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Longer Catechism
St Philaret of Moscow, in Blackmore, 1845
Part 3, 1. On the Union Between Faith and Charity
The Third Part of the Orthodox Catechism. On Charity
Q. What should be the effect and fruit of true faith in the Christian?
A. Charity or love, and good works conformable thereto.
In Jesus Christ, says the Apostle Paul, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. Gal. v. 6.
Q. Is not faith alone enough for a Christian, without love and good works?
A. No; for faith without love and good works is inactive and dead, and so cannot lead to eternal life.
He that loveth not his brother, abideth in death. 1 John iii. 14. What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. James ii. 14. 26.
Q. May not a man on the other hand be saved by love and good works, without faith?
A. It is impossible that a man who has not faith in God should really love Him: besides, man, being ruined by sin, cannot do really good works, unless he receive through faith in Jesus Christ spiritual strength, or grace from God.
Without faith it is impossible to please God: for he that cometh to God, must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Heb. xi. 6.
For as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law to do them. Gal. iii. 10. For we through the spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. Ib. v. 5.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephes. ii. 8, 9.
Q. What is to be thought of such love as is not accompanied by good works?
A. Such love is not real: for true love naturally shews itself by good works. Jesus Christ says; He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: if a man love Me, he will keep My word. John xiv. 21. 23.
The Apostle John writes; For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. 1 John v. 3. Let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Ib. iii. 18.
On the Law of God and the Commandments
Q. What means have we to know good works from bad?
A. The inward law of God, or the witness of our conscience, and the outward law of God, or God’s commandments.
Q. Does holy Scripture speak of the inward law of God?
A. The Apostle Paul says of the heathen; Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. Rom. ii. 15.
Q. If there is in man’s heart an inward law, why was the outward given?
A. It was given because men obeyed not the inward law, but led carnal and sinful lives, and stifled within themselves the voice of the spiritual law, so that it was necessary to put them in mind of it outwardly through the commandments. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions. Gal. iii. 19.
Q. When, and how, was God’s outward law given to men?
A. When the Hebrew people, descended from Abraham, had been miraculously delivered from bondage in Egypt, on their way to the promised land, in the desert, on mount Sinai, God manifested His presence in fire and clouds, and gave them the law, by the hand of Moses, their leader.
Q. Which are the chief and general commandments of this law?
A. The following ten; which were written on two tables of stone:
1. I am the Lord thy God: thou shalt have none other gods beside Me.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth: thou shalt not bow down to them, nor serve them.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord thy God.
5. Honour thy Father and thy Mother, that it may be well with thee, and that thy days may be long upon the earth.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, nor his land, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any of his cattle, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s. Exod. xx. 1 . . 17. Deut. v. 6 . . 21.
Q. You said that these commandments were given to the people of Israel: must we then also walk by them?
A. We must: for they are in substance the same law, which, in the words of St. Paul, has been written in the hearts of all men, that all should walk by it.
Q. Did Jesus Christ teach men to walk by the ten commandments?
A. He bade men, if they would attain to everlasting life, to keep the commandments; and taught us to understand and fulfil them more perfectly, than had been done before He came. Mat. xix. 17. and v.