Did you know that the phase ''faith only'' is used only one time in all of scripture?
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James was addressing a church, showing favoritism towards the rich in the worship service and neglecting the poor from the bounty God has provided. They were sending the poor away after service by saying "Be warm and be filled" as if that would be initiating faith in God's Providence for Him to do so towards the poor.
In the eyes of the poor, that kind of faith being issued towards them by the church doesn't profit the poor seeing how the church was unwilling to depart from the bounty collected of what they did not immediately need at the moment to feed and clothed the poor of what obviously they needed. That kind of faith being issued towards the poor will not profit the poor nor save them from the elements and starvation. So it is the abuse of the poor that was being addressed.
It was never about the faith of salvation, but the abuse of faith in God's Providence. If you would note.. the terms "profit" and "save" are being applied to the same topic.... towards the poor.
James referred to Abraham in general but not in detail when Abraham had told Isaac that God will provide when they got up to the mountain to make this sacrifice. In that, Abraham was "justified" in the eyes of God in his faith in His Providence.
So the faith in God's Providence would be justified in the eyes of God and the poor if the church had parted from the bounty to meet the immediate needs of the poor.
In the eyes of the poor, that kind of faith being issued towards them by the church doesn't profit the poor seeing how the church was unwilling to depart from the bounty collected of what they did not immediately need at the moment to feed and clothed the poor of what obviously they needed. That kind of faith being issued towards the poor will not profit the poor nor save them from the elements and starvation. So it is the abuse of the poor that was being addressed.
It was never about the faith of salvation, but the abuse of faith in God's Providence. If you would note.. the terms "profit" and "save" are being applied to the same topic.... towards the poor.
James referred to Abraham in general but not in detail when Abraham had told Isaac that God will provide when they got up to the mountain to make this sacrifice. In that, Abraham was "justified" in the eyes of God in his faith in His Providence.
So the faith in God's Providence would be justified in the eyes of God and the poor if the church had parted from the bounty to meet the immediate needs of the poor.
It's only a false doctrine if it is your works that you rely on, it was Paul that saidnot by my works least I boast, I believe it to be a bibical doctrine to have faith that when God saw the travail of Jesus soul that he was satisfied, I mean if you truly want to believe that you can work your way in go ahead that's totally you dude. I am trusting The Works that Christ did for Me. Abraham was counted righteous by His faith, then they saw his woks through His faith. The term faith alone is not the only way to term this doctrine, you can't even find the word rapture in the scriptures, but I don't know any people who don't believe in the rapture, so your thread at the most is very weak argument for works and faith. Here's one you might want to chew on a little bit
Ga 2:16Knowing that a man is not justified by the WORKS of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the WORKS of the law: for by the WORKS of the law shall no flesh be justified.
I still labor for the Lord but it is not for my salvation, for my salvation Is of the Lord, but rather I works because I realize what he did for me and romans 12:2 says that is my reasonable service
Ro 6:23For the wages of sin is death; but the GIFT OF GOD is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Salvation Is a gift dude you can't work and earn a gift , you can work and earn wages or compensation. But A gift is a Gift.
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Right. Galatians explains that we do not earn our salvation through any work or effort of our own; or, as Romans puts it, Jesus is the justification, as well as the one who justifies. The passage in James explains how our faith should cause us to do good works, and that a faith without works is dead.
First of all our work are works of the flesh which is murder deceit, adultery ect... so of course we cqanot depend on all work. However if we walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh as Paul tell us to then we can indeed overcome sin and do works wothry of righteousness. Furthermore The works spoken of in Ephesians that cannot save you are works devoid of faith. It is your own works outside of faith in Christ that cannot save you. However faith without works is just as impotent.
First of all our work are works of the flesh which is murder deceit, adultery ect... so of course we cannot depend on our work. However if we walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh as Paul tell us to then we can indeed overcome sin and do works worthy of righteousness. Furthermore The works spoken of in Ephesians that cannot save you are works devoid of faith. It is your own works outside of faith in Christ that cannot save you. However faith without works is just as impotent.[/quote]
From Abraham sacrificing Isaac, to Rahab the prostitute giving aid to God's people, and many other examples from both the old and new testament, God has never justified people by "faith only". "Faith only" is simply a catch cry coined by protestants in order to separate itself from the works-based doctrines, which do emphasis our own works more than our faith. The "saved by faith alone" catch cry is then important to reinforce that we are not saved by works of our own doing, but by faith. However it is not strictly accurate as a general statement of how people are justified.
We are saved by faith alone (meaning not of our own works) but the faith which saves is never alone (i.e. faith produces works, and in this context, these works arising from our faith do justify us before God). Yet, while works go with our faith, people are saved the moment they believe God's promises. What sort of works show our faith and justify us before God? Easy..prayer, studying God's word, the confession of our mouth, what we do with our daily life, are we good parents or good children, are we good servants or good leaders or good ministers etc, the sorts of things most people accept prove that a person is a christian. The sort of heart-faith which does result in a person acting differently to what they would otherwise.
We are saved by faith alone (meaning not of our own works) but the faith which saves is never alone (i.e. faith produces works, and in this context, these works arising from our faith do justify us before God). Yet, while works go with our faith, people are saved the moment they believe God's promises. What sort of works show our faith and justify us before God? Easy..prayer, studying God's word, the confession of our mouth, what we do with our daily life, are we good parents or good children, are we good servants or good leaders or good ministers etc, the sorts of things most people accept prove that a person is a christian. The sort of heart-faith which does result in a person acting differently to what they would otherwise.
So that is not faith alone further more scripture never ever says faith alone can saved us what it say is. We are saved by GRACE through faith. Not by grace alone and not by faith alone, but by grace through faith, and works will be produced by true faith. Grace nor faith stands alone, nor does faith without works stand alone. As I stated before, works devoid of faith cannot save you, however faith without works is just as impotent.
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