Faith without Works
So long as there is a radical difference between truth and falsehood, and so long as truth sustains relations to life, it will make a difference whether men believe true or false doctrine.
Doctrines are the roots of life. Great lives do not grow out of false beliefs. Doctrine is immensely important, but not all-important. The root does not exist for itself; it is a means to the tree and the fruit as an end. A Christian acts in the life as naturally as the root pushes its stalk up into the air and the sun. Cut the stalk, fell the tree, and the root dies at length. A faith without works is soon dead. If our doctrines do not flower and produce fruit in Christian living, they die. Many a man’s creed is a field full of stumps. There was life there once, but because the natural expression of that life was prevented, it perished. We have not overestimated the importance of believing the truth, but we have underestimated the importance of living the truth.
Doctrines are the roots of life. Great lives do not grow out of false beliefs. Doctrine is immensely important, but not all-important. The root does not exist for itself; it is a means to the tree and the fruit as an end. A Christian acts in the life as naturally as the root pushes its stalk up into the air and the sun. Cut the stalk, fell the tree, and the root dies at length. A faith without works is soon dead. If our doctrines do not flower and produce fruit in Christian living, they die. Many a man’s creed is a field full of stumps. There was life there once, but because the natural expression of that life was prevented, it perished. We have not overestimated the importance of believing the truth, but we have underestimated the importance of living the truth.