I Will Harden Pharaoh's Heart

 Grace & Free Will

“And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them.

But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army,

and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.”

Exodus 14, 4

Double predestination is a theological doctrine held by traditional “hyper” Calvinists, which basically means God has willed to create some people to be saved and others to be lost. In other words, human beings cannot freely choose whether they want to be reconciled to God and be saved or to reject God and risk losing their salvation. Their eternal destiny is a predetermined fate that is beyond their control: spiritual as opposed to biological determinism. This particular Protestant teaching rejects the idea that our salvation partly depends on human desire and effort. It’s grounded on the conviction that no one deserves God’s mercy because of their sins and cannot merit their salvation by any natural means. This part is true and acknowledged by Catholics, but Reformed Protestants of the classical tradition even deny the idea of supernatural merit through the efficacy of actual and cooperative grace.

These super-extreme Calvinists believe that, because of our common sinful nature and original fall from grace, God can act with partiality. God can choose the people whom He wills to be merciful to and those whose hearts He will deliberately harden so that they cannot be saved. Hence, human free will and supernatural merit within the system of cooperative grace hold no place in this theological doctrine. Human beings are either formed of clay for either a special purpose (the glory of God) or common use (for the glory of God). Salvation, however, is no longer a merited gift or reward but an undeserved favor (irresistible grace) only so that God can demonstrate His omnipotence and mercy and consequently flaunt His divine will on a whim. There is justice insofar as Christ’s alien righteousness is imputed to the believer only because of their faith in His redeeming merits.

To support their belief system, hyper-Calvinists usually cite Exodus 14 and Romans 9, which we will examine later since Paul uses Pharaoh as an example for all the wicked. For now, let’s look at Exodus and see whether it’s true that God has intentionally created some people for eternal destruction, who, because of their sinfulness, can’t justly blame God for His choice since God could have withheld His mercy from everyone if He so chose – all having fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). Is the clay in no position to argue with the potter? The answer is Yes but in a Catholic sense. Can God justly show or withhold His mercy from whoever He chooses in His sovereignty? Again, the answer is Yes, but in a Catholic sense.

But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief,
he hardened his heart and did not heed them,
as the Lord had said.
Exodus 8:15

But Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also;
neither would he let the people go.
Exodus 8:32

And when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased,
he sinned yet more; and he hardened his heart, he and his servants.
Exodus 9:34

Our non-Catholic friends fail to see what is actually meant by the idea of God hardening one’s heart. They single out and isolate Exodus 14 to support their preconceived notion formed from their interpretation of other Scriptural passages in the New Testament. Chapter 14, Verse 4 doesn’t mean that God somehow predetermined or molded Pharaoh from wanting to release the Israelites from slavery. Rather, it means that God permitted Pharaoh to remain unyielding to His command freely. Pharaoh, unfortunately, was obstinate in heart. He refused to be persuaded even after Egypt had been hit by several devastating plagues. In fact, because of his pride, he grew even more intransigent after each plague was sent by God. Pharaoh defied God and became even more defiant. God had hardened his heart, but only because of the plagues, which resulted in its increased hardening.

Thus, Pharaoh grew even more defiant and unheeding with each plague because of his pride. They boosted his ego, which influenced his decision to remain intransigent. In this way, God hardened his heart by being physically responsible for sending the plagues. On the other hand, Pharaoh was morally responsible for them by his persistent disobedience to the divine command: “Let my people go!” God wouldn’t have commanded Pharaoh if he had no free will and choice in the matter. I’m afraid God doesn’t mold us so that we should act against His will for the sake of His pleasure of being merciful to a selected few other than ourselves and demonstrating how merciful He can be when He wants to be by acting arbitrarily apart from our desires rendering them moot.

On the contrary, God reveals His true intentions and what he truly desires for everyone who is made of the same original clay through the prophet: ‘Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? says the Lord GOD: and not that he should turn from his ways, and live?’ (Ezek 18:23; cf. 1 Tim 2:3-4; 1 Jn 2:1-3; 2 Pet 3:9). The truth is God permitted Pharaoh to become more obstinate of his own accord and then purposefully used his pride and ego to free the Israelites from slavery in such an awesome way, as to display His glory and might to the Egyptians.

14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says
to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on
whom I have compassion.” 16 So it depends not upon man’s will or exertion, but upon
God’s mercy. 17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “I have raised you up for the very
purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the
earth.” 18 So then he has mercy upon whomever he wills, and he hardens the heart of
whomever he wills. 19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can
resist his will?” 20 But who are you, a man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded
say to its molder, “Why have you made me thus?” 21 Has the potter no right over the
clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for beauty and another for menial use? 22
What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured
with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction, 23 in order to make
known the riches of his glory for the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand
for glory,
Romans 9

The basic principle embedded in Romans 9 is this: Those who will not see and hear shall not see and hear. Consequently, God has mercy upon whom he wills. He hardens whom he wills (cf. Jn. 9:41). In Vv. 14-16, Paul is simply affirming that there is no injustice on God’s part in not granting what another has no natural right to (the forgiveness of their sins) since all of us who have sinned justly deserve punishment. God isn’t indebted to showing us His mercy in His justice. If, on the other hand, God shows His mercy on some people, it is because of His goodness and liberality despite their sins. If He leaves others in their sins (Pharaoh or the Pharisees) by withholding his grace because of their stubbornness of heart, they are punished for their just deserts.

God’s mercy shines upon His elect, those who are willing to receive His grace and open themselves to His word, but the divine justice is handed out to the wicked and the reprobate according to what they deserve through their moral liberty and obstinacy of heart. There is no just reason why God must show His compassion to those who refuse it. We cannot force our will on God and expect Him to be merciful to us while remaining in sin. Nor can we blame God for being sinful and punished for our sins by how we choose to act against His will. 

No command of God is impossible for us to obey because we have all received sufficient grace in our fallen condition. God’s efficacious grace assists us in being righteous once we have directed our will to His goodness. If we draw near to God, He will draw near to us and shower us with His grace, not by any natural merit of ours because of our sinful state, but through the sacrificial work of Jesus who has merited grace for us (Jas 4:8; Heb 10:2, etc.). There are at least thirty-five Bible verses about drawing near (not being drawn) by God, which presuppose we have free will and can either accept or reject God’s merciful gift of salvation.

In v. 19, Paul responds to the objection that if God rules over faith through the principle of divine election, God cannot accuse unbelievers of sin. The apostle, however, shows that God is far less arbitrary than what might appear at first glance. He suggests in v. 22 that God does endure with much patience people like Pharaoh who obstinately resist His will. He reiterates why God might, without any injustice, have mercy on some and not on others, grant particular graces and favors to His elect and not equally to everyone. All humankind is liable to damnation, composed of sinful clay, the state of original sin. No single soul has a just claim on the Divine Mercy by any natural merit outside the system of divine grace.

So, those whom God chooses to remove from this sinful lump to bestow His graces and favor are to display His justice and hatred for sin. This is the underlying meaning in v. 23. God is glorified by leading any of us to repentance by the riches of His kindness and His mercy, which we mustn’t disregard if we hope to be saved according to the divine plan (Rom 2:4). The “vessels of mercy” are those who by the grace of God acknowledge their sins and repent with a firm desire for amendment with the help of divine grace.

By leaving others as “vessels of wrath” that are lost in their sins, Paul simply means that God has endured patiently as much as He could, thereby abandoning them in their obstinate sinfulness and withholding His grace and favor from them through their own intransigence and willfulness. God knows the hearts of everyone, and so He knows who to touch and how to touch their hearts so that they come to accept His will for them. Those who are fettered by pride and selfishness are less likely to be drawn by divine persuasion. God coerces no one, so He might decide to leave some people alone and in their sins while patiently waiting for them to change their hearts. He has already granted them the sufficient grace they need. Only those who are humbly willing to align their wills with God benefit from His mercy by answering the call and cooperating with his helping grace. These are the ones who make every feeble effort to draw near to God with the help of His grace that He will draw near to them. We can do nothing without God despite our desire to be reconciled to Him, so we must ask for the graces we need and will receive just by asking (Mt 7:7).

Hence, the allegory of the Potter and the Clay is by no means intended to show that human beings are destitute of free will and liberty, and so are completely passive in God’s plan of redemption, unable to decide for themselves whether they want to be saved. It is used only to stress that we are not to question God why He confers his graces and favors on some and not on others since we are no better than each other in our sinfulness. If there is any difference among us, some of us are humbler and less proud by the grace of God and thereby most likely to acknowledge our sins and be saved.

It is owing to the divine goodness and mercy that God wills to create vessels of honor by His grace and gifts of the Holy Spirit. And it is just that others because they refused to repent and convert, should be given up as vessels of wrath undeserving of God’s mercy. Meanwhile, Paul’s point is that God sovereignly decides whatever purpose He has for His elect when bestowing His gifts of the Holy Spirit on them. God has a unique plan for each of those who choose to love Him and obey Him, just as He has a plan for those who choose to reject Him. It’s God and not any of us who takes the initiative. But our collaboration is called for if we truly want to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth as God desires everyone to be (1 Tim 2:1-4).

Early Sacred Tradition

“And pray ye without ceasing in behalf of other men; for there is hope of
the repentance, that they may attain to God. For ‘cannot he that falls arise
again, and he may attain to God.’”
St. Ignatius of Antioch, To the Ephesians, 10
( A.D. 110)

“And this is your condition, because of the blindness of your soul, and the
hardness of your heart. But, if you will, you may be healed. Entrust yourself to
the Physician [God], and He will couch the eyes of your soul and of your heart.”
St. Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, To Autolycus 7.
(inter A.D. 168-181)

“Now, in the beginning the spirit was a constant companion of the soul, but the
spirit forsook it because it was not willing to follow. Yet, retaining as it were a
spark of its power, though unable by reason of the separation to discern the
perfect, while seeking for God it fashioned to itself in its wandering many gods,
following the sophistries of the demons. But the Spirit of God is not with all,
but, taking up its abode with those who live justly, and intimately combining
with the soul, by prophecies it announced hidden things to other souls.”
St. Tatian the Syrian, To the Greeks, 13
(A.D. 175)

“That eternal fire has been prepared for him as he apostatized from God of his
own free-will, and likewise for all who unrepentant continue in the apostasy,
he now blasphemes, by means of such men, the Lord who brings judgment [upon
him] as being already condemned, and imputes the guilt of his apostasy to his
Maker, not to his own voluntary disposition.”
St. Justin Martyr, fragment in Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, 5:26:1
(A.D. 189)

“All indeed depends on God, but not so that our free-will is hindered. ‘If then it
depend on God,’ (one says), ‘why does He blame us?’ On this account I said, ‘so
that our free-will is no hindered.’ It depends then on us, and on Him For we must
first choose the good; and then He leads us to His own. He does not anticipate our
choice, lest our free-will should be outraged. But when we have chosen, then
great is the assistance he brings to us…For it is ours to choose and to wish; but
God’s to complete and to bring to an end. Since therefore the greater part is of
Him, he says all is of Him, speaking according to the custom of men. For so we
ourselves also do. I mean for instance: we see a house well built, and we say the
whole is the Architect’s [doing], and yet certainly it is not all his, but the
workmen’s also, and the owner’s, who supplies the materials, and many others’,
but nevertheless since he contributed the greatest share, we call the whole his.
So then [it is] in this case also.”
St. John Chrysostom, Homily on Hebrews, 12:3
(A.D. 403)

“‘No man can come to me, except the Father who hath sent me draw him’! For He
does not say, ‘except He lead him,’ so that we can thus in any way understand
that his will precedes. For who is ‘drawn,’ if he was already willing? And yet no
man comes unless he is willing. Therefore he is drawn in wondrous ways to will,
by Him who knows how to work within the very hearts of men. Not that men who
are unwilling should believe, which cannot be, but that they should be made
willing from being unwilling.”
St. Augustine, Against Two Letters of the Pelagians, I:19
(A.D. 420)

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
Matthew 7, 7

Pax vobiscum

Let Every One of You Be Baptized

 Infant Baptism

For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be
circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a
foreigner-those who are not your offspring.
Genesis 17, 12

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of

Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the

Lord our God will call.”

Acts 2, 38-39

In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in
baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who
raised Him from the dead.
Colossians 2, 11-12

Since the earliest time, the Catholic Church has stressed the importance of infant baptism. As members of the human family and descendants of Adam, we are all born with a fallen nature that is tainted with original sin. Even as infants, we need the rebirth given in the sacrament of Baptism to be liberated from the powers of darkness and brought into the realm of the freedom of the children of God, to which all human beings are called (Col 12:1-4). Baptism (Gk. Βάπτισμα / baptisma) is a Christian rite of not only admission into Christianity but also adoption with the use of water. The sacrament has been administered by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersing the recipient in water either partially or completely. The essential thing, however, is the use of water, which purifies and cleanses the soul of the stain of original sin. The baptized person regains the state of justice and sanctity that Adam had forfeited for all his offspring. Thus, baptized infants receive the privileged washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit by being reborn of water and the Spirit, without which no soul can enter the kingdom of heaven.

Original sin is a sin that is contracted rather than personally committed. It’s the state of having fallen short of the glory of God. Since this sin isn’t one that any human being is morally culpable of having committed, it’s imperative that infants be baptized as much as adults should. After all, they, too, must suffer and die by being associated with the fallen Adam, although the pride of life and concupiscence haven’t yet manifested themselves in their lives.

St. Paul tells us that through Baptism, the soul enters into communion with Christ’s death, is buried with him, and rises with him (Rom 6:3-4). Baptism is a gift of gratuitous grace from God that is offered to every human soul despite their age. Infants mustn’t be denied the gift of Baptism, for they, too, must be “incorporated into Christ” and “configured to Christ.” They need to be sealed with the indelible spiritual mark or character of belonging to Christ, albeit any conscious awareness.

Since the grace of Baptism doesn’t presuppose any human merit for its conferral, there is no just reason for excluding infants from being consecrated to God. No personal sin can erase the indelible mark that is sealed through Baptism, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation, so it makes no difference whether the infant is consciously aware of being baptized and making personal commitments of faith that are connected with the sacrament. Once children attain the age of moral reasoning, while having been nurtured in the Christian faith at home and in the Church, they can decide for themselves whether to live up to their baptismal commitments and persevere in faith. These life-long baptismal commitments also apply to people who have been baptized in adulthood. One isn’t automatically and irrevocably saved just by being baptized and making an initial profession of faith. The important thing for the infant or any human being is that they receive the initial grace of justification and forgiveness for being implicated in the sin of Adam, and becoming a partaker of the divine nature through the water of cleansing and regeneration in the Spirit.

In Judaism, the ritual of circumcision ( Heb. בְּרִית מִילָה / brit milah) is a symbol of one’s partnership with God. This partnership with YWHW is a mysterious covenant that surpasses human comprehension. It is a pledge of unconditional devotion, no matter what may transpire between God and an individual. It is a bond that is absolute and immutable. For this reason, a Jew is circumcised as an infant, although it hasn’t yet developed its capacity for reasoning or making moral judgments since the covenant of circumcision is not an intellectual or calculated partnership. The circumcision of an infant demonstrates that the connection between the Jews and YHWH is beyond human rationale. Moreover, God chose the very organ that is the reproductive source of life, which can also be chosen to use for the basest acts as the point to be sanctified with circumcision. The message here is that we can and must use every physical drive for holy purposes.

In Genesis 17, God gives no reason for circumcision other than it shall be a sign of the eternal covenant between God and Abraham and all of his descendants. God clearly commands that circumcision must occur on the eighth day of life for every Jewish male. Since Biblical times, male infants have been circumcised on the eighth day of life, for it had been given since the time of Abraham and Isaac that each newly born son should be brought into the Covenant just as their fathers, grandfathers, and so on, had been before them. Ritual circumcision was originally a defining act for the young Israelite nation and continued to distinguish the Israelites (including infants) from other peoples.

When God told Israel, " Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer " ( Deuteronomy 10:16 ), it meant that they were to remove their obstinate sinful thoughts from their minds. In other words, they were to purge sin from their lives and be obedient to the laws of God. The covenant God established between Him and the Israelites was essentially meant to be a relationship of reciprocal love and fidelity. The Israelites were to have no false gods before YHWH. This covenantal relationship contributed to a communal self-understanding and encouraged the Israelites to examine who they were as consecrated people in relation to God and how they ought to behave towards each other in their common relation to God as children of Abraham.

The Old Covenant served to remind the nation of how God desired the people to live in relation to God and each other: compassionately, generously, and righteously. The eight-year-old infants were consecrated to God by their circumcision to enter this covenant of holiness. The ritual marked their separation from the sinfulness of the surrounding pagan nations. Now, the infant boys of the covenant were to be circumcised on the eighth day of their birth because this is the day of newness in Judaic tradition. If there are seven days in a week, the eighth day is the first day of a new week. The performance of circumcision on the eighth day represents God’s promise of newness to His covenant children who had formerly lived profane lives among the pagan nations. This rite ultimately points forward to the eighth day (the first day of a new week) on which Christ arose from the dead in the newness of life.

Baptism proceeds from the rite of circumcision, as to how God intended that a spiritual circumcision must take place, which is the physical aspect of circumcision represented in the Old Covenant. Baptism, therefore, is a sign of inward, spiritual “circumcision.” Baptism is a rebirth to a new life with God and being reborn from above. Although circumcision isn’t a sacrament but a symbolic ritual in Judaism, there are significant parallels between the two that show how baptism fulfills circumcision, as the Old Covenant finds its fulfillment in the New that has been established by Christ through the outpouring of his blood.

By baptism, we gain entry into the kingdom of God. Infants must be included as members of the body of Christ just as infants and young children were members of God’s chosen people in the Old Covenant. “We are members one of another.” Baptism not only purifies us from all sins but makes the neophyte a “new creature” and adopted child of God. “From the baptismal fonts is born the one people of God of the New Covenant (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1265). The Old Covenant was designed as a means to impart holiness to newly restored people who were chosen to serve God by observing His statutes. It served as an instrument of grace. In the New Covenant, we become God’s own people, “a chosen race,” and “a holy nation” by our common baptism. We “become living stones to be built up into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood” (1 Pet 2:5; 9) through the graces and spiritual gifts we receive by baptism.

Thus, the key benefits of baptism demand that infants be baptized, not simply as an act of defining what it means to be God’s chosen people of the New Covenant. Infants are baptized in water to reap the spiritual benefits that have been merited for all of us by the blood of Christ. Blood and water flowed from our Savior’s side as he hung upon the cross. Infants should be baptized because through the sacrament, they, too, receive the “grace of sanctification or justification” to have eternal life with God. This grace shall “enable them [as members of God’s kingdom] to believe in God, to hope in Him, and to love Him through the theological virtues [Faith, Hope, and Charity].” This grace will give them “the power to live and act under the prompting of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Holy Spirit,” allowing them to “grow in goodness through the moral virtues” (CCC, 1266). The infant itself is separated from all the people who haven’t yet been reborn from above or from heaven.

St. Paul points out that baptism has replaced circumcision. He refers to the sacrament as “the circumcision of Christ” and “the circumcision made without hands” (Col 2:11-12). The latter reference recalls the passage above taken from the Book of Deuteronomy, which refers to the physical ritual as essentially being a circumcision of the heart of all the Israelites, including the circumcised male infants who will eventually grow into manhood expected to abide by God’s covenant. When a Jewish boy reaches the age of thirteen, the family celebrates his Bar Mitzvah, on which occasion he is regarded as ready to observe religious moral precepts and eligible to participate in public worship at the synagogue. The boy’s father offers a prayer of thanksgiving to God for relieving him of being morally responsible for his son’s actions because he is primarily held accountable for the boy’s religious and spiritual nurturing until he has reached adolescence.

This same principle holds in the Catholic faith with respect to baptizing infants. Infant baptism has its roots in Judaism and is an ecclesial tradition handed down to us from the apostles who themselves were Jewish (Judeans). Anyway, if the nascent Church didn’t practice infant baptism, we should doubt whether Paul would have used the rite of circumcision as a parallel for the sacrament. Of course, most of the new Jewish converts to Christianity were adults in apostolic time, but adult males who converted to Judaism (proselytes) had to be circumcised, too, though these conversions were rare.

Further, we read in the New Testament that Lydia was baptized with her “household” after she converted (Acts 16:15). The Philippian jailer who was converted by Paul and Silas was baptized that same night along with his household. In fact, he was baptized “with all his family” (Acts 16:33). And in his greetings to the church in Corinth, Paul writes, “I did baptize also the household of Stephanus” (1 Cor 1:16). In the above passages, Paul uses the Greek word oikon (οἶκον) for the English word “household.” This accusative masculine singular noun literally means “a dwelling” and, by implication, “a family.” 

In Acts 2:38, Peter says, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  The Greek translation literally says, “If you repent, then each one who is a part of you and yours must each be baptized” (“Metanoesate kai bapistheto hekastos hymon.”). This proves that babies are baptized based on their parents’ faith and were in the New Covenant church in the apostolic time.

Peter specifically points out in the following verse that baptism is given to children as well as adults: “Those far off” refers to those who were at their “homes” (primarily infants and children). God’s new covenant family includes children as it has included children in the old covenant, which explains why Paul draws an analogy between baptism and circumcision rather than bar mitzvah. The word “children” that Peter uses comes from the Greek word teknon (τέκνον). Teknon in Greek means a young person from birth to adolescence and is glossed as ‘child’ or ‘children’ in the plural. The word does not refer to future adult posterity.

In fact, Luke 1:59 proves that teknon includes infants. Here, John, as a “teknon” (infant), was circumcised. We see in Acts 21:21 that “teknon” is used for eight-day-old babies. So baptism is for infants as well as adults, just as circumcision is for the Jews. The adults Peter addressed were old enough to repent and were required to repent of their personal sins. Still, absolution and forgiveness were given through the sacrament of Baptism, which ultimately washes away the contracted stain of original sin. The sacrament is efficacious if one acts in faith or if at least one parent of an infant has faith. Recall that the faith of those who brought in the paralytic had cured the paralytic of his sins (cf. Mt 9:2; Mk 2:35). This is an example of the forgiveness and remission of sin based on another’s faith, just like in infant baptism. The infant child is remitted of original sin based on the parent’s faith.

Now, evangelical Protestants who are unaware of the Greek word teknon contend that if there were children in these families, they could have been young adolescents. But Paul doesn’t draw a parallel between the rite of circumcision and the sacrament of baptism because Jewish boys are circumcised at the age of thirteen. As we know, they are circumcised as infants. Catholic children don’t receive the Sacrament of Confirmation until they reach at least the age of ten to complete their initiation into the Church. At the same time, Jewish boys celebrate their Bar Mitzvah at twelve or thirteen years of age.

Finally, infants are responsible for living and fulfilling their baptismal commitments once they are mature enough as mature adolescents and adults are after they are baptized. Baptism isn’t only for the remission of one’s personal sins but, more significantly, for the remission of original sin, which is contracted at the first instant of our conception in the womb by natural propagation (Job 14:1-4; Ps 51:5).

Early Sacred Tradition

“And many, both men and women, who have been Christ’s disciples from
childhood, remain pure and at the age of sixty or seventy years…”
St. Justin Martyr, First Apology, 15:6
(A.D. 110-165)

“For He came to save all throughmeans of Himself–all, I say,
who through Him are born again to God–infants,

and children, and boys, and youths, and old men.”

St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 2,22:4

(A.D. 180)

“And they shall baptise the little children first. And if they can answer for
themselves, let them answer. But if they cannot, let their parents answer or
someone from their family.”
St. Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition, 21
(c. A.D. 215)

“For this reason, moreover, the Church received from the apostles
the tradition of baptizing infants too.”
Origen, Homily on Romans, V:9
(A.D. 244)

“But in respect of the case of the infants, which you say ought not to be baptized within the
second or third day after their birth, and that the law of ancient circumcision should be regarded,
so that you think one who is just born should not be baptized and sanctified within the eighth
day…And therefore, dearest brother, this was our opinion in council, that by us no one ought to be
hindered from baptism…we think is to be even more observed in respect of infants and newly
born persons…”
St. Cyprian, To Fidus, Epistle 58(64):2, 6
(A.D. 251)

“Be it so, some will say, in the case of those who ask for Baptism; what have you to say about those
who are still children, and conscious neither of the loss nor of the grace? Are we to baptize them
too? Certainly, if any danger presses. For it is better that they should be unconsciously sanctified
than that they should depart unsealed and uninitiated.”
St. Gregory Nazianzen,
Oration on Holy Baptism, 40:28
(A.D. 381)

“We do baptize infants, although they are not guilty of any sins.”
St. John Chrysostom, Ad Neophytos
(A.D. 388)

“And if any one seek for divine authority in this matter, though what is held by the whole Church,
and that not as instituted by Councils, but as a matter of invariable custom, is rightly held to have
been handed down by apostolical authority, still we can form a true conjecture of the value of the
sacrament of baptism in the case of infants, from the parallel of circumcision, which was received
by God’s earlier people, and before receiving which Abraham was justified, as Cornelius also was
enriched with the gift of the Holy Spirit before he was baptized.”
St. Augustine, On Baptism against the Donatist, 4:24:31
(A.D. 400)

“While the son is a child and thinks as a child and until he comes to years of discretion to choose
between the two roads to which the letter of Pythagoras points, his parents are responsible for his
actions whether these be good or bad. But perhaps you imagine that, if they are not baptized, the
children of Christians are liable for their own sins; and that no guilt attaches to parents who
withhold from baptism those who by reason of their tender age can offer no objection to it. The
truth is that, as baptism ensures the salvation of the child, this in turn brings advantage to the
parents. Whether you would offer your child or not lay within your choice, but now that you
have offered her, you neglect her at your peril.”
St. Jerome, To Laeta, Epistle 107:6
(A.D. 403)

But Jesus said to them: Suffer the little children,
and forbid them not to come to me:
 for the kingdom of heaven is for such.
Matthew 19, 14

Pax vobiscum

Not By Faith Alone

 Justification

For what saith the Scripture that Abraham believed God
and it was counted unto him as righteousness (dikaiosunen).
Romans 4, 3

Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified (dikaiousthai) by faith
without the deeds of the law.
Romans 3, 23

Was not Abraham our father justified (edikaiosthe) by works
when he had offered his son Isaac up to God on the altar?
James 2, 21 ​

​You see then that how by works a man is justified (dikaiotai),
and not by faith only.
James 2, 24

Both St. Paul and St. James use the same Greek verb (dikaiow) for meaning ‘justified’ or ‘made righteous’ in the context of justification. While both apostles are concerned with freedom from guilt and being made holy in order to be saved, James is more inclined to stress what a person must do to be saved. He has in mind what a justified person is by the infusion of divine grace into his soul through how they conduct their life in faith. Paul, on the other hand, emphasizes what a person can never hope to do to be saved by any natural merit of theirs outside the system of grace or by merely observing the external ceremonies of the Mosaic Law. He looks at what a person can never hope to be without the infusion of sanctifying grace informing his deeds through faith in Christ.

The two apostles start from different departure points in their teachings but with a similar objective in mind. The justified person is one who is sanctified by the Lord and made holy through His efficacious grace and is thereby saved. Sanctification is the principle determination (formal cause) of justification. Sanctification is the inherent element that makes justification what it essentially is and allows it to fulfill its purpose (freedom from guilt) and achieve its end (salvation). For this reason, the two terms (justification-sanctification) are used interchangeably in Scripture. We can see for ourselves.

Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his
own blood​, suffered without the gate.
Hebrews 13, 12

How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood,
we will be saved through him from the wrath.
Romans 5, 9

But we ought to give thanks to God for you always, brothers loved by the Lord,
because God chose you as the first fruits of salvation through sanctification
by the Spirit and belief in the truth.
2 Thessalonians 2, 13

And such some of you were, but you are washed, but you are sanctified,
but you are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6, 11

Paul tells us that Abraham was justified or made righteous by his faith, meaning his merit lay in freely placing his steadfast trust in God and believing in the greater good of God’s promise concerning Isaac. But his faith had to be put into action or else it would have been fruitless. Paying God lip service doesn’t justify the soul. Abraham believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead so that His promise should be fulfilled. After all, God was good to His word, so Abraham believed. Because of his faith in God, Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his only-begotten Son. By grace, he overcame his natural fatherly inclinations and acted in a supernaturally virtuous way to please God. Thus, he was justified by his faith insofar as it was translated into a good work that was animated by the Spirit of God, who justifies the soul with His sanctifying grace.​

James puts works in their proper perspective, that is, within the framework of charity and grace and the heart of the Mosaic law. He teaches us that Abraham was justified or credited as righteous by his works, that is good works done in grace (ergois agathois) as opposed to the civil and ceremonial works of the Mosaic law (ergon nomou) apart from charity and grace. Our father, in faith, was reckoned as righteous because he was willing to sacrifice his beloved son in obedience to God because of his trust in God’s goodness and hope in His promise. He didn’t merely act out of the ceremony to oblige God for the acquisition of a temporal reward or blessing. Abraham believed in the greater good that should result from obeying God despite the sacrifice that was required of him. It was Abraham’s trust in God’s goodness and righteousness that prompted him to act against his natural inclinations to his credit. Abraham died to himself by denying his natural love of Isaac, and so he was found to be just because of the supernatural quality of his soul. By his good work, Abraham showed that he had faith, which was justified because of the good work that proceeded from it.

Hence, Paul tells us the same thing James does; only his departure point is faith rather than works. He implies what James means to say, that we are justified by good works that are done in faith. Our faith justifies us, provided our good works complete it. Our works do not justify us unless we obediently act in faith, that is, in charity and grace. Neither faith nor good works alone justify us. We are saved by grace through faith and the good works that proceed from it by the prompting of the Holy Spirit. What we find with James and Paul isn’t an either/or but a both/and proposition. How it might appear at first glance, the two apostles aren’t contradicting each other since Paul doesn’t say we are justified by faith “alone,” while James makes it clear that we aren’t justified by only faith. Nor does he even remotely suggest that we are justified by works alone to the preclusion of faith. Rather, our good works done in charity and grace proceed from our Christian faith, which requires these works to justify us. The faith that saves is faith put into action.

By your stubbornness and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and
revelation of the just judgment of God, who will repay everyone according to his works: eternal life to
those who seek glory, honour, and immortality through perseverance in good works, but wrath and fury to
those who selfishly disobey the truth and obey wickedness.
Romans 2, 5-8

There is no partiality with God. All who sin outside the law
will also perish without reference to it, and all who sin under the
law will be judged in accordance with it. For it is not those who
hear the law who are just in the sight of God; rather those who observe
the law will be justified.
Romans 2, 11-13

For all have sinned and do need the glory of God. Being justified
by his grace through the redemption, that is of Jesus Christ, whom
God has proposed to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood,
to the shewing of his justice, for the remission of former sins.
Romans 3, 23-25

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 5, 1

When St. Paul uses the term “justification,” he focuses on one aspect of how God has offered us the gift of salvation: the forgiveness of sin and the removal of guilt. So when he says in the present tense we “have been justified,” he means that God has forgiven us our sins and removed our guilt through Christ’s atoning death on the cross, by which he restored the equality of justice between God and humanity. Meanwhile, our faith justifies us, provided we continue to live it by doing good works in charity and grace. Salvation is conditional and its instrumental application in our individual lives depends on how well we cooperate with God’s gift of grace in our pilgrimage of faith and baptismal commitment.

Now that we have received the initial grace of forgiveness and justification by no preceding merit of ours and have been reconciled to God by Christ’s merits upon being baptized, we are called to die to sin and refuse to let it reign over us through God’s healing grace. We are expected to subdue our sinful inclinations and selfish desires and lead a life of charity in grace as to be holy and just before God.  If we are personally dead to sin just as our Lord had died to sin (Rom 6: 10-11), we are justified since “ a dead person has been absolved from sin” (Rom 6:7) by being buried with Christ.

Paul speaks of our justification in the present tense, but he obviously never viewed it as a once-and-for-all past event when we are baptized and initially profess our faith in Christ’s merits. He believed justification involved a daily rendering of obedience to the will of God that sanctified the soul. So, if we are in this sanctified state, we are justified in God’s sight. We are “justified” and thereby saved as we continue to grow in holiness and strive to perfectly conform our lives the best we can with the righteousness of Christ in his humanity. Thus, justification – forgiveness of sin and the removal of guilt – is the reason for our salvation, while sanctification – intrinsic righteousness – is the condition for it. These two states must not be dichotomized in the application of our redemption. As gifts of grace (divine favor and interior renewal), they are virtually synonymous in their common objective: the salvation of the human soul. For this reason, the two terms are used interchangeably in Scripture and comprise two sides of the same coin in a symbiotic relationship.

When God judges us by our deeds, it is according to the spirit of His moral law – which hasn’t been abolished but is fulfilled in Christ (Mt 5:17), who left us an example of how to live our lives in faith. God does not merely judge us on whether we have faith, that is, belief in His word, but rather by the measure of faith that we have as indicated by our obedience to His will and perseverance in good works. Neither a baptized Christian nor a circumcised Jew pleases God and remains in good standing with him when he fails to observe the spirit of the law in their daily conduct. Paul tells us, “Circumcision, to be sure, has value if you observe the (moral) law; but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision” (Rom. 2:25). The same can be said for our baptism: “Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain” (2 Cor. 6:1).​

The apostle certainly sees salvation as having three dimensions: past, present, and future. So, our failure to live up to our faith by persevering in good works done in grace can forfeit what our Lord has initially merited and produced for us by his work on the Cross. Our acts of charity towards our neighbor and our refusal to commit a wicked deed on account of our love for God and the sake of His love and goodness are meritorious and deserving of a reward since our response to the word of God is made through our cooperation with divine grace in collaboration with the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

​In the reformed Protestant belief system of being justified by faith alone, the infused theological virtues of faith and charity appear to lose their essential distinctions in the justification process, as the latter is somewhat appropriated by the former, becoming its inherent attribute. Sanctification itself is no longer the principal determinant of justification. Ontologically, then, charity loses its individual identity and can no longer stand as a requisite for justification in mutuality with faith. This notion does not square with what Paul meant when he wrote: “For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love” (Gal. 5:5-6). And, “If I should have all faith so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.” (1 Cor. 13:2). Faith is faith, and love is love, the two virtues being mutually inclusive in the justification process. An idle faith does not profit the soul. Having faith isn’t enough to be justified. One must “live by faith” to be considered righteous before God. For us to be declared just in God’s sight, our faith must be spurred into action through the prompting of the Holy Spirit who dwells in our hearts, even if it means putting the interests of others before our own in a spirit of self-sacrifice (Phil. 2:4).

Thus, the full application of our redemption in Paul’s soteriology comprises three key components: justification, sanctification, and the forgiveness of sin. Justification is the process by which the sinner is made right with God through the remission of guilt; sanctification is the simultaneous process by which a person is actually made holy and righteous through the infused graces and interior gifts of the Holy Spirit that enable the soul to be pleasing and just in God’s sight. It involves growing in grace and progressively conforming to the divine image through daily renewal to remain right with God in His grace. Forgiveness is the pardoning of sin. The sins that are forgiven are totally blotted out of the soul thereby restoring it to a sanctified state which renders it just and pleasing to God, but not without our cooperation.

​Central to all of this is what we read in Proverbs 16:6: ‘Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for.’ Spiritual works of mercy (forgiving, consoling, comforting, etc.) and corporal works of mercy (feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick or imprisoned,  etc.) are deeds of justice pleasing to God which sanctify the soul that lives by faith in Jesus Christ The peace of Christ reigns in the soul that is justified by embracing what is good and rejecting all that is evil (greed, malice, slander, etc.) (Col 3:1-17).

What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but
has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is
ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go
in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things
needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has
no works, is dead.
James 2, 14-17

You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith
alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the harlot
justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them
out another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead,
so faith apart from works is dead.
James 2:24-26

When St. James asks about Abraham, “Do you see how a man is justified by his works?” he is asking a rhetorical question, given for his audience to understand that it is by works done in grace through faith – and not faith alone – that a person is justified or declared righteous by God. The Bishop of Jerusalem is addressing the Jewish Christians scattered abroad outside of Palestine (Jas. 1:1). During severe poverty and persecution, many of them had begun to languish in their faith. Because of the trials they had to suffer, their faith had grown cold. As a result, many of them despised the poor in their community; there were breaches of brotherly charity; others were guilty of slander and bearing false witness (detraction); there were contentions and lawsuits among them; some indulged in swearing and using abusive language towards each other, while others neglected their prayers and worship. 

James wrote his epistle with a moral purpose. His main intention was to exhort the Jewish Christians to be constant in the faith despite their terrible trials and to console and encourage them as well. He urged them to conform their conduct to the tenets of their espoused faith to extirpate the evils and abuses that plagued their communities. Unless they did as he exhorted them to do, their faith would not save them. Their newly found Christian faith (“the faith”) was not in principle the same as that adhered to and preached by Jesus and his apostles, and so it was a faith that had tragically become “dead” and “useless” as a means of salvation (Jas. 2: 17, 20). Their faith should avail them nothing because their acts did not synchronize with what they professed to believe in. Believing in the one God (that is in all He morally stood for) wasn’t enough to be credited as righteous, for even the demons believed in Him (Jas. 2:19).

James compares idle faith to a lifeless body. For the body to be animated, it must be united with the soul or spirit. Faith is just as dead and inert as a corpse is when unanimated by charity and grace.  Obviously, charity is no more an attribute of faith than the soul is an attribute of the body. A human being is a composite of soul and body, just as faith and charity are the essential attributes of a justified person. James isn’t referring to people who imagine that they have faith while not having it at all, as many Protestants contend, since it would be senseless of him to presuppose by his analogy that the body could never exist without the soul. A dead or lifeless body is something that exists, but only as unanimated physical matter. Hence, the apostle perceived faith and charity as two distinct theological virtues operating in cooperation with each other to complete the justification process of the believer. This process begins with faith and reaches its completion when faith is informed by charity (agape) and grace. Likewise, our humanity begins with our physical conception in the womb and is brought to completion by the infusion of the soul by the grace of God. ​

Moreover, James exhorts us that “faith by itself” does not save without the compliment of doing good works in charity and grace. In fact, not doing good works when required is a sin of omission (Jas. 4:17), and one cannot be just and thereby saved while in a state of grave sin. The soul that lacks charity is deprived of sanctifying grace, which renders the charitable soul just. Nor does a charitable predisposition alone save. It isn’t enough for one merely to feel compassion towards the needy or know and accept what the right thing to do is but not do it (Jas. 2:15-16). We are called to be both “hearers” and “doers” of the word of God, not unlike Abraham, to be reckoned as just before Him (Jas. 1:22).

And so, both St. Paul and St. James teach that faith initially justifies, but good works that are done in charity (agape) and grace complete justification. We are justified by faith and work, acting together by the grace of God. Neither faith nor works alone justify us. Faith is indeed the minimum requirement without which we can never please God (Heb 11:6), but spiritual and corporal works of mercy perfect faith, rendering it beneficial for our salvation. Paul teaches us that faith is the root of justification and that faith excludes the external ceremonial ‘works of the law’ by which we can never hope to be reconciled to God by any natural merit of ours (Eph 2:8-10). But these works of the law differ from the works James has in mind which must be coupled with faith for us to be justified.

By “works of the law,” Paul means the law of Moses taken as a legal system through which one might presume to place God in their debt by observing its civil, ceremonial, and moral precepts (Rom 3:28; Gal 2:16, 21; 3:2, 5, 10). ​James, on the other hand, is referring to good works done in charity and grace through faith in Christ, grace as an unmerited and gratuitous gift from God in His mercy produced for us by the merits of Christ alone. We are justified if we, by the prompting of the Holy Spirit, forgive someone out of kindness and humility, console someone out of compassion, or feed the hungry out of love with no thought given to obliging God to reward us openly.

As we have seen, Paul’s phrase for ‘works of the law’ in Greek is ergon nomou about the Mosaic legal, ceremonial, and moral teachings, which gave the ancient Jews the knowledge of sin but no escape from sin or personal guilt. The phrase James uses is ergois agathois, which refers to different works. So, the two apostles aren’t contradicting each other or opposing faith and works against each other. Paul concurs with James when he says that the righteousness God seeks in us doesn’t come from observing the Mosaic law for its own sake (Rom 4:9-17). Righteousness must be pursued through faith in Jesus Christ, not works of the law outside the system of charity and grace (Rom 9:31-32). ​

The Gentiles, who haven’t been given the Mosaic law, must pursue this righteousness as well since it is based on the grace of Christ (His law written in all their hearts) apart from any prescribed legal ordinance or collective religious consciousness and awareness (Rom 11:6-11). Thus, faith in Christ and adherence to his teachings must be behind all our good works for our deeds to be works of grace and not legal works of obligation that make God our debtor, He who can never be obligated to us in view of our sinfulness (Rom 3: 20, 28). Works apart from grace that differ from the spiritual and corporal works of mercy required of all Christians who live by faith do not justify us. Doing morally civil works and meeting our legal demands for the sake of maintaining social harmony and law and order for our own sake as part of a social entity doesn’t justify us before God and save our souls from eternal death since there isn’t any sacrificial love motivating us to conform with the rest of society but more or less self-interest. Observing the letter of the law doesn’t justify us before God but only our fellow human beings who cannot read our hearts, unlike God. ​

Paul is clear that we are in no position to obligate God and demand any just payment from Him by observing the works of the law. Our relationship with God is not one between a creditor and a debtor. Rather, as Christians, we are in a covenant relationship with God, our heavenly Father, as His adopted sons and daughters. All that we rightly merit by our deeds is granted by God’s grace in our personal relationship with Him (Rom 11:35; Rom 8:14; Heb 12:5-11; Gal 6:8-9). Paul assures the Jewish Christian community that they are now discharged from the law or from having to perform the works of the law since we are now called to serve God in faith, working through love (Rom 7:6; Gal 5:5-6). Christ is the end of the law, and we are justified by living our faith in him (Rom 10:4). We fulfill the new law of Christ – the law of love and freedom – by loving each other (Rom 13: 8, 10). The Mosaic law, with all its prescribed works, is useless to any of us if we hope to be saved. We must embrace the new law of Christ, which is faith working through love (Gal 5:4-6, 14: 6-2).

Matthew 5-7

James accurately describes what the new law of Christ involves for our justification (Jas 1:27; 2:15-17, 25). The apostle clearly teaches that faith by itself without good works is dead or useless. Good works done in charity and grace are a cause of our justification. Good works aren’t an effect of having been justified by the merits of Christ alone, as most Protestants erroneously believe. We may hear and accept Christ's teaching in faith, but what we hear and accept in faith must be acted on if we hope to reap the benefits of our faith and be saved. In other words, faith and works are distinct but must accompany each other in a synergistic fashion (Jas 2:18).  Faith and works cooperating together produce an effect that is greater than either of these two constructs taken separately, namely justification. ​

So, neither faith nor works alone justifies. Taken individually apart from each other, faith or works alone is unproductive. There is no sign of having no faith or a non-saving faith, which is a contradiction in terms. Faith saves, but only if it is accompanied by good works that proceed from having faith. Faith is the root of justification, but good works that are done in grace, perfect, and complete justification. To be unfaithful, we must first have faith, so if we act unfaithfully, our faith or what we profess to believe in does not justify us. Our good deeds that arise from having faith do reckon us as righteous before God, for we are acting faithfully in accordance with the teachings of Christ. Observing the divine commandments that are inscribed in our hearts requires a righteous interior disposition and the righteous deeds that proceed from it by the grace of God through our faith in Him. Faith is far more than an intellectual belief in Christ’s external merits. Faith and belief, in fact, are two different constructs altogether, although intricately connected.

Anyway, James addressed an audience whom he assumed had embraced the faith. He wrote his letter to Jewish Christians. But the problem was that many of them merely heard and accepted the word of God without putting what they professed to believe in into practice. Their faith was idle or inactive – lifeless, so to speak. One can only presume that these wayward Christians didn’t have any faith at all in the first place. However, James doesn’t address these believers on such a presumption. He simply states that it’s the “doers” who are justified, not the “hearers” (Jas 1:22-25). These wavering Christians did have faith in what they heard preached, but they had to couple their faith with good works. The faith they possessed had to be put into action or regulate how they conducted their lives if they hoped to be reckoned as just before God (cf. Rom 2:13). James made his point loud and clear: “A man is justified by works and not by faith alone” (Jas 2:24).

Early Sacred Tradition

“Seeing, therefore, that we are the portion of the Holy One, let us do all those things that pertain
to holiness, avoiding all evil-speaking, all abominable and impure embraces, together with all
drunkenness, seeking after change, all abominable lusts, detestable adultery, and execrable pride
… Let us cleave, then, to those to whom grace has been given by God. Let us clothe ourselves with
concord and humility, ever exercising self-control, standing far off from whispering and evil
speaking, being justified by our works, and not our words.”
St. (Pope) Clement of Rome, Epistle to the Corinthians 30
(A.D. 98)

“But He who raised Him up from the dead will raise up us also, if we do His will, and walk in His
commandments, and love what He loved, keeping ourselves from all unrighteousness,
covetousness, love of money, evil speaking, false witness; ‘not rendering evil for evil, or railing
for railing,’ or blow for blow, or cursing for cursing, but being mindful of what the Lord said in His
teaching: ‘Judge not, that ye be not judged; forgive, and it shall be forgiven unto you; be merciful,
that ye may obtain mercy; with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again; and
once more, “Blessed are the poor, and those that are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs
is the kingdom of God.’”
St. Polycarp, To the Philippians, 2
(A.D. 135)

“‘And other sheep there are also,’ saith the Lord, ‘which are not of this fold ‘–deemed worthy of
another fold and mansion, in proportion to their faith. ‘But My sheep hear My voice,’
understanding gnostically the commandments. And this is to be taken in a generous and worthy
acceptation, along with also the recompense and accompaniment of works. So that when we hear,
‘Thy faith hath saved thee, we do not understand Him to say absolutely that those who have
believed in any way whatever shall be saved, unless also works follow. But it was to the Jews
alone that He spoke this utterance, who kept the law and lived blamelessly, who wanted only
faith in the Lord. No one, then, can be a believer and at the same time be licentious; but though
he quit the flesh, he must put off the passions, so as to be capable of reaching his own mansion.”
St. Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, 6:14
(A.D. 202)

“Terrible in good truth is the judgment, and terrible the things announced. The kingdom of heaven
is set before us, and everlasting fire is prepared. How then, someone will say, are we to escape
the fire? And how to enter into the kingdom? I was an hungered, He says, and ye gave Me meat.
Learn hence the way; there is here no need of allegory, but to fulfill what is said. I hungered, and
ye gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me in;
naked, and ye clothed Me; I was sick, and ye visited Me; I was in prison, and ye came unto Me.
These things if thou do, thou shall reign together with Him; but if thou do them not, thou shalt be
condemned. At once then begin to do these works, and abide in the faith; lest, like the foolish
virgins, tarrying to buy oil, thou be shut out.”
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 15:26
(A.D. 350)

“Now we have a woven work, when faith and action go together. Let none suppose me to be
misguided, in that I made at first a threefold division, each part containing four, and afterwards a
fourfold division, each part containing three terms. The beauty of a good thing pleases the more,
if it be shown under various aspects. For those are good things, whereof the texture of the priestly
robe was the token, that is to say, either the Law, or the Church, which latter hath made two
garments for her spouse, as it is written’–the one of action, the other of spirit, weaving together
the threads of faith and works…. Faith is profitable, therefore, when her brow is bright with a fair
crown of good works. This faith–that I may set the matter forth shortly–is contained in the
following principles, which cannot be overthrown.”
St. Ambrose, On the Christian Faith, II:11, 13
(A.D. 380)

For the Son of man is to come with his angels in the glory of his
Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done.
Matthew 16, 27

Pax vobiscum