I see you still don't know what James means when he says a man is justified by works too and not by faith alone.
Sure I do. This is defined in Romans 4:2. If Abraham were justified by works, he has whereof to glory, but not before God.
In other words, his justification by works is before man; not before God.
As long as people are selfishly obsessed with being in good, secure standing with God, the issue will never be settled.
It is not only a selfish motivation that leads people to contend for POTS. We also seek to provide a helmet for those who are entering into spiritual battle (Ephesians 6:17, 1 Thessalonians 5:8).
I am not willing to give up the comfort it has afforded me however loudly the objectors blow their horns or how many proof texts they pile up.
You ought to base your doctrine on whether or not it is the truth; and not on how much it brings comfort to your soul.
For there is such a thing as false comfort; not every comfort is from the Holy Ghost.
Being justified means being legally viewed as having no unrighteousness.
Why then does it say that the Lord "justifieth the ungodly" (Romans 4:5)?
And you also have to be justified by deeds in order to be saved from damnation.
I think that we are going to have to agree to disagree here.
For I know that I am redeemed solely on the basis of Christ's shed blood and that my works have nothing to do with it.
I do have works to show for my faith; but the works that I do have no salvational value.
Rather, they are the result of the salvation that the Lord has given unto me.
And therefore, they are not any kind of catalyst for my salvation; seeing they are the sure result of the salvation that the Lord has wrought in my life.
And so we got a lot of people counting on their dead faith
The contention is not that a dead faith will save a man; but that works do not save a man. A living faith will produce works if given the opportunity; if it is never given the opportunity to do a good work is it therefore a dead faith?
And you need to understand that I am being technical for a reason.
For it is the attitude that produces works that is a major aspect of our salvation and the works themselves do not save a man.
Otherwise a man can have works without faith and works will save him.
Justification by faith is solely on the merits of Christ apart from any obedience from the sinner.
Thank you for finally agreeing with me!
But the church has been telling us works don't mean anything and that you don't have to fear the judgment if you have no works because salvation is not by works.
The church is correct in its assessment (John 5:24 (kjv)).
Jhn 5:24, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
It's not by works, but that doesn't mean you can have no works and still be saved when Jesus comes back.
It does in fact mean that. For you have admitted that a man who calls on the name of the Lord on his deathbed and then dies one minute later shall still be saved, as per Romans 10:13.
How much more will Romans 10:13 save a man who has the opportunity to do one good work but fails to accomplish it. I say to you verily that he will have no reward, "
yet he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire" (1 Corinthians 3:15)
In fact you have to have works to be saved when Jesus comes back. Because works are what accompanies salvation (
Hebrews 6:9-10).
Not necessarily every time.
And again, the works that would even merit salvation can only be those works that are done as a labour of love and not in order to save yourself.
And works done not in order to save yourself, by definition, are done in the knowledge that you are already saved (by grace through faith, and that not of yourself; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast); and therefore, since you are already saved by grace through faith and not of works, the works do not save you.
I think that you only need to memorize Ephesians 2:8-9 and you may finally get my point.
