How does obedience relate to saving faith?<\/p>\n\t
“What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe–and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also”\u00a0<\/i>(James 2:14-26)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
According to James faith doesn’t truly exist without the evidence of works accompanying the faith. In other words, faith is demonstrated by the things that a person does and not by the things a person claims. The most famous chapter on faith is Hebrews 11 and notice that each example of faith is also an example of work. How do we know that Abel had faith? Because he offered a better sacrifice. How do we know that Enoch had faith? Because he walked with God and did not die. Noah demonstrated his faith by building the ark. Abraham showed his faith by leaving his homeland and by offering up his son Isaac.<\/p>\n
Faith and obedient works are inseparable. It is when man tries to pull them apart — to have one without the other — that man finds himself in trouble.<\/p>\n
Notice the parallels formed between faith and obedience in the following verses:<\/p>\n
“And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those\u00a0who did not obey<\/b>? So we see that they could not enter in because of\u00a0unbelief<\/b><\/i>” (Hebrews 3:18-19).<\/p>\n
“For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them,\u00a0not being mixed with faith<\/b>\u00a0in those who heard it<\/i>” (Hebrews 4:2).<\/p>\n
“Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter\u00a0because of disobedience<\/b><\/i>” (Hebrews 4:6).<\/p>\n
“Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of\u00a0disobedience<\/b><\/i>” (Hebrews 4:11).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It should be clear that the writer of Hebrews sees faith and obedience as interchangeable ideas. They are not the same concept, but they are inseparable — having one implies the other. Paul puts it this way: “But now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations,\u00a0leading to obedience of faith<\/b><\/i>” (Romans 16:26).<\/p>\n
“He who\u00a0believes<\/b>\u00a0in the Son has eternal life; but he who\u00a0does not obey<\/b>\u00a0the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him<\/i>” (John 3:36). The Greek word\u00a0apeitheo<\/i>\u00a0that is translated as “does not obey” is very interesting. It means “to disobey, to be unpersuaded, to be disobedient, disloyal, or stubborn.” It is properly translated as either disobedient or unbelieving because the ideas are seen as being synonymous.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: How does obedience relate to saving faith? Answer: “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[49,54,47],"class_list":["post-1933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-faith","tag-obedience","tag-salvation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5153,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-too-simple-to-say-we-are-to-believe-and-we-will-be-saved-by-gods-grace\/","url_meta":{"origin":1933,"position":0},"title":"Is it too simple to say we are to believe and we will be saved by God’s grace?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 4, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm concerned that purgatory does not exist in the Bible. I believe that imaginary doctrine can be changed, as has the belief of Limbo, with innocent newborn babies, who have died prior to baptism, no longer going to Limbo. I always thought that God has told us to believe\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20326,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-you-beautifully-write-about-the-law-being-nailed-to-the-cross-and-insist-that-salvation-comes-through-obedience\/","url_meta":{"origin":1933,"position":1},"title":"How can you beautifully write about the law being nailed to the cross and insist that salvation comes through obedience?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How can someone write a beautiful article like \"What Was Nailed to the Cross?\" and then insist that salvation comes through obedience to a new set of commands? Answer: Because it is what God stated. See \"Doing Our Duty\" and \"In Word and Deed.\" \"For the weapons of our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20041,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-still-confused-as-to-what-love-is-is-it-a-feeling-an-action-or-both\/","url_meta":{"origin":1933,"position":2},"title":"I’m still confused as to what love is. Is it a feeling, an action, or both?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was reading over\u00a0the email you sent me a while back and I understand what love is but at the same time, I don't. I know what is but I feel it's hard to explain. Love is like faith, it isn't an action but without action, it is basically\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":749,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-belief-include-anything-more-than-trust\/","url_meta":{"origin":1933,"position":3},"title":"Does belief include anything more than trust?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 30, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does belief include anything more than trust? Answer: Belief or faith is of primary importance to a follower of God. The writer of Hebrews state, \"But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58371,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-obedience-of-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":1933,"position":4},"title":"The Obedience of Faith","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 23, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Steve Dewhirst via Gospel Power, Vol. 12, No. 17, April 24, 2005. How odd, that one of the Bible's most fundamental teachings should have become so puzzling to folks. God is not the author of confusion, but man is. And during the centuries since Jesus walked the earth, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67035,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/saving-faith-is-obedient-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":1933,"position":5},"title":"Saving Faith Is Obedient Faith","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 14, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dennis Abernathy Many passages could be cited to show that one must believe (have faith) to be saved. However, believing is more involved than the sole mental act. Ultimately, believing in the Lord is to do what He says, and refusing\u00a0to obey\u00a0His will is an expression of disbelief! The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}