"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) (KJV)
"Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity." (Matthew 7:21-23)(KJV)
Half of Protestants are confused. That’s why the gate is narrow.
Those people are right and the Bible is wrong? Crazy, mixed up world.
Some folks like to think once you have accepted Jesus' sacrifice to cover your sins, you don't have to worry about adhering to God's directives. Hey, they're saved.
Can't go out and commit sin at will without trying to be good, and then point to Jesus sacrifice to gain entry into heaven.
We have an obligation to live good lives.
No, we don't earn our way into heaven, but we do try to please our heavenly father with good works.
Jesus did not lie when He proclaimed from the cross, “It is finished.” He completed His mission to live the perfect life we couldn’t live and die the atoning death for our sins. There is nothing we can do to earn heaven because Jesus has earned heaven for us.
For this loving gift, we thank, praise, serve and try to obey God’s will as we learn it from the Bible. When we close our eyes in death, we rest assured that heaven is ours because Jesus has done everything necessary for our salvation.
If you have true faith, good works should follow, shouldn’t they?
good deeds are the natural result of faith, they are not a requirement to enter heaven.
What good deeds was the thief on the cross able to do? NONE.
Yet, Jesus said, “Today you shall be with Me in heaven.”
I left the RCC. Catholics have a bad habit of adding things to the Word of God
James 2:
14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I show you my faith by my works.”
19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;
23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God.
24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Then half of protestants better read Romans again (if they ever did in the first place).
Salvation MUST be by faith alone, in Christ’s finished Work on the cross. After one has been born again and has the indwelling Holy Spirit, one way of demonstrating one’s faith is by doing good and kind deeds. But never forget Luke 17:10. We could never do enough good things to “pay for” Salvation. Salvation is ONLY through the blood of Christ.
I’m a Baptist. If someone asked me on the street “Is faith alone enough, or are good deeds required?”, I would want to reply with an essay. Yes/No doesn’t quite cut it.
If someone “invited Jesus into their hearts” at 10 and never gave another thought about Jesus for the rest of their lives, then they are not saved. (James 2) But if anyone is counting on good deeds to justify them, then they are also not saved.
Meanwhile, salvation has a couple of meanings in scripture. Salvation can refer to “saved from God’s wrath”. But is can also include sanctification - being saved from the world - the life long process of being set apart from the world, of becoming holy.
Genuine faith produces good works. Otherwise it was not genuine. The good works do not justify you, but they are an outward sign your faith was real. If they are lacking, something is seriously wrong.
Faith without works is not faith.
“As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” James 2:26
In looking at the first two centuries of Christianity, one reads accounts of Christianity being spread by the early Christians in living what Jesus taught in treating others as brothers and sisters. It was the Christians who treated the sick in some areas when there were plagues of various types. And the pagans saw that the Christians were living out their belief in Jesus and His teachings. Salvation of their souls came from their faith in Jesus, but their works in fulfilling his teachings spread Christianity among the pagans and gained converts and demonstrated that they lived by the tenants of their faith.
First is Epistemic vs Metaphysical.
On the one hand Jesus saves us, and we merely need to accept it. And on the other Saint James points out that faith is shown through works. A distinction must be made here: we are not saved as a result of being more moral but we are more moral as a result of being saved. Thus "good works" is evidence of that acceptance. It is the acceptance that saves. Good works is not the cause of the salvation, but evidence of it--thus when you have one you have the other.
Second is we can be wrong in assessing good works.
"Good works" in the sense of positive moral change following God's gift of forgiveness is not always something we will recognize in others. We don't really know what its like on the inside of another person--heck we can even be highly deceived about ourselves. Some people might have a biological and psychological disposition that makes being kind and generous very easy for them. Others might find it very difficult to resist being cruel. Only God can judge a person's true moral worth, for only He knows what each of us is really dealing with inside.
Nobody could do enough good deeds to make up for the wickedness in their heart. If they say they can, then how can they be true, since such an attitude is proof they haven’t repented? . For those who know that it is only by the grace of God we are saved, they will be so happy, good deeds will result. Good deeds therefore wont get a person saved, but good deeds are an outward evidence that something is taking change in our hearts.
If this is the case, then half the Protestants and none of the Catholics are reading their Bibles.
Yes, but do they worship Mary and the Pope?
It’s a question ill-put. A given quantity of God-based righteous acts is indeed not the ticket; but their presence is a necessary (and sufficient) evidence.
People always will do some kind of works. That’s never in doubt. To fail there would mean to be physically dead and would be an uninteresting case.
The question is about what spiritual energy a person will allow to fill those works. The old spiritual energy of fallen selfish will, or the new, of regeneration from catching the spirit of Christ.
As the passage shows, it’s possible to even do something outwardly spiritual in an utterly ungodly way. Though this could also refer to expecting to be regarded as redeemed by having rubbed elbows with those who were.
I wish good people would not read or listen to Pew. These are bad people.
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The word of Yehova is clear: Faith is what saves, not Grace, and faith is defined as the willing keeping of Torah.
This is exactly what the Acts of the Apostles was written about.
Grace is simply Yehova’s willingness to consider our confession of past sins, repentance, and continuance in obedience, as righteousness.
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