Do your works play any part in your salvation?

by right paths said:

Do your own works play ant part at all in your salvation?

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We have a horse called Salvation who pulls a cart called Works. So we might say works play a part in that the part they play is the end result of unfeigned faith: 1 Timothy 1:5, 2 Timothy 1:5 which results in unfeigned love: 2 Corinthians 6:6, 1 Peter 1:22. Unfeigned is manifested in not falling short of faith and love during times of testing. As James says: if a brother is hungry and you do not give him what is necessary for his well being, then your love and faith are feigned, and feigned faith is dead faith, as is feigned love. But unfeigned faith and love - being true - show works of unfeigned love, thus proving it to be true. So the horse draws the cart, and by pulling the cart, the horse proves his strength is unfeigned.

But if you put the cart before the horse; the horse stumbles going forward and the cart overturns, pinning the horse to the ground.

by right paths said:

In other words when one has faith, works follow. So it's faith plus works. If we lack works do we really have faith?

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Yes, works of unfeigned faith will always follow unfeigned faith. If you have unfeigned faith and see your brother in need, then you will be compelled to help him when he is in need, as James says, James 2:15-16 much like the "good samaritan" parable explains (which parable I presume you know): so anyone claiming to have "faith" and seeing their brother in need, and do not help them, does not have faith which saves, but has, feigned (or, fake/false/lying) faith which is useless and good for nothing but to be "cast out": Matthew 5:13

Feigned faith will also wither under trial, while unfeigned faith will endure to the end. Unfeigned faith and unfeigned love are the sisters, like in the Ezekiel parable at chapter 1 (though not in the translation but in the Hebrew "the woman and her sister" which means "coupled" or "joined one to the other") like the "vav" joins the curtains in the Holy Place.

by right paths said:

Do your own works play ant part at all in your salvation?

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God doesn't love you because your good, he makes you good because he loves you. (John Calvin)

by right paths said:

In other words when one has faith, works follow. So it's faith plus works. If we lack works do we really have faith?

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NO!

You have faith because God gave it to you as a gift.

When you open that gift you receive the faith to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. It is THEN that you will have the desire to help others. Not to be saved, but because you are saved.

You see, it can only work that way. If a person accepts Christ on their death bed, and then dies 5 minutes later with out doing any good works, would they then be saved????

YES!!!

Why?

Because we are saved by grace through faith so that we can not brag about what we have done for ourselves.

by right paths said:

Do your own works play ant part at all in your salvation?

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No...works stem from our Faith in God's plan for us here. In part as an example to others that we abide by His authority.

It is how we shine our light, fight the good fight, and pass on to others that God is alive and real in our lives...and let others know that Jesus salvation is there for anyone who asks.

mark kennedy said:

God doesn't love you because your good, he makes you good because he loves you. (John Calvin)

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It is dangerous for me to talk about Calvinism, as I get overwrought. However, God allows you to CHOOSE Him (the Good), and works follow because of that choice and because of His love.

Depends on which salvation you are talking or thinking about.
Reply to this if you want more specifics.

This is a difficult question because we are not saved by works but by grace through faith. Yet, faith without works is dead. As we are told in the bible we must love our neighbors as ourselves. It is not optional. The good samaritan is not an example of the way we should be, but the eay we must be. "Do this and thou shalt live."

There is a lot of confusion because we are not saved by the law. Yet in the same passage Paul says this Paul says the law is fullfilled in love thy neighbor as thyself. So even thou we are not under the mosaic law (sacrificing lambs, etc...) we are srill under the commandments not to hurt each other, plus under the new commandment to love one another as we love ourselves.

Yet, no matter how many works you do without the saving grace of Jesus it will never be enough for we still sin. It is the blood of Jesus cleansing us of our sins for when we don't do what we're supposed to that saves us.

So, we are supposed to ne as good as we can, which will never be good enough, and ask for forgiveness for when we can't. With out us trying to do right there is no repentance and so no forgiveness. Of course we can then repent of this and be forgiven.

The bible needs to be taken as a whole, not a bit here. Just as it is true we are saved by grace, not of works, lest any man should boast it is true that faith without works is dead as well as love thy neighbor as thyself, do this and thou shalt live.

No

Yes, they are evidence of it.

by right paths said:

Do your own works play ant part at all in your salvation?

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The Bible speaks about our salvation in the past, present, and future tense (Ephesians 2:5, Philippians 2:12, Romans 5:9-10), so our salvation is all encompassing in that we have been saved from the penalty of our sins, we are being saved from continuing to sin, and we will be saved from God's wrath on the day of the Lord. According to Titus 2:11-14, our salvation involves being saved from the penalty of our sins by Messiah giving himself to redeem us from all lawlessness, but our salvation also involves being trained to do what God has revealed to be godly, righteous, and good and trained to renounce doing what He has revealed to be ungodly, sinful, and lawless, which is where good works play a part. According to Ephesians 2:8-10, we have been saved in the past tense by grace through faith, not by doing what God has revealed to be good works, but rather we are made new creations in Messiah for the purpose of doing these good works in the present tense. We are not to do good works in order to become saved, but because we have been, are being, and will be saved.

Soyeong said:

The Bible speaks about our salvation in the past, present, and future tense (Ephesians 2:5, Philippians 2:12, Romans 5:9-10), so our salvation is all encompassing in that we have been saved from the penalty of our sins, we are being saved from continuing to sin, and we will be saved from God's wrath on the day of the Lord. According to Titus 2:11-14, our salvation involves being saved from the penalty of our sins by Messiah giving himself to redeem us from all lawlessness, but our salvation also involves being trained to do what God has revealed to be godly, righteous, and good and trained to renounce doing what He has revealed to be ungodly, sinful, and lawless, which is where good works play a part. According to Ephesians 2:8-10, we have been saved in the past tense by grace through faith, not by doing what God has revealed to be good works, but rather we are made new creations in Messiah for the purpose of doing these good works. We are not to do good works in order to become saved, but because we have been, are being, and will be saved.

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Beautiful. So often, we seem to look at being saved as some future event that hasn't happened yet. But you are so right. I can see how God has kept me safe, is saving me, and will save me ultimately, in the future.

LaSorcia said:

Beautiful. So often, we seem to look at being saved as some future event that hasn't happened yet. But you are so right. I can see how God has kept me safe, is saving me, and will save me ultimately, in the future.

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You might find this article interesting:

James Akin

Soyeong said:

You might find this article interesting:

James Akin

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That was a great article, thank you. This didn't resonate with me though: As we said, Protestants generally conceive of justification purely as a state rather than also as a process.

Now, I am Protestant, purely by the fact that I am not legally Catholic or Orthodox, and that I strongly believe that God calls women to be ministers/priests/rabbis/etc. But that's beside the point here.

Sometimes, not having been raised in a faith tradition is good for me. Because then I see what God is doing in my life rather than what God should be doing in my life according to my institutional church (or having no clue because I've been taught nothing lol.

At one point in my life, I 'got saved', accepted Jesus as my saviour. But I am definitely walking a path. I definitely have free will. When I stray, out of ignorance or stubborness (being a stiff-necked person), God gently guides me back. This is the ever-fluctuating present salvation. And I have hope and faith, that at some point in the (way distant future, I hope!) future when my soul parts from my mortal body, that God will protect me and allow me into His presence.

In God's eyes, from the view of eternity, it is likely a done deal, but we live in the temporal world, so it makes sense to describe it in terms of past, present and future. Thanks, Soyeong.

My salvation comes through the blessing of Christ's death - nothing else. But my spirit would be deemed dead if I did not try to walk as He did - the straight and narrow. Like any relationship, there has to be actions - works - that show our love for that person or Being. I prove my love of Christ through how I treat others and my daily walk with Him. Just as I prove my love for my husband through my works towards him and daily interactions.

Salvation itself is a gained through the gift of faith. However, as James in his epistles said, in I believe 1 James 10, faith without works is dead.


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Looking at what Jesus said in Matthew 25, it would seem like foolishness to say that works play no part at all in our salvation.