Faith and Salvation
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Once a man is justified by the faith of Christ by believing in the gospel of Christ, his individual faith will be put to the test by his obedience to the word of God. Some fail and grieve the Holy Spirit, some go on to do great things for the Lord. The believer will be judged for their individual faith at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
Something Is wrong then because scripture Interprets scripture,do you agree?
John 3:16
King James Version(KJV)
16.)For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
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James 2:24
King James Version(KJV)
24.)Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
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How would you harmonize those scriptures,Saying they are contradicting each other would be errant,do you agree?
John 3:16
King James Version(KJV)
16.)For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
+++
James 2:24
King James Version(KJV)
24.)Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
+++
How would you harmonize those scriptures,Saying they are contradicting each other would be errant,do you agree?
i agree, but i wanted to add that more precisely, "it begins" with God, with whom also we all began - God who creates, who calls, who strengthens and opens and shuts. faith may be created in my heart and, i pray, established by my life, but i'm not the one who creates it there. whether i cherish it or struggle against it, He is Lord, Creator and Sustainer - the One who created my heart, my mind, and my faith.
so it might be that we're born "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" and not merely 'ordained' to do good works - but "created in Christ Jesus unto" them. that it is to the Father's glory "that you produce much fruit." so it's by trusting Him that good can be worked in and through and by us, He in we, and we in He.
it begins in the mind & heart, when the Beginning and the End dwells in it ♥
it's His faithfulness to me that produces faith in me, nurtures it, and gives it increase, producing fruit: His glory. my works were all death, but i believe Him, and He is life. He changed me, and that changed 'my works' when they became His works, when i cease from my own labor and enter His rest. so it's both that by believing, i am saved, and have life - and if that belief has no result, it is no life at all. this faith isn't defined by the frailty of humanity; it's defined by the Lord
And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
(Hebrews 3:18-19)
oh look, the contrapositive: unbelief and disobedience are correlated just like belief and obedience. here, the writer seems to make almost no distinction between them. in Christ -- if we are truly in Christ, what distinction is there, really? if i examine myself and i say, 'o there's my faith let's put that over there, and o there's my works let's put that over in this other side,' like they're not measures of the same thing, what kind of person did i find when i examined myself?
Of course, since Abraham BELIEVED GOD it was imputed or accounted to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6). That is actually a very amazing truth. That God sees the faith of a sinner in Himself, in Christ, and His finished work of redemption, and that is sufficient for a sinner to be deemed as righteous as Christ Himself. And somewhere along the way, Abraham must have been given an understanding that God would provide Himself a Lamb (Christ).
So that is exactly what he told Isaac, an lo and behold, there was a ram caught in a thicket and available for sacrifice, thus prefiguring the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world. So this is where Abraham showed that he was justified -- by obedience to the command to sacrifice Isaac. Christians also show that they are justified when they obey God and Christ, starting with believer's baptism.
So that is exactly what he told Isaac, an lo and behold, there was a ram caught in a thicket and available for sacrifice, thus prefiguring the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world. So this is where Abraham showed that he was justified -- by obedience to the command to sacrifice Isaac. Christians also show that they are justified when they obey God and Christ, starting with believer's baptism.
Romans 3:24 (NASB)
[SUP]24 [/SUP] being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
Romans 3:28 (NASB)
[SUP]28 [/SUP] For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.
( works of the law are the things we do or don't do for obtaining righteousness )
Romans 5:9 (NASB)
[SUP]9 [/SUP] Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
1 Corinthians 6:11 (NASB)
[SUP]11 [/SUP] Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
Galatians 2:16 (NASB)
[SUP]16 [/SUP] nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.
Titus 3:5-7 (NASB)
[SUP]5 [/SUP] He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
[SUP]6 [/SUP] whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
[SUP]7 [/SUP] so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Right believing will produce right thinking which will produce the life of Christ manifesting His righteousness that is in us in our actions to others.
Get this backwards and we create a religion of self-effort and self-righteousness and we think we are being godly but we are really living a life of lawlessness - because lawlessness is us "doing in order to achieve something".
There are good fruit and evil fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that was released in tis world from Adam's transgression. They are eating from the same tree.
We eat from the tree of life which is Christ Himself now.
[SUP]24 [/SUP] being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
Romans 3:28 (NASB)
[SUP]28 [/SUP] For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.
( works of the law are the things we do or don't do for obtaining righteousness )
Romans 5:9 (NASB)
[SUP]9 [/SUP] Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
1 Corinthians 6:11 (NASB)
[SUP]11 [/SUP] Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
Galatians 2:16 (NASB)
[SUP]16 [/SUP] nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.
Titus 3:5-7 (NASB)
[SUP]5 [/SUP] He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
[SUP]6 [/SUP] whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
[SUP]7 [/SUP] so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Right believing will produce right thinking which will produce the life of Christ manifesting His righteousness that is in us in our actions to others.
Get this backwards and we create a religion of self-effort and self-righteousness and we think we are being godly but we are really living a life of lawlessness - because lawlessness is us "doing in order to achieve something".
There are good fruit and evil fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that was released in tis world from Adam's transgression. They are eating from the same tree.
We eat from the tree of life which is Christ Himself now.
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Unfortunately you are still denying the truth that God declared Abraham righteous before he ever did a work.
God declaring Abraham righteous because "he believed" produced the faith to obey what things the Lord commanded him to do. This righteousness made his faith be perfected or completed - to come to it's expected end result.
Abraham "believed" God and it was counted to him as being righteous. Unless you want to say that "believing in God's word" is a work. I say it is faith in action.
Believing is faith in action. God's kind of faith which produces an expected result in "doing things" when it is completed or matured.
As we have seen over and over again in scripture - righteousness only comes by "belief in the word spoken to us by God".
True faith will have a corresponding action to it depending on the word being spoken to us at the time but the righteousness part comes when we "believe" the gospel message of Christ.
No amount of good works will save anyone nor make them righteous. This is getting the cart before the horse. The "horse" being - Christ's righteousness given to us believers as a gift when we hear the gospel message and believe and are sealed with the Holy spirit. Eph. 1:13 & Rom. 5:17
All religions have this "good works" as a means for obtaining their own righteousness.
In James 2:14, we read of one who says-claims he has faith but has no works (to back up his claim, given time to produce works). This is not genuine faith, but a bare profession of faith. So when James asks, "Can that faith save him?" He is saying nothing against genuine faith, but only against an empty profession of faith/dead faith.
*So James does not teach that we are saved "by" works or by faith "and" works. His concern is to show the reality of the faith professed by the individual (James 2:18) and demonstrate that the faith claimed (James 2:14) by the individual is genuine.
*James is discussing the proof of faith (says-claims to have faith but has no works/I will show you my faith by my works - James 2:14-18), not the initial act of being accounted as righteous with God (Romans 4:2-3).
Faith without works is dead does not mean that faith is dead UNTIL it produces works. That would be like saying a tree is dead UNTIL it produces fruit. It takes a living faith to produce works; just as it takes a living tree to produce fruit. Works are not the source of life in faith, rather, life in faith is the source of works. Works salvationists have this backwards.
*So James does not teach that we are saved "by" works or by faith "and" works. His concern is to show the reality of the faith professed by the individual (James 2:18) and demonstrate that the faith claimed (James 2:14) by the individual is genuine.
*James is discussing the proof of faith (says-claims to have faith but has no works/I will show you my faith by my works - James 2:14-18), not the initial act of being accounted as righteous with God (Romans 4:2-3).
Faith without works is dead does not mean that faith is dead UNTIL it produces works. That would be like saying a tree is dead UNTIL it produces fruit. It takes a living faith to produce works; just as it takes a living tree to produce fruit. Works are not the source of life in faith, rather, life in faith is the source of works. Works salvationists have this backwards.