Thanks for the response. Again I am no expert in Catholicism so I appreciate any and all clarification.
Only thing I would add is that we are saved by grace through faith and not of ourselves as our salvation is a gift of God so that none of us can boast.
Although, our faith is a dead faith if it produces no good fruit via our works. The focus of James, for me, is about a nominal claim of faith that has no good works associated with it.
We are justified (or deemed righteous) through of our faith because of Jesus Christ and are we sanctified by the Holy Spirit so that we may seek his will for our lives and become Christlike. Justification is righteousness credited to us and sanctification occurs within us. Our good works are a result of the Holy Spirit that indwells believers. Without a result of good works coming from us as new creatures in Christ our claim of faith is essentially a dead faith. I see justification and sanctification working hand in hand as it pertains to our good works and righteousness therein.
James leads chapter 2 of his book by stating what good is man claiming he has faith but has no good works....essentially that faith is dead (it's a false faith or nominal faith). Like Abraham, righteousness was credited to him because of his faith. And his faith was demonstrated via his good works that aligned with God. So I agree that we are justified by our works and not just our claim of faith.
My issue with Catholicism is not about the theology of justification, but more about the false catechism doctrine that states that salvation occurs because of our faith, baptism and following of the commandments (our works).....as works-based salvation. As Christians we are saved by grace through faith alone. Yet we are justified by faith as demonstrated by our works (as Abraham was). I also don't understand how Mary acts mediator between us and God and helps atone for our sins. I don't find that in scripture and don't agree with that. That said I find a distinction between Christians and Catholics.
I would like nothing more than to be united with my Catholic brothers and sisters in one theology, one faith, one God. What I find is that most Catholics are very sincere, but don't grasp the basic teachings of the Catholic theology. Despite that ignorance I believe most love the Lord, seek his will, have made a public profession of faith in Christ yet don't even realize all the catechism teaches.
Again, please correct where I have errored in my understanding of Catholicism as I am not an expert.
I will do my best to explain the Roman Catholic doctrine of salvation.
They believe that faith forms the foundation of salvation, but receiving the sacraments and practicing repentance are the process of actually entering salvation.
They believe that sacraments are required for salvation - but not
absolutely required. They recognize that, like the man on the cross next to Jesus, there are exceptions to the rule of Baptism.
Roman Catholics believe in justification by faith - just not by faith
alone. I agree with them about this. We are justified by faith - but the Biblical definition of "saving faith" cannot be boiled down to faith
alone. Biblical saving faith is a repentant, contrite, obedient, loving and fearful faith. This is not strictly
faith alone.
I personally really enjoy the Eastern Orthodox view of salvation. They view salvation as a process they call "theosis" - becoming like God.
Paul speaks of salvation in three tenses: I have been saved, I am being saved, and I will be saved.
We can think of the past tense as that moment when God recons our faith as righteousness and grants us The Holy Spirit to sanctify us.
We can think of the present tense as the process of cooperating with The Holy Spirit to become like Jesus.
We can think of the future tense as that moment when we finally and forever enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
While we can have some sense of assurance concerning our salvation as long as we are faithful and repentant, we cannot know for
absolute certain that we are guaranteed to continue on this path forever. There are some people, unfortunately, who believe and repent for a while, yet in the end fall away and are not saved. (You may disagree with me about this - but it is my position and the position of many Evangelicals, as well as all Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic).
I hope this helps you understand my view, and the view of Roman Catholicism, when it comes to salvation. I do not agree with them about everything, but on this topic we share many beliefs.