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 <\/b>in Him and we will be saved by His grace. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast<\/em>” (Ephesians 2:8-9).<\/p>\n Maybe I’ve simplified this too much. Have I?<\/p>\n\t What you have stated is correct, but it can be misunderstood. Some people define belief as a simple affirmation that God exists and that Jesus, His Son, came to earth. James addresses this problem of belief being in word only:<\/p>\n “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<\/em>” (James 2:14-26).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Real faith is one that spurs a person to obey the things God has said. The passage you quoted actually says that if you read one more verse. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them<\/em>” (Ephesians 2:10). Man-made works cannot save a person, but God has prepared works for us to do which will impact our salvation. Thus we find Paul discussing, “Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name<\/em>” (Romans 1:5). Paul ended the same letter stating, “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now has been made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures has been made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith — to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen<\/em>” (Romans 16:25-27).<\/p>\n Belief in God is believing what God has told us, accepting it without modification, and making application of it throughout our lives. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him<\/em>” (Hebrews 11:6).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 in Him and we will…<\/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":[49,53,48,54,47,55],"class_list":["post-5153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-faith","tag-faith-alone","tag-grace","tag-obedience","tag-salvation","tag-works"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":95979,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-one-work-toward-his-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":5153,"position":0},"title":"Can One Work Toward His Salvation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 7, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Charles Spence via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 21 No. 2, June 1995 \"Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone\" (James 2:17). One of the most misunderstood teachings of the Bible is grace through faith. People have often cited Ephesians 2:8-9, excluding verse 10. The text is\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":38562,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-arminianism\/","url_meta":{"origin":5153,"position":1},"title":"What is Arminianism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good morning Jeffrey, I'm having an issue understand something. A lot of the denominational world is under the assumption that if a person is not a Calvinist, then they are an Arminian. What is an Arminian? I've thoroughly studied Calvinism and its faults, but I can't seem to find\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":19527,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/arent-there-passages-that-say-we-are-saved-by-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":5153,"position":2},"title":"Aren’t there passages that say we are saved by faith?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: You say\u00a0that \"You will never find where the Bible says that baptism is a symbol, or that one is saved at the point of faith.\" What about Luke 7:50? Jesus said to the woman, \"Your faith has saved you; go in peace.\" Ephesians 2:8\u00a0\"For it is by\u00a0grace you have\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":18659,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-noah-was-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":5153,"position":3},"title":"How Noah Was Saved","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Peter 3:18-22 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In our reading, Peter draws on the account of Noah\u2019s salvation to illustrate how the Christian is saved. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many people object to the straight forward reading of I Peter 3:21 because it stands contrary to what they have accepted. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To many\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91157,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/by-works-or-not\/","url_meta":{"origin":5153,"position":4},"title":"By Works or Not?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton An atheist thinks he sees the following verses as \"contradicting\" each other. Atheist: Salvation by Faith or Works: \u2022 Ephesians 2:8-9: \"For by grace you have been saved through faith\u2026not a result of works.\" \u2022 James 2:24: \"You see that a person is justified by works\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":67902,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/real-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":5153,"position":5},"title":"Real Faith","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Biblical faith is not mere belief. It is trust, but it is more than that. It is conviction, loyalty, faithfulness, allegiance, and commitment. To say that we ought to trust God and have faith is not to say that we sit back and do nothing. That is\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\/5153","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=5153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5153\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\nAnswer:<\/h2>\n