by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
Many claim that Ephesians 2:8-9 teaches salvation by faith alone and that baptism is not necessary for salvation. Please respond.<\/p>\n
First, the word “alone” is not in Ephesians 2:8 but it is in James 2:14-24 and there it clearly says, “Not <\/b>by faith alone.” So, we must not allow the insertion of words where it forces a contradiction.<\/p>\n
Secondly, baptism is affirmed in Ephesians 5:26, where “washing of water by the word<\/em>” refers to baptism. Now, take a look at the combined prepositions. By <\/b>grace, through<\/strong> faith, … with <\/b>the washing of water by the word (Ephesians 5:26). Ephesians 2:8 does not say or imply that it is through faith alone <\/b>and “without” the washing of water by the word. Put all the prepositions together: by<\/strong>, through<\/strong>, and with<\/strong>. It is with <\/b>the washing of water by the word, not by<\/strong> grace through <\/b>faith…without <\/b>the washing of water by the word.<\/p>\n Acts 2:36-41 put all three together for us to clearly see.\u00a0These 3000 were saved by <\/b>grace through <\/b>faith with <\/b>the washing of water by the word. There is no escaping the truth in that example of people being saved. See the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:33f). Again, it was by <\/b>grace, through <\/b>faith, with <\/b>the washing of water by the word. The Ephesians are seen correcting their faith and being baptized in the name of the Lord (Acts 19:6). Thus, again, it was by <\/b>grace, through <\/b>faith, with <\/b>the washing of water by the word.<\/p>\n “Not of works” means not by works of merit or perfect law-keeping. That would mean we earned our own way, and that cancels it being by<\/strong>\u00a0grace. Baptism is an act of faith <\/b>in Jesus, not a work of law. Through <\/b>faith with <\/b>the washing of water, we are forgiven by <\/b>grace.<\/p>\n There is no grace alone or faith alone ever mentioned anywhere.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton Question: Many claim that Ephesians 2:8-9 teaches salvation by faith alone and that baptism is not necessary for salvation. Please respond. Answer: First, the word “alone” is not in Ephesians 2:8 but it is in James 2:14-24 and there it clearly says, “Not by faith alone.” So, we must not allow…<\/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":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"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":83696,"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":69774,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/dead-and-raised\/","url_meta":{"origin":83696,"position":1},"title":"Dead and Raised","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Paul describes our pre-conversion state as \"dead in trespasses and sin\" (Ephesians 2:1). We walked like others in the world, but we were spiritually dead toward God. But from our dead state, He \"made us alive together with Christ\" (Ephesians 2:5). We were \"raised up together\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":93651,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/saved-by-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":83696,"position":2},"title":"Saved by Faith","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 3, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hugh DeLong \"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved-\u00a0 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in\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":83696,"position":3},"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":87257,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-martin-luther-taught-about-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":83696,"position":4},"title":"What Martin Luther Taught About Baptism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton While Martin Luther may have taught the idea of salvation by \"faith alone,\" you might be surprised to learn that he did not think faith alone excluded baptism. It was an umbrella term that included repentance and baptism. So, he didn't place baptism in the category\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":39338,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-good-works-the-result-of-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":83696,"position":5},"title":"Are good works the result of salvation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Are good works the result of salvation? I was in a discussion earlier with someone of the Baptist faith who used Ephesians 2:10 to say that good works are the result of salvation and not required for salvation since Paul is referring to us being saved in Ephesians 2:8-9,\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83696","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=83696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83696\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}