Hebrews 11:1 tells us what faith "is" and that's good enough for me but apparently not for you.
A definition of faith from the Greek:
http://biblehub.com/greek/4102.htm
Saved by faith alone?
- Thread starter Lamar
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A definition of faith from the Greek:
http://biblehub.com/greek/4102.htm
Because works is necessary. It is proof of a living faith. Again, it's the motivation and intent that separates works of law (which don't save) from works of faith (which do save).
‘Good enough for me’ isn’t the issue - Scripture should be good enough for all of us. The question is whether we’re using it faithfully. Hebrews 11:1 reframes pistis; it doesn’t define it. And a lexical entry is just a starting point - Scripture cumulatively reveals pistis as obedient, enduring, and relational. The faith-alone system strips these from its definition, then tries to add them back in post-conversion. Some don’t even bother.
Yes, but stated in Paul's way: Anyone who does not have the HS does not have saving faith (Rom. 8:9, Eph. 2:8-9),
and the evidence of receiving the HS is love (Rom. 5:5) or loving fruit (Gal. 5:6&22)/godly works (Eph. 2:10).
You previously said we are not saved by works but now you are saying we are saved by works. You can't have it both ways. The saved by "these" works (works of faith) and just not "those" (works of the law) argument is bogus.
Well, distinguishing between God working through us and us working to deserve salvation is valid,
but we need to say that saving faith is first and various expressions/works of divine love follow.
Works of faith are based on, and solely on, Christ's work and the gospel. Based on anything else is works of the flesh.
You're the one doing the false framing that makes it an either/or argument. Works of faith are not works of law, yet you say they are.
Was Abraham offering Isaac on the altar a work of faith, or a work of law? Most definitely a work of faith because he believed the gospel.
Full disclosure: Discussion on CC since joining a year ago helped me clarify/discern saving faith and godly works.
I did not use the adjectives previously, but I have added them to our website so as not to divorce them (per Eph. 2:8-10),
yet still maintain that faith is the horse than pulls a cartload of love, and we should not put the horse before the cart.
Eh, that is not what Dan is saying at all, since works following salvation are not of the law, and he made that distinction.
Salvation is a life-long process. Justification, which most people seem to call being saved, is a one-off that begins a long journey in which our faith is tested and proved. Those who fail the test will not be saved, even though they were justified. In other words, those who were saved by professing faith in the gospel will not be saved if they don't obey God and do his will.
The work of God is to believe in the One He has sent. Salvation is not a life-long event. Sanctification is. Nobody becomes unborn again.
Sanctification is holiness. Without holiness no one will be saved, so sanctification is salvation. It takes work to remain sanctified. In other words, it takes work to keep ourselves unspotted from the world.
Pursue peace with all, and sanctification, apart from which no one will see the Lord; Hebrews 12:14
Religion pure and undefiled before the God and father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, to keep oneself spotless from the world. James 1:27
Sanctification is a state of separation unto God, which all believers enter into when they are born of God.
Nobody is spotless. We put on the righteousness of Christ.
I'm not saying that works of faith produced by believers today are accomplished under the law of Moses. In James 2:15-16, the example of a "work" that James gives is: "If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?" To give a brother or sister these things needed for the body would certainly be a "work of faith/good work" yet to neglect such a brother or sister and not give them the things needed for the body is to break the second great commandment "love your neighbor as yourself"(Matthew 22:39) as found written in the law of Moses. (Leviticus 19:18)
In Matthew 22:37-40, we read: Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. Now which works of faith/good works could a Christian accomplish which are "completely detached" from these two great commandments which are found in the law of Moses? (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18)
So when it comes to the moral aspect of the law, we cannot dissect works of faith/good works from the law of Moses. In Titus 3:5, Paul said that it is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.. and in 2 Timothy 1:9, Paul said that God saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works.. so "not saved by works" is not merely limited to specific works under the law of Moses, but works in general.
You are making this out to be much more complicated than it really is. Many folks try to "shoehorn" works into salvation through faith, not works (Ephesians 2:8,9) which sounds like the direction you are heading.
Yes, to be sanctified is to be "set apart/made holy" and without justification, there is no sanctification. Those who are sanctified have been "set apart" or "made holy" in standing before God positionally in Christ. 1 Corinthians 6:11 - Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. These people will see the Lord.