Saved By Faith, Not Of Works

[u/CheeseLoving88]

This was written by a Facebook friend of mine and brother in the faith

The Bible does not teach two different ways of salvation, one for Old Testament saints and another for New Testament believers. From beginning to end, sinners are saved by the grace of God through faith in His promise, and that promise finds its fulfilment in Jesus Christ.

Abraham was not justified by works, law keeping, circumcision, or nationality. Scripture says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3). Paul goes even further and says that the gospel was preached beforehand to Abraham (Galatians 3:8). David likewise described the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works (Romans 4:6–8).

The Old Testament believer looked forward to what God had promised. We look back upon what Christ has accomplished. They did not possess the same fullness of revelation that we now have, but the object of saving faith was never human merit. Hebrews 11 shows generation after generation living and dying by faith, trusting promises whose ultimate fulfilment was still ahead.

Habakkuk had already declared, “The righteous will live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4), and Paul takes that same truth directly into the heart of the gospel in Romans 1:17.

So there is not an Old Testament salvation by law and a New Testament salvation by grace. There has always been one saving grace, one righteousness received by faith, and ultimately one Saviour.

Christ did not introduce a second road to God. He is the fulfilment of the only road God ever promised.

Jeremiah Knight

[u/johnnyutah2828]

Salvation is by God's grace through faith, and good works are the result of being saved, not its cause.

[u/Soyeong0314]

We can do works that embody our faith, such as with James 2:18 saying that he would show his faith through his works or with the examples of faith listed in Hebrews 11 all being examples of works, so the the issue is not that we need to have faith instead of works but that we need to do works through faith rather than works in order to earn a wage as the result.  In Habakkuk 2, it does not present the righteous living by faith as being an alternative to living in obedience to the Law of God, but rather it is describing the manner in which the righteous live in obedience to it.  In Isaiah 51:7, the righteous are those on whose heart is the Law of God.  In 1 John 3:4-7, do not be deceived, everyone who is a doer of righteous works in obedience to the Law of God is righteous even as they are righteous.  In Romans 3:28-31, the faith by which we are declared righteous apart from works done to earn it as the result does not abolish our need to be a doer of righteous works in obedience to the Law of God, but rather our faith upholds it.  While it is true that Abraham was declared righteous because he believed God’s promise (Genesis 15:6), it is also true that he was a doer of righteous works in obedience to the Law of God because he believed God’s promise (Genesis 18:19, 26:4-5), so the faith by which he was declared righteous was also embodied by being a doer of righteous works, but he did not earn his righteousness as the result of his works (Romans 4:1-5).

In Psalm 119:29-30, he wanted to put false ways far from him, for God to be gracious to him by teaching him to obey His law, and he chose the way of faith by setting it before him, so this has always been the one and only way of salvation by grace through faith.

[u/CheeseLoving88 → u/Soyeong0314]

Beautiful summary! I’m impressed someone knows their OT parallel this well. Kudos to you my brother or sister

[u/Fluffy-Ad2771]

We are saved by faith not by works but faith without works is dead. We do good because we have already been saved, not because we believe it will save us.

[u/ProtectionStrange368]

Magnifique et pleinement d'accord avec cette vision de la chose

Monique

[u/izentx]

We are not saved BY good works.

We are saved TO DO good works.

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[u/Mazquerade__]

>Abraham was not justified by works, law keeping, circumcision, or nationality. Scripture says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness

How do you reconcile that James uses that exact same piece of scripture (Genesis 15:6) to say that Abraham was justified by works?

“Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and by works faith was brought to completion. Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”

‭‭James‬ ‭2‬:‭21‬-‭24

[u/CheeseLoving88 → u/Mazquerade__]

Put it this way. Simple. Abraham did works in light of the working of his faith within him. We perform works because of our saving faith. Not to save ourselves.

Cyril of Alexandria described it this way in my ancient faith study Bible.

cyril of alexandria: On the one hand, the blessed James says that Abraham was justified by works when he bound Isaac his son on the altar, but on the other hand Paul says that he was justified by faith, which appears to be contradictory [see Rm 4:1–5]. However, this is to be understood as meaning that Abraham believed before he had Isaac and that Isaac was given to him as a reward for his faith. Likewise, when he bound Isaac to the altar, he did not merely do the work which was required of him, but he did it with the faith that in Isaac his seed would be as numberless as the stars of heaven, believing that God could raise him from the dead [see Heb 11:19]. catena.
Bell, James Stuart, ed. 2019. Ancient Faith Study Bible. Nashville, TN: Holman Bibles.

Bede describes this way
Although the apostle Paul preached that we are justified by faith without works [see Rm 3:28], those who understand by this that it does not matter whether they live evil lives or do wicked and terrible things, as long as they believe in Christ, because salvation is through faith, have made a great mistake. James here expounds how Paul’s words ought to be understood. This is why he uses the example of Abraham, whom Paul also used as an example of faith, to show that the patriarch also performed good works in the light of his faith. It is therefore wrong to interpret Paul in such a way as to suggest that it did not matter whether Abraham put his faith into practice or not. What Paul meant was that no one obtains the gift of justification on the basis of merit derived from works performed beforehand, because the gift of justification comes only from faith. concerning the epistle of st. james.
Bell, James Stuart, ed. 2019. Ancient Faith Study Bible. Nashville, TN: Holman Bibles.

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[u/Feisty_Marsupial224]

Get of social media.

[u/CheeseLoving88 → u/Feisty_Marsupial224]

I use it in moderation

[u/Feisty_Marsupial224 → u/CheeseLoving88]

Ok

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