Yes. Saved by Grace through Faith. But NOT Faith alone. That belief does directly contradict Scripture.
Roman’s 3:21-31
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in[h] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,[i] through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. 28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
WORKS ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO SAVE, they are an outward sign of an inward change that God has done! God has “circumcised the heart”.
-JS
Yes. Faith alone in Christ alone. Nothing else.
PS
Try it.
It is a completely different way of thinking than to try and perform good for reward.
Face God.
Pray to Him (we are to pray without ceasing).
Confess any known and unknown sins to Him in your thinking.
Simply through faith alone in Christ alone.
That places one in fellowship.
No do anything in life,...anything at all,...EXCEPT do it through faith alone in Christ alone. That is the Christian walk. It’s spiritual,...not soulish.
“Yes. Saved by Grace through Faith. But NOT Faith alone. That belief does directly contradict Scripture.”
It certainly does not:
“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.”
(Eph 2:8-9)
The problem comes when you attempt to read James by ignoring Paul, and also ignoring the context of James. Since James himself says that even just one sin brings you under the guilt of the entire law, which makes every Christian a heinous sinner (James 2:10). (James also doesn’t even support the “law” you want us to follow, since usually when Papists say this, they mean that they want us to bow and scrape before their corpse-like Popes. Instead, the whole law is fulfilled by loving our neighbor (James 2:8).)
Obviously, if just one sin brings you under the guilt of the entire law, then it is impossible to be saved by a quantity of works added to faith, as Catholics imagine up in heaven there being a scale where their right and wrong are weighed.
And since Paul rules out works altogether in the equation, the obvious reconciliation is this: it is the quality of the faith that saves, that faith which can shew its existence through its fruit (works), and not the quantity of the works.
Therefore we are safe, and need not follow all the stupid laws of Rome to be saved, like in this example, endorsed by the Pope:
“One day the King fell seriously ill and when he was given up for dead he found himself, in a vision, before the judgement seat of Our Lord. Many devils were there accusing him of all the sins he had committed and Our Lord as Sovereign Judge was just about to condemn him to hell when Our Lady appeared to intercede for him. She called for a pair of scales and had his sins placed in one of the balances whereas she put the rosary that he had always worn on the other scale, together with all the Rosaries that had been said because of his example. It was found that the Rosaries weighed more than his sins.
Looking at him with great kindness Our Lady said: “As a reward for this little honor that you paid me in wearing my Rosary, I have obtained a great grace for you from my Son. Your life will be spared for a few more years. See that you spend these years wisely, and do penance.”
When the King regained consciousness he cried out: “Blessed be the Rosary of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, by which I have been delivered from eternal damnation!””
http://www.rosary-center.org/secret.htm
This is a wholly blasphemous view of salvation which must be rejected. There is no weighing of good works for your salvation, as if you had any. According to the scripture, there isn’t a single man who is good. Not even Paul, as we see in Romans 7, was free of sin. Instead, he lamented that he sinned so greatly, and did not do all the good that he would. John, in his epistle, declares that anyone who says the have no sin, is a liar. In reality, if anything is measured, it is the quality of the faith which a man has that shall either damn him or justify him. Not the quantity of works, but the living faith, as opposed to the mere belief of devils (who all believe in God, but are damned), which produces good works the way a pregnant cloud produces rain.
Though this would still be an imperfect way of speaking, because faith also is the gift of God, and we cannot imagine that anything given by God is of dubious quality. Perhaps it is better to say, that the faith of the elect, which is from God, is always perfect; whereas the dead faith of evil ones is always found wanting. Hence why Paul says that we are not sufficient for anything, and this includes our faith, which is given to us by the Holy Spirit when we were yet unwilling and dead in our sin. As the scripture says, “no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost” (1 Co 12:3). Again, “no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father” (Joh 6:65). And again, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Php 2:13).
Thus both faith and good works must bow to grace, which provides liberally for both for all those predestined before the world began; not according to our works, or our foreseen goodness and faith, but according to His good pleasure and purpose.
>> But NOT Faith alone.
Faith plus, eh?
Faith plus what exactly?
There are no "BUTs" in God's Word. James was clearly showing us there is a horse and cart. The horse is faith and the cart is actions (works). The cart does not come before the horse and the horse can still walk without the cart; If the horse does not pull a cart, then one can question of what use it is when his master needs a lot of work to be done with the cart.