The Faith Explained with Cale Clarke

Q. I’m going to try once more to show that St Paul says that we don’t really need to obey the Ten Commandments. In Galatians he writes, “Brothers and sisters: We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ; even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified” (Gal 2). See! Paul agrees with me! All we need is faith in Jesus Christ! We don’t need “the works of the law”.

A. Nice try, but it won’t work. When Paul says that we are not justified (made right with God) through “the works of the law”, he’s not talking about the Ten Commandments. He simply can’t be. Why? Consider the words of Jesus himself, in the famous Sermon on the Mount: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5).

Q. I don’t understand. Jesus upholds the commandments, but Paul says we don’t need “the works of the law”. Who’s right?

A. They’re both right, of course! That’s because Paul is not talking about the Ten Commandments at all when he says that we don’t need the “works of the law”.  Paul’s talking about something else: the ceremonial works of the Old Covenant. These were hundreds of rules that were tacked on to the Decalogue, which God dispensed with in the New Covenant . The two biggest examples are circumcision and the dietary (kosher) food laws of the Old Covenant. We don’t need to practice these as Gentile believers in order to please God (see Acts 15), but we do have to uphold the Ten Commandments. This is impossible in our own strength, by dint of our own will. As Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God” (Mk 10:27). It is only by the grace of Jesus Christ that we can – and must – keep the Ten Commandments as Catholics.