[.45 Long Colt]

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. --Ephesians 2:8-10

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For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. --Ephesians 2:8-10

OK, good. You are helping illustrate the point I'm driving at.

Paul in Rom. 2:6-7 draws a positive association between "works" and the receipt of "eternal life."

And Paul in Eph. 2:8-10 disassociates "works" and "salvation."

Now, if one is a Bible and Christian critic, this is but one more example of alleged "Bible contradictions." But for the believer, the challenge instead is to understand and explain how "works" as used by Paul in Rom. 2 has a different understanding from "works" as used in Eph. 2.

That's where a true discussion and a true examination of Scripture lies. It doesn't lie in merely tossing out as many other verses as one can find that "sound like" one's preferred interpretation of Eph. 2 and then giving a hand wave and acting as if Rom. 2 can be disregarded. (Bible critics laugh at that one).

So then the question is posed: how is Paul using "works" differently in these verses so that they are reconciled?