by Dennis Abernathy<\/p>\n
Many passages could be cited to show that one must believe <\/b>(have faith) to be saved. However, believing is more involved than the sole mental act. Ultimately, believing<\/strong> in the Lord is to do<\/strong> what He says, and refusing\u00a0to obey<\/strong>\u00a0His will is an expression of disbelief<\/strong>!<\/p>\n The thought of “obedience” and “works” has been brushed aside by many people in deference to popular views of “grace alone” and “faith only.” But the religion of Jesus is a way of righteous action<\/strong>! It is the way of obedient<\/strong>\u00a0service by faith<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Ben Bogard, denying that baptism is essential to salvation, said, “I am going to maintain that there is no act at all that any man in the Old Testament time or the New ever had to perform to be saved. Salvation is received by faith, and faith is the only thing you can do without doing anything. Faith submits to the Lord and doesn’t pretend to do; as long as you attempt to do, you are working it yourself and not depending upon the Lord.” [Hardeman Bogard Debate p. 93]. Is that a true statement? No, it is not.<\/p>\n In many instances, “believing” is a summary term that embraces all of the conditions inherent in God’s divine plan of salvation, including the command to be immersed in water. This is crucial since many absolutely repudiate the idea that baptism is a requisite to forgiveness. So, when the New Testament speaks about saving faith or belief that leads to salvation, it is not speaking about faith alone<\/strong>! It talks about belief as the foundation of one’s surrender to Christ and the motivating factor in obedience to His will. For example, to the Romans, Paul mentions “the obedience to the faith<\/em>,” and also “the obedience of faith<\/em>.” (Romans 1: 5; 16:26). Thus, we learn that “the faith” can and must be obeyed<\/strong>, and that one’s personal faith<\/em> can and must lead to obedience! So, one’s personal faith should, and it will, if it is genuine, motivate one to obey<\/strong> “the faith,” i.e., “the system of faith, the Word of God, the gospel of Christ (Romans 1:16-17).<\/p>\n Therefore, faith does not stand alone<\/strong>! Faith acts<\/strong>! Faith works<\/strong>! Faith obeys God’s will<\/strong>! Saving faith will do what God says. In fact, faith does not save before it acts<\/strong>!<\/p>\n Think on these things.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 thought of “obedience” and “works”…<\/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":[27],"tags":[49,53,1008,54],"class_list":["post-67035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-faith","tag-faith-alone","tag-faith-only","tag-obedience"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":67015,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/not-by-faith-only\/","url_meta":{"origin":67035,"position":0},"title":"Not By Faith Only","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 14, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton When the Bible says, \"not by faith only\" (James 2:14-24), why is it that you hear major denominations claiming that salvation is \"by faith alone\"? I would be embarrassed to hold to a doctrine that directly contradicts the word of God. If the Bible actually taught\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":618,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/doesnt-romans-51-teach-we-are-saved-by-faith-alone\/","url_meta":{"origin":67035,"position":1},"title":"Doesn’t Romans 5:1 teach we are saved by faith alone?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 11, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Doesn't\u00a0Romans 5:1\u00a0teach that we are saved by faith alone? Answer: Romans 5:1\u00a0says, \"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.\" This proves that justification requires faith, but your stated goal was to prove that justification was by faith\u00a0alone. There is no\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":58345,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/no-christian-was-ever-saved-by-faith-alone\/","url_meta":{"origin":67035,"position":2},"title":"No Christian Was Ever Saved by Faith Alone","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kent Heaton The doctrine of salvation by faith alone is a popular means by which many in the religious world have been deceived into believing they have obeyed the will of God and live under the presumption they are disciples of Christ. While the doctrine has been around for\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":58695,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-perversion-of-biblical-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":67035,"position":3},"title":"A Perversion of Biblical Faith","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne Jackson One of the great tragedies of ecclesiastical history is the fact that so many have failed to find a balanced view of human redemption as this concept is set forth in the biblical record. On the one hand, there is Roman Catholicism, arrogantly contending that salvation 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":91157,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/by-works-or-not\/","url_meta":{"origin":67035,"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":60949,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/at-what-point-does-faith-save\/","url_meta":{"origin":67035,"position":5},"title":"At What Point Does Faith Save?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 28, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Richie Thetford Many denominations will have us believe that we are saved by faith\u00a0before we do the action in accordance with God's command. No doubt you have seen those on television attending a huge denominational service who are invited to come forward at the conclusion of the service and\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\/67035","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=67035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67035\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}