the things that
[12:04] Speaker 1: we do now to work that grace more deeply into
[12:09] Speaker 1: our lives. But here's the next step, or the last step.
[12:12] Speaker 1: I want to emphasize. Christ doesn't simply want to heal
[12:16] Speaker 1: us of our sin. He wants to deify us. The
[12:22] Speaker 1: great text Heroism fet Peter, that we become partakers of
[12:27] Speaker 1: the divine nature. He's not satisfied that we're just healed
[12:31] Speaker 1: of our sin. I mean, that's a necessary prerequisite.
[12:35] Speaker 2: But what he.
[12:35] Speaker 1: Wants above all is that we become sharers in his
[12:38] Speaker 1: own nature. He doesn't want to leave us in our
[12:42] Speaker 1: sin as though we're simply declared righteous but remain sinners.
[12:46] Speaker 2: No, No, he wants really to save.
[12:48] Speaker 1: Us and then to elevate us. Read the ancient Greek
[12:53] Speaker 1: father so long before Martin Luther, they spoke of theosis deification.
[13:01] Speaker 1: Look at the Western fathers, Augustine Thomas, Aquinas both speak
[13:04] Speaker 1: of deificazio deification. How's that happen? Yes, through grace. Of course,
[13:11] Speaker 1: you can't do it on your own. You have to
[13:13] Speaker 1: open yourself to Christ in faith. But then through our
[13:18] Speaker 1: cooperation with that grace, through the works of love, through
[13:23] Speaker 1: the sacraments, we are saved, we're cured. But then in
[13:29] Speaker 1: the great plan of God, we are deified. So here's James.
[13:35] Speaker 1: So also, faith of itself, if it does not have works,
[13:39] Speaker 1: is dead.
[13:41] Speaker 2: Right.
[13:41] Speaker 1: We begin with faith. It's the beginning and route of
[13:44] Speaker 1: all justification. But then, through our cooperation, justification increases, Salvation,
[13:51] Speaker 1: healing comes, and indeed deification comes, and God bless you

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