No living faith without works

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Yes.

We are not saved by faith that is alone, but we are saved by faith alone.

Much love!
Yes. We are saved by faith that trusts in Jesus Christ alone for salvation (Romans 4:5-6; Ephesians 2:8,9) but not by a bare profession of faith that remains alone/barren of works. (James 2:14-26)
 
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I'm sorry, I'm not following you . . . you seem to be saying two things at once that conflict.

To be perfectly clear . . . no amount of works will other obtain or add to your justification, which is given you based on your . . . faith alone.

Afterward, we who are regenerate based on their faith alone go on to do those good works.

Much love!
Yes, regeneration comes first/made alive together with Christ/saved by grace through faith, not works (Ephesians 2:5-9) then created in Christ Jesus FOR good works. (Ephesians 2:10) Folks who teach salvation by works put the cart before the horse.
 
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I've said this before also, but no, it leaves no room for boasting so it's ignored.
"For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!" Romans 5:10

Do you not see? Salvation really is of God ".....And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’" Acts 2:21. I don't see any mention of works there. Likewise Romans 10:9

If I understand you correctly, these verses do not speak of works which must be done in order to become saved.

Acts 2:21
-And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
Rom 10:9 - because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

They are instead a result of the change, [by grace], that takes place in us after being saved. . . . .

Cart before the horse?
 
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God has certainly asked us to do good in the world, and has never given us free rein to do as we please. 1 Peter 1:16 Be holy for I am holy.
Jesus tells the adultress to go and sin no more. We are told repeatedly that faith without works is dead James 2:26.
Now Jesus also came to fulfil the law, not abolish it. Matthew 5:17, so we can see how important the law of God is....
However, the wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23, and once we have sinned once, that's it, we're sinners. That's where Jesus came down, to receive that wage in our place. God isn't lying, the wage really is death, just Jesus stepped in and said to pay Him instead. Now we're free to enter God's kingdom if we just believe in Jesus and His saving work...

So, where do our works come in? Only really with our continued belief in Jesus that won't separate us from Him. Our other works won't save us, nor can they as we're sinners, although they will be a sign of someone with faith, because believing in God means believing in His word and the He wants us to do good works. If we don't, have we believed? Do we have any faith in Him at all?
It's worth nothing the verse: But if anyone does not provide for his own family, especially for his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” —1 Timothy 5:8. Our lack of works can show that our faith is seriously weak, or not there at all. Clearly, works are a clear sign of faith in Jesus AND his teachings. Not just in what He did for us, but also what He instructed us to do.

We are, as I've mentioned, told to continue doing good works. Not doing so denies us so many blessings both here and after our earthly lives, as I'm sure we've all experienced on a day to day basis.

Bottom line, we could not save ourselves through our works as we just aren't good enough. Death us the due payment, before with sacrificed animals, now through our saviour Jesus, the sacrifices lamb of God. That's opened the door for our salvation, nothing else.

The fact remains that God wants us to do good, that's just not what saves us, we already failed at that. He will, however, rain blessings on us and those who decide to follow our lead in placing faith in Him. The works will be a constant sign that we have placed our faith in Jesus Christ, what He did and what He said.
 
Correction: it's worth NOTING the verse: But if anyone does not provide for his own family, especially for his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.


Stupid spell check decided I wanted to write NOTHING.... Needless to say, I didn't. Good grief, spell check is one of the worst inventions on earth, it just makes up whatever it feels like in the moment.....

There are other spelling issues that I can correct either as 5 minutes have passed and I can't delete the post to rewrite it either..... That's this site's problem, though
.
 
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No living faith without works?

Depends: true if stated for Israel; false if stated for the Body Of Christ - ie:

In God's Context Of:
Humble Christ, on the earth, To Israel, 12 apostles, Under The Law/covenants
/Prophecy, According to the gospel of the kingdom, God Has:

1) water baptism "For the remission of sins" (works)

2) keep the law of Moses (works)

3) righteousness Exceeding Pharisees’ (works) (Matthew 5:20 AV)

4) forgive others first, then be forgiven (works) (Matthew 6:14-15 AV)

5) sell all, take up cross, follow Christ (works)

6) endure unto the end (works) (Matthew 24:13 AV)

7) mercy toward others (works) (Matthew 25:34-40 AV)

8) Confirmed By: "to the twelve tribes of Israel," "faith Without works is dead"
+
9) Further Biblically Confirmed By "the Judgment of the sheep and goat nations"

Prophecy / Covenants / Law for Israel

Rightly Divided (2 Timothy 2:15 AV) From “Things That Differ!” (online):

Mystery / Grace, From The Glorified Head, For His Body Of Christ:

In This Other Context Of God, Because Of God's
Own All-Sufficient BLOOD
Shed FOR
mankind, there is Only ONE [ Spiritual ] Baptism In Which God
Has
All The Following "Profitable" Scriptures For The Body Of Christ, At
the moment of faith, belief, and trust in/on Christ And His Finished Work,
we do Have:

A
Living faith without works, According To The Gospel Of The Grace Of God:

God's Eternal Salvation Is, In Biblical Fact, "in view" In God's Revelation Of The Mystery,

To/For Gentiles, Today, In His Dispensation Of The Grace Of God, Biblically Confirmed By:

God's OPERATION On All New-born babes In Christ!
+ Updates: (of # 11) + (of #14)
+
God's Eternal Life Assurance

+
God's Eternal Life Insurance

Thus we note that our "living faith with good works receives rewards", and
"living faith without good works, but with bad works, suffers Loss", At The
Judgment Seat Of Christ
(1 Corinthians 3:8-15 AV), eh?

--------------

a b c GRACE.png

And, precious friend(s), Please Be Very Richly Encouraged and Edified
In The Lord Jesus Christ and In His Precious Word Of Truth, Rightly
Divided:


The Bible: The BIG Picture

Amen.
 
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How can anyone believe they are justified with the righteous God, when they know themselves, that their own works are not justifiable?

2Th 2:10
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:


All Faith Alone ideology is reduced to one delusional thing: Because I know that my works are not justifiable, therefore I need to be justified by my Faith Alone.

1 Peter {1:15}
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear:
We are ambassadors for Jesus Christ.

We preach that belief in Jesus Christ for salvation.

2 Corinthians 5:20
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us;
we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Colossians 1:22
Yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him
holy and blameless and beyond reproach.

Your works have nothing to do with our reconciliation to God in Christ.

Salvation is a free gift given to those that trust in Jesus Christ for that reconciliation.

1 Corinthians 2:2
For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
 
God gives us good gifts. Matt 7;11. The faith He gifts is a living faith. The kind that produces works. He wouldn't gift us a dead faith.
Couldn't agree more!

Deut 28:9
The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways.
We are instructed to walk in His ways!

1 John 1:10

If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
We are also told that we are unable to do this perfectly!

But the promise of the vine [being in Christ]– is that we will receive that which is needed to grow in grace and bear good fruit. When Christ and the Spirit nourish us, this is certain to take place.
Careful pruning by God will cause us to bear much fruit. What better assurance can we have than to observe this happening in our lives? Not out of pride in ourselves, but in thankfulness for what God has done. . . .
 
If I understand you correctly, these verses do not speak of works which must be done in order to become saved.

Acts 2:21
-And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
Rom 10:9 - because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

They are instead a result of the change, [by grace], that takes place in us after being saved. . . . .

Cart before the horse?
Correct. What some seem to misunderstand is that God initiates salvation. No one comes to Jesus unless the Father draws him. Salvation belongs to our God!

Jesus said that the work that God requires is to believe Him (John 6:29). That gets the religious frothing at the mouth. "See! I told you that we have to work for salvation!" That is a complete misunderstanding of what Lord Jesus was saying.

To be born again is to receive new life. I was in the Navy when I was saved. It was hard. I was surrounded by some of the roughest men you would not want to meet. The conversations were invariably about drinking and lust. I was the only believer on the ship. I was far from perfect myself. Yet someone I knew before I was saved called me the happiest man he'd met. What did I do to earn that distinction? Nothing. It is who we are, not what we do that impresses the lost.

As you rightly say, works are the result of being born again, not the means to make us right with God.
"For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life." Ephesians 2:10

God has work for us to do. It is He who has prepared them for us. Our focus should always be on our saviour and Lord, and seeking His will for our lives. "Looking to Jesus........." Hebrews 12:2
 
Correct. What some seem to misunderstand is that God initiates salvation. No one comes to Jesus unless the Father draws him. Salvation belongs to our God!

Jesus said that the work that God requires is to believe Him (John 6:29). That gets the religious frothing at the mouth. "See! I told you that we have to work for salvation!" That is a complete misunderstanding of what Lord Jesus was saying.

To be born again is to receive new life. I was in the Navy when I was saved. It was hard. I was surrounded by some of the roughest men you would not want to meet. The conversations were invariably about drinking and lust. I was the only believer on the ship. I was far from perfect myself. Yet someone I knew before I was saved called me the happiest man he'd met. What did I do to earn that distinction? Nothing. It is who we are, not what we do that impresses the lost.

As you rightly say, works are the result of being born again, not the means to make us right with God.
"For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life." Ephesians 2:10

God has work for us to do. It is He who has prepared them for us. Our focus should always be on our saviour and Lord, and seeking His will for our lives. "Looking to Jesus........." Hebrews 12:2

Amen! Saved for good works, not by them. It was the original intention for us to follow the commandments and save ourselves. We couldn't.... The wages of sin is death, our wage... Jesus took that wage so we wouldn't have to. Our requirement? To believe in Him. Saved.... Now go and sin no more.
 
I'd imagine these verses will irritate some people.
I guess they don't want to know all that the Lord teaches in His Word.

The the Lord says this thru the Apostle John:

1 John 3:7
Little children, let no man deceive you: he that DOES righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

Then the Lord said the following through the Apostle James
James 2:17
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

James 2:20
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

James 2:24
Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

James 1:21,22
Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness (walking after the flesh – see Gal 6:7,8), and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
 
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It does not say that we are saved by faith. Why is it that people are so focused on what we must do? You really think that we are that good? We are saved by grace, and even our faith is the faith of Jesus, not ourselves. We are not saved by works.

You also do not know the difference between the initial, born again experience and the salvation of the soul. I've tried to explain it here a number of times. The problem is that it leaves no room for boasting, which displeases the self righteous greatly.

I've said this before also, but no, it leaves no room for boasting so it's ignored.
"For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!" Romans 5:10

Do you not see? Salvation really is of God ".....And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’" Acts 2:21. I don't see any mention of works there. Likewise Romans 10:9

You think works save you? Think again. You think God is impressed with your deeds? God is only pleased with Jesus. He declared that to be so from heaven. Now if you are born again, you died and your life is hidden in Christ with God. If you are dead, how can you work?
No one has claimed we are saved by works. This is why its not possible to have a reasonable discussion with you people. You can't understand what I'm saying but I'm supposed to believe you understand a text written thousands of years ago? For as long as I have been through these rodeos with you people it never ceases to amaze me how little attention you actually pay to what people say.

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The unanswered question in all these “works are necessary for Salvation or to prove Salvation” , is what exactly constitutes a “work” that would satisfy the requirement and the work inspectors here?
 
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What caught my attention was you mentioned the "sin of presumption" which I only hear from Roman Catholics.
Too bad it's not relevant to anything. AGAIN either I'm speaking biblically or I'm not. However the sin presumption is biblical.