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Thank you for your encouragement, dear brother in Christ!

I cannot recall a Reformer testifying that a person is saved by speaking magic words. The example from my earlier post:

It is not faith when one covers his ears, jumps up and down, humming and thinking to himself "I believe." That is self-will (I choose to believe) but it is not faith, not yet.

And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. - Mark 9:24

By Reformation theology as I understand it, speaking magic words would deny predestination and/or the Blood of Christ, i.e. a man could save himself by speaking the magic words.

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. - Ephesians 2:8-9

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. – Ephesians 1:4-6

As I understand the Reformation theology, whereas magic words do not save, words of affirmation are evidence that a person is saved.

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. - Romans 10:9

So to me the difference is more like the balancing of scales than a wall between faith and works.

As I understand the Reformation theology, whereas magic words do not save, words of affirmation are evidence that a person is saved.

Absolutely right, thanks AG! Concerning salvation, Reformation theology is strongly centered on the spiritual (grace through faith) as opposed to Apostolic faiths which are centered much more on men and the physical (water baptism and other physical sacraments, being within a particular Apostolic faith, performing a sufficient kind and quantity of physical deeds, spiritual submission to the extra-Biblical traditions of men, etc., all being necessary for salvation).

As you allude to, one great difference is where the focus is. Your statement above is correct because our focus is on the spiritual faith given to us by God through no merit of our own. From that given faith flow the words as evidence. Faith and salvation first, then words and deeds.

I see Apostolic faiths as holding to the opposite order. For them I see words, deeds, and submission to men all being the more important leaders to salvation, with spiritual faith being included, but not emphasized. The focus is on the physical first, and the state of the spiritual is always subject to the physical first. Salvation flows much more from the physical than the spiritual. Indeed, in some cases it appears that the spiritual is not even a requirement and that the physical alone can be a means to salvation. For example, from JOHN PAUL II -- GENERAL AUDIENCE -- Wednesday 9 September 1998

3. The Holy Spirit is not only present in other religions through authentic expressions of prayer. “The Spirit’s presence and activity”, as I wrote in the Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, “affect not only individuals but also society and history, peoples, cultures and religions” (n. 28).

Normally, “it will be in the sincere practice of what is good in their own religious traditions and by following the dictates of their own conscience that the members of other religions respond positively to God’s invitation and receive salvation in Jesus Christ, even while they do not recognize or acknowledge him as their Saviour (cf. Ad gentes, nn. 3, 9, 11)” (Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue – Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Instruction Dialogue and Proclamation, 19 May 1991, n. 29; L’Osservatore Romano English edition, 1 July 1991, p. III). (emphasis added)

Even leaving aside the man-centered assertion that the Holy Spirit is present in prayers to false gods as long as they are authentic, I believe this goes FAR beyond the uncontroversial assertion that God can save the unchurched or the unreached. Here the focus is NOT on God touching people in unconventional ways with true but unconventional faith resulting. No, the focus here is on the SUBSTITUTION of following one's OWN conscience for having faith in the one and only true Christ. To me this elevates man's intentions alone to the same level as the true gift that is faith.

So interestingly, the idea that any magic words can save is much closer to the Apostolic faiths than to Reformation theology. :)

So to me the difference is more like the balancing of scales than a wall between faith and works.

Absolutely correct A-G. As the scriptures teaches about faith:

Heb 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Jas 2:22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works;

Our works and faith are manifestations of our salvatiion. Faith is the assurance that we are truly saved and good works are the natural result of that faith. We know we are saved because we can look inward and realize that we believe. We know we are saved because we can see Christ working through us in the simpliest ways. But it is through grace that we are saved.

Act 13:48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

We can't activate our faith any more than we can do good works without the divine direction of Christ. We are appointed to believe. We will cast our crowns at His feet because He does it all.