Hi David,
Our works are to believe on a Jesus, as Jesus tells us in John 6:29.
Believing on Jesus is God's will for us, John 6:40.
and in believing on Jesus we are born of God, 1John 5:1.
Also, in believing on Jesus we overcome, 1John 5:5.
I'll answer a couple of your points here as I don't want to make this post too long.
Consider the context of James 4:17 before assuming what "good" means.
I suspect you understand "good" to mean obeying the 10 commandments. Is that correct?
Note James 4:4 to see who it addresses to help get context.
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Here we see it addresses spiritual adulterers who are in adultery with Hagar (symbolic for righteousness by works of the law, Gal 4:24).
Note also James 4:7, 8
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Here we see a salvation call to these spiritual adulterers who are lost, in unbelief, which is evidenced by the fact they follow doctrines where righteousness is determined by obedience to the law.
And note James 4:12.
There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
Further confirmation that the context of this chapter is referring to legalists/spiritual adulterers, who judge righteousness by obedience to the law.
So what is the "good" that James 4:17 speaks of?
It refers to believing on Jesus. This is the will of God (John 6:40, 1 Thess 4:3,)
Our works are to believe on Jesus, John 6:29.
The "good" that we are to do is to believe on Jesus.
Scripture is SPIRITUALLY DISCERNED, 1Cor2:14.
Regarding Matt 25; the sheep and goats, below are some scriptures to give the spiritual context to what is feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, taking in the stranger, etc.
What is the spiritual food/drink that mankind is in need of?
It's Christ Jesus.
1 Cor 10:3-4
And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
Who are those in spiritual prison?
It's those who are without Christ.
Isa 61:1
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
And what is the state of mankind without Christ?
It's sick, and needing to hear the gospel of Christ.
Isa 1:5-6
Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
And how are the naked clothed?
Isa 61:10
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
And who is the stranger?
Eph 2:12
that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
Eph 2:19
Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
So we see scripture speaking in spiritual terms regarding preaching the gospel of grace. And in doing the works of believing in Jesus, John 6:29, Christians also let their light shine preaching the gospel of Christ to spiritually feed, clothe, heal and set free, the lost.
Matt 5:14-16
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works (believing in Jesus, John 6:29), and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Okay, first I would like to disagree with your perspective on James 2:17.
However I would like to say I appreciate that you actually use Bible quotes to prove your perspective. First, on the "good' part.
The Bible says that God is "good" (when people call Jesus good he says the Father is good not him). Does that mean God itself is the 10 commandments, or that good is a morality? I think the answer is obvious.
Also, I agree with you on the context. However the quote itself means all forms of good. Meaning, if you know that it is good yet you do the opposite anyways, there will be consequences. This also correlates with other verses. (If you want, about the God being good verse, I can find it for you if you want Im assuming you know of it already)
1 Corinthian s 2:14 does not say scripture is spritually concerned, read:
King James Version (KJV)
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14 [/SUP]But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
It says the spirit of God. It does not specifically say scripture itself is spirtual.
1 Corinthians 10:3-4 is not talking about that. They are talking about this:
[h=3]Numbers 20[/h]King James Version (KJV)
20 Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there.
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2 [/SUP]And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.
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3 [/SUP]And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord!
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4 [/SUP]And why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there?
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5 [/SUP]And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.
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6 [/SUP]And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the Lord appeared unto them.
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7 [/SUP]And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
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8 [/SUP]Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.
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9 [/SUP]And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him.
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10 [/SUP]And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?
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11 [/SUP]And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.
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12 [/SUP]And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.
If you read, it says they were supposed to speak to the rock. The rock itself was what 1 Corinthians 10:3-4 is talking about. Remember in the final verse they get punished for not speaking to the rock.
Isaiah quote is irrelevant I dont see what it has to do wit this. I think it correlated with you saying scripture is spiritual, but as I shown above it doesnt say that. So I will move on from this quote. If you prove scripture is spiritual I will address this then but at the moment I dont see it's relevance.
Okay I agree with this quote. It still does not disagree or prove my perspective wrong :/, why did you bring this up?
As for the rest of the quotes, I agree with them. I dont see their relevancy. They dont disprove anything I have posted so far.
I think you misunderstand. Here is what I am saying. First off, grace is the abillity for non-israelites to go to Heaven as well as for them to repent. Secondaly, good works are a part of faith. Nothing you have shown has debunked that. I understand your perspective that it is all on spiritual terms in your perspective, but does that mean that the fire of the bush in Moses was spiritual and didnt really happen? Or the Garden of Eden isnt a physical place but spiritual? Or that the golden calf was really just spiritual and not real? How far can you stretch that it is spiritual and not factual? Do you see the problems with that logic.
Also, you did not disprove the quotes I supplied before. As it stands I still keep my perspective. I have shown you the flaw in your logic. If you can prove the spiritual thing, I may reconsider it, but I read the quote and posted it. It does not apply (however i have a hunch you will try again but thats always good
).
So I stand where I stand. The scriptures I post in the OP show that through faith we are saved because we are given grace. Good works are a testament of faith. Its that simple.
Lastly though, even though I disagree with you and I believe I have done a good enough job at disproving your position, I appreciate your thouroughness. I appreciate you using Bible quotes and scripture to prove your point, instead of just stating something with no evidence.