(1) Let no one dare to think
that it is possible to be saved by faith alone, without doing good works.
1. If we desire, my beloved
brethren, to obtain the kingdom of God, then we must have every attention and
diligence toward this, every zeal and struggle, and in no way think that in
order to be saved it is difficult for us merely to believe in the true God and
be Orthodox Christians, citing in justification of such an opinion the word
spoken by the Lord: He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he
who does not believe will be condemned (Mark 16:16). On the contrary, for
this very reason we must all the more struggle and be zealous to walk worthy
of the calling with which you were called (Ephesians 4:1), as the Apostle Paul
says, that is, to do works worthy of Christ, from Whom we received our name and
are called Christians, knowing that we will receive greater condemnation if,
despite such a name, we live in sloth and negligence. Therefore do not think,
my brother, that you will be saved with faith alone. What does it profit, my
brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save
him?—teaches the holy Apostle James (James 2:14). Listen to what the Lord Himself
also says: Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the
kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven (Matthew
7:21). Divine Paul also suggests the same, saying: They profess to know God
but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified in
every good work. (Titus 1:16). Do you see, beloved, how it is impossible
for anyone to be saved with faith alone without works? If we were saved by
faith alone, then all people would be saved and none of us would perish, because
there is no man who does not believe that there is a God. Even will demons
believe that there is a God. Listen to what they themselves say: I know who
You are—the Holy One of God! (Mark 1:24). And again in another place they
said about the Apostles: These men are the servants of the Most High God,
who proclaim to us the way of salvation (Acts 16:17). Do you see the demons
also believe that there is a God? And yet these believers that there is a God
are condemned to fiery Gehenna for their evil deeds. Therefore, faith is good
if you also acquire works. Otherwise, just as the body without the soul is
motionless and ineffective, so also faith without works is dead (James
2:17). And listen to what holy James, the brother of God, says after the
above-cited works,--What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has
faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?: If a brother or sister is
naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in
peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are
needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does
not have works is dead . . . Show me your faith without your works, and I will
show you my faith by my works (James 2:14-18). (Symeon the New Theologian,
Discourse 48, in The Complete Discourses of Saint Symeon the New Theologian [trans.
Dean Marais; Based Books, 2025], 457-58)
