Martin Luther’s hostility to the Book of James is well-known, and I’ve mentioned it in other contexts, but I wanted to consider today the implications for the Lutheran view of justification, at the heart of the Reformation and of modern Catholic-Protestant disputes.
Here’s what Luther had to say about the Book of James:
In the first place it is flatly against St. Paul and all the rest of Scripture in ascribing justification to works. It says that Abraham was justified by his works when he offered his son Isaac; though in Romans 4 St. Paul teaches to the contrary that Abraham was justified apart from works, by his faith alone, before he had offered his son, and proves it by Moses in Genesis 15. Now although this epistle might be helped and an interpretation devised for this justification by works, it cannot be defended in its application to works of Moses’ statement in Genesis 15. For Moses is speaking here only of Abraham’s faith, and not of his works, as St. Paul demonstrates in Romans 4. This fault, therefore, proves that this epistle is not the work of any apostle.
In other words, Luther taught that the Book of James contradicted the doctrine of sola fide, or justification by faith alone. If he’s right about this, then either the Bible is wrong, or Protestants are wrong. As far as I can tell, this leaves Protestants with three options:
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| Sir Joseph Noel Paton, Dawn: Luther at Erfurt (1861) |
(1) The Book of James teaches false doctrine, antithetical to the Gospel. In other words, Luther is right. If this is the case, you should cut that Book out of the Bible. But of course, this raises all sorts of problems. Because then, you’re not deriving their views on justification from Scripture, but creating a Bible that agrees with the views you already hold.
(2) Luther didn’t understand the Book of James, or how it related to justification. This is a huge blow to Luther’s credibility, and substantially undermines the Reformation. This is the doctrine Luther viewed as the most important, the doctrine that justified (if you’ll pardon the pun) the entire Reformation, since (in his words), “if this article [of justification] stands, the church stands; if this article collapses, the church collapses.” This is the doctrine he referred to simply as “the Gospel.” But if Luther doesn’t understand how justification works in the writings of St. James, why should we believe that he understands the way that justification works in the writings of St. Paul?
(3) The doctrine of justification by faith alone is wrong. In this view, the Reformation was started because Luther was proclaiming a false doctrine, which the Catholic Church recognized and rejected as false. But if this is true, the Reformation was a mistake that needs to be fixed.
In any case, if the Reformation stands or collapses on the strength of the doctrine of sola fide, it’s remarkable that the father of the doctrine, Martin Luther, admitted that it was contrary to a Book we know today to be Scripture.
Only long-held tradition has made James “Canon” in many Lutheran minds. Although for Rome it was the Council of Trent.
The Early Church was not agreed upon James – and taken at face value – “James” and Paul do, in fact, contradict one another.
Paul says NOT OF WORKS – cf. Ephesians, Titus, Romans, etc.
and James says BY WORKS.
Paul says, GIFT, FREELY, APART FROM LAW, APART FROM WORKS, NOT OF YOURSELVES, NOT BY THE WILL OF MAN, etc. – explicitly saying, by using this terminology, that salvation is by FAITH ALONE.
What need of their of Paul to use the word alone when he says FREE, GIFT, NOT OF WORKS, NOT OF YOURSELVES, NOT BY THE WILL OF MAN, etc. – What else is there to add, if you hold to all these terms? He even eliminates man’s free will! For goodness sake. What else can be added?
Nothing. Obviously.
while, JAMES implies, not a gift, but rather earned, in part, BY WORKS, and says NOT BY FAITH ALONE, which Rome takes to mean BY MAN’S FREE WILL.
If God only saves in part – God has never saved anyone fully!
Man has, according to Rome, in part saved himself!
What is it? 99 percent God. 1 percent man’s free will, good works, and love.
Or 100 percent God’s grace – apart from works and love?
Lutherans say SOLELY BY GOD’S GRACE – that is 100 percent.
Rome says Grace Alone, too – but they mean something different, they mean God gives you grace in order that you may contribute to your own salvation through free will, good works, and love.
Scripture says, For it is by grace you are saved, THROUGH FAITH, and this is NOT OF YOUR OWN DOING, but is the GIFT OF GOD, NOT OF WORKS cf. Ephesians
And to say one is Saved – has been historically considered a sin of presumption by Rome!
COULD IT FINALLY BE, THAT MY BROTHER, MY LONG LOST BROTHER,joshua NOT LOST TO GOD-JUST THE OPPOSITE, BUT LOST TO ME AS I HAVE STUDIED THESE PAST THREE YEARS AND NARY HAVE READ A PIECE THAT PUTS IT TOGETHER.
I made my living betting against the crowd, and James vs ML or Sola Fide or 50 other verses because of the RC’s
hanging by the thread of “Well. you know. OH no!! Paul never said faith alone!! When they get stupid like that Glenn always throw Romans 4;5-” FOR HE,,,,,,,,,,,,,who,,,,,,,does not work,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,but,,,,,,,,,,,believes on him who …..
justify’s the ungodly…………… (oh could any man have written this outrageous verse!!!!!!!!) his faith is accounted
for righteousness . could that mean , could it Glenn – that it is those that DO NOT WORK, who are slobs, who are depressed, frozen, have emotions so flat that they cannot even tear over their worst indifference. Is that person of manic nothingness justified before those wit lots of work? Maybe “good works” is to work as Christ did.
But all RCC’s let us know which you prefer .
Your facts are incorrect. Therefore your statement is incorrect. The cannon of the bible was established in 390 AD. 1,330 years before the rebellion started by Luther.
C’;mon- All of Paul’s letters were ALWAYS coinsidered Scripture. What about those that needed the “truth of James” and had to wait 350 years? You see than, a man is justified by faith and works- But Faith has no meaning if it is not solo- Abram WAS NOT justified by doing ANYTHING- He “believed God – that He could do the ‘humanly spreaking impossible” and God declared Abram Righteous in his eyes. PERIOD. Read Genesis 22 where Abram is willing to slay his son- James adds words from Macabees here NOT SCRIPTURE. Abram, and ALL believers are justified as a gift- For if it has any of mans work involved, God will owe =no man .ANY THING- But you want that don’t you? ML suffered his life under the “works system” of the RCC and when he read Paul- He was free! So you have that deep hatred for the one who stood up to Popery. The real reason ML got tossed- Was that marriage to his dear Katy” Telling of the Joys of the marital bed…Seriously
Paul speaks of works of law whereby a man can boast in the doing of it. James speaks of a work of faith whereby a believer opens his heart to Jesus’ knocking allowing him to enter and crucify the old Adamic spirit and regenerate a newborn Christlike spirit. One is a work of faith the other a work of law. Work of faith excludes boasting unless one boasts in what Jesus did to save him.
You are on thre right track BUT STICJ+K TO THE GOSPEL:
Not this hodgepodge: “whereby a believer opens his heart to Jesus’ knocking allowing him to enter and crucify the old Adamic spirit and regenerate a newborn Christlike spirit.” You mean trusts in Christ as his suffecient savior ?? Where do people come up with this stRaNge “invites” . YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN- By fgaith in Jesus Christ. PERIOD
So what gave Luther the right to interpret the law and books. It’s hypocrisy to become ones one interpreter and change the meaning because of how he felt. The way he broke away from Rome and subjugated the law to his own interpretation opened for door one of anything to be interpreted by anyone according to how they feel and not researching the context of why Paul and James wrote about Jesus and his teachings who existed after the apostles and not 1500 years later with Luther who by this time is removed from the meaning. He had his own agenda and should have refocused within the church what Paul AND James meant. Think about love, love is shown through acts of love, and reinforce the love, show me someone who loves. sacrifice l, and I will show you his/her works.
You’re absolutely right, Fernando! And this is why there are more than 30,000 variants of Protestantism in the US today. Everyone interpreting an ancient text on their own. Dangerous. Truth isn’t what each of us makes it. I assure you that God isn’t a reed in the wind when it comes to justice. He is unchanging.
Luther did not break away from the Roman church, the Roman church expelled him. The pope at the time was too interested in maintaining the idea of selling indulgences to allow any meaningful reform.
“Alone” was added to some Bible versions later. The Bible doesn’t contradict itself at any point if taken as a collective work. What you did here is typical of Protestant practice, use small excerpts of scripture (without context) to support your point. Ive seen this countless times over the past 20 years exposed to Protestant conversation. “Long held tradition” is what I and Catholics believe to be a part of scripture. Sola scriptura (scripture alone) is another of Luther’s inventions. “Scripture alone” was also not in original writings but added later, ironically. Oral tradition is all there was between the life of Christ and hundreds of years later when the written word permitted the eventual compilation of New Testament books. In my experiences, I’ve come to learn that Protestants aren’t really a faith but an anti-faith; to be specific, anti-Catholic. The word “Protest” is in the name.
Works are a part of saving faith. They do not exist apart from each other. The works, if not done by faith, are meaningless and faith without works is dead.
Well stated. Fortunately for Protestants the faith they decided to protest was Catholic so they are benefactors of the Truth Christ established in the Catholic Church.
And holy smokes, we are replying to a 10 year old post and thread.
You do not understand Paul and James’ letters. Paul speaks about our initial coming to Christ. James talks about what we must do after becoming Christians. Paul’s letter to Romans. Romans 2:5-8 also presents the same message as James 2. Paul is talking about the beginning and James is talking about the end. They are not contradicting each other.
Salvation is a process, whereby we are delivered from the corruption of the world. Paul said in Romans chapter 2, “God will give to each
person according to what they have done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give
eternal life. But to those who are self seeking and reject the truth, there will be anger and wrath.” It doesn’t sound as if Paul is at odds with
James. In Ephesians, Paul is establishing the truth that it is the grace of God that saves us, not any works that we bring to him. In Titus, Paul
says that “the grace of God which brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us to say no to ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live
soberly and righteously in this present evil age.” Your Christian salvation is chiefly a deliverance from sin. It happens by the grace of God,
through faith, but not without your cooperation. Romans 6: “but now that you have been set free from sin and become slaves to God, the
benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is everlasting life.” You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save his people from their
sins. Whether Catholic or Protestant.
Catholics would not be included in that statement. What they believe contains just enough error to be heretical. They believe that salvation is attained by works and faith, they also believe that Christ’s death was not, in fact, sufficient to cover our sins. Those two make Catholicism a false doctrine and damning heresy.
Jason you are ignorant of the Roman a catholic Churches teachings. In the catholic catachisiam section 1987 “The grace of the Holy Spirit has the power to justify us, that is, to cleanse us from oir sins and ro communicate to us “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ” and through baptisim. Just like it is written about in the Acts of the apostles. So Jason you need to learn that you are judging out of ignorance.
Two things separate you from Christians. 1. Works must supplement faith to become a Christian and to remain a Christian. 2. Christs death wasn’t sufficient for all your sins. That’s why you “resacrifice” Him every communion.
If you don’t agree with those, I don’t know what you are but you’re not Catholic.
Christ was the sacrifice only once for our salvation. The idea of re-sacrificing is an error. So when we digest the “body and blood of Christ” in the reception of communion, we only have Christ in our body for 7 to 13 minutes the time it takes to change ingestion into waste? The reception of communion is a representation and joyous recreation of the last supper, and in no way a re-sacrifice of Jesus Christ again and again.
No, you aren’t Catholic and yet you lie about our beliefs. Who is the Father of Lies, Jason, and why do you mimic him?
Works must cooperate with and complement Faith. As the Scriptures say, even demons believe, yet their Faith Alone is insufficient.
Christ’s death is sufficient for the graces for man’s salvation but just because those graces are there doesn’t mean that I have claimed them and applied them to my life.
That’s why we must continually have to make a choice between what God wants and what we want. Our will is not always His Will and so we strive to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect.
THere is a “propaganda RCatholic “takeover ” on you tuibe of “Re-verts” Those men, born Catholic, came to salvation as a Protestant anf=d then became a Protestant Minister, which is a very serious OATH- ”
Do you Hold to the Essential tenets of the ” TProtestant Reformation” T U L I P / Solas/ YES I DO!! Then aftewr ten years they trade in the clarity asnd the assurance od-=f salvation and go “Hog Wild” back into slavery, including reolacing the rightful empty cross with a dying tortured Jesus on their neck or the wall- Just the way they like HIM- never able to redeem them because as Paul warned in Galatians , “Condemned are they who knew the freedom and grace of MY GOSPEL and return to – Touch this/ Don’t touch that, to weorking for THEIR hard fought appeasement to God.. Back to Mary, and BEAD COUNTING– “You THINK you will be heard for all of your formulatic prayers”!! Only Scrip[ture is James two. PATHETIC AND WEIRD “Reverts on youtube”
is/scriptura (not Biblia) ,
I’d just like to say that works in the Christian life confirm and witness change in a person’s attitude toward God resulting from the Holy Spirit at work in the believer’s heart. Its God’s love returning to back to Him not void, but rather flourishing with fruit bearing humility. We don’t believe in faith alone cause its unbiblical, see Jason a marriage is not marriage without the presence of two becoming one. If we are in Christ we are His bride and a new creation, we have a freewill to respond to His love, but yet our mortal body wants to fight being submissive, obedient and trusting. So as we know marriage does takes work on our behalf but not Christ’s. Its important though we don’t have the attitude Christ did everything so I don’t have to change. We must strive daily to deny ourselves of our old bachelor ways and exchange our will for His will. We don’t think we are earning our salvation Jason, we know that’s a closed case Christ settled on behalf of believers, however keep in mind Jesus is not only a Savior but also been given the authority to be our judge. If you abide in the Spirit you are considered a son and Jesus is like the gold standard to the deposit of the Holy Spirit, as its written you will know them by their fruits. Peace be unto you and God bless:)
THe same person issued a severe warning: Do NOT!! try to pluck the Tares from the what- FOR ONLY I KNOW WHO IS MINE!! AND THE REAL FROM THE FAKE often a close call
Romans 4:5 For THe man- who- DOES NOT WORK”- yet believes in the one who can save the sinner- that man is juistified. Cmon Paul, you are going a bit too far,, NO HE IS NOT- SOLA FIDE can NOT be compromised, There is perhaps Greater danger for those born with that happy high energy personality while the non worker has a long term depression.; I have known men, who LOVED DOING GOOD WORKS/ But in a Bible study ?? Do not seem to ‘get it’ because they have never needed Christ, say as the depressed slob… Only Christ knows
I’ve been Catholic all my life and teach it in a Catholic High School. Catholics believe we are saved by the cross and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Jesus made Salvation ours. We also believe in what the INSPIRED Bible tells us, Romans chapter 2, “God will give to each
person according to what they have done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give
eternal life. But to those who are self seeking and reject the truth, there will be anger and wrath.”
You can interpret it any way you want, just as a Referee interprets what he sees on a football field, instant replay shows the refs interpretation isn’t always correct. How you can take what Paul says and say, that’s not what it really means is just plain ignorant.
Faith MUST be there but if you think you can just live for yourself, because you have Faith, and never give a care about anyone else’s needs is beyond me and my Catholic understanding of the Beatitudes, Paul and what Christ told us to do (for others=WORKS). To teach that Catholics believe that FAITH isn’t important is false and you don’t understand Catholic Church teaching at all. You can believe what you want but don’t spread falsehoods about the Catholic Faith.
Keep reading as Paul wrote Romans with that intention, because when you get to Chapter 3 and 4 , and you believe- One cannot be Catholic!! For Abram was Justified ONCE, was never in danger of losing God’s Declaration , Name one person, God declares as =justified or born again who “loses it” For if David even AFTER those nasty nasty sins, and it took God to send Nathan before he realized his guilt, Never Ever loses his favor with God. So you hang onto James two- Who states WRONGLY that Abram was “justified” when he was willing to slay his son, THE VERY THING GOD DID TO HIS BELOVED SON. Read every word of Gen 22 where the “almost slaying happened” and there is not a Word about justification- only blessing. Why? Because God declares a justification ONCE – and Abram had already be justified in Gen 15:6.. JUSTIFIED ONCE FROM THE UTTERANCE OF GOD PER BELIEF, Never is it lost.. For one is either “born again, or he is not!
I was raised a catholic. I went to catholic school andhave been to mass over 1000 times.I had in depth talks with priests over the years that are well versed in the catholic cannon.I can assure you i never read that in the official canon or had a priest say works save u.The church of Rome is flawed in multiple ways however it goes to around 350 AD.1650 years old! Most protestant denominations go back 500 years or less.When mans dirty hands have been in the protestant denominations 1650 years come back we will take a look at their doctrines to see if they came out any better? Im not a catholic anymore not for 27 years but being a christain in the protestant church today i see that Most dont come close to the acts church constant scandal prosperity gospel Ravi Zacharias, I pray he repented before death. Filled with people that talk a great talk but dont walk it in their life.Jesus’s churches are not living their calling. Heretical Catholicism No but doctrinally in error, big time. Are you aware that God is just about to deal with Antipope francis and the cardinals and bishops that are not Gods but belong to the enemy. In this nation hundreds of thousands will leave and they will be becoming protestant. God loves catholic people like He loves the protestant people.
Again Jason you are completely ignorant of the Roman Catholic Church. First of all we celebrate the Eucharist. Jesus Christ commanded his church to do this is remembrance of me! It is in the gospels. It is a memorial to the work done on calvary for the forgiveness of our sins. It has been celebrated this way since the apostles. As prescribed by Justin Martyr in 155 AD. Secondly if you are a Follower of Jesus Christ you will do his work on earth. We are to become holy as he is holy. We feed the hungry, cloth the naked, visit the imprisioned, etc… These are the corporal works of mercy commanded by christ in the Gospels as wll. So you see Jason before you state lies and accusations wihich only come from Satan the father of lies. Do some research and reading of the catachisiam of the church. You may have a different opinion if you care to remove your blindness of hatred. A truefollower of Christ loves his fellow man. Instead you cast judgement. Just like the pharsises and the woman caught in adultry. Yes I am Roman Catholic.
Haha bro I’m not casting judgement. I don’t think you understand the issues as much as you think you do.
What is the issue? If you seek speak as if you have knowledge out of ignorance then the issue is mute. If you seek to search out knowledge you will educate yourself with facts. I know you never read the catachisiam of 5he Catholic Church. Salvation by faith alone is no where in the bibel. 5he verse in Romans “you are justified by faith.” Is all it says. Martian luther added the word alone in his error filled transla5ion. So he lied. The 9nly place in the entire new testement where this phrase occurs is in 5he book of James. Therefore since it is contrary to the lie of Luther he took it upon himself to declare it is not inspired. Who gave him this authority? So therefore your opinions are based on lies. Lies only come fr o m 9ne source Satan the father of lies.
HERE IS THERE (THe RCC) Forever Lie- “”
Salvation by faith aloine is “no where in the BIBLE”.. Put your grown up pants on and tell me what this means: “WE are saved by faith Exclusive of works” Every RC TELL ME WHAT THAT MEANS!! oh, no there is no “faith alone”. That is ALL that Paul wrote about, and John, and Acts, and Peter .TAKE IT BACK!! This is how bad they have you indoctrinated. Because if you do not need mother Church telling you the works you need their fear industry is “Out of BIZ” Christ came to destroy the fear of death. So all of you have to live wondering howe long your purgatory will be. SICK!! You are saying by your disbelief that Christ’s FINISHED work, is not enough. But “faith” is the trust that it is. If you include works Faith is meaningless because , as in Abram,. his faith was total and God announced him justified.
THERE IS A WAY TO PROVE THAT WHAT CATHOLICS SAY ABOUT THE WINE AND BREAD LITERALLY BECOMING THE BLOOD AND BODY OF CHRIST ONCE IT IS EATEN. HAVE YOUR STOMACH IMMEDIATELY PUMPED AND THE CONTENTS TESTED TO SEE IF IN FACT THEY ARE TRULY BLOOD AND MEAT.
This has to be one of the dumbest comments made. It is clear you rater follow Satan and his lies. Catholics walk by faith. The Eucharist is a mystery by witch faith is part of. Only Satan and his angels deny the Eucharist. Witch is the protestant churches.
To me, it is very simple. See what Jesus said. Paul is Paul; Martin Luther is Martin Luther; Jesus is Jesus. We cannot replace Jesus with Paul or Martin Luther.
Matthew 25
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
So how would Jesus set His sleep apart from the goats? The answer comes immediately following Matthew 25:33.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Did Jesus say FAITH ONLY?
No, he repeatedly said: WORKS/DEEDS.
“Gave me meat”, “gave me drink”, “took me in”, “clothed me”, “visited me”, “came unto me”. ALL are actions/works/deeds.
Jesus set His sheep apart from the goats by the judgement on works.
As I have scrolled down these comments in an effort to decide what to believe regarding the faith vs. works controversy, I read your comment and then knew you had the answer. Indeed we cannot replace Jesus with Paul or Martin Luther. My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is abundantly clear in his words found in Matthew which you wisely reference here. Jesus did not say faith only. Thank you.
I have a bit of a mind twister that I hope all will participate. It actually has a point.
Some of you may get the point quickly. One hint is that Christians have been taught to be contrarians.
Christ- Seek the narrow gate…my ways are NOT your ways. So here is the question and I will explain part 2 in a week or two.
If you were very aware of Christ’s ministry but were not a disciple- but knowledgeable of Christ’s teachings and his ways… How many that read this would ever speculate that before the passion week that one of his 12 disciples
hand picked, would ever end up being a betrayer of the Lord, as we know that Christ was not partial and supped and had fellowship whose name at the end was diablos- aka :a devil” How many BEFORE the revelation if I had told you
that Judas was no good etc., and a betrayer, a “antichrist” (not The), would have “bought even the possibility” Be honest please.
I wouldn’t. The scripture we have don’t, I think gives us that info. If I was part of the inner circle, it might have occurred to me.
Salvation is free gift, but you must make every effort to take it .just as the lord invited people to his son’s wedding feast for free, but they were all occupied and refused to go. Free gift doesn’t mean you need not do anything. a life giving gift demands you giving life.
farther more, the gift of salvation is not something God can force on you, but an invitation to a relationship with Him through Jesus christ. to enter and maintain this relationship will cost you everything,even to your very life.
we are justified by faith, not by our own good works, which means to keep the law by our flesh and blood, but our faith is not just believing Jesus died for my sin, but committing and followiing Jesus to the end. we must obey the holy spirit and kill the evil desire. such work is not the work of flesh, but the work of spirit.
What helped me see the truth was revisiting the definition of salvation. (A few weeks study)
From this I realised that there are actually no contradictions. Our final destiny is either a second death or heaven. One may reach the promise of heaven through a series of sequential events of which salvation is one.
By presenting the gospel we instinctively feel that reducing a rather complicated message to one simple solution may add to its attractiveness. If it was that simple why 66 or 71 books? When the Holy Spirit help us to tease out the importance of all relevant text, we notice the importance of all the following.
1. Atonement (by the Messiah), 2. Repentance (by those who want) 3. Faith (for those who have), 4. The second birth (The gift of Godly life by a loving God) 5. The death of Christ (By Christ) 6. Baptism into the death of Christ (For those who received a second life through a second birth) 7. Death of self (by Christ) 8. Forgiveness (to those “in Him” 9. “Resurrection into heavenly places” (also called Salvation by Paul to the Ephesians and Colossians. 10. Sanctification (by perseverance and repentance and atonement) 11. Resisting sin (by the elect) 12. Good deeds (by the elect.) 13 Receiving the crown (Gift)
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If we could save ourselves by our works,….
Then why did Jesus die?
It is because we could not save ourselves,.. that Jesus died for us.
With this knowledge, faith alone does save. Knowing this was a gift
we in turn try to be a light to this lost world and to do good things to help others.
God Bless you all.
Tom, this is how I currently see it (I may hopefully present it differently in future as I further renew my mind with the help of the Holy Spirit)
1. Christ’s first coming was all about salvation and his second coming will be all about judgment.
2. To enable salvation, he had to reconcile (atone) the world with God. Atonement was done when the Messiah died. Atonement brought about:
a. Removing the imputation of sin (not removing sin) (2 Cor 5:19)
b. Bringing condemnation to sin in the flesh (Rom 8:3)
c. Giving Christ access to the keys of Hades to allow for the resurrection of dead people (Two different resurrections based on deeds!! John 5:8)
Accepting the above, as taught in Protestantism, brings no chance to any individual. It is useless theology. Accepting history chances nothing. The next ‘reason’ for his death allows disciples of Christ to interact with Him and in this regard, this fourth ‘reason’ for his death becomes very important to us. It is:
d. Erecting the ‘temple of His body. (John 2:21) This is the most neglected aspect in Lutheranism and Calvinism (I never was a Catholic so I cannot speak for them). Without this spiritual temple we had no hope to deal with our sin. The phrase or concept of “Christ died for our sin” occurs many times in the Bible. It doesn’t mean He died in our place it means He died for the purpose of our sin. The temple fulfills that purpose. It allows for
i. Believers to die with Christ (so He can nail our flesh, which accuses us, to the cross with him (Colossians 2:14))
ii. Confessing sins out of ignorance of sin as a result of weakness. (Lev 4) There is no sacrifice for sins done purposely. (Heb 10:26)
3. His death and departure was also important to allow the outpour of the Holy Spirit. Without this event, Christ death would have come to nothing.
a. The Holy Spirit issues us new life. New life comes through being born a second time. Without this divine life we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. (John 3)
b. The Holy Spirit then convicts us of sin, righteousness and judgment.
c. The Holy Spirit then guides us to the newly erected temple (The Messiah didn’t erect a single building so don’t go there) where we get baptized. During baptism the new High Priest (the Messiah) circumcises us and the flesh died with him. (Romans 6) We exchange physical life for spiritual life as our Messiah demonstrated. Paul calls this salvation in his letter to the Ephesians.
d. By dying with Christ we get forgiven. (There is no other way by which we obtain forgiveness of sin)
e. Once forgiven (saved from sin), the Holy Spirit urges us through guiding us in the full truth to embark on the narrow road journey. We strive through obedience and good works to get saved. If we stumble, we thankfully have the spiritual temple where, through confession, we can be forgiven again for sins committed in ignorance or through weakness. Very few will one day be saved and successfully enter the strait gate. (says the Messiah, not me)
Much love
Jesus’ sacrifice was a work. Salvation in itself, therefore, was only made available to us through faith being put into obedient action. If we are to imitate Christ, then it follows (even without all the biblical quotes) that our faith is also to be put into obedient action if it is going to be considered faith at all.
I thought Art Holmes explained things pretty well.
It pays to remember that Paul was dealing with people who were wanting people to go back to the Jewish works of the law; James was dealing who were so ‘spiritually-minded’ that they think that they didn’t need to do anything at all just ‘believe’. We now have millions of people who ‘believe’ in Jesus, yet no one who wants to live like him. James’ exhortation was extremely well-founded.
As such, you must know the way to use what you be taught in physics and mathematics since lots of the ideas realized here will probably be very useful https://math-problem-solver.com/ .
The material prepared by the teachers and mathematicians is supposed for
the students of 9-12 grades.
Romans 16:26: St. Paul speaks of the “obedience of faith,” using a preposition (“of”) that denotes equality, as in “city of Pittsburgh.” The city IS Pittsburgh; obedience IS faith. There’s NO discrepancy between St. Paul and St. James, nor in timeless Catholic doctrine. The GRAVE ERROR is Luther’s.
As a charismatic Christian, I find that I have a different answer. It is not that the Book of James makes all Protestants whatever their stripe wrong, nor does it decry salvation by faith. Justification, yes, is by faith alone (this is not in question). It is simply that James faced a situation wherein Christians in his flock were either unwilling or indifferent to perform the good works in their community. They did not “walk the walk” as it were. The issue, then, is that the Jerusalem Christians (according to James) were justified by faith, but were not then performing the good works that should flow from the true faith they claimed they had. If our hearts are changed by true faith, should we not then do good works? True, they do not save a man, but these works proclaim our faith though we must never take pride in that. Good works, then, as an outgrowth of true faith and done with humility rather than in pride do not run counter to the book of Galatians. I am puzzled that this is in any way at issue.
John 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
The ministry of Jesus was “of the Spirit” and not fully understood by his followers until after his ascension and the Holy Spirit was sent to “lead them into all truth”. We, as believers, receive his Spirit, and, as Paul taught, die daily to the flesh and walk in the Spirit. It is God in us by his Spirit that fulfills his purpose. Since we have died to the flesh and are risen by the power of the Spirit, the Spirit now works within us performing the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit to edify the body of Christ. It is no more us working, but God working in us.
Ephesians 4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
So we see, as Paul (and the Spirit) taught, there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, bond nor free, Catholic or Protestant, for we are all one in Christ.
Here is another scripture that may assist you who have begun in the Spirit, or are seeking to enter into the kingdom of God in truth:
Hebrews 4:9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
God is showing us through the book of James how James not God Justified people. A careful reading and we find james say show ” me” your faith. He never says show God because God justifies the ungodly romans 4:5″. James can’t do that. Luther understood this. James his righteousnes can not even win James heaven he can show us all his works and they only wil l win him hell .only Jesus his righteousness his perfect works can win us heaven..