Brothers and sisters in Christ, and especially my Protestant brothers and sisters, I want to begin with a simple question.
If every outward action connected with salvation is dismissed as a “work,” then what do we do with the Gospel of John?
When we read John carefully, we find that Jesus repeatedly presents divine grace together with things human beings are commanded to believe, receive, keep, eat, drink, and do.
And this should not surprise us.
Christ Himself makes love and obedience central to the Christian life.
When Jesus is asked about the greatest commandment, He answers:
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
That is Matthew, chapter 22, verses 37 through 39.
And in the Gospel of John, Jesus tells us:
“If you love me, keep my commandments.”
John, chapter 14, verse 15.
And again:
“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth me.”
John, chapter 14, verse 21.
Notice what Jesus does not say.
He does not say, “If you love Me, merely claim to believe in Me.”
He says, “Keep my commandments.”
Love has an obedient response.
Faith has an obedient response.
Grace produces an obedient response.
That does not mean that we purchase salvation from God by our own power.
It means that the grace of God is alive within us and moves us to respond to Christ.
Amen, Amen
There is something especially important about the Gospel of John.
John repeatedly records Jesus using the solemn expression:
“Amen, amen, I say to you.”
This expression appears 25 times in the Gospel of John.
We find it throughout the Gospel: in chapters 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, and 21.
This is not casual speech.
When Jesus says, “Amen, amen,” He is solemnly declaring a truth.
And many of these declarations involve a real human response.
Consider John, chapter 5.
Jesus says:
“Amen, amen I say unto you, that he who heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath life everlasting.”
John, chapter 5, verse 24.
Notice the actions.
Hear.
And believe.
Nobody objects by saying, “Hearing is something you do, so it must be a work.”
Nobody says, “Believing is an act of the human intellect and will, therefore it cannot have anything to do with salvation.”
No.
Jesus Himself connects hearing and believing with eternal life.
So merely pointing out that something involves human action does not prove that it is opposed to grace.
And that brings us directly to John, chapter 6.
The Eucharist
Jesus first speaks clearly about faith.
He says:
“I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall not hunger: and he that believeth in me shall never thirst.”
John, chapter 6, verse 35.
And again:
“Every one that seeth the Son, and believeth in him, may have life everlasting.”
John, chapter 6, verse 40.
And again:
“Amen, amen I say unto you: He that believeth in me, hath everlasting life.”
John, chapter 6, verse 47.
So Jesus has already spoken clearly and repeatedly about believing.
Then His language becomes even more specific.
He says:
“Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.”
John, chapter 6, verse 54 in the Douay-Rheims.
And then:
“He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day.”
John, chapter 6, verse 55.
Then Jesus explains why.
“For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed.”
John, chapter 6, verse 56.
And:
“He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him.”
John, chapter 6, verse 57.
So here is the question.
Why is “hear and believe” in John, chapter 5, accepted as a real response to Christ, while “eat my flesh and drink my blood” in John, chapter 6, is immediately turned into nothing more than a metaphor?
Especially when Jesus had already spoken repeatedly about believing before introducing the language of eating His flesh and drinking His blood.
And notice what happens next.
His disciples say:
“This saying is hard, and who can hear it?”
John, chapter 6, verse 61.
Then Scripture tells us:
“After this many of his disciples went back; and walked no more with him.”
John, chapter 6, verse 67.
Jesus does not chase after them and say:
“Wait. You misunderstood Me. I only meant believe in Me.”
Instead, He turns to the Twelve and asks:
“Will you also go away?”
John, chapter 6, verse 68.
Peter responds:
“Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.”
John, chapter 6, verse 69.
That is faith.
Faith does not always say, “I completely understand, therefore I will believe.”
Sometimes faith says:
“Lord, I believe You because You are the One who has the words of eternal life.”
And Saint Paul confirms the seriousness of the Eucharist.
He writes:
“Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord.”
First Corinthians, chapter 11, verse 27.
Think carefully about that.
If the Eucharist were merely ordinary bread serving as a symbol of an absent Christ, why would receiving it unworthily make someone guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord?
Paul continues:
“But let a man prove himself: and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice.”
First Corinthians, chapter 11, verse 28.
Again, there is an action.
Eat.
Drink.
Receive.
But none of this means that we earn Christ.
The Eucharist is Christ’s gift.
Receiving a gift is not the same thing as purchasing it.
Baptism
Now consider Baptism.
Jesus tells Nicodemus:
“Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
John, chapter 3, verse 5.
Notice the union.
Water.
And the Holy Ghost.
There is an outward sign and an inward divine action.
The water does not compete with the Holy Ghost.
The visible does not compete with the invisible.
The material does not compete with grace.
God can use something visible as an instrument through which He gives invisible grace.
That is the sacramental principle.
The question should not be, “Does this involve something physical?”
The question should be, “Did Christ establish it?”
If Christ chooses to use water, then water does not compete with Christ.
If Christ chooses bread and wine, they do not compete with Christ.
If Christ chooses human ministers, they do not compete with Christ.
The power remains His.
Confession and the Forgiveness of Sins
After the Resurrection, Jesus appears to His apostles and says:
“As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.”
John, chapter 20, verse 21.
Then Scripture tells us:
“When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost.”
John, chapter 20, verse 22.
And then:
“Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.”
John, chapter 20, verse 23.
Jesus gives His apostles a real ministry.
They are given authority to forgive or retain sins.
And notice something important.
Christ does not lose His authority by giving authority to His apostles.
Their authority comes from Him.
When an ambassador speaks with the authority of a king, that does not diminish the king.
The ambassador possesses authority precisely because the king sent him.
And Jesus says:
“As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.”
Apostolic Ministry and Succession
But was this authority supposed to disappear when the apostles died?
Look at what Saint Paul tells Timothy.
“And the things which thou hast heard of me by many witnesses, the same commend to faithful men, who shall be fit to teach others also.”
Second Timothy, chapter 2, verse 2.
Look at the pattern.
Paul.
To Timothy.
To faithful men.
To others also.
That is not a picture of Christianity ending with the first generation.
It is apostolic teaching being handed on.
And Paul does not simply say, “Give them a book.”
He says:
“The things which thou hast heard of me.”
Something was heard.
Something was received.
And something was transmitted.
That leads us directly to Sacred Tradition.
Scripture and Apostolic Tradition
Saint Paul commands Christians:
“Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle.”
Second Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 15.
Notice the two forms.
By word.
That is oral apostolic teaching.
And by epistle.
That is written apostolic teaching.
Paul commands Christians to hold fast to both.
Scripture does not say, “Hold only to what is written.”
It says:
“Hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle.”
Then Second Timothy, chapter 2, verse 2, shows that this apostolic teaching is to be transmitted to succeeding generations.
So we have apostolic teaching that is written and oral, preserved and transmitted within the Church.
Marriage and the Incarnational Principle
We also see Christ’s attitude toward marriage in the Gospel of John.
Where does Jesus perform His first public sign?
At a wedding.
Scripture tells us:
“There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee: and the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited, and his disciples, to the marriage.”
John, chapter 2, verses 1 and 2.
And there we read:
“This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee; and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him.”
John, chapter 2, verse 11.
Christ enters human life.
He enters marriage.
He enters physical creation.
He uses water.
He uses wine.
The Incarnation itself should teach us not to fear the material world.
The Word did not merely communicate salvation as an invisible idea.
John tells us:
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.”
John, chapter 1, verse 14.
Christianity is profoundly incarnational.
God can use the material to communicate the spiritual.
Christ took flesh.
Christ touched the sick.
Christ used water.
Christ used bread and wine.
Christ breathed upon His apostles.
Christianity is not a religion in which matter must be removed before grace can operate.
But What About Works?
At this point someone may say:
“But salvation is by faith, not works.”
Catholics agree that we cannot put God into our debt.
We cannot save ourselves apart from grace.
Jesus says:
“Without me you can do nothing.”
John, chapter 15, verse 5.
That is about as far from self-salvation as you can get.
But Scripture does not therefore teach that saving faith is dead, inactive, or disobedient.
Saint James says:
“For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also faith without works is dead.”
James, chapter 2, verse 26.
Not weak.
Not merely immature.
Dead.
And Jesus says:
“If you love me, keep my commandments.”
John, chapter 14, verse 15.
So the biblical contrast is not simply faith versus action.
Because believing itself is something a person does.
Repenting is something a person does.
Confessing Christ is something a person does.
Praying is something a person does.
Loving your neighbor is something a person does.
Forgiving another person is something a person does.
Keeping Christ’s commandments is something a person does.
Receiving Baptism involves an action.
Receiving the Eucharist involves an action.
None of these actions forces God to owe us salvation.
They are responses made possible by His grace.
Grace Comes First
This is critical.
The Catholic position is not:
“I perform enough works, and therefore God owes me heaven.”
No.
Christ says:
“You have not chosen me: but I have chosen you.”
John, chapter 15, verse 16.
Grace comes first.
Christ calls us.
Christ gives grace.
Christ gives faith.
Christ establishes the covenant.
Christ establishes the sacraments.
Christ gives the Holy Ghost.
Christ gives His Body and Blood.
Christ gives His apostles authority.
And then Christ commands us to respond.
Our response does not replace grace.
Our response is made possible by grace.
The Sacramental Principle
So what is a sacrament?
It is not a human work trying to compete with Jesus.
It is Christ using an outward sign to communicate the grace that comes from Him.
God can command an action.
God can empower that action by grace.
And God can promise to give something through that action.
John gives us this pattern repeatedly.
John, chapter 3, verse 5
Be born of water and the Holy Ghost.
John, chapter 5, verse 24
Hear and believe.
John, chapter 6
Eat His flesh and drink His blood.
John, chapter 14, verse 15
Keep His commandments.
John, chapter 20
Receive the Holy Ghost and exercise the ministry of forgiveness entrusted by Christ.
These things involve real human responses.
Yet Christ remains the source of grace in every case.
Questions for My Protestant Brothers and Sisters
So I want to leave you with several questions.
If every action is automatically a “work” that contradicts grace, then why does Jesus repeatedly command actions connected with eternal life?
Why can believing be necessary without becoming “works salvation,” but Baptism cannot?
Why can repentance be necessary without becoming “works salvation,” but receiving the Eucharist cannot?
Why is “hear and believe” in John, chapter 5, accepted straightforwardly, while “eat my flesh and drink my blood” in John, chapter 6, must suddenly become merely figurative?
Why does Saint Paul say that unworthy reception makes someone “guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord” in First Corinthians, chapter 11, verse 27?
Why does Jesus give the apostles authority to forgive and retain sins in John, chapter 20?
Why does Paul command Christians to hold fast to traditions received both by word and by epistle in Second Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 15?
Why does Paul tell Timothy to transmit what he received to faithful men who will teach others also, in Second Timothy, chapter 2, verse 2?
And why does Jesus Himself say:
“If you love me, keep my commandments.”
The Catholic claim is not that human works replace Christ.
The Catholic claim is that Christ actually means what He says.
When He commands us to believe, we believe.
When He commands us to love, we love.
When He commands us to obey, we obey.
When He commands Baptism, we receive Baptism.
When He tells us to eat His flesh and drink His blood, we receive the Eucharist.
When He gives His apostles authority, we recognize that authority.
When the apostles command us to hold fast to apostolic Tradition, we hold fast.
None of this takes glory away from Jesus Christ.
It gives glory to Him because we are trusting His words, His commands, His promises, His grace, and His Church.
The choice is not grace or obedience.
The New Testament gives us obedience empowered by grace.
The choice is not faith or works.
Scripture warns us against a faith that has no life.
“Faith without works is dead.”
James, chapter 2, verse 26.
And above all, remember the words of Christ:
“If you love me, keep my commandments.”
John, chapter 14, verse 15.
That is not salvation apart from grace.
That is what a life transformed by grace looks like.
Every Human Action Is Ordered Toward a Goal
There is one final point worth considering.
In ordinary life, nearly every deliberate human action is a kind of work ordered toward a goal.
We act because we are seeking some end.
A student studies to learn.
A farmer plants to harvest.
A doctor treats in order to heal.
A worker labors to provide for his family.
A person eats to nourish the body.
A traveler walks to reach a destination.
A husband and wife sacrifice for one another to preserve and deepen their marriage.
A parent gets up in the middle of the night to care for a child.
None of these actions becomes meaningless merely because it is something we do.
Human action is naturally directed toward an end.
Saint Thomas Aquinas explains that properly human acts are performed for an end. We act because we seek some perceived good.
He explains this in the Summa Theologiae, First Part of the Second Part, question 1, articles 1 and 2.
So the real question cannot simply be:
“Is this a work?”
Almost every intentional response we make is an act of some kind.
The better questions are:
Who commanded it?
By whose power is it done?
Toward what end is it ordered?
Is it an attempt to earn something from God apart from grace?
Or is it an obedient response made possible by grace?
Scripture itself tells us that even ordinary human actions can be directed toward God.
Saint Paul says:
“Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do; do all to the glory of God.”
First Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 31.
Notice that Paul does not say:
“Do nothing, because doing something would be a work.”
He says:
“Whatsoever else you do; do all to the glory of God.”
And again:
“All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Colossians, chapter 3, verse 17.
Christianity is not a religion of inactivity.
It is a religion in which our actions are transformed by grace and ordered toward God.
That is why the objection, “But Baptism is something you do,” does not settle the question.
Neither does the objection, “Receiving the Eucharist is something you do.”
Of course they involve human action.
So does believing.
So does repenting.
So does confessing Christ.
So does loving your neighbor.
So does forgiving someone.
So does praying.
So does obeying a commandment.
The fact that something involves an action does not make it an attempt to earn salvation apart from grace.
Consider a Simple Example
Imagine a doctor gives a sick man medicine and says:
“Take this.”
The sick man receives the medicine and takes it.
Did he therefore heal himself simply because swallowing the medicine involved an action?
Of course not.
The act of receiving the remedy does not make him the source of the remedy.
Or imagine a drowning man is thrown a rope.
He reaches out and grabs it.
Did grabbing the rope mean that he became his own rescuer?
No.
His response did not create the rescue.
He received the rescue that was being offered to him.
In the same way, receiving what Christ commands does not mean that we become our own saviors.
Christ is the Savior.
Grace is His gift.
The sacraments are His gifts.
Our obedience is a response to His gift.
This is why Scripture can say both:
“Without me you can do nothing.”
John, chapter 15, verse 5.
And:
“If you love me, keep my commandments.”
John, chapter 14, verse 15.
There is no contradiction.
We can do nothing supernatural without Christ.
But with His grace, Christ calls us to act.
Saint Paul expresses this beautifully.
He says:
“With fear and trembling work out your salvation.”
Philippians, chapter 2, verse 12.
And then he immediately explains why:
“For it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to accomplish, according to his good will.”
Philippians, chapter 2, verse 13.
That is the Catholic understanding in two verses.
We work because God is working in us.
Our action does not replace His grace.
Our action is made possible by His grace.
So when Christ says, “Believe,” we believe.
When Christ says, “Repent,” we repent.
When Christ says, “Be born of water and the Holy Ghost,” we receive Baptism.
When Christ says, “Eat my flesh and drink my blood,” we receive the Eucharist.
When Christ says, “Keep my commandments,” we obey.
When Christ says, “Love one another,” we love.
None of these things means that we have replaced Christ.
It means that we have taken Christ seriously.
So perhaps the final question should not be:
“Is this a work?”
The final question should be:
“Is this something Christ has commanded me to do, and am I willing to obey Him by the grace He gives me?”
Because faith that refuses obedience is not the biblical picture of living faith.
Saint James tells us:
“Faith without works is dead.”
And Christ Himself tells us:
“If you love me, keep my commandments.”
The Christian life is not grace instead of obedience.
It is grace producing obedience.
It is not Christ or action.
It is Christ acting in us and enabling us to act.
It is not faith or works.
It is a living faith bearing fruit through grace.
The issue is not whether we do anything.
The issue is whether what we do comes from ourselves alone, or from the grace of Christ working within us.
And Scripture gives us the answer:
“For it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to accomplish.”
Philippians, chapter 2, verse 13.
That is why receiving the sacraments does not compete with grace.
It is grace calling us to respond to grace.
And when the Lord solemnly says:
“Amen, amen, I say unto you,”
the response of faith should not be:
“Surely He cannot mean that because it requires me to do something.”
The response of faith should be the response of Saint Peter:
“Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.”
John, chapter 6, verse 69.
Amen.