"For the entire Law is fulfilled in in this one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."—Gal 5:14

Filtering by Tag: works

Works of God.

Added on by Lucas Necessary.

Works and faith. 
BQ: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9, emp. added).  


Q: Are we saved without works? 
A: James 2:14-24, John 6:27-29

The NT mentions at least 3 kinds of works: (1) works of the Law of Moses (Galatians 2:16;  Romans 3:20); (2) works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21); and (3) works resulting from obedience of faith (James 2:14-24). This last category is often referred to as “works of God.” 

"Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may WORK the  WORKS of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the WORK of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent” (Jn 6)

Belief is a work. Are we saved without belief? The works of God include belief, baptism, etc. Baptism, for example, is something done TO a person in submission to God, not BY a person.  

(PN34)

Baptism as a "work."

Added on by Lucas Necessary.

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. 
(PN137)

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)


 

Is baptism a work of man and thus unneeded?

Added on by Lucas Necessary.

Is baptism a work of man and thus unneeded? 
Ephesians 2:8-9 is great: "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." Without studying, people can take this too far. I've even heard it said that repentance can't be necessary, as it would invalidate the free gift of God. (So would a serial murderer be fine as long as he had faith alone?")

Q: From Eph 2:8-9, is baptism unnecessary because it is a work of man? 
A: "Having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead." (Col 2:12) 

Some like to say that anything that is a work cannot be a requirement for salvation. Baptism, along with other factors such as belief, "now saves you." (1 Pet 3:21) Is there something about being wet that does it? Something about our righteousness that we can brag about? Read Col 2:12 again, and the answer is "Nope!" Baptism is the working of God, not man. It's His designated operating table. 

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (Jn 3:16) "Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent."" (Jn 6:29) 

These are great works, and they're absolutely necessary. 
(PN135)