Yes, and the difference between God's grace and our fellowship can be described as the difference between saving faith that satisfies GRFS and the fruit/love of the Spirit. Some statements of GRFS (e.g. ACTS 16:31 & EPH 2:8-9) are in terms of believing right, and others (e.g. MT 7:21, “only he who does the will of my Father will enter heaven”, cf. GL 6:7-9 & EPH 2:10) are in terms of behaving right. John 6:29 says, “The work of God is to believe in the one [Messiah/Christ] He has sent.” GRFS is sometimes called the kerygma, meaning preaching of the Gospel, and secondary teachings may be referred to by another Greek word, didache, which means teaching. The didache may be very important and requisite for becoming spiritually mature, but it is not most important or necessary to know/believe in order to be saved.
The distinction between kerygma/saving faith and didache/working faith was made by Jesus when He commissioned His original twelve disciples minus Judas (MT 28:19-20). This “Great Commission” speaks of both types of information. The kerygma is indicated by verse 19, in which Jesus says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations”, and the didache is implicit in verse 20, in which Jesus continues by saying “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” This speaks of the information a disciple needs to know and believe after conversion in order to grow in Christ-likeness regarding how to live the law of love. It is the “all truth” that is taught by the Spirit referred to in John 16:13.
The kerygma calls for repentance and acceptance of Jesus as Lord, which is an all or nothing decision that occurs at one moment in time, whereas the didache teaches God’s will regarding how those who have been saved should live in order to be a good witness for Christ, which involves learning more of God’s Word throughout one’s lifetime. A passage teaching this truth is Colossians 2:6-7: “Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord [kerygma], continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught [didache].” What I just realized when posting on another thread is that there is no qualitative difference between faith that accepts God's saving grace and faith that walks in faith while accepting God's working grace, but only a quantitative difference as each additional moment passes--and of course faith remains non-meritorious during the entire lifetime.
The distinction between kerygma/saving faith and didache/working faith was made by Jesus when He commissioned His original twelve disciples minus Judas (MT 28:19-20). This “Great Commission” speaks of both types of information. The kerygma is indicated by verse 19, in which Jesus says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations”, and the didache is implicit in verse 20, in which Jesus continues by saying “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” This speaks of the information a disciple needs to know and believe after conversion in order to grow in Christ-likeness regarding how to live the law of love. It is the “all truth” that is taught by the Spirit referred to in John 16:13.
The kerygma calls for repentance and acceptance of Jesus as Lord, which is an all or nothing decision that occurs at one moment in time, whereas the didache teaches God’s will regarding how those who have been saved should live in order to be a good witness for Christ, which involves learning more of God’s Word throughout one’s lifetime. A passage teaching this truth is Colossians 2:6-7: “Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord [kerygma], continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught [didache].” What I just realized when posting on another thread is that there is no qualitative difference between faith that accepts God's saving grace and faith that walks in faith while accepting God's working grace, but only a quantitative difference as each additional moment passes--and of course faith remains non-meritorious during the entire lifetime.
