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“Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by faith only?” James 2:24

Ephesians 2:4-10 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Saved by grace when we were yet dead in our trespasses and sins. Before we did any *good works*.

Saved by grace, the GIFT of God SO THAT NO MAN CAN BOAST.

If our works count towards anything pertaining to attaining our salvation, then we have something to boast about before God. And He has already disallowed that.

The good works we are to do to walk in are works HE prepared for us to to, to walk in them, to walk them out. Even the works are a gift from Him. They are prepared by Him for us ahead of time so that we can do them. So we can't even take credit for the good works we walk in, so that no man can boast.

Catholicism allows too much room for boasting before God and man. And that is seen regularly here when non-Catholics are being condemned for not doing good works which no one has any way of knowing whether someone is doing them or not.

But that doesn't stop Catholics from sitting in judgment on non-Catholics, accusing them of not doing good works, but rather sinning with impunity, presuming on the goodness of God, all the while not knowing a THING about the life of the person they're accusing.

If our works contributed to our salvation, it would not be on the basis of God's grace and mercy, and it would not be a gift.

The chutzpah displayed by Catholics with their spiritual pride for *belonging to the OTC* is staggering.

James 2:23 NKJV

And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.