What is it necessary to be saved (Part 23).

[so-jesus-e-deus]

What is it necessary to be saved (Part 23).

18 – Works:

• “But will you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Do you see how faith worked with his works, and from the works faith was made complete? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.". You see then how a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. And in the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” (James 2.20-26).
• “For it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.” (Rom 2.13).
• “But become doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man studying his natural face in a mirror. For he studied himself and went his way, and immediately he forgot what he was like. But whoever looks into the perfect Law of liberty and continues in it, he is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work. This one shall be blessed in his doing.” (James 1.22-25).

I know that there are many controversies about this subject, especially because of Ephesians 2.8,9 that we saw previously:

• “For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

The best way to sort out this quandary is making the following distinction:

if a man trust on Christ (has faith in Him), he needs to abide by what Jesus avouch to him, that is to say, to work what He enjoined, what implies that the righteousness of the law it to be fulfilled in us (Romans 8.4). On the other hand…

if a man comply with all the commandments of Christ this doesn’t mean that he has faith in Christ and His word. He can do this for convenience. For instance, he didn’t steal because he fears to be caught; he didn’t kill anybody because he fears the feud of their relatives; he goes to commune with the brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, not because he desire to know Jesus better to please Him, but because he feels lonely and ache for getting free of this solitude (beyond get the sensation of being in peace with his conscience for, supposedly, is serving Christ).

Recall the workers of iniquity (Mat 7.21-23; Luke 13.23-28) and the five fool virgins (Matthew 25.12) who, although served Jesus as it was ordained in the Holy Scripture, they weren’t known by Jesus.

For the time being, have a good day in Christ Jesus fraught of His good works. Tomorrow we will carry on.