In the Gospel of Jesus Christ, God has revealed His power to save mankind from sin (Romans 1:16). It is not a salvation based upon the works of men (Ephesians 2:9), requiring that they “earn” their way with sinless obedience (Romans 3:20), for then none would ever be saved (Romans 3:23). Instead, it is a system by which men may receive forgiveness of their sins and then stand justified – righteous – before God by His grace and mercy (Romans 3:24; Ephesians 2:5). However, such generous provisions for salvation do not inherently exclude conditions required for one to receive these blessings. Indeed, in one passage of Scripture we find a discussion of both God’s grace and His condition for receiving it:<\/p>\n
“But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith<\/strong> in Jesus Christ, to all and on all those who believe<\/strong>. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace<\/strong> through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith<\/strong>, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and thejustifier of the one who has faith<\/strong> in Jesus<\/em>” (Romans\u00a0 3:21-26).<\/p><\/blockquote>\nFaith is, as it has always been (Hebrews 11), the fundamental condition upon which one may receive the favor of God (Ephesians 2:8). Indeed, even “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness<\/em>” (Romans 4:3; cf. Genesis 15:6). He is our example, “the father of all those who believe<\/em>” (Romans 4:11). Like Abraham, those who stand righteous before God today do so, “having been justified by faith<\/em>” (Romans 5:1); their “access…into<\/em>
\nthis grace<\/em>” has come “by faith<\/em>” (Romans 5:2). In order for one to please God, there is simply no substitute for an informed, trusting faith.\nMany err, however, when they fail to search out the true nature of saving faith. They conclude, without having thoroughly examined or understood the Scriptures, that the faith necessary to please God involves merely accepting, intellectually and\/ or emotionally, His existence and His saving power. In other words, they believe and proclaim salvation for anyone who believes in God and in the sacrificial death of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. But the Scriptures reveal much more concerning the subject of saving faith. James wrote, “What does<\/em>
\nit profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?… Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead<\/em>” (James 2:14,17). Genuine saving faith must manifest itself in works that please God.\nNot even Abraham was saved by faith alone: “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only<\/em>” (James 2:21-24). By faith, Abraham “obeyed,” “dwelt,” “went out,” “waited,” and “offered” (Hebrews 11:8, 9, 10, 17). His righteousness depended upon his faith manifesting itself in works which pleased God. By his works, Abraham’s faith was “made perfect<\/em>” and he was justified before God.
\nWe must not think ourselves to be any exception to this divinely given rule. For our faith to justify us before God, it must also manifest itself in humble submission to Him. “Faith without works is dead<\/em>” (James 2:26), but a living faith motivates one to trust and obey God’s will as it is revealed in the Scriptures. Is your faith like the faith of Abraham – faith with works of obedience? In other words, is it truly a saving faith?\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Jeremy Paschall via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 14 No. 8, August 2014 In the Gospel of Jesus Christ, God has revealed His power to save mankind from sin (Romans 1:16). It is not a salvation based upon the works of men (Ephesians 2:9), requiring that they “earn” their way with sinless obedience (Romans 3:20), for then…<\/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":[23,49],"class_list":["post-96477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-abraham","tag-faith"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28587,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-righteousness-be-apart-from-works-when-faith-is-a-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":96477,"position":0},"title":"How can righteousness be apart from works when faith is a work?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: \"Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: \"Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin\"\" (Romans 4:6-8). \"Then they\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":38682,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-redemption-in-christ-an-examination-of-romans-319-521\/","url_meta":{"origin":96477,"position":1},"title":"The Redemption in Christ: An Examination of Romans 3:19-5:21","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Sean P. Cavender Paul indicted all people, both Jew and Gentile, as guilty of sin before God (Romans 3:19). It is due to man's ungodliness that the wrath of God is revealed, and He will judge all sin as worthy of death (Romans 1:18,32). The reality of sin 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":28534,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-comparison-of-romans-4-and-james-214-26\/","url_meta":{"origin":96477,"position":2},"title":"A Comparison of Romans 4 and James 2:14-26","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jim Sasser Recently, we have been listening to a speaker on this radio station discussing the 4th chapter of Romans as compared to the 2nd chapter of James. It was obvious, from some of his statements, that he was trying to make Paul teach salvation by faith only 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":[]},{"id":61195,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/works-in-the-book-of-romans\/","url_meta":{"origin":96477,"position":3},"title":"Works in the Book of Romans","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Irvin Himmel via\u00a0Truth Magazine\u00a0XXIII: 2, pp. 43-45, January 11, 1979 Frequently Paul mentions works or deeds in his epistle to the saints at Rome. Whatever he means by \"works,\" the term expresses something opposed to grace and faith. He insists that justification does not find its source in 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":56607,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-grace-of-god-that-brings-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":96477,"position":4},"title":"The Grace of God that Brings Salvation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Irvin Himmel via\u00a0Truth Magazine, December 1973 Nothing is more clearly revealed in the Scriptures than our dependence on God's grace for redemption. Paul said to the saints in Ephesus, \"by grace are ye saved\" (Ephesians 2:5). Everyone who is permitted to enter heaven will be there by grace. Today\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":24038,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-paul-saying-that-only-if-we-dont-work-then-god-will-make-us-righteous\/","url_meta":{"origin":96477,"position":5},"title":"Is Paul saying that only if we don’t work, then God will make us righteous?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is Paul saying in Romans 4:4-5 that only if we don't work then God will make us righteous? Answer: \"Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly,\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\/96477","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=96477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96477\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}