[QUOTE="PennEd,
Have a nice life, because IF you don't repent, you sure as heck aint havin a nice afterlife.
Have a nice life, because IF you don't repent, you sure as heck aint havin a nice afterlife.
Why do we Christians always threaten Hell when there is disagreement? Only God knows who is saved & who is not. The Bible does say: Faith Without Works is Dead.
James 2:14-26 New King James Version (NKJV)
Faith Without Works Is Dead
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without [a]your works, and I will show you my faith by [b]my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is [c]dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made [d]perfect?
23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was [e]accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.
24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
Whether one beieves that faith leads to good works or that good works & faith are both needed, it seems to me that no matter the order, belief without action (change of heart & subsequent behaviours) that you need both.
I am curious to know what the difference is between faith is sufficient, and fatih and works? It seems like the Bible says you need both. The order of it all is what is in question.
Thank you to anyone who can explain this to me.
"[/QUOTE]
Thank you for posting from James. Hurray! We come in to a relationship with God through Jesus Christ by His choice and not on the basis of anything we did to deserve it and even the faith we exercise is the gift of God. Then in a relationship with Him, we are told to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling." Getting saved is not a static position any more than getting married is. God saved the people of Israel out of Egypt. They came through the water of the Red Sea. But they didn't drop everything and sit in the sand! How many made it into the Promised Land? 2. Joshua and Caleb - Jesus and His dog. Why? They followed the Lord wholeheartedly. The Holy Spirit says what happened to Israel is a warning to us: 1 Cor.10. It was not just the sea but the cloud. Salvation, separation and Lordship.
Abraham believed God and it was reconned to him as righteousness. Being made righteous, he went on to do what is right. 1 John 3:4-10. Faith and righteous acts headed up by God are 2 sides of the same coin. In the Bible, faith is mainly loyalty. Joshua and Caleb. Did Israel believe in God? The knew God was real. They saw everything He did, the manna, the glory of God, the pillar of fire. They didn't believe in God meaning, they weren't loyal to Him. They didn't obey Him.
"I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My requirements, My commands, My decrees and My laws." Genesis 26:4,5. Why did he obey? Because he believed.
Martin Luther, the wonderful anti-Semite I hear he was, wanted to get rid of the book of James out of the Bible because he wanted it to be "By faith alone." He could not understand that all Truth is held in tension. Faith without works is doesn't exist. They are opposite heads of the same coin. The coin without both faces is not legal tender.
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