On the Insufficiency of Good Deeds Alone

July 4, 1948.

Among the people around us, there are people who do not believe in God, but who are nevertheless good and do many good deeds. One often hears the question: "Well, is this not enough, will they not be saved by their good works?" No, they will not be saved. Why will they not be saved? For this is what our Lord and God Jesus Christ said, when "the lawyer, tempting Him, asked, saying, Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart....This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matt. 22:35-39).

If faith in God, if love for God is the first and most important commandment in the law, and the second commandment about love for one's neighbor follows from this first, and receives its strength from love for God, then in order to be saved, one must love God with all one's heart, for this is the first and most important commandment of the law.

What does it mean to be saved? It means to receive eternal life, it means to enter the Kingdom of God, it means to become partakers of this Kingdom! What is the Kingdom of God? What is eternal life?

This is what the Lord Jesus Christ told us in His great high-priestly prayer addressed to God the Father. He said thus: "Behold eternal life, that they may know Thee the only true God, and Whom Thou hast sent Jesus Christ" (John 17:3). This is eternal life: eternal life in the knowledge of God, in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. This means that without knowledge of God, without knowledge of the Holy Trinity, without faith in the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no eternal life, that is, there is no salvation.

The Lord Jesus Christ, before His ascension to heaven, said to His disciples: "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned" (Mark 16:15-16). You see how clear the words are, you see how clearly the Lord said: "He who has not faith will be condemned." This means that good deeds alone are not enough, which means that faith is also needed, which means that those who do good deeds must believe in God with all their hearts and love Him.

The holy Apostle James said in his conciliar epistle: "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:20). And whoever only believes and places all his hopes for salvation in faith alone, will not be saved: good works are needed. But it can also be said in another way: if faith without good works is dead, then good works without faith are dead.

Our Lord and God Jesus Christ spoke to the Jews the amazing words that everyone should partake of the Heavenly Bread, He said that this Heavenly Bread is His Flesh, which He gives for the life and salvation of the world.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in yourselves" (John 6:53). What kind of life? Eternal life: you will not have eternal life, you will not be partakers of the Kingdom of God, you will not receive salvation for your souls. What is clearer? If we do not believe in God with all our hearts, if we are not baptized, if we do not partake of the Body and Blood of Christ, then there is no salvation for us.

You see: good deeds alone are not enough for salvation! You know that even unbelievers do good deeds and all righteousness, and the question arises: how to evaluate this good done by unbelievers? Of course, all the good deeds of unbelievers should be highly valued. Recognizing this, we must still know that there is a difference between the good deeds of unbelievers and the deeds of those who believe in God with all their hearts.

What is the difference? Here's the thing: there were a multitude of strong-willed people who sacrificed everything, even their lives for the good of the people. There have been countless such now, in our time and in recent years. There were many people who sacrificed their lives for the benefit of their people, their nation. There are people who give their lives for the good of people of their race, of their class. What is the difference between all these good deeds, even the sacrifice of one's life, great feats, and love for one's own class, for one's own people, for one's race, although very high, but this love – love only for one's own class, for one's own people, for one's own race – coexists with hatred for people of another class, another people, another race; and true and genuine love is all-embracing, the love pleasing to God embraces everything, it is never mixed with hatred for anyone, it is all-embracing.

If people love Christ with all their hearts, then there is no place in their hearts for hatred of any other person. About these people, who combine love for their class, for their nation, with hatred for people of another class, another people, another race and another nation, the holy Apostle Paul said in his amazing speech about love: "If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries, and have all knowledge and all faith, so that I can move mountains, but I have not love, then I am nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:2). Even a faith that moves mountains is nothing if it is not united with universal love.