Just "any works" does not make ones reward not of grace but of debt.
Amy works in addition to faith that stand between us and heaven is not of grace but of debt and gives merit to us. Christ gets 100% merit for our salvation. We are saved by grace through faith, not by grace through works. Either we are trusting 100% in Christ for salvation or else we are 100% lost. 95% Christ, 5 % works, lost.
Abraham had obedient works, yet he sinned so he was need of grace therefore his reward could not be of debt. So that would eliminate obedience to God from the "worketh" of verse 4.
Abraham
believed God and
it was accounted to him for righteousness. Romans 4:2 - For
if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham
believed God, and
it was accounted to him for righteousness. His obedience which followed is WORKS. James calls his obedience WORKS in James 2:21, but his works
proved or manifested the genuineness of his faith. This is the sense in which Abraham was justified by works, "shown to be righteous, not accounted as righteous. Abraham's faith was accounted to him for righteousness in Genesis 15:6
many years before his work of offering up Isaac in Genesis 22.
Obviously unrighteous works, sin does not get one the reward at all.
Is eternal life/salvation a gift that we receive through faith (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8) or a reward that we work for and earn?
If one could keep God's law flawlessly, perfectly then his reward would be of debt and not of grace. A flawless. sinless person is not in need of grace. So Paul has works of merit in mind in verse 4 where the reward is earned and not of grace.
Any works in addition to faith that stand between us and heaven would be works of merit in which salvation is earned, at least in part. Is Christ's finished work of redemption sufficient and complete to save us or must we add supplements to help Him save us?
Rom 4:4 Now to him that does works of merit, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
Rom 4:5 But to him that does no works of merit, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Romans 4:4 - Now to him who works, the
wages are not counted as grace but as debt. In other words, Now the account of someone who is working is credited not on the ground of grace but on the ground of what is owed him.
Now that Paul has eliminated works of merit NOT obedience, Paul CONTRASTS the worker of merits to him that believeth.
You are making a distinction without a difference. Romans 4:5 - But to him who
does not work but
believes on Him who justifies the ungodly,
his faith is accounted for righteousness. In other words, in the case of one who is not working but rather is trusting in him who makes ungodly people righteous, his trust is credited to him as righteousness.
So where does Paul say that we are saved by grace through faith "plus works of obedience?" That is salvation by WORKS! You are trying to "add works" to believing in Him in order to help Jesus save you in part. That is not believing in Him but is believing in your works! Saving faith trusts exclusively in Jesus for salvation and not in works in part.
So the issue now is what does the bible say about "belief".
You still need to learn that faith in Christ is belief, trust, reliance in Christ for salvation and obedience which follows saving faith in Christ is WORKS.
---In Rom 4:5 Paul did NOT say "beleiveth only'. So that eliminates that false man-made teaching.
What works did Paul add to "believes on Him" in Romans 4:5? Believes on Him is the only requirement in Romans 4:5. Paul did not say believes on Him "plus something else" and his faith "plus something else" is accounted for righteousness. Don't confuse "believes on Him" (apart from additions or modifications) in Romans 4:5 with what James calls "faith only" which is an empty profession of faith "claims to have faith" - James 2:14 which is not the same as believes on Him. The point that James is making about the lack of works is that works demonstrate that our faith is alive and not dead, not that we are saved by works.
---Belief is something commanded as the jailer was commanded to believe, Acts 16. The command implies believing is omething man is capable of doing and has a responsibility to do.
Yes man must choose to believe and will be held accountable for unbelief (John 3:18).
---Jn 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Here "believeth" is contrasted to "obeyeth not" so believing is a obedience.
Obey the Son does not mean do extra works of obedience in addition to believing on Him in order receive eternal life, but obey the Son by choosing to believe on Him. If John wanted to make obedience the central theme in salvation here, he would have said: "He who believes "and" obeys the Son has eternal life," but that is not what John said. To believe on the Son is to obey Him and to disbelieve on the Son is to disobey Him. The King James Version renders this same verse as: He that
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that
believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. The Greek word translated as believeth not in that verse is apeitheo and it means: not believe, disobedient, obey not, unbelieving. Strong’s definition of apeitheo is "to disbelieve willfully and perversely." In the context of John 3:36, to not obey the Son means to reject His message, which means you have chosen to not believe on Him. The Greek word translated believe in Acts 16:31 and elsewhere is from the greek word pisteuō which means "to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), that is, credit; by implication to
entrust (especially one’s spiritual well being to Christ).
Same in Acts 14:1 where "believed" in verse 1 is contrasted to "disobedience" of verse 2.
In Heb 3:17,18 "disobedience" in v17 is equated to "unbelief" in verse 19.
In Romans 10:16, we read - But they have not all
obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has
believed our report?" We can clearly see that we OBEY the gospel by choosing to BELIEVE the gospel (Romans 1:16). Refusing to OBEY the gospel (2 Thessalonians 1:8) is refusing to BELIEVE the gospel (Romans 10:16). Not to be confused with acts of obedience which follow believing the gospel. Disobedience is a manifestation of unbelief.
So the biblical idea of belief is DOING what the Lord has said, Lk 6:46, for not doing what the Lord said is disobedience/unbelief.
Doing what the Lord says after we have been saved through faith is a manifestation of our belief and not doing what He says is a manifestation of our unbelief. You error by saying believing "is" multiple acts of obedience, believing "is" works. NO! Believing is trusting in Christ for salvation, acts of obedience which follow are WORKS. Faith is the root and works of obedience which follow are the fruit of salvation. You just can't make that distinction. There is a reason for that.
---Believing saves as does repentance, confession and baptism so believe includes obedience in repenting confessing and baptism.
Repentance is a change of mind that precedes believing in Him for salvation, which is the new direction of this change of mind. Repentance and believing in Him are two sides to the same coin and are inseparable. So we are not saved by some additional repentance after faith that is a work of merit. Believe with our heart and confess with out mouth "together" are not two separate steps to salvation but are chronologically together (Romans 10:8-10). We don't believe today then finally confess next week and are finally saved next week. So we are not saved by some additional confession after we believed a week ago. We believe unto righteousness and confession is made unto salvation BEFORE baptism. Salvation is signified, but not procured in baptism. Sorry to burst your bubble. I know this 4 step Campbellite plan of salvation is very appealing to you. You are self righteously looking for some type of credit and refuse to trust exclusively in Christ for salvation. It's called PRIDE.
Comparing Acts 2:41 with verse 44, "believed" in verse 44 includes obedience in baptism of verse 41.
Believing is not baptism and believing precedes baptism. Your argument is flawed. You try to "shoe horn" baptism into believes in order to accommodate your theology, but the shoe does not fit. Let's see how your shoe fits in Acts 4:4, why does it read: "However, many of those who heard the word BELIEVED; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand." No mention of baptism. Acts 5:14 reads: "And BELIEVERS were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women," No mention of baptism. If baptism is included in believing, then why did these Gentiles in Acts 10:43-47 who already believed, received the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues still need to get baptized in order to believe? In Acts 11:17, they received the Holy Spirit when they BELIEVED ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST and this was established BEFORE baptism. Acts 16:31 says to BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND YOU WILL BE SAVED,
not believe
and get water baptized and you will be saved.
It is very clear that belief is obedience.
Choosing to believe is an act of obedience, yet acts of obedience which follow are WORKS and are a manifestation of our belief. The problem with your argument is you make no distinction between belief and acts of obedience/works which follow. In your theology, faith "is" baptism, faith "is" acts of obedience, faith "is" works. Wrong! Roman Catholics and Mormons make the same error. I made the same error too "prior to my conversion" but the blinders have been removed (2 Corinthians 4:3,4).
Rom 4:5 But to him that does not do works of merit, but obeys him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
You just changed "believes on Him" who justifies the ungodly to "obeys Him through works" who justifies the ungodly. You changed saved through faith, not works, to saved through faith and works. You are still in UNBELIEF!
So Paul is contrasting works of merit to obedience in the context of Rom 4:5.
Paul is contrasting believing on Him with works in general. So how many works of obedience must you accomplish and add as a supplement to Christ's finished work of redemption in order to help Him save you? That is not belief in Him or obedience.
Finally, the worker of merit is an obedient man trying to keep God's law flawlessly to merit salvation. This worker of merit is contrasted to the obedient man who is faithful to God but occasionally sins and therefore is in need of grace.
The worker of merit is also trying to add his works to the finished work of Christ looking to merit his salvation, at least in part.
So who then is the "non-worker", the faith only follower? He is the one that is disobedient to God, the law-breaker.
The non-worker who "does not work for salvation" but "believes on Him who justifies the ungodly" in order to receive salvation, (not to be confused with "faith only" per James, which is an empty profession of faith) his faith is "accounted for righteousness." He is the one that is obedient to God. Without faith it's impossible to please God, so the worker who is trying to earn his salvation based on his performance is disobedient to God, the law breaker. No imputed righteousness for him, so his sin remains.