Faith Alone - Can you explain?

Let me make this more simple:

1.) If you believe in God and have Faith in the ressurection, then confess your sins.
2.) following this: be baptized by water and Spirit as Christ tells us in John chapter 3.
3.) God tells us in the Old Testement, and in the New testement:
the two greatest commandments!
a. Love the Lord your God with all your heart mind and soul.
b. Love your neighbor as thyself.
4.) Christ tells us in the Book of John, If you love me you will obey me!

How much simpler does it get.
Our responsibility as a Christian shold be the question!
If I have Faith, IF I believe, and If I have been baptized; what then?

Mathew 28 tells us:
Go making disciples of all nations baptizing in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit.

When Christ sent out the 70 disciples in Matthew, he gave them instructions on how to carry themelves.
In Corinthians chapter 12 it talks about the church using their gifts.

If you love me you will obey me!
If you have Faith, you are saved by grace and mercy, If you have confessed and repented of your sins.

It is imperative that one lives a life of Holiness and righteousness, yes it is a struggle, but that is why we have the power of the Holy Spirit, a gift from God until Christ returns, to battle Satan on his own turf.

You can't have one without the other.

Edouard
May God give us understanding and love in all matters!
May the Lord bless you and your household, may you serve the Lord all your days.

Have a blessed day

Yes...

If you love me, you'll obey my commandments.

A good tree bears good fruit.

But is the bearong of fruit what makes it a good tree? No, it's a GOOD tree and that's why it bears good fruit.

he did?

Thats fine, but Jesus did say that sins are forgiven through confession to His apostles (and their descendants by logical extension).

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No he didnt as far a protestants are concerned. Why are you preaching Catholic doctrines here and debating them with protestants when the rule is:

3) Non-Protestant members (eg. Catholic members) can only post fellowship posts here or posts to ask a question regarding Protestant or Evangelical doctrine. Once the question is answered, there shall be no debate over the answer in this forum by the Non-Protestant. Any debate posts by Non-Protestants will be deleted or moved to the Interdenominational Doctrine Debate forum. In other words, only Protestant members can debate here.

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and pls dont tell me you are not Catholic.

I don't believe that we are saved by faith alone - there are many other things that have to happen before we can be "saved".

The first thing is that we have to hear the word, from hearing the word we have to believe, our belief has to be the impetus for our repentance, and then we must be baptized for the remission of our sins.

These are things that the gospel teaches. Too many people run to the epistles, which are explanations of the gospel written to people who are already Christians. Please don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying that the epistles aren't useful or helpful - I'm just saying that what we believe needs to be built upon the gospels and supplemented by the epistles. Does that make sense?

the Epistles were written to christians to explain things they didn't understand, and to encourage them in things they did.

follow this chain:

John 3:24-16
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

John 14:23-25
"If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me."

1 John 3:19-24
"This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us."


John 4:15-21
If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

James 2:14
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?


Can you see the connection??

If a man believes God, and in Jesus (Faith) he will be saved and know god.

If a man knows God, God's love will be in him. If God's love is not in him, he cannot know God.

How can a man claim to have God's love when it isn't seen in his actions?

There is 3 different viewpoints on the same thing...

A man who doesn't know God, does not have his love, and must believe to receive it.

A man who does not have Gods love does not know God, and will prove it through his lack of works.

A man who knows God, has His love, and will prove it through works.


If man has Faith, then he will be obedient to God. this means he will:

1) Be baptised (unless he does not know he should, or can't)
2) Confess his sins to God, and seek encouragement from the body of christ
3) Act as a witness to god's greatness and mercy
4) Love god and his Neighbour

you cannot do these things until you are saved (made right with God)

So we are saved by faith, told what people who know God will do and what they are like, and warned that every who doesn't obey God is not saved.


Christopher:
Your original quote from the bible is missing the verse before it

Romans 2:4,5
Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?
But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous

Clearly the peopel who will be judged according to what they do are being "led towards repentance" and thus are not saved. The people Paul is talking to here are Jews which follow the Law to attain salvation. Paul is explaining their position in relation to the law (ie they do not keep ALL the law and therefor will be judged guilty by it)

In Romans 3:21-6:14 Paul explains that God in his grace and wisdom has provided a different method of salvation (Faith through Jesus)

Does this explain the passage? do you agree?

I agree that faith is necessary - but there are many things that you are leaving out. Mark 16:16, Matthew 28:19, John 3:5 - then in the epistles Romans 6, Colosians 2:12, Galatians 3:27, 1 Peter 3:21 -- also Acts 2:38 -- and these are just some of the ones that cover baptism.

I also think its interesting that the only time the words "faith" and "only" are connected with one another, they are preceded by the word "not"

"Ye see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith."

- James 2:24

This is not a debate forum. I hope people remember that. If you have quesions, that's great. But just like I can't go into OBOB and tell Catholics how to believe and how wrong they are I do not like the reverse done in this forum. Thanks for understanding.

Question?

Where in scripture once does it say we are saved by faith and not by grace?

Faith is the act of believing in Jesus.
James tells us Faith without works is dead.
Romans tells us we are saved by grace and justified by faith.

Revelations tells us we are judged by our heart and actions.
To my knowledge Matthew 28 is a command from Christ.
Again I ask one question:

Where in scripture is their a conversion by faith alone?
Where in scripture is their a conversion not involving baptism?

Question concerning descendants earlier, I like the thought that our descendants are saved by our ancestors faith. However, where in scripture does it state this? please elaborate not using the reference of the Catechism, unless a scripture reference is stated.

The reason I ask the previous question is this, in the old testement it tells us that the descendants shall inherit the consequences of their father's sins. ( Torah ). Even in the old testement all had to make atonement for their own sins. Hence the father is the spiritual leader in the household and responsible for His sins to the family. But as the children grow, the father is responsible for their teaching. As we learn what sin is and what is righteousness, we become responsible for our own actions. Hence in the new testement, where has Christ said if your father or mother believes in me, your household and descendants are saved?

Interesting eh? When quoting scripture or from a book of the bible, please look at three things. Timeline in which it is written, to whom it is written, and the entirety of the book. Like any book their are things stated previously that tie in to the end. Make sense? Especially in the greek.

Always look for a common word we see, and therefore. which means it ties in to the previous comments..

Edouard
May God bring grace and peace to you and your household.

hobart schmedly said:

It is a particular of Paul to write whole chapters (like chapter 7 of Romans) from the point of view of another person, or himself prior to being saved. The chapter you are reading from is the reflective tone of a Jew who is not saved and resisting the gospel. This is not written about saved people.

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No way. The writers did not write chapters. They were added later to help in reading of the Bible.