The second reading for today is from the Epistle of St. James. We hear those famous words of James, “Faith without works is dead.” James tells us that there is faith that saves, and there is a type of faith (which is really not faith) that does not save.
   
How many people say they believe in God, and they believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and the Savior, but those truths have no real impact on their lives? The Gospel is not their moral guide, they do not have a prayer relationship with God or with Christ, and they do not practice any form of Christian religion. They are, in fact living as practical agnostics, living as if God did not exist. Some may call that faith, but if it is some form of faith, it is a faith that does not have the power to save, as St. James says.
   
This passage was one of the critical differences in the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther, misquoting the Epistle to the Romans, believed that we are saved by faith alone and found James’ comments about the necessity of works to be problematic. In fact, he wanted to remove the Epistle of St. James from the canon of the Bible, but it was so firmly accepted as part of the canon that he was not successful.
   
Modern negotiations between the Catholic Church and the Lutheran churches have concluded that we are actually teaching the same thing. We are saved by faith in the grace of Jesus Christ, but our faith must bear fruit in works, or it is not true faith. In the heat and the rancor of the Reformation, this made it impossible for the Protestants and the Catholics to really hear one another.