>>The wages of sin is death, eternal life is a gift. Gifts are not owed us, no matter OUR faith or love...<<
With this one verse and its acompanying comment you have completely destroys the argument that you were using up to now... If you offered a gift and I insisted paying for it... It wouldn't be a gift anymore, would it? By the same token, grace also...
God's
Riches
At
Christ's
Expense
Forsaking
All
I
Trust
Him
Romans 11:5 "...So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace..."
I haven't. I am not paying for anything. That's the whole point. I can't earn salvation by myself. Do you have a problem with me showing my appreciation for the gift given to me?
The fancy wordplay notwithstanding, faith alone does not save. The bible says so, as I have demonstrated. Here is another author, if you dislike the message of St. Paul and St. James...
"He who saith that he knoweth him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But he that keepeth his word, in him in very deed the charity of God is perfected; and by this we know that we are in him". 1 John 2:4-5
"He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now." 1 John 2:9
Talk is cheap, brother...
"And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ: and love one another, as he hath given commandment unto us. And he that keepeth his commandments, abideth in him, and he in him. And in this we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us." 1 John 3:23-24
"He that hath the Son, hath life. He that hath not the Son, hath not life." 1 John 5:12
If you aren't walking in the ways of the Lord due to His abiding presence, you will not have eternal life. Faith alone doesn't save unto heaven. All the faith in the world is meaningless without Christ's abiding presence.
Clearly, you need to revisit my last post and re-read the part about what "work" is, as you still don't understand it.
Regards