by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
An atheist thinks he sees the following verses as “contradicting” each other.<\/p>\nAtheist: Salvation by Faith or Works:
\n\u2022 Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith…not a result of works.”
\n\u2022 James 2:24: “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”\n
Answer:<\/p>\n
Once again, the atheist shows his ignorance of context and word usage. In Ephesians 2, the “works” are contrasted with “grace through faith”. Thus, works of perfect-law-keeping where grace is not needed. None is right with God because of works (perfectly doing what is right without sin). We have all sinned; therefore, works are not the basis of our right standing with God.<\/p>\n
However, James is not on that same topic at all. He is talking about the nature of faith. Is it an active and obedient faith? Or is it faith alone with no works (actions) to show it? He speaks of works in an entirely different way than Paul does in Ephesians 2.<\/p>\n
Paul speaks of meritorious works of perfect law-keeping where grace is not needed. If I do the law perfectly (work), I don’t need mercy. On the other hand, since I need mercy and need grace, what kind of faith do I need? Is it mental faith alone? Or does it yield in obedience to Jesus? (Hebrews 5:9). Does it need to be like the men in John 12:42, where they believed in Jesus but would not confess Him? Is that a faith that saves? No! We have to have the kind of faith that confesses Jesus and obeys Jesus.<\/p>\n
James is speaking of works of faith, not works of merit (perfect law keeping). So, again, both verses are true, and in context do not contradict each other at all. Our right standing with God is “not of works” (our perfect and sinless performance) but by grace through faith. What kind of faith is involved? A working, obedient, active faith. This needs mercy and grace, and these come through an obedient faith in Jesus. In fact, remission of sins comes to those with the kind of faith to “repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins,<\/em>” and please note that the “gift” is given at that moment, not when they first came into mental faith alone (Acts 2:36-41). Their faith was not just about belief, but a working faith.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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…not a result of works.” \u2022 James 2:24: “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”…<\/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":[793,53,1008,55],"class_list":["post-91157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-apparent-contradictions","tag-faith-alone","tag-faith-only","tag-works"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15874,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/faith-and-works\/","url_meta":{"origin":91157,"position":0},"title":"Faith and Works (Scott)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 22, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Carey Scott Many people reject the idea that these two words should be found in the same context.\u00a0 The reason is that while we need faith to receive God\u2019s blessings and approval, we also realize that God\u2019s grace is what saves us instead of works.\u00a0 The Bible tells us\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":5153,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-too-simple-to-say-we-are-to-believe-and-we-will-be-saved-by-gods-grace\/","url_meta":{"origin":91157,"position":1},"title":"Is it too simple to say we are to believe and we will be saved by God’s grace?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 4, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"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\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":63421,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/salvation-by-grace-through-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":91157,"position":2},"title":"Salvation by Grace Through Faith","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 17, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ephesians 2:1-10 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When we read Ephesians 2:8-10, there are four important words which stand out: grace, saved, faith, and works. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The gift mentioned in verse 8 is the gift of salvation given to us by God\u2019s grace. \u00a0\u00a0\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\u00a0\u00a0Grace is an unmerited favor. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0a.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"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":91157,"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":83696,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/faith-alone-in-ephesians-28\/","url_meta":{"origin":91157,"position":4},"title":"Faith Alone in Ephesians 2:8?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"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.\"\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":91157,"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\/91157","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=91157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91157\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}