Posted on 03/15/2014 5:31:38 AM PDT by DaveMSmith
It seems to be a matter of common sense to say that good people will go to heaven and evil people will go to hell. Something would be terribly wrong if God could send an innocent, sincere, charitable, helpful person to hell. Yet sometimes people suggest that a person's salvation depends upon his faith alone, and not upon the good things he does, or how he lives, or whether he obeys the Ten Commandments. The Bible never mentions "faith alone" (except in one passage which says faith alone is dead--James 2:24) The concept first came into existence during the Reformation, when Luther and other Protestants split away from the Roman Catholic Church. Luther's concept of how a person gets to heaven was different from what had been taught by the Catholic Church. Luther's phrase "faith alone" emphasized this difference.
In the early Christian Church there was no controversy about whether a person could be saved by faith alone without obeying the Lord and living well. Early Christians knew that loving the Lord meant obeying His commandments, (Matthew 19:17; John 14:21; 15:10) and that salvation depended on bearing fruit (that is, doing good works). (Matthew 7:19; 16:27; 21:43; Luke 3:9; John 5:29; 15:1-16; Revelation 20:13; 22:12) In fact there are so many passages which say that a good life is necessary, that it would be quite a contradiction if the Bible did say that faith alone is enough.
Probably the closest the Bible comes to mentioning "faith alone" is Paul's phrase, "man is justified by faith without the works of the law." (Romans 3:28) Sometimes this phrase has been used to defend or promote the idea that man is saved by faith alone. But if we look at Paul's statement in context we can see that Paul was simply saying that you can be saved without being a Jew. (Read Romans 3:28-31) Some early Christians felt that to be a good Christian, one should obey all the ritual laws of the Jewish Church. "Certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, `Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.'" (Acts 15:1) Now Paul knew that it made no difference to the Lord whether a person was circumcised or not, so he made it clear that it is not necessary to keep the laws about washing, sacrifices, offerings, holy days, diet, and circumcision. (Colossians 2:16; Galatians 2; Romans 3; 2:25-28; Hebrews 8-10) "Does this blessedness then come only on the circumcised, and not on the uncircumcised also?" (Romans 4:9) "Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what counts." (1 Corinthians 7:19) "In Jesus Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working by love." (Galatians 5:6) Paul says here not "faith alone," but "faith which works by love". Faith, works and love are all necessary.
These and other references make it clear that when Paul said a man is saved by faith without the works of the law, he meant that a person is saved without circumcision and other ritualistic works. There are other laws, which relate not to ritual but to living well, as for example the Ten Commandments and laws such as "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Leviticus 19:18) Paul made it clear that it was necessary to keep these laws in order to be saved. He said, "Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, not adulterers, nor homosexuals... nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Corinthians 6:9,10; see also Galatians 5:19-20) Paul had no thought at all of doing away with the law: "Do we abrogate the law through faith? Far from it! We establish the law." (Romans 3:31) He knew that salvation depended on action, not just on faith: "Not the hearers of the law shall be justified by God, but the doers of the law shall be justified." (Romans 2:13) And he taught that every loving person will obey God's law: "Love does no harm to a neighbor: therefore love is the fulfillment of he law." (Romans 13:10)
It is clear from the passages above that according to Paul, we must keep the Lord's commandments and live a good life in order to be saved. This agrees completely with what other disciples said about living well. What could be more direct that this statement of James: "What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? That faith cannot save him, can it?... Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.... By works a person is justified, and not by faith alone." (James 2:14-24) John showed that you can't have faith unless you love others when he said, "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." (1 John 4:8) He also taught that we can and should obey God's commands: "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous." (1 John 5:3)
For any Christian, the way to eternal life is to follow Jesus and do as He says. And what He says is very plain: "If you will enter into life, keep the commandments." (Matthew 19:17) This is not only the way to life, but the way to happiness: "If you know these things, happy are you if you do them." (John 13:17) It is the way to love the Lord: "He who has My commandments, and keeps them, he it is who loves Me." (John 14:21) And it is the way to be His friend: "You are my friends if you do whatever I command you." (John 15:14)
I wrote a college paper on this whole subject. Don’t make me drag it out.
One can pick and chose a single bit here and there to ‘bolster’ whatever argument they want. It doesn’t include context, general teachings of the NT, or even analysis of who the audience was that the original writings were for.
I will not argue with you over this. Grace is given by God. I have already commented on the fruit of the tree.
Grace is not faith
I recommend examining Acts 16. The jailer witnessed the Power of God and asked the same question.
Agreed. How do we all measure up to those perfect standards? Paul tells the Law is our tutor. Tutor in the sense of exposing our sins and imperfections.
I agree we all must be dragged up the sharp rocks of Mt Sinai before the deliverance of Mt Zion makes any sense.
Thanks for the very helpful and informative post. I have always been suspicious of people who say “faith alone” saves. I was saved by grace when I didn’t believe (or trust) God. All I had done was to ask his help.
There is an preacher who say’s “faith alone” and who has had some shady extramarital affairs. I would like to know what amends and forgiveness he has done (or not done) around his infidelities.
>>Many don’t want a salvation they can’t work for and prove themselves worthy of.<<
Indeed. On the other hand it may be a function of some don’t want to give up the darkness for light. So believing they can redeem themselves by works they think any good works or penance will overwhelm the bad. I encountered such in conversations with Iraqi Muslims.
Your reference to Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness is VERY thought provoking. In that some establish God’s plan of salvation seems too “easy” and there must be “more.” Such thoughts establish a mindset that we know better than God.
Hardly a contradiction. James is railing against dead faith as any good pastor should be doing if observed in their assembly. Obviously James saw some proclaiming faith in Christ but allowing fellow believers to go naked and cold. How could such a regenerated heart pass a brother in need? I think that was his point and James is right in that matter. Jesus commanded the disciples to love each other as HE loved them. Tall order there. James was pointing IMO if we love Christ we will do what He told us to do. And each according to their God given abilities.
What then is the point of judgement? As in, Last Judgement? As in, sheep and goats? As in, wheat and chaff?
A typical straw man which many like to beat.
So to dispense with such...If we love Christ we will do what He told us to do. We do what He told us to because of His Grace we have passed from darkness into light.
Did your paper include any of these, in context citations?
James 2:24
James 2:26
Gal 5:6
1 Cor 13:2
John 14:15
Matt 19:16-17
—
Romans 8:24
Eph 2:5,8
2 Tim 1:9
Tit 3:5
—
Phil 2:12
1 Peter 1:9
—
Matt 10:22
Matt 24:13
Mark 8:35
Acts 15:11
Romans 5:9-10
Romans 13:11
1 Cor 3:15
1 Cor 5:5
Heb 9:28
>>“The power of sin is the Law”. Grace is the only option for believers, and I suggest again that, just as many Israelites bizarrely refused to look at the lifted up serpent, so do many today refuse to look to Christ ALONE. He did the work. Resting in that finished work allows a person to freely “work hard in The Lord” without falling under the curse of the Law.<<
Post of the day.
And that is stated up front, before anyone has the opportunity to sit back and judge their works to see if they were saved or not.
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.
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
These are all people who appealed to their good works to save them.
Acts has accounts also of how they helped each other in their community, correct? Sharing food, etc.
But God's standard is absolute perfection, not good outweighing the bad. That's man's thinking.
Matthew 5:48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
James 2:10-11 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
Seems that Catholics neglect to post these verses.
Be perfect. The one who fails in one part of the Law becomes guilty of it all.
And we know that the wages of sin is death. That's why our works don't contribute to attaining or keeping our salvation. They are tainted with sin, even the best of them, and cannot erase the debt we already owe. That is only done by forgiveness.
Yeah. So?
Is that how they got saved?
Is that how they stayed saved?
Or do you suppose that those are the works that God prepared for them beforehand to walk in and they did it out of obedience, not to stay saved but because they were saved?
We all need to remember that Catholics do not believe in “earning” their way into heaven through ‘works’.
But it doesn’t hurt to follow the words of Christ as posted above.
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.
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.
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