That's just it. All those things I listed can be summarized in one phrase, "To be incorporated into Christ." That is what Faith is, a living Faith: being in Him, because He is Love and He is the source of Life. Without Him, nothing in us is alive.
The Thief aligned himself with Christ, he chose Him in trust. This was cooperation in Salvation; this was incorporation into Christ.
The distinction between "a living faith" and "a dead faith" is of key importance, and here we find Paul in complete agreement with James:
1 Corinthians 13:2
"If I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing."
That is why our Salvation, gained for us by Christ's sacrifice, comes by all of those means of Salvation listed in Scripture. One can't just brush away Jesus' answer to the very question: "Lord, what must I do to be saved?"
Matthew 19:16
Now someone approached him and said, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”
His answer? "If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
Mark 10:17 The Rich Man. As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.’”
He replied and said to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.”
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to [the] poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
Luke 10:25
There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”
He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”
Do not imagine that all the items in that Scriptural list I gave you, are not related to Salvation itself. Christ in Matthew 25 clearly lays out the very criteria of whether one is saved with the lambs on His right, or damned with the goats on His left.
This is what He equates with living faith, because here's the amazing thing: every one of them is surprised, both the saved and the damned. Both groups say, "Lord, when did we see you hungry? Lord, when did we see You thirsty?" Even those who were saved, did not know that these acts of mercy were acts of faith in Christ, because they, too, are perplexed: "Lord, when did we see you naked, or sick, or imprisoned?"
If you're perplexed about whether one has to have explicit "faith" before their works of mercy "count," --- well, ask Him. Evidently He was telling the truth back in Matthew 5: the merciful receive mercy.
he Thief aligned himself with Christ, he chose Him in trust. This was cooperation in Salvation; this was incorporation into Christ.
How? The thief was DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SIN. Until God changed his heart, there was no hope. The Thief "aligned" himself only in the sense that he expressed the faith in Christ THAT GOD GAVE HIM THROUGH GRACE. The Thief had no ability to align himself prior to God's calling him.
We cannot act while we are yet dead in our sins. We just can't. It's impossible. All of the scripture you quote is to show we cannot hope to live perfectly according to the law...only Christ did. Our faith in him comes from God to us by His mercy NOT OUR CHOICE.
Context is your friend.
Im still waiting for your response concerning Roman Catholic heresy regarding Mary being elevated to mediatrix and provider of salvation in CCC 969 in direct opposition to God's inerrant and infallible word. Do you agree with Rome, or with God? No false dilemma here...
Hoss