Is salvation by faith alone, or faith plus works?

Answer 1

Great Question - These scripture sum up your question -- Love Ya Tommy D

James 2:14 (Living)
Dear brothers, what's the use of saying that you have faith and are Christians if you aren't proving it by helping others? Will that kind of faith save anyone?

James 2:17-18 (Living)
So you see, it isn't enough just to have faith. You must also do good to prove that you have it. Faith that doesn't show itself by good works is no faith at all--it is dead and useless.
[18] But someone may well argue, "You say the way to God is by faith alone, plus nothing; well, I say that good works are important too, for without good works you can't prove whether you have faith or not; but anyone can see that I have faith by the way I act."

James 2:20-22 (Living)
Fool! When will you ever learn that "believing" is useless without doing what God wants you to? Faith that does not result in good deeds is not real faith.
[21] Don't you remember that even our father Abraham was declared good because of what he did when he was willing to obey God, even if it meant offering his son Isaac to die on the altar? [22] You see, he was trusting God so much that he was willing to do whatever God told him to; his faith was made complete by what he did--by his actions, his good deeds.

James 2:24 (Living)
So you see, a man is saved by what he does, as well as by what he believes.

Answer 2

Salvation is by both, you must have faith, and you must have works. To say that to be born again is enough is an error, what good, as St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, would it do you if you say you accept Christ, but then go out and not feed the needy, take care of the widows and the orphaned. It is out of faith, through our works that we are saved.
God bless and have a great day.

Answer 3

Pastor Billy says: salvation starts with God's grace, you can have no faith without God's graces and you can perform no good works without God's grace.

It is never either or but all done in God's grace.

You neglect to state what kind of works?

A Christian still has works your problem is understanding what should be most evident we do them because of God's grace being made in the image of God so that we should walk in them.

The only place in scripture you find the words faith and alone together is in the epistle of James where we read "it is NOT by faith alone" one is saved

Answer 4

I believe that it is through faith that we are saved. But the only way to develop that degree of faith is through works. Every time we follow a commandment or do something Christian, our faith increases. Every time we do something bad or fail to act appropriately our faith decreases. In a way, faith is like a muscle. If you exercise it, it will get stronger. Eventually your faith in a principle of the gospel becomes knowledge and you need to exercise faith on other principles. Through this process, we can develop the faith necessary for salvation.

Answer 5

Salvation is only by grace, faith and works both are part of the accepting the salvation. But we need to remember that Jesus saved one man on the cross. I would not leave it to the last minute because we do not know when it is.

Answer 6

Neither. Salvation is a gift from God. He gives it to whomever he wishes.

Many who think they are "saved" because someone fed them a formula for "salvation" and they followed it, will have a rude awakening at the time of their death.

If we love God with all our heart, mind and soul - then we have faith. The bible says faith without works is dead. We must have active faith.

Early Christians lived in communities and took care of one another. That's what religion means. Community.

Protestants say Jesus never quoted anything from the Old Testament books that Martin Luther pulled from. Which isn't true. Jesus quoted heavily from the Book of Tobit. Jesus himself said we should give to the widow, the poor and the orphan. And to treat the alien (those not of our country) kindly.

Answer 7

First of all...even the "faith" we have is a gift of God. We can do NOTHING of ourselves to earn "salvation" - that is the thrust of Ephesians 2:8-9. "Salvation" (from the Latin, "salus", or "health") is a process, NOT an "event". It begins with the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, and ends when we all face the Judgment Seat of Christ.

Secondly, the formula cannot be "faith plus" anything. It's all Grace. We show the world our faith BY our works.

THAT is what St. James meant when he said "Faith, without works, is dead".

Answer 8

1) We are justified for grace through our Faith
2) Faith without works is Dead...
3) The real question is, can Dead Faith Justify anyone for anything?

IOW it is about Faithful Works. As you exercise your faith...IE works...your faith and knowledge increase and grow...thereby you exercise the new faith...etc.

We know from the Parable of the Sower and the Seeds that FAITH is a gift from God. Everyone of us have a seed of faith. It is what we do with that faith that causes it to grow strong or wither away and die. The seed is a gift...the plant is in our hands.

Answer 9

This is an old argument, but Christ himself said that we must "obey" (in other words DO) his works, and not merely have faith alone.



John 7:17: The "DO" doctrine
If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself

Matthew 16: 26-27
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

We are "rewarded according to our works." Christ himself said it. Faith alone is not enough.

Answer 10

if salvation was by faith plus works- how much works would you need to do to be saved? God is holy- and nothing we can do can save us- It is Christ, and Christ alone- however- if we are truly born again believers- we will want to do the good works that God has prepared for us to do in advance, long before we were saved. Hopefully that helps!