Exactly!
When Christ says “This is my body” He literally means it.
When Scripture says “You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.” It means we are not saved by faith Alone!
Conversely, it never says that Mary is the “mediatrix” between men and Jesus - ever.
There is none righteous, not even one. Rom. 3:10
Works are the proving out, the result of a saving faith. The faith that says ok, I believe that certain things are true about God (like, He is One) but does not accept the relationship offer of God (He is my personal Savior) won’t produce the requisite works... it CAN’T. People do works all the time, you know. It’s how they are formed and fashioned that makes the difference. If the love of God moves you, it will show.
Catholics commonly stick a bunch of church rules on top of it all, which makes it obedience to man qua man. That isn’t the proof of saving faith at all, though some Catholics do also have a saving faith in spite of this.
LOL Kind of a one trick pony aren’t you?
He also said, “Call no man on earth your father,” yet that’s what the Catholic Church calls priests (which were an Old Testament shadow of the One and Only Priest to come, Jesus). Christ was also there in His earthly body when He gave the disciples the bread. He didn’t give them His earthly body, though. While I believe He gave them and gives us His body, and don’t believe it’s as the Catholic Church imagines it.
And yes, we are saved by faith alone. As you know, I’m sure, Paul said we have been saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, but it is a gift from God, so no one can boast. What James means, though, is akin to what Paul often talked of, that faith must be real. Bible-believing Christians see the necessity of both faith and works, and I’ve never heard otherwise preached myself where the pastor wasn’t called out for serious error. It can never be a matter of choosing Paul or James at any point. What the Catholic Church seems to do is to choose James, say Protestants choose Paul and ignore James, and then later tack on Paul’s words (because they have to be acknowledged since they’re in the Bible!) without truly reconciling them all along. What James is talking about is that faith can’t “be alone,” or it’s just false confidence. Both faith and works have to be present in the person’s life. If works are present, then that means the faith is what it should be. And then is also a warning for us to do as Paul says in different ways, test ourselves and examine ourselves. j