Where do you see a confession here? He admits he is guilty of a crime, whereas Jesus is not. Are you calling that confession? And yes, he does refer to Jesus as Lord - that is what I said. He rebuked the other thief because he recognized Jesus as Lord - they are two sides of the same coin. Remember that whole "Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven"? You must do things to enter Heaven.
And are you not Protestant? Doesn't Faith alone lead to Justification, which leads to salvation in your worldview? I'm confused by your ""Faith" does not save" comment. I agree with you about Grace though, as does the Church.
Why do you people persist in making this claim when you have been shown time and again that the will of the Father is to BELIEVE in His Son...And THAT is NOT a work...
If you believe this, you are truly lost. What is required for you to enter Heaven Jesus didn't already do? Absolutely nothing!
Do you not believe in a Lord strong enough to keep you when he promised he would, or are you relying on your good works to keep you? How many good works do you have to do to enter the kind of Heaven you believe requires of you? Are some of your works more worthy than others? If the faith of a mustered seed is enough, don't you think God has already prepared a place for you without you having to tidy it up? Do you see my point yet?
Faith or belief rather, does not "save" anyone. God's grace does. Without grace salvation is dead. No more is required for anyone to obtain salvation other than placing their faith on Yeshua.
Your works, earn you crowns which you're going to give right back to God because you will realize your works are meaningless compared to what HE did for you. They are not for salvation. Faith, Works, Salvation, Grace are all seperate issues with seperate consequences.
God loves us both because God loves us, not because we do anything. Our outward appereance shows others the love of Christ in us, but it has absolutely nothing to do with our inherited relationship bestowed upon us by God...
If it did I know some people alot better than I who should be going straight to heaven without any belief in God!