So, is faith enough? What of works? Finally, the pay off for having the blog. Although I'll send you guys a detailed "how to" primer for posting comments, I kind of get the last word here. Insert maniacal laughter here.
It's tough for me to argue with my namesake that faith without good deeds is a dead faith. Are you saved if you accept Christ as your savior? Absolutely. Once saved, always saved? You bet. However, there's a commitment beyond saying words or believing.
James 2:19 (MSG)
Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?
I really need help understanding the concern here. What's the relevance of discussing if you need good works to be saved? Have faith and you'll love others as yourself. You'll take up your cross daily. You'll seek his righteousness and have things added. God's will will be done on Earth as in Heaven. Reverse any of those statements and they're nonsense. Same here.
Paul's - or someone very Pauline's - verification, not contradiction, comes in Ephesians 4:8 (NASB)
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God
The works don't save you. Even the love doesn't save you. It's the faith first. The works are part of the gift from God. Why do we look at them like a chore?
No comments:
Post a Comment