"For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" -- 1 Corinthians 4:7
You take a single verse from James about faith without works being dead, and transmute that into the definition of salvation.
A body without breath is dead, but respiration does not create life; it is a result of life, a result of a beating heart and functioning lungs and an active spinal cortex.
There are so many verses that speak to the fact that we can in no way earn our salvation; it is a gift from God to be received with a grateful heart, made alive by the work of the Holy Spirit within us.
"But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." -- 1 Corinthians 15:10
Even Christ uses the concept that works are the evidence of His divinity, not the cause of it when He says to the Jews, "If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not." (John 10:37)
Doing the good works of His Father does not make Him Christ, but it establishes the fact that He is Christ.
Good works serve the same purpose for His sheep -- they testify to their salvation; they do not earn it for them.
To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." -- 1 Peter 1:3-5"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Even our faith is the work of God who uses it to bring us to Him.
"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." -- John 6:37
A quick question. I have been rereading your posts for some months now and it is apparent that you are quite convinced that "salvation" is a once for all time event, one which many people can specifically point to by date. It will come as no surprise to you that those of us in The Church don't buy that theory. Now I know the scripture passages which you quote to support that position and the others which of late you have used to support the theory that no good work can be performed until after one is saved (a theory which stems directly from the idea that salvation is a discreet event). I am quite confident that those men we in The Church call the Fathers were rather more familiar with scripture than any of us, if only because they spoke the language and lived in the culture which created the scriptures, at least the early ones. None, not one, of the Fathers, even in speculation, ever held that salvation occured as you present it. It is a revolutionary innovation of the Reformers which has had, theologically speaking and as we have seen on this thread, extensive implications and effects. If fact, it appears to me that it was this very concept which allowed the Reformers to throw over all the praxis and virtually all the theology of the Western Church in favor of something totally new. Without this theory, Reformed Protestantism looses its theological foundation. So... Why do you believe that the entire Church, from men like +Clement and +Ignatius and +Polycarp, men who sat at the feet of the Apostles to the +Symeon the New Theologians and +Gregory Palamases and all the preachers of The Church between them and since were just plain wrong?
The Blessed Trinity is the result of our works AND our faith. Faith is not the "vine"! Jesus Christ is the vine, the source of our good works. In the same light, our faith is ALSO from Jesus Christ. Faith is not some sort of conveyor belt that automatically brings forth works. The proof is in the book of James (among other places, but this seems to be a place where we seem to return to because he is so clear). The entire theme of James is that we must have works and faith to be saved. Eternally. First, remember he is speaking to Christians who have already been 'saved'...
"Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God. So then, leave all uncleanness and remains of malice and receive with meekness the word ingested within you, which is able to cause your souls to be saved. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." James 1:19-22
Man's sins, especially anger, does not produce righteousness of God. According to James 1:5-7, we are to ask God for aid, who gives generously. Doing such things can save.
"For judgment without mercy shall be done unto the one that has showed no mercy; and mercy boasts against judgment. My brethren, What shall it profit though someone says [that] they have faith and do not have works? Shall faith [without works] be able to save them?" James 2:13-14
Immediately preceding, James gives an example: "What would you do if the poor came among your congretation? Would you feed them and clothe them?" This is a question that we ALL must ask ourselves! What WOULD you do? And James asks this question to the Christian... Those who show no mercy for the poor will face judgment (see Matthew 25:31-45 on this...). James asks the rhetorical question "CAN FAITH {without love} SAVE????" Obviously, this has soteriological implications. The word "save" is there, and further along! Can a loveless faith save? Can you really consider yourself in love with God if you are like the Pharisee of the Good Samaritan story?
I am not taking a single verse. The whole BOOK of James SCREAMS of the "ROYAL LAW OF LOVE"! James 2 is hardly different from Galatians 5, where Paul says "the only thing that matters is faith working in love.". Note, Paul doesn't say "faith alone". He says faith WORKING IN LOVE.
Since James is asking the question of "what would you do if someone poor came into your midst", we are to realize that works of obedience DO NOT naturally flow from the believer! James is ADDRESSING BELIEVERS! We must recognize the DAILY struggle, to resist our sinful nature, which is not dead within us.
Scripture does not teach a mechanical process in which faith produces good works. Merely having faith does not mean one will refrain from sin in each situation. Also, having faith does not mean one will necessarily do good in each situation. James himself says that those who do NOT do what they know is good are SINNING.
James then compares the faith of the devil to the Christian who does not love. First, what must faith have?
"But without faith [it is] impossible to please God; for he that comes to God must believe that he is and [that] he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him" Heb 11:6
First, we must believe in God's existence. Sure, even the devil has that faith. But secondly. The "rewarder of those that DILIGENTLY SEEK HIM". Diligently seeking God requires that we work to please Him, something that the demons and Christians with DEAD FAITH DO NOT DO!
The argument continues in James 2 with Abraham - who was justified by his work in offering Isaac on the altar.
"Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? Dost thou not see how the faith worked together with his works, and the faith was complete by the works?" James 2:21-22
Faith and deeds work together, and works complete or perfect Abraham's faith. And thus, James concludes that faith without works is dead. Clearly, works are a part of the salvation formula. To have no works is to have a dead faith, which CANNOT save. Thus, faith alone is dead.
Furthermore, James describes bad works that clearly jeopardize one's salvation. In Chapter 3, he clearly tells us that the evil of the spoken word can condemn people. Again, I remind you James is addressing Christians. James says:
"If anyone among you thinks to be religious and does not bridle their tongue, but deceives his own heart, his religion [is] vain. The pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation [and] to keep thyself unspotted from this world." James 1:26-27
There are so many verses that speak to the fact that we can in no way earn our salvation; it is a gift from God to be received with a grateful heart, made alive by the work of the Holy Spirit within us.
That's not the issue. The fact is that we must have faith, from God, and we must have works, from God, to be saved. Nothing from me ALONE can save me. Unless I am abiding in the vine, I will not have faith or good deeds. I will be like a branch cut off and thrown into the fire - even though I was ONCE part of the vine!
Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." -- 1 Peter 1:3-5
Peter also wrote that we must add works to our faith to be SAVED...
"Grace and peace be multiplied unto you in the knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus, as all things that pertain to life and to godliness are given us of his divine power, through the knowledge of him that has called us by his glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be made participants of the divine nature, having fled the corruption that is in the world through lust. Ye also, giving all diligence to the same, show forth virtue in your faith; and in virtue, knowledge; and in knowledge, temperance; and in temperance, patience; and in patience, fear of God; and in fear of God, brotherly love; and in brotherly love, charity. For if these things are in you and abound, they shall not let you be idle nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacks these things is blind and walks feeling the way with his hand, having forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, give all the more diligence to make your calling and election sure; for doing these things, ye shall never fall. Because in this manner the entrance shall be abundantly administered unto you in the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ". 2 Peter 1:2-11
Regards