{"id":54501,"date":"2018-11-04T21:26:00","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T03:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=54501"},"modified":"2022-09-29T21:28:48","modified_gmt":"2022-09-30T02:28:48","slug":"how-do-i-show-my-coworker-that-it-is-not-faith-alone-that-saves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-show-my-coworker-that-it-is-not-faith-alone-that-saves\/","title":{"rendered":"How do I show my coworker that it is not faith alone that saves?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

Hello,<\/p>\n

I am in a discussion of the Bible with a man that I work with. He is Lutheran and I go to a church of Christ. His beliefs are that faith saves and continues to recite the verse from Ephesians 2:8-9. I’m sure you’re very familiar with that verse. I have shared with him many other verses from James 2:24 to Acts 2:38; Acts 8:38-40; Matthew 16:18 and so on, but he continues to return to Ephesians. I don’t want to give up on him because he believes, but he won’t listen to what the rest of the Word is telling him.<\/p>\n

Note: he said he was baptized when he was a baby, and that’s all he needs, but it’s his faith and God’s grace that has saved him.<\/p>\n

What more can I do?<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

First, remember that Jesus was not able to convince everyone of the truth. If God can’t, then I won’t have a perfect track record either.<\/p>\n

Regarding Ephesians 2:8-9, I point people to the context. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions,\u00a0made us alive together with Christ<\/strong>\u00a0(by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them<\/em>” (Ephesians 2:5-10). We agree that the reason we have been saved is due to God’s grace, but consider\u00a0how<\/em> were we made alive together with Christ.<\/p>\n

“Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.\u00a0For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection<\/strong>, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin<\/em>” (Romans 6:3-7). It is through baptism that we were made alive together with Christ.<\/p>\n

If this piques his interest, then I would recommend a study of all the things that are connected with salvation. Faith and God’s grace are two elements, but there is so much more need. For example, ask him if someone can be saved while remaining in his sins. I would hope his answer is, “Of course not.” And if so, then he has just argued that repentance is necessary for salvation. See: What Saves a Person?<\/a><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: Hello, I am in a discussion of the Bible with a man that I work with. He is Lutheran and I go to a church of Christ. His beliefs are that faith saves and continues to recite the verse from Ephesians 2:8-9. I’m sure you’re very familiar with that verse. I have shared with…<\/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,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[53,1008,47,451],"class_list":["post-54501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-faith-alone","tag-faith-only","tag-salvation","tag-teaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36760,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/by-grace-through-faith-with-the-washing-of-water\/","url_meta":{"origin":54501,"position":0},"title":"By Grace Through Faith with the Washing of Water","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Notice the prepositions: by, through, and with. The Book of Ephesians uses all three to describe what is involved with our salvation. It teaches we are saved by grace. It teaches we are saved through faith. It teaches we are saved with the washing of water\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":94489,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-christs-sacrifice-applied-to-all-people-at-once-or-applied-as-needed\/","url_meta":{"origin":54501,"position":1},"title":"Was Christ\u2019s sacrifice applied to all people at once, or applied as needed?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The sacrifice itself was once\u2011for\u2011all, complete, and never repeated. Hebrews 10:14 teaches that Christ's offering is finished, final, and never needs to be repeated: \"By one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.\" The atoning act is complete, final, and historically accomplished at\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":19527,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/arent-there-passages-that-say-we-are-saved-by-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":54501,"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":52482,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-faith-alone-save-one-from-his-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":54501,"position":3},"title":"Does faith alone save one from his sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does faith alone save one from his sins? Answer: Faith does save (Acts 16:31). Grace saves (Acts 15:11). Jesus saves (Acts 4:12). The message saves (Acts 11:14). The resurrection saves (Romans 5:10). Hope saves (Romans 8:24). Confession saves (Romans 10:10). The gospel saves (I Corinthians 15:2). Knowledge saves (1\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":91157,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/by-works-or-not\/","url_meta":{"origin":54501,"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":10976,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-saves-us-from-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":54501,"position":5},"title":"What Saves Us from Sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Clem Thurman via Gospel Minutes, Vol. 57, No. 28, July 11, 2008 We are not saved by one thing to the exclusion of all others, for there are many factors that work out our salvation. Rather than focus on just one passage that speaks of our being saved, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/saved.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54501","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=54501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54501\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}