Are We Saved by Faith Alone...Are You Sure?
Brad Reiches
Aug 23 2006 10:38AM
Brad Reiches
Aug 23 2006 10:38AM
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Tuesday, August 22, 2006
GodThoughtsWired!
GodThoughtsWired!
"Are We Saved by Faith Alone?"
No, No, No, No, NO!
"For by grace you have been saved through faith..."
No, No, No, No, NO!
"For by grace you have been saved through faith..."
Ephesians 2:8
Yesterday, I ended with the question, "Are we saved by faith alone?" Almost immediately, I received answers from zealous subscribers assuring me that "Yes, absolutely! We are saved by faith alone." So today I want to grapple with that question but, before I begin, please be reminded that GodThoughts Wired! is only concerned with what the Bible ACTUALLY SAYS, not anybody's "personal opinion" (even if such "opinions" are spewed all over the air-waves).
Many of you may be surprised? shocked? to find that there is only one verse in the entire Bible that specifically refers to "faith alone:"
Many of you may be surprised? shocked? to find that there is only one verse in the entire Bible that specifically refers to "faith alone:"
"You see that a man is justified
by works, and not by faith alone."
James 2:24
by works, and not by faith alone."
James 2:24
Are you shocked? BELIEVE ME! I know that much of the American church of the twenty-first century teaches that we are saved by "faith alone" but there's just one problem...THAT'S NOT WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES!
-"What use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him?" -James 2:14
-"Even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself." -James 2:17
-"Even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself." -James 2:17
-"For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead." -James 2:26
Indeed, THE BIBLE TEACHES that the kind of "faith" that saves us is that which results in good works!
Indeed, THE BIBLE TEACHES that the kind of "faith" that saves us is that which results in good works!
"For by grace you have been saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
not as a result of works, that no one should boast...
He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we
have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy..."
Ephesians 2:9; Titus 3:5 (bold mine)
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
not as a result of works, that no one should boast...
He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we
have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy..."
Ephesians 2:9; Titus 3:5 (bold mine)
Does the "good works" save us? No, but neither are we saved by "faith alone." The faith that saves us is a faith that manifests itself in good works (the entire second chapter of James is devoted to this clarification).
So, as it turns out, there are two kinds of faith in the world today. "The demons also believe" (James 2:19). But it is only the "James 2 kind of faith," or, to put it another way,
IT IS ONLY THE FAITH AS DEFINED
BY THE BIBLE THAT LEADS TO SALVATION.
BY THE BIBLE THAT LEADS TO SALVATION.
Can somebody please finish the following sentence for me? "You will know them by their...
Thank you.
Thank you.
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