“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?”

When Jesus revealed to His disciples the fate he would suffer for completing the work for which He was sent into the world, Peter tried to persuade Him to avoid it.  It is the equivalent of Peter saying to us, “Your faith is enough, you do not have to do the work.”  The debate about faith versus works as the source of salvation has occupied Christians for centuries, despite the teaching of St. James in the First Century: “Demonstrate your faith to me without works and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.” We can do good works without faith.  We can even do good works without trying, or knowing, that we have done them.  But if we have true
faith in Jesus Christ, and respond to God’s love for us, we are obligated to do good works.  Our faith is revealed by the good works that we do.  And the lack of good works in our life is a symptom of a lack of faith and a lack of understanding of the love that God has for us.