Heb 10:38 But my just one shall live by faith ... Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him (God) ... The Bible is equally clear on the saving role of good works in the lives of the faithful.
1 Pet 2:12 Maintain good conduct among the Gentiles, so that if they speak of you as evildoers, they may observe your good works and glorify God on the day of visitation. Rev 2:2 I know your works, your labor, and your endurance ... Mt 5:16 Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father. Mt 16:27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct. Mt 25:34-36 Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.' The Bible makes it clear that there must be a balanced relationship between our faith and its expression in good works.
James 2:14-18 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well," but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Indeed someone might say, "You have faith and I have works." Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works. 1 Cor 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Heb 6:10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name by having served and continuing to serve the holy ones. James 2:20-22 Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by the works. Mt 16:27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct. 1 Cor 3:8 The one who plants and the one who waters are equal, and each will receive wages in proportion to his labor. Col 3:23-24 Whatever you do, do from the heart, as for the Lord and not for others, knowing that you will receive from the Lord the due payment of the inheritance. The Bible indicates that it is wrong to disturb the balance of works expressing a life of faith. Man is not saved by faith alone.
James 2:24 See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. James 2:26 For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. Nor is man saved by works alone.
Rom 9:31-32 Israel, who pursued the law of righteousness, did not attain to that law ... because they did it not by faith, but as if it could be done by works. Gal 3:11 And that no one is justified before God by the law is clear, for "the one who is righteous by faith will live." The Bible declares that salvation is a gift of God alone and constantly reaffirms that faith has a primary role in that salvation.
Eph 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast. Heb 6:1 Therefore, let us leave behind the basic teaching about Christ and advance to maturity, without laying the foundation all over again: repentance from dead works and faith in God, Heb 9:14 ... how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God. 2 Tim 1:9 He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began, Titus 3:4-5 ... the kindness and generous love of God our savior appeared, not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy. Rom 3:27-28 What occasion is there then for boasting? It is ruled out. On what principle, that of works? No, rather on the principle of faith. For we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Gal 2:16 (We) know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
Here in Advent many who attack the Church do so with falsehoods about what we believe. In an effort to help dispel those, I post this.
James 2:24 You all see that it is because of actions that a man is pronounced righteous, and not simply because of faith.
There is a difference between what people see and what God sees. Man looks on the outward appearance but God looks at the heart (I Samuel 16:7). From Barnes' Notes on the Bible:
How that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only - Not by a cold, abstract, inoperative faith. It must be by a faith that shall produce good works, and whose existence will be shown to men by good works. As justification takes place in the sight of God, it is by faith, for he sees that the faith is genuine, and that it will produce good works if the individual who exercises faith shall live; and he justifies men in view of that faith, and of no other. If he sees that the faith is merely speculative; that it is cold and dead, and would not produce good works, the man is not justified in his sight. As a matter of fact, therefore, it is only the faith that produces good works that justifies; and good works, therefore, as the proper expression of the nature of faith, foreseen by God as the certain result of faith, and actually performed as seen by men, are necessary in order to justification.
In other words, no man will be justified who has not a faith which will produce good works, and which is of an operative and practical character. The ground of justification in the case is faith, and that only; the evidence of it, the carrying it out, the proof of the existence of the faith, is good works; and thus men are justified and saved not by mere abstract and cold faith, but by a faith necessarily connected with good works, and where good works perform an important part. James, therefore, does not contradict Paul, but he contradicts a false explanation of Paul's doctrine. He does not deny that a man is justified in the sight of God by faith, for the very passage which he quotes shows that he believes that; but he does deny that a man is justified by a faith which would not produce good works, and which is not expressed by good works; and thus he maintains, as Paul always did, that nothing else than a holy life can show that a man is a true Christian, and is accepted of God.
James does not contradict Paul's writing to ALL Christians to understand that:
God who saves us showed how kind and good he is. We were not saved by any good things we did ourselves, but he saved us because he is so kind. He washed us clean. We were born again as a new person. The Holy Spirit has made us new.
God is rich. And he gave the Holy Spirit to us because of Jesus Christ our Saviour. He did this so that we can be put right with God, by his kindness. He did this so that we can become his children. So now we can look forward to everlasting life. (Titus 3:4-7)
“Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” John 6:28-29
The cannon following these doctrines (and doctrines of Islam and LDS) are why I took my screen name.
The RCC is so like the Pharisees, twisting the plain sense of the Word of God to further its own power. The outward signs of works and the self-righteousness of scholarship take precedence over the God given convictions of the heart.
May God bring those who love Him out of such unworthy religions.
Question - how much faith is required to provide the necessary good works? Can one assume the presence of faith due to good works? How many have been shown to have even the mustard seed of faith that Jesus told the disciples they lacked? Can we really qualify God's requirements for entry to Heaven in a definitive way that goes beyond admitting and repenting of our sins to Jesus and proclaiming Him our Savior by inviting Him and the Holy Spirit into our hearts?
There is no "gotcha" in my questions, I realize that those who came up with much of religious doctrine actually studied many documents that did not appear in the Bible and sometimes they appear to belie some of what the Bible tells me. For Instance - Jeremiah indicates that the New Covenant that God is going to bring about will result in an event that allows us to become pure in God's eyes:
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to[d] them,[e]” declares the Lord. 33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
And, Paul lamented how he did that which he would not do and did not do that which he would do - even after having met the risen Jesus and becoming a workhorse in carrying the Word. What amount of Faith/good works is required to tip the scales away from our natural human sinfulness? What caveats did Jesus put on whether His Blood would wash away our sins and cause God to stop recognizing our sinfulness as actual sin?
The book of James was written to a converted church , not heathens seeking salvation . It tells them how their conversion is seen by the unsaved world . It is not about becoming saved or being saved. It is about the fruit of your salvation.
Jam 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
Jam 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
This is an amplification of the teaching of Jesus that we know a tree by the fruit it bears. It is how we know the saved from the unsaved. It does not declare that the man has faith ...but that he SAYS he has faith.
This addresses a hollow profession of faith , not a saving one .Can a hollow profession save him? NO, any more than works can save.This scripture says to the church that this faith is non existent , it is dead.
The bible is clear that it is God that gives the faith and it is God that ordains the works of the saved
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Hbr 13:21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom [be] glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Phl 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of [his] good pleasure.