by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
The Holy Spirit inspired James to write: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves<\/em>” (James 1:22 NKJV).<\/p>\n There are only two choices:<\/p>\n Hearers-only are deceived mainly because of the self-deception of “faith only.”<\/p>\n Some preachers advocate that the doctrine of faith-only is very full of comfort. Yet, the Bible says it ought to give us much discomfort. James also said that faith only is “dead.” You are not alive to God when all you do is hear His word but don’t do <\/b>what is required.<\/p>\n Those preachers and teachers today who advocate a salvation by “faith only” are among the ones that James said are “deceived”. One should never advocate a position plainly denied by the word of God. The doer <\/b>of the word is the one that will be blessed “in what he does<\/strong><\/em>“(James 1:25). Hearers-only are not blessed, though they have faith only enough to hear only. The Spirit revealed the truth; we must hear it, teach it, and do it.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton The Holy Spirit inspired James to write: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22 NKJV). There are only two choices: self-deception because of only hearing the word and truth because you are a doer of the word. Hearers-only are deceived mainly because of the…<\/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_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[53,1008,1506,55],"class_list":["post-83008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-faith-alone","tag-faith-only","tag-hearing","tag-works"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":47700,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-dont-think-my-walk-with-god-is-going-well\/","url_meta":{"origin":83008,"position":0},"title":"I don’t think my walk with God is going well","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I'm worried about my walk with God, and I don't think it's going well. I hardly read my Bible and I always forget to pray. When I do pray I'm worried God is not listening. I know He is, but I can't shake this feeling. My question 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":10924,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-reading-the-bible-the-best-place-to-start-if-you-have-never-been-religious\/","url_meta":{"origin":83008,"position":1},"title":"Is reading the Bible the best place to start if you have never been religious?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just wanted to know if reading the Bible is the best place to start. I've never been religious. I remember going to church and getting baptized as a kid, but I never understood what it was about, and my family stopped going to church so I just forgot\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":618,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/doesnt-romans-51-teach-we-are-saved-by-faith-alone\/","url_meta":{"origin":83008,"position":2},"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":43623,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-please-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":83008,"position":3},"title":"How do I please God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Sir, Please, I want to know more about how to please God. Answer: You learn what God wants by studying His teachings in the Bible. \"For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you\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":67015,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/not-by-faith-only\/","url_meta":{"origin":83008,"position":4},"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":2089,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-philosophy-of-true-education\/","url_meta":{"origin":83008,"position":5},"title":"What is the philosophy of true education?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 18, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is the philosophy of true education? Answer: At its core, education is the process of transferring knowledge, understanding, and wisdom from one individual to another. John Milton Gregory, in his book\u00a0The Seven Laws of Teaching, said, \"Teaching is arousing and using the pupil's mind to grasp the desired\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":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83008","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=83008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83008\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n