This Life & The Afterlife
James 2:14
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot save, can it?
Christians are to model their lives on the life of Jesus, who actively lived the Christian virtues of love and mercy, exemplifying humble servitude. Jesus worked to restore peace and justice in the communities of his day, focusing his attention on those whom others thought unworthy of his efforts, showing Christians how to serve God amid creation. Unfortunately, many Christians ignore the life of Christ as a model for serving God on Earth, focusing almost exclusively on Christ’s death and resurrection, on their personal salvation, failing to serve God in this life, in this world, as Jesus did.
History helps to explain how this discord between teaching and practice emerged. Early Christians were a persecuted minority in the Roman Empire, including the Apostle Paul, who was imprisoned and martyred for putting his faith in Jesus. Paul’s writings, part of the New Testament, were shaped by his sufferings and exemplify an apocalyptic or otherworldly focus. He spoke much about living in the spirit and eternal salvation. Paul’s letters convey an urgent hope that persecuted Christians, such as he was, would find the justice and happiness they were denied on Earth through faith and resurrection.
Paul suffered much in life, was imprisoned and martyred for holding to his Christian faith, but as he continued the good work of spreading the Gospels, he held out hope for happiness in the next life, through salvation.
(“Martyrdom of Saint Paul,” Stefan Lochner, Germany, 1435, Wikimedia Commons)
Throughout the Middle Ages (more than ten centuries), Pauline Christianity appealed to the masses of downtrodden peasants. Like Paul, they found no justice and no joy in their daily lives, and many peasants converted to Christianity. At the close of the Medieval Period, Martin Luther propagated Pauline Christianity, focusing on the afterlife (rather than life in this world), Christ’s death and resurrection, and the imminent return of the Savior (rather than his service on Earth), grace through blind and complete faith (replacing good works). This otherworldly expression was canonized in Scripture and ritualized in the Eucharist, commemorating the Last Supper, Jesus’ persecution, crucifixion, and the risen Christ, who gained eternal life and found peace after the sufferings, cruelty, and injustice experienced on Earth.
Martin Luther propagated Pauline Christianity with an otherworldly focus, but he also affirmed the importance of good works.
(Martin Luther, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Germany, 1528, Wikipedia)
While focused on faith, spirit, and resurrection, Paul reaffirmed core Christian ethics: The fruits of true faith are reflected in good works—“love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10). Paul taught that humankind was created “for good works” (Ephesians 2:10) and that we ought to devote ourselves “to good works” (Titus 3:8). Paul affirmed that humankind is to live Christian ethics in this world, to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and tend to the needs of the oppressed, to heal, comfort, and reach out with attentive care to those most marginalized. For Paul, good works are essential; they are evidence of the fruits of true faith in Jesus, and Luther carried forward these core Christian teachings.
The activist dimensions of Jesus’ teaching and Christian discipleship are explored more fully in Activism.
Titus 1:16
They profess to know God, but they deny him by their actions; they are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
Jesus showed Christians how to serve God, tending those considered most lowly, easing their sufferings. ("Jesus, Father of the Poor" at Sorrowful Mother Shrine Chapel, Nheyob, United States, 20th century, Wikimedia Commons)
Mark 7:6–7
This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.
Many Christians today focus almost exclusively on the next life. The day-to-day lives of many Christians show no sign of the loving servitude exemplified by Jesus, or of the strong teachings of Paul and Luther that encourage Christian engagement in the here and now. While they cannot help but notice injustice, suffering, and a desperate need for attentive care here on Earth, they have learned that this world is not worth saving, that it is fallen and irrelevant to life beyond, which has become their semi-exclusive focus. Many contemporary Christians do not engage in the good works that Jesus, Paul, Luther, and Catholics historically have long held to be core Christian ethics and central to the Christian life. (For more on the life of Jesus, Christian ethics, and serving God in this world, see Sacred Texts.)
“We all have the duty to do good.”
— Pope Francis
Christianity recognizes that moral growth often proceeds gradually. While some may have a moment of revelation, others must reflect, pray, and ponder how mainstream culture, rather than Christianity, shapes lives. Grace allows the time we need, but faith requires that we make necessary changes to align core Christian teachings with our daily practice.
Protesting outside of a church against the sin of entertainment that causes harm and death to anymals. (Mexico, Animal Defense Heroes, PETA)