You HAVE to have works to be saved......or else you do not have the faith that justifies apart from works.
This should only rile up those who do not have works. Those who are being conformed to the image of Christ don't have to get riled up about this truth because they have the ever increasing works of the Spirit that accompanies justifying faith.
Justifying faith MUST have works attached, or else it is not the faith that justifies apart from works.
No.
You must have faith to be saved.
True genuine faith is what justifies us, not our works.
That being the case then having been justified by faith then works will be evidence of that.
Jesus said that he must go so that the Holy Spirit must come.
One of the reasons was to convict the the world of its sin.
That sin is unbelief in him.
So
Romans 10:8-13
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
What is righteousness? Most of us immediately think of a person trying to keep a list of rules, like a little boy or girl who never steps over the line. When Paul speaks of righteousness in Romans, he means far more than this commonsense understanding of the word. He draws on the Old Testament concept of righteousness, which speaks of a proper relationship between God and a person, or between God and His people.
In the Old Testament, righteousness is fundamentally an attribute of God (Ps. 71:15; 119:42). He alone is truly righteous. He is the One who remains faithful, to His promises, His covenant with Israel, and the Law. In turn, the Israelites as God’s people had the responsibility to exemplify God’s righteousness on this earth. Ultimately, this meant they had to love and worship the living God alone. (NKJV study notes)
God makes the covenant HE HAS MADE with his people.
We enter that covenant through faith and therefore are party to that covenant
by faith.
As a result we love him and worship him
Out of this works will flow but they will not and not ever save us.
If that was the case then all Jesus would have to have done is come to earth.
Then say "Ok I've shown you the true intent of the law, now I'm going back to the Father"
But no he said he must die, be resurrected and then go home in order for the Holy Spirit to come to forgive us of the sin of unbelief IN HIM. When we repent of that and place our faith in him then we are saved. And we reconciled to the Father.
A relationship has been established.
Once again works are evidence of this and as a result of this.
Now I will say and will always say.
If a believer is walking in way that WE SEE then we must pull them aside.
Talk to them and see why.
If they struggle with certain issues but want help then walk with them, love and disciple them.
If they do not want help ask why? It may be that need to build up trust in us.
However if they say no I'm fine thanks and don't give two hoots then it's time for church discipline, as long as there are 2
witnesses
If not, and after going through Romans 6 then time to hand them over to God.
So to finish and in order to appease Ralph. So how many people on this thread would say it's ok to do what we want after confessing Jesus, sin all we want and still be saved?
I also ask you all here.
How many here would just write someone of before talking and judge them as non believers?
How many people here would Write someone off because they disagree with them.
How many people on here would judge anothers salvation?
