Letter 29

From: Desiderius of Cahors, bishop To: [Unknown recipient] Date: ~643 AD Context: Desiderius of Cahors, letter 29; on the theological question of the relationship between faith and works. To my brother in Christ, The question you have raised — whether it is possible to have faith without works, or works without faith, and what the relationship between the two is — has been the subject of genuine controversy since Paul wrote his letter to the Romans, and I want to address it carefully. Augustine's resolution is, I believe, the correct one, though it requires careful statement to avoid misunderstanding. Faith is the beginning; it is the movement of the heart toward God that makes everything else possible. Works are the fruit and the expression of faith; they do not produce salvation independently, but genuine faith inevitably produces genuine works, because a heart that is truly oriented toward God will love its neighbor and act accordingly. The error on one side: treating works as if they could earn salvation independently of faith. This was the Pelagian error and it remains a temptation in pastoral practice — the implicit message that if you follow the rules and do the right things, God owes you salvation. He does not. Salvation is gift. The error on the other side: treating faith as if it were merely an intellectual conviction that has no consequences for behavior. This is wrong and it produces practical antinomianism — the idea that because we are saved by grace, what we do does not matter. It matters enormously. The integration of both is what Christian life actually looks like. Desiderius