Believe = Believe and obedience which follows is works, yet you make NO distinction and that's how you ended up with salvation by faith PLUS WORKS.
Romans 10:16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”
From this verse, we can see that we
obey the gospel by choosing to believe the gospel. Romans 1:16 - The gospel is the "good news" of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) and is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that
BELIEVES.. (Romans 1:16). To “believe” the gospel is to
trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as the ALL-sufficient means of our salvation. *The gospel is not a set of rituals to perform, a code of laws to be obeyed or a check list of good works to accomplish as a prerequisite for salvation.
You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! James 2:19
In James 2:19, we see that the demons believe "mental assent" that "there is one God" but they
do not believe/entrust their spiritual well being to Christ; have faith/reliance upon Christ for salvation. In other words, they
do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31)
and are not saved. Their trust and reliance is in Satan, as demonstrated by their rebellion in heaven and continuous evil works.
You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. James 2:24
In James 2:24, James is not using the word "justified" here to mean "accounted as righteous" but is
"shown to be righteous." James is discussing the
proof/evidence of faith (
says-claims to have faith but has no works/I will show you my faith by my works - James 2:14-18),
not the initial act of being accounted as righteous with God (Romans 4:2-3). Works bear out the justification that already came by faith.
In the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, the Greek word for justified "dikaioo" #1344 is:
1. to render righteous or such he ought to be
2. to show, exhibit, evince, one to be righteous, such as he is and wishes himself to be considered
3. to declare, pronounce, one to be just, righteous, or such as he ought to be
In Matthew 12:37, we read - "For by your words you will be
justified, and by your words you will be condemned." This is because our words (and our works) reveal the condition of our hearts. Words/works will appear to be evidences for, or against a man's being in a state of righteousness.
God is said to have been
justified by those who were baptized by John the Baptist (Luke 7:29). This act pronounced or declared God to be righteous. It did not make him righteous. The basis or ground for the pronouncement was the fact that God IS righteous. Notice that the NIV reads,
"acknowledged that God's way was right.." The ESV reads,
"they declared God just.." This is the sense in which God was justified,
"shown to be righteous".
Matthew 11:19 "The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners!' Yet wisdom is
justified/vindicated/shown to be right by her deeds."
*Man is saved through faith and not by works (Ephesians 2:8,9; Titus 3:5; 2 Timothy 1:9); yet genuine faith is vindicated, substantiated, evidenced by works (James 2:14-24).
*Christ saves us through faith based on the merits of His finished work of redemption "alone" and not based on the merits of our works.
*It is through faith "in Christ alone" (and not by the merits of our works) that we are justified on account of Christ (Romans 3:24; 5:1; 5:9); yet the faith that justifies is never alone (solitary, unfruitful, barren) if it is genuine (James 2:14-24). *Perfect Harmony*