Not By Works

[FollowHisSteps]

I'm not a fan of James FHS.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.

Abraham was given the promise of his own seed receiving the inheritance. He was righteous because he believed FHS.....what did he believe? That even if Isaac was a sacrifice, he would be raised from the dead. Did you know that Abraham had a vision and saw the "seed" of Genesis? You will see it if you do a word study on the story in the KJV.

Anywho, it wasn't the action of sacrifice per'se that declared righteousness for Abraham but the faith he had in the promise of God.

He was also said to be a friend of God. He must of had many conversations with the Lord and knew personally of the great faithfulness of YHWH.

The first commandment is about loving God with everything we are.
In a sense I realise there are two aspects to this.
The first is blind obedience, He is the creator so He can dictate anything He like.
The second for me is stunning, He is worthy of this praise.
Now in His grace He waits for us to realise who He is and to see who He is and to
learn though we are weak and fragile, He will listen and walk with us.

It is here I cannot separate my faith and my action, because I am the Lords and He
is mine. When I breath, He grants me the gift of life, of love, of blessing, of joy, of
victory, of wisdom and thanks. All I am, He started, He planted the love within me,
and gave it life, He warmed my soul to His word, and called my heart to His gospel.

And it is this relationship which grants me righteousness and everything else flows
from this. So when I read of people who can assent to God and stay in sin, I am
amazed and wonder who they have met and what they have seen.

We are never justified before God except through Jesus, but we honour our Lord by
being slaves to righteousness by walking in the Spirit.

So I see what James is saying about Abraham to try and answer those who say I have
faith you have works, as if this is what it means to know God.

 

[UnderGrace]

Faith is made complete by actions,

No....nope, never, not at all, ever......... Faith is made known by it actions!!

 

[FollowHisSteps]

A complete fabrication not based on any exegesis of the scripture
.........and to completely contradict God.....wow!
Listen FHS......The gift is salvation!!

You obviously are a thought Christian.
The gift is the way to salvation, because until we obtain the conditions of salvation we have
not gained it.

The reason we have so many denominations is because believers end up adding more and more
conditions to the walk, and positions that must be agreed to, to avoid rejection.

In the end my focus in on faith and love, faith in the cross, and love towards all I meet with
a clean heart and a good conscience. And I trust Jesus to show me the next step, and in His
time He will take me home.

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Eph 2:8-10

The gift is faith, which saves us.

5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness
Rom 4:5

The gift is righteousness because we trust God.

The strange thing about these gifts is they are in response to our actions, trusting God.

And if we walk for 1 second with Christ in faith for some that is eternity.
For me walking with Christ is eternity, so to stop walking is to leave Christ, and to lose faith
is to lose our life in Him, because He has now become our enemy.

Interestingly I have heard many believers walk away but not lose faith, and many years later
to return. So for me the gift is the entrance to the door, and what we do with it is up to us.

 

[FollowHisSteps]

No....nope, never, not at all, ever......... Faith is made known by it actions!!

21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.
James 2:21-22

his faith was made complete by what he did

24 Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.
Colossians 1:24

Paul is suggesting that for the gospel to go forth and people come to Christ, it has to be preached.
Unless it is preached no one will hear and come to faith, so the church will disappear.

Equally unless Paul suffers, for the preaching of the gospel, it will not be preached so he is
making up for what is still lacking in the afflictions of Christ.

Now both these sentiments who say Christ has done everything, while clearly if Christ had died
upon the cross and the church had never come into existance and preaching and testimony
begun along with the writing of the gospels and letters, we would not have our faith today.
So those these are the fruits of Christ work they are still added to the work on the cross and
are an essential part of Gods gospel work. But I suppose everything is heretical, and we should
not even be witnessing or testifying here is case we add to the work of Christ, though this is
our calling as His body. God bless you

 

[dcontroversal]

And the game of whack-a-mole continues?

I know....always....

a. I help Jesus save me
b. I help Jesus keep me saved
c. I do not sin because I am uber religious

Blah, blah, blah.......Religion at it's best and Cainologists running amuck....!!

 

[stonesoffire]

The first commandment is about loving God with everything we are.
In a sense I realise there are two aspects to this.
The first is blind obedience, He is the creator so He can dictate anything He like.
The second for me is stunning, He is worthy of this praise.
Now in His grace He waits for us to realise who He is and to see who He is and to
learn though we are weak and fragile, He will listen and walk with us.

It is here I cannot separate my faith and my action, because I am the Lords and He
is mine. When I breath, He grants me the gift of life, of love, of blessing, of joy, of
victory, of wisdom and thanks. All I am, He started, He planted the love within me,
and gave it life, He warmed my soul to His word, and called my heart to His gospel.

And it is this relationship which grants me righteousness and everything else flows
from this. So when I read of people who can assent to God and stay in sin, I am
amazed and wonder who they have met and what they have seen.

We are never justified before God except through Jesus, but we honour our Lord by
being slaves to righteousness by walking in the Spirit.

So I see what James is saying about Abraham to try and answer those who say I have
faith you have works, as if this is what it means to know God.

If one assents to God, whatever that may mean, and stays in sin, where is conversion? The new creation? For a new created being, chosen by God, drawn to Him by His Spirit is one who never was until that moment.
The problem is understanding and the enemy attacks that eventually begin. There is where one might be drawn into habitual ways of dealing with problems of life. But! God is ever faithful to increase His own, and Holy Spirit is the best teacher one can have.

A good bible church, teaching faith, helps greatly too!

 

[stonesoffire]

21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.
James 2:21-22

his faith was made complete by what he did

24 Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.
Colossians 1:24

Paul is suggesting that for the gospel to go forth and people come to Christ, it has to be preached.
Unless it is preached no one will hear and come to faith, so the church will disappear.

Equally unless Paul suffers, for the preaching of the gospel, it will not be preached so he is
making up for what is still lacking in the afflictions of Christ.

Now both these sentiments who say Christ has done everything, while clearly if Christ had died
upon the cross and the church had never come into existance and preaching and testimony
begun along with the writing of the gospels and letters, we would not have our faith today.
So those these are the fruits of Christ work they are still added to the work on the cross and
are an essential part of Gods gospel work. But I suppose everything is heretical, and we should
not even be witnessing or testifying here is case we add to the work of Christ, though this is
our calling as His body. God bless you

Actually what James said is that the actions justified, but his faith made righteousness.

And a friend of God.

 

[FollowHisSteps]

Actually what James said is that the actions justified, but his faith made righteousness.

And a friend of God.

his faith was perfected by works. (Net bible)
James 2:22

 

[UnderGrace]

I know....always....

a. I help Jesus save me
b. I help Jesus keep me saved
c. I do not sin because I am uber religious

Blah, blah, blah.......Religion at it's best and Cainologists running amuck....!!

Yes it reads like .......Jesus is the addendum to my faith, or Jesus only the started the process. or I have to prove myself to be worthy of salvation.

 

[FollowHisSteps]

16 Christ brought us together through his death on the Cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility.
17 Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders.
18 He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father.
19 That's plain enough, isn't it? You're no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He's using us all--irrespective of how we got here--in what he is building.
20 He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he's using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone
21 that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day--a holy temple built by God,
22 all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.

 

[dcontroversal]

Yes it reads like .......Jesus is the addendum to my faith, or Jesus only the started the process. or I have to prove myself to be worthy of salvation.

Amen.....it is sickening how they devalue Christ and lift self.....exactly why I will fight against their deceit until hell freezes over and the gates are welded shut....!!

 

[mailmandan]

his faith was perfected by works. (Net bible) James 2:22

In James 2:22, faith made perfect or complete by works means bring to maturity, carry to the end, to complete like love in 1 John 4:18. It does not mean that Abraham was finally saved based on his works after he offered up Isaac on the altar in Genesis 22. When Abraham performed the good work in Genesis 22; he fulfilled the expectations created by the pronouncement of his faith in Genesis 15:6.

 

[dcontroversal]

The goal of the gospel is to save those who believe the gospel. (Romans 1:16) Those who have been justified by faith are sanctified/set apart/made holy in standing before God positionally in Christ. 1 Corinthians 6:11 - Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, (past tense) but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

Yet there is also progressive or ongoing sanctification in which the reality of that holiness becomes more and more evident in our actions, words, thoughts, attitudes, and motives. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4, - For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain (present tense) from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor.

So becoming washed, sanctified and justified in Christ is a one time event, yet abstaining from sexual immorality is not a one time event. The believer possess a positional, judicial standing of righteousness in Christ and, second, a remaining ongoing process of practical, progressive holiness in our actions, words, thoughts, attitudes, and motives.

Do you believe that you have completely stopped sinning? Do you claim to live a sinless, without fault or defect, flawless, absolute perfect life 100% of the time, exactly as Jesus lived? Is that your gospel? Live a sinless life or else you won't be saved?

Amen brother...the truth is as simple as hey....

 

[dcontroversal]

see, all I said was " we are called to be holy, blameless and pure, but we need to use the standards that the Bible sets forth to see if we do or not", and you throw out all this.

why can't you just agree to the simple reality that we are all human and we all make mistakes.????

get out of your silly " I walk just as he walked " fantasy world, and join us here in reality where we are all sinners in need of a perfect , sinless savior to save us from ourselves..

Amen....Is petey still peddling his blather like butter on toast.....when one boasts of how they walk, all righteous and that.....= PHARISEE......

 

[dcontroversal]

A complete fabrication not based on any exegesis of the scripture

.........and to completely contradict God.....wow!

Listen FHS......The gift is salvation!!

Amen......yet the Cainologists make it a reward.....bad day coming for those that believe they earn it!!

 

[dcontroversal]

In James 2:22, faith made perfect or complete by works means bring to maturity, carry to the end, to complete like love in 1 John 4:18. It does not mean that Abraham was finally saved based on his works after he offered up Isaac on the altar in Genesis 22. When Abraham performed the good work in Genesis 22; he fulfilled the expectations created by the pronouncement of his faith in Genesis 15:6.

James out of context will lead many straight to the pit........

 

[FollowHisSteps]

Amen.....it is sickening how they devalue Christ and lift self.....exactly why I will fight against their deceit until hell freezes over and the gates are welded shut....!!

We are precious in His sight, a Holy Nation, purchased by the blood of Christ, who have been
made to be a kingdom and priests to serve God.

We are a holy temple in which God lives by His Spirit

9 You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."
Revelation 5:9-10

you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
1 Peter 2:9

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household,
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Ephesians 2:19-22

he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus
Phil 1:6

12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,
13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work.
1 Cor 3:12-13

20 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,
21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Heb 13:20-21

10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10

If God is pleased to call us His Holy Nation, let no man contradict Him.

 

[FollowHisSteps]

It is clear that the enemies of Christ do not know His word or His people.

In their mind to declare the work of Christ in our lives and hearts is something they hate
yet it is this very work is the testimony of the Kingdom of Heaven come to earth.

14 You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Matt 5:14-16

Those who wallow in their sin like this

A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.
2 Peter 2:22

Their hearts declare to them defeat and emptiness, slaves to sin.
And in their anger they declare what they are full of, darkness and despair.

4 For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation.
5 Let the saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds.
6 May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands,
7 to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron,
9 to carry out the sentence written against them. This is the glory of all his saints. Praise the LORD
Psalm 149:4-9

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:4-6

 

[FollowHisSteps]

Amen.....it is sickening how they devalue Christ and lift self.....exactly why I will fight against their deceit until hell freezes over and the gates are welded shut....!!

Reading this simple verse

you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
1 Peter 2:9

Jesus went to the cross to die for us, to purchase us, cleanse us and lead us on the path to
righteousness and eternal life. He calls us a Holy Nation, His bride and we are His Holy Temple.

Now the deceit here is simply lying about who we are in Christ and that Christ has not started
a work in us which He will carry on to completion when He returns.

So what is truly going on here. The accuser is claiming we are not Gods people, Jesus has not
purchased us or cleansed us and has not purified us leading us to the image of Christ.

Who do you want to believe? God or man? Repent of your unbelief and believe in the power of
the cross and the work of the Holy Spirit in those who believe.

 

[FollowHisSteps]

The enemy is like this
"Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."
1 Peter 5:8

9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
1 Peter 5:9-10

14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
2 Corinthians 11:14-15

15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess his name.
16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased
Heb 13:15-16

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:28

6 There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
8 To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,
9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit,
10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of 2 Thessalonians 2:14-16; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
1 corinthians 12:6-12

14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope,
2 Thessalonians 2:14-16