Faith alone?

Justification—by faith alone?
BQ: I was talking to a friend who mentioned that we're saved by "faith alone." James 2:24 says, "You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone." When I brought it up, the counter-argument was, "but we are JUSTIFIED by faith alone, then." 

Q: Does the Bible say we are justified by anything other than faith?
A: Mt 12:37, Rom 3:2; 5:9; 16, 8:33, Lk 18:14, 1 Cor 6:11, Titus 3:7, Jms 2:21-26, etc.

The Bible says we're not saved by faith alone and records the same for justification. The sum of His word is truth. Attempting to throw out any of the items listed as justifying or saving us and still getting the only true salvation is impossible. 
(PN48)
 

Faith Alone
BQ: Controversy time! Truth doesn't fear examination, so let's examine the book of Truth and see what we find!

Q:Are we saved by faith ALONE?

Let's start off with Romans 5:1, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Faith is obviously necessary, but is that the whole picture?

A: James 2:17; 21; 24. Mt. 12:37. Rom 2:13. Rom 5:9, 1 Pet 3:21.

There are yet more things required. This is just a snippet, but the most salient point is this: "faith without works is dead."
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Is your belief enough?

Is your belief enough?
BQ: I studied with a young lady who said, "Well I believe and I go to church sometimes and I love God, I'm going to heaven." 

Q: Is your belief enough? If you're devout and you pray, is that enough?
A: Acts 10:2; 11:14, Jms 2:19

Cornelius was called, "a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually." Certainly that's better than many lukewarm Christians today, who go to church on occasion, but was it enough? It was not. We see that he was told, "and he will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household." 

You see, James says that "even the demons believe and shudder." Being devout, praying, believing, those are parts of the recipe for eternal life, but they don't grant eternal life by themselves. Do you know what does? Where is your eternity headed? Cornelius wasn't yet saved even with all his great traits--are you? How do you know? 
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Baptism as a "work."

Let’s define a “work” from Eph 2:8-9.
BQ: I've been told that repentance, baptism, etc., have no part in salvation or forgiveness because they're "works and, "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, so that no one may boast." (Eph 2:8-9)

Q: Are "works" defined? Is everything I do meaningless? Do I just believe?
A: "Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law." (Rom 3:27-28) 

 “We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles; nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified." (Gal 2:15-16)

Look at that. We're not justified by works of the Law, keeping the commands of the Old Testament. We can see that in Gal 3:10 :"For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.” Do you see that? You get one strike and you're toast! If you want to be justified by works, you'll have to keep every single one perfectly. Only one man has ever managed absolute perfection. 

Tomorrow: we'll explore deeper. 
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Does your congregation teach that baptism (immersion) saves, or that it’s an unnecessary work?
BQ: Following yesterday, many say, "faith alone saves," and thus discount baptism/immersion as being at all necessary. Partially, this stems from an arbitrary and erroneously applied definition of "faith" and "works" to Ephesians 2:8-9. Being dunked in water is a "work," right? That's something "you have to do," so it can't be required, lest you should boast, right?

Q: Is there anything else that a person must physically do that God says is necessary for salvation?
A: Pay attention to this one. :) "that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;  for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." (Rom 10: 8-10)

So consider this: if we say that the arbitrary definition of a work is "something a man must physically do (eg, baptism)," does confessing with your mouth fit in with that? It does. And just like baptism, this is also required for salvation. Have you done both of those, too? 
(PN138)

 

So you believe, but do you obey?

So you believe, but do you obey?
BQ: So you believe, but do you obey in what you do? This is important to consider.

Q: How much obedience do you show to God? Do you rely on your belief? Is your belief enough without good obedience? When is belief enough?

A:  We'll start off with James 2. "What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?" (14) You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. (19) You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. (24) For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. (26)"

"As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him. So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, THEN you are truly disciples of Mine." (John 8:30-31)
The people believed in Jesus, but they had to do more than just that. They had to continue in His word. 

Faith is a necessary foundation. Now that we have the rock and have the foundation laid, let's build something wondrous that leads to eternal life. 
(PN136)

What about the thief on the cross?

What about the thief on the cross?
BQ: A common objection to what the Bible says about being immersed/baptized is, "What about the thief on the cross? He wasn't baptized, but Jesus said he was saved." How can this be?

A: Before Jesus died, the Old Testament/Covenant/Will was still in effect. Hebrews 9:15-17 explains "For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives. Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood."

Jesus hadn't yet died, but he had full power over his last will and covenant.  “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” (Mt 28:18) 

Imagine that you you're planning out your will. You have $500. While you're still alive, being the owner of the will, you can still give away money (salvation) as you see fit to anyone you think deserves it. After you're dead, as the Bible points out, the will is then in effect, and the money (salvation) is only given out as stipulated. For these reasons, the thief on the cross is not a valid example of New Testament salvation. 
(PN155)

A simple addition.

A simple addition is a deadly thing.
BQ: I talk to  many people who say, "The Bible says that 'faith alone through grace saves you.' They believe it is so, and it's hard for them to imagine why my eyebrow arches up like it does. :P

Q: 1.) How many times does the Bible say that faith alone through grace saves you? 2.) How many times is the phrase "faith alone" used? 3.) Why is saying, "we are saved by grace through faith alone" bad?

A: 1.) Zero (0) times. It says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith." (Eph 2:8-9) Notice how that is worded. God specifically left out the word "alone." It absolutely never says that.

2.) One (1) time. "You see that a man is justified by works and NOT by faith alone." (Jms 2:24)  Now observe the similarity in sentence construction between Eph 2:8-9 and Jms 2:24: they both say, "X saves you," but neither of them say that "X alone saves you." In fact, we can see that both of these save us, and that James implies both are necessary. Otherwise he would have had to say, "You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith." By saying "justified by works and not by faith alone," James makes the implicit assertion that both are necessary. 

3.) God never approved of people adding even a single word—in this case, "alone"—to His teachings. "You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you." (Deut 4:2) "I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book." (Rev 22:18)

Saying that "faith alone saves" is just as bad as saying "works alone saves" a person. There is just as much evidence in the Bible for both of these doctrines: absolutely none.
(PN172) 

Sons of God

Sons of God.
BQ: Often I hear that we need to become sons of God by just believing in Jesus. The Bible addresses this. What do you think it says? We'll look at a verse and pay careful attention to the wording. 

A: "He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name." (John 1:11-12)

Notice that believing and receiving do not make one a child of God. They open up that option, however, and that's why it says that we have the RIGHT to become children of God. There are still conditions to be met, or everyone would make it to heaven by default. 

Credit for the idea for this BQ goes to Brian Howard. 
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