Works Seal Your Faith

So many non-Orthodox accuse the Church of depending upon works to get into heaven. Our life of fasting and worship ‘regulations’ are interpreted as works. Interestingly, feeding the poor is never accused against the Church. The truth is, neither feeding the poor nor fasting with a thousand prostrations are used by the Church as ‘works’ to get into heaven.

Brethren, to one who works, his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due. And to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness. So also David pronounces a blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not reckon his sin.” Is this blessing pronounced only upon the circumcised, or also upon the uncircumcised? We say that faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received circumcision as a sign or seal of the righteousness which he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, and likewise the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but also follow the example of the faith which our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Romans 4.4-12

Saint Paul spoke much about ‘works’ and faith. We know we ‘can’t work our way to heaven’ but that does not mean we are supposed to work. For Abraham, his works (circumcision) was the “seal of the righteousness which he had by faith.” The same is true for the ‘works’ we do as Orthodox Christians.

Do you fast? Your fasting should be a seal of your faith in God, not to ‘get you into’ heaven. Do you feed the poor? Same caveat. Everything we do as Orthodox is because we have faith. Whether it is prostrations, fasting, kissing icons, or participating in the sacraments, our ‘works’ seal our faith.

If this sounds new to you, I invite you to spend the day changing the way you think about the Orthodox way of life. Ask yourself, “Do I have faith in God?” If you have faith, then remind yourself the Orthodox disciplines are a seal of that faith, not a recipe for faith.