Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

DOCTRINE OF SALVATION BY WORKS Eph 2:9
Bible study notes | 1993 | R. B. Thieme, Jr.

Posted on 06/15/2015 2:49:32 AM PDT by Cvengr

DOCTRINE OF SALVATION BY WORKS

Eph 2:8-10

(8) For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

(9) Not of works, lest any man should boast.

(10) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

  1. Definition.
    1. Salvation by works is a false doctrine which rejects God's grace policy in the provision of eternal salvation for the human race.
    2. Salvation by works rejects the total helplessness of mankind under real spiritual death. Real spiritual death not only means separation from God at birth and total depravity, but it also means helplessness to do anything about our status quo.
    3. Salvation by works makes the distinction between Christianity and religion.
      1. In Christianity, mankind is eternally saved through the work of God. God the Father planned it, God the Son executed it on the cross, and God the Holy Spirit reveals it.
      2. However in religion, man seeks to gain the approbation of God through some category of human works, self-sacrifice, personality, or energy of the flesh. Christianity is not a religion. In Christianity, God does the work and man is the beneficiary apart from any merit or any works.
    4. There are at least seven categories of salvation by works rejected by the Word of God, as in Eph 2:9, "It is not by works."



TOPICS: Apologetics; Evangelical Christian; Theology
KEYWORDS: lordship; salvation; works
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 101-120121-140141-160 ... 261-272 next last
To: beancounter13
I love James 2:18!

And this one says the same thing:

John 6:29
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

We are saved by the works of God.

121 posted on 06/15/2015 6:33:32 PM PDT by Theophilus (Be as prolific as you are pro-life.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Cvengr

Where does it say by “faith alone”?


122 posted on 06/15/2015 6:38:01 PM PDT by ADSUM
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 116 | View Replies]

To: RnMomof7
The their jesus does not save..he only makes salvation possible.

That is exactly what I was taught when I was a catholic, that Jesus simply made salvation possible, but it was up to me to work my way to Heaven, by leading a good life. My dad told me, that he thought he was going to Heaven because he had led a good life. I don't think it will cut the mustard.

123 posted on 06/15/2015 6:38:55 PM PDT by Mark17 (Through all my days, and then in Heaven above, my song will silence never, I'll worship Him forever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: ADSUM; CynicalBear

Heresy against Catholicism means little to people outside of it.

If someone isn’t convinced that the Catholic church is what it claims to be, then the charge is meaningless.

What’s important to Christians is whether the charge can be made of being against the teaching of Scripture, not the teaching of some denomination.


124 posted on 06/15/2015 6:47:10 PM PDT by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 102 | View Replies]

To: ADSUM
Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done

Romans 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

Romans 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

Romans 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

So we would ask you, which works are more efficacious, works of the law (keeping the law) or works of charity (as in the second of the great commandments Jesus proclaimed.

125 posted on 06/15/2015 6:51:15 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Is it really all relative, Mister Einstein?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 122 | View Replies]

To: ADSUM
Romans 4:1-25 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

126 posted on 06/15/2015 6:52:27 PM PDT by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 122 | View Replies]

To: MHGinTN
“Salvation is based on God’s judgement and mercy.” If you are awaiting the judgment of your works to obtain His Mercy, you will perish in your sins.

You are correct sir. If someone waits till they die, to see if they make it to Heaven, I would say there is about a 99% chance they will be in deep kimchi at death. Praise the Lord, it doesn't have to be that way. 😇

127 posted on 06/15/2015 6:52:43 PM PDT by Mark17 (Through all my days, and then in Heaven above, my song will silence never, I'll worship Him forever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: Mark17

Only God’s Spirit can penetrate the level of blindness reached in slavish service to the Nicolaitan Catholic Church. There is no reasonable explanation for the twists some will make in order to avoid the open truth before them. I saw it for almost a decade at FR with the Mormonism adherents and now the Catholicism followers. But we must persist in trying to awaken them because time is growing so short.


128 posted on 06/15/2015 6:57:16 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Is it really all relative, Mister Einstein?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 127 | View Replies]

To: Mark17

Perhaps, if we persist, then when Jesus Raptures away His Church and they are witness to so great a miracle explained to them before hand, perhaps then they will immediately call upon His name and believe He is the only means to Salvation in their acknowledging Him, not holding up their filthy rags works.


129 posted on 06/15/2015 6:59:51 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Is it really all relative, Mister Einstein?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 127 | View Replies]

To: MHGinTN

Nowhere does it say by “faith alone”.


130 posted on 06/15/2015 7:14:58 PM PDT by ADSUM
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 125 | View Replies]

To: ADSUM
You write it yet ignore it! He established the Covenant ON THE CROSS, not in the Upper Room. In the Upper Room He gave them the sacrament for a remembrance, not for gastronomic indulgence.

In your won words, "Jesus established the New Covenant based on His sacrifice = blood on the Cross." That blood was taken by our Great High Priest into the Holy of Holies and spread upon the mercy seat over the laws. You do not do this over and over for His blood is so precious that He did this ONCE FOR ALL< FOR ALL TIME.

Hebrews 9:20-26 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;

For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. world and as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin

Catholicism would have Jesus entering over and over and over with His blood, as if His blood could not accomplish it ONCE FOR ALL< FOREVER.

131 posted on 06/15/2015 7:15:16 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Is it really all relative, Mister Einstein?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 117 | View Replies]

To: metmom

Make sure you tell God that if you meet Him.


132 posted on 06/15/2015 7:16:15 PM PDT by ADSUM
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 124 | View Replies]

To: MHGinTN

You keep repeating yourself and ignore the words and actions of Jesus.


133 posted on 06/15/2015 7:17:34 PM PDT by ADSUM
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 131 | View Replies]

To: ADSUM

Still seeking the escape clause? You will not find it for this is an heretical religion, not Christ ianity.


134 posted on 06/15/2015 7:17:50 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Is it really all relative, Mister Einstein?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 130 | View Replies]

To: MHGinTN

I will still go with the ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH. Jesus said he would be with us until the end of time.

You are welcome to come and join.


135 posted on 06/15/2015 7:21:05 PM PDT by ADSUM
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 120 | View Replies]

To: metmom

It does mean something to former Catholics.


136 posted on 06/15/2015 7:22:04 PM PDT by ADSUM
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 124 | View Replies]

To: ADSUM
I will still go with the ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH. Jesus said he would be with us until the end of time.

Where did Jesus say He'd be with the CATHOLIC church? Chapter and verse please.

Cause I haven't found the term *Catholic church* in the Bible yet.

137 posted on 06/15/2015 7:23:10 PM PDT by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 135 | View Replies]

To: ADSUM

“Nowhere does it say by “faith alone”.”

Nowhere does it say “trinity.”


138 posted on 06/15/2015 7:23:37 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion ( "Forward lies the crown, and onward is the goal.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 130 | View Replies]

To: ADSUM

Former Catholics understand the meaning of what it is intended to mean.

We just understand that it’s just empty words, it cannot affect anyone. In that sense, it’s meaningless.


139 posted on 06/15/2015 7:24:26 PM PDT by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 136 | View Replies]

To: ADSUM
Are you so double minded that you will not see what is given to you? We ask when God changed His nature, to endorse drinking of blood by the Jews. You ignore that question to tell us that Catholics have believed in doing this for 200 years (false assertion, but we won't quibble with that error of times). We show you that Jesus instituted a ceremony of remembrance not cannibalism for what He was about to do for them and us, and you tell us He fed the Disciples his flesh and blood as the bread and wine.

Frankly, I am left concluding some are so blind they WILL NOT see. There is no such Gospel as faith and works for salvation. When you cite James to us, we know by the textual placement that James is referring to how men see the faith of one by the works they do, and without works showing His Spirit in you, men conclude you have no SAVING FAITH. Yet Catholicism turns that on it head to mean James is referring to the perspective of God, how God determines whose faith is enough bolstered by works.

May God have Mercy on such heretical blindness.

140 posted on 06/15/2015 7:27:26 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Is it really all relative, Mister Einstein?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 133 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 101-120121-140141-160 ... 261-272 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson