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To: ADSUM; aMorePerfectUnion
Second, the Bible nowhere uses the expressions “justification by faith alone” or “salvation by faith alone.” The first was directly the invention of Luther; the second his by implication. Luther inserted “alone” into the German translation of Romans 3:28 to give credence to his new doctrine.

By this time i trust your ignorance on Rm. 3:28 has exposed, while the argument "the Bible nowhere uses the expressions “justification by faith alone” or “salvation by faith alone,”' is sophistry, akin to stating that God nowhere condemns father/daughter incest, even though that is covered under "None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the Lord." (Leviticus 18:6)

For while the phrase "justification by faith alone" nowhere appears, the exclusion of works being the means/instrument of justification does, such as in,

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (Ephesians 2:8)

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (Titus 3:5)

And neither restrict works to being those of the law, as if works of charity could merit salvation, and while the law is used in Rm. 4, yet that is the highest system of salvation by actual merit, "for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law." (Galatians 3:21)

Arguing that works done by grace merit salvation does not help, since one who sought salvation under the law could do so under the premise that this was by the grace of God.

However, neither can faith be separate from works, as meaning faith that is alone, with "faith alone" Luther himself stating such truths as that "Faith cannot help doing good works constantly..." "if faith be true, it will break forth and bear fruit..." "where there is no faith there also can be no good works; and conversely, that there is no faith... there are no good works." "Therefore faith and good works should be so closely joined together that the essence of the entire Christian life consists in both." 'if obedience and God's commandments do not dominate you, then the work is not right, but damnable, surely the devil's own doings..."

Nor does it mean that believers cannot be saved due to being found "worthy," (Revelation 3:4) as meaning they manifest salvific faith.

However, what is false is that of Rome's salvation by actually becoming good enough to be with God via baptism and then (for most) RC Purgatory.

454 posted on 08/15/2020 6:28:24 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Trust the risen Lord Jesus to save you as a damned and destitute sinner + be baptized + follow Him)
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To: daniel1212

Sproul presents it this way:

Faith = Salvation + works

vs

Faith + works = Salvation


459 posted on 08/15/2020 7:01:00 PM PDT by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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