Saved by faith alone?

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mailmandan

mailmandan

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Apr 7, 2014
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PaulThomson said:
You keep on contradicting yourself. You say that we are saved by faith (rightly understood) in Jesus Christ alone for salvation and not by a profession of faith that is barren of works.
But you also say "we are saved by grace through faith, not works." And infer or assert that I believe we are saved by faith AND works, when I actually said we are saved by a faith that works.

What is wrong with the following statement? "We are saved by grace through a faith in Jesus Christ that works righteousness in us so that we do righteousness. And a claim to have faith in Jesus Christ that does not work righteousness in us, so that we don't do righteousness, is dead because it remains alone and has not produced godly works."
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Semantics? It may simply sound like a contradiction to you. We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ alone and not by works/God imputes righteousness apart from works. (Romans 4:5-6; Ephesians 2:8,9) Faith that saves results in producing works (James 2;14-24) because it's alive in Christ. (Ephesians 2:5-10) When you say we are saved by faith that works, do you believe we are saved the moment that we place our faith (belief, trust, reliance) in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, or not until later, after works are produced? We are not saved by works of righteousness (literally, works done in righteousness) which we have done (Titus 3:5), yet works of righteousness in connection with salvation are the fruit of, but not the means of obtaining salvation. (Acts 10:34-35)
 
R

rogerg

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Jul 13, 2021
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Lamar said:
Does the phrase, "saved by faith" equivalent to the term, "saved by faith alone"?
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I would suggest that our faith does not/cannot save us. The faith that saves is Christ's faith. He was perfectly faithful to the Father in His mission as the Savior - by perfect faith residing within Him. One of Christ's names is Faithful and True. If our faith were a requirement for our salvation and should we not produce it then we wouldn't become saved, thereby making the requirement to produce faith into a law, yet no one can be saved by their keeping of law (and the requirement to satisfy the law would also make it a work that we must undertake to be saved).
No, faith comes as a gift to those God had chosen for salvation, from, and as a byproduct of, His faith - but as an effect, not a cause, from/by which, we come to true belief/trust in Christ as Savior. With the faith being His, no contradiction exists between grace and faith both as the requirements for salvation - as one completes, and is a necessity for the other, yet neither of which coming from us. Thereby, is salvation a gift from God as we are so informed in the gospels - and that which makes Christ Savior not man.
 
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