Works Complete Faith?

I'm righteous because Christ is righteous. No amount of works can show or prove that I am righteous. I am a filthy sinner saved by grace. I'm in Christ, the righteous One. I sin daily. The only way I have any hope is through the righteousness of Jesus Christ!

James was not answering the question, "Will works follow faith?" James was answering the questions, "Can faith save him?" Can faith save him without works?

James 2:14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

Paul would unwavering say, yes! Faith saves a man without any works attached whatsoever. Works neither saves a man, neither proves one has salvation.

Paul and James are talking about two different things to two different audiences. Until that is realized, people will go on trying to mesh the two by cutting off the square edges and jamming it into the hole.

Works are a proof and evidence of faith.

no

He answered the question can THAT claimed faith save him.

And paul would say no, because they did not have true saving faith, it was dead. Lifeless, no faith at all

Philippians 3:9 - and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.

Slight correction...

9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

The righteousness of God was on display through the faith of Jesus Christ. He was completely obedient to his Father.

Slight correction...

9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

The righteousness of God was on display through the faith of Jesus Christ. He was completely obedient to his Father.

Faith saves! No works

Numerous translations say faith in Jesus Christ. (NKJV, NASB, NIV, ESV, HCSB etc..).

The context does not support your interpretation. While your statements aren't wrong, they are unrelated to the verse.

The "faith of Christ" in this context is not "the faith that Jesus exercised", but rather "the faith placed in Him". We are made righteous in God's sight directly by imputation which comes from God to those who put their faith in the finished work of Christ. That Christ exercised faith (or was faithful to His mission) is a secondary and not a primary cause of our righteousness before God.

Your version makes our exercise of faith meaningless and irrelevant. That is inconsistent with the whole counsel of Scripture whereby we are admonished to put our faith in Christ.

This is another case where the meaning and usage of words has changed since 1600, and the change is ignored by readers of the KJV.

The righteousness of God = the faith of Jesus Christ....it is upon all them that believe.

21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

When a man believes the gospel of Jesus Christ, God's righteousness (the faith of Christ) is given to that man. The man becomes justified. Only God's righteousness can justify a man. He is the Just and the Justifier of them which believe.

As I see it, you're taking Romans 14 out of context... the "practical application" section of Romans (just like ppl tend to blur all of Romans together, smooshing-it-all-up-together [into one big mish-mash of mush]. lol)



In that regard, I fairly agree with what Wm R Newell has to say about Rom14:23 (and its context), here:


[quoting Newell]

Verse 22:

Hast thou faith? Have [it] to thyself before God. Blessed is he that doth not judge himself in the acts which he alloweth [in his own life].

“It is much more blessed to have a liberty before God which we do not use on account of our brother's weakness, than to insist on our liberty, though it be distinctly given. The man whom Paul declares happy' is he who can eat what he pleases and drink what he pleases, without any qualms of conscience to condemn him while he does so.” These words (from Sanday) are true. The word translated “allows,” or “permits,” or “approves,” is literally, “puts to the test.” The picture is of a man having before him a question of conscience (of days, meats, or whatever), whose decisions in the use of his liberty are such that he does not go beyond his knowledge, and persuasion in the Lord Jesus (verse 14). For, though he have in his mind that he is free in such or such a matter, if his conscience check him, he “judges” himself if he rushes ahead in an action. To the strong believer the apostle speaks this word: “Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself before God.” You have probably known people whom in this sense you did not know! They had learned, yet were content not publicly to use, that great liberty of faith into which God had led them. It is blessed to have faith. It is yet more blessed to have that faith “before God”--when using the freedom it gives might perplex another!

Verse 23:

But he that doubteth is condemned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith; and whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Of course the word “damned” (for “condemned”) of the King James Version, is not the meaning here. But what is meant is the state of conscious condemnation into which one falls who goes beyond his faith in the exercise of his liberty. For he who acts thus enters the realm of self-will, the lawlessness (anomia) which God declares is sin (1 John 3:4).

The apostle's definition of sin here as “what is not of faith” is most searching. It will drive us to our knees. It reaches everything in our lives concerning which our conscience is not at rest, in which we do not have faith to proceed, in which we cannot walk with God.



[end quoting Newell; color, italics, parentheses, and brackets original; underline mine]









Many "contexts" are misunderstood by many, I'll just say that much... = )

In the content below, isn't the "faith" referred to not with reference to "the finished work of Christ"--isn't "faith", here, something more akin to a Holy Spirit-granted conviction of what is right or wrong? Doesn't it describe instances of how we "serve in newness of spirit, not in oldness of the letter"? Isn't it a warning that if we choose to ignore those convictions, we will not be "justified" but "condemned" (the two being adjudications the Judge may make about one's life)?

If so, then James and Paul are saying the same thing: as Christians, we will live (be justified by the righteousness of serving in the newness of the Spirit, and, ultimately, "repaid" eternal life Ro 2:6-16) if we walk after the Spirit, but will die (be condemned for unrighteousness, and, ultimately, perish) if we walk after the flesh?


Romans 14
5Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind...
23But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.

James 2
14What use is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can [j]that faith save him? 15If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, [k]be warmed and be filled,” yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is [l]dead, being by itself.
18But someone [m]may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” 19You believe that [n]God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. 20But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless? 21Was our father Abraham not justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that faith was working with his works, and [o]as a result of the works, faith was [p]perfected; 23and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called a friend of God. 24You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25In the same way, was Rahab, the prostitute, not justified by works also when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Says/claims he has faith, but he has no works demonstrates a dead faith. James even asks the question, can that faith save him? The answer to that rhetorical question is no. Yet James does not teach that we are saved "by" works. His concern is to show the reality of the faith professed by the individual (James 2:18) and demonstrate that the faith claimed (James 2:14) by the individual is genuine. Simple.

In James 2:21, notice closely that James does not say that Abraham's work of offering up Isaac resulted in God accounting Abraham as righteous. The accounting of Abraham's faith as righteousness was made in Genesis 15:6, many years before his work of offering up Isaac recorded in Genesis 22. The work of Abraham did not have some kind of intrinsic merit to account him as righteous, but it showed or manifested the genuineness of his faith. (James 2:18) That is the "sense" in which Abraham was "justified by works." He was shown to be righteous. See how easy that is?

Do you teach salvation by works?

To have faith you must have the right perspective of God, and His kingdom.

You cannot believe something contrary to that, and have faith.

The Bible says charity, love in action, works, is greater than faith, and hope.

And faith works by love.

John said if any person does not care about the needs of people then the love of God does not dwell in them.

So do not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, works, and truth.

Love is only valid in a person's life it is done in action.

You cannot say I love you, be saved, how are you doing, and it is valid as love if you do not help people with their needs.

Paul said he can have all faith so that he can remove mountains but if he did not have faith then he is nothing.

And said if any person teaches godliness is gain from such withdraw yourselves having food and clothing be content.

For the love of money is the root of all evil for it neglects the poor and the needy, and that is what it is all about loving people for love is the fulfilling of the law.

Paul said if people heap money for their wants then they have erred from the faith.

Because we have to have the right perspective of God, and His kingdom, that He loves people, and want their needs to be met.

God loves people not blessing the saints with their wants, and said He only provides for our needs.

James said if a person does not care about the needs of people then their faith is dead because they lack love for without love your faith is not valid for you do not have the right perspective.

Which he said a person is justified by works and faith alone.

Which he said it plainly that we are not justified by faith alone but by works which are works of love which is the only way love can be valid.

That is why James said I will show you my faith by my works for love can only be done in action for faith to be valid, and it is the only way to have the right perspective of God, and His kingdom.

Paul and John say the same thing but people argue over the two.

We are saved by faith, and not works, when we first come to Christ for that is all we can do.

But when we receive the Spirit then we have to have works of love to have faith apply in our life.

But there are millions of people claiming Christ that say we are saved by faith alone that go by their wants which is not love then it is not faith.