Is whether or not we have faith God's sole chriteria for judging us worthy of salvation?

Question

If you answer no then we are not saved by faith alone.

If you answer yes, then why does every passage in the NT talking about judgement say that we will be judged by our own works, deeds, what we have done, etc...?
(Mat 24, John 15, Rom 2, Rev 20)

Answer 1

Jesus taught that our final salvation depends on the state of our souls at death: "He who endures to the end will be saved" (Matt. 24:13; 25:31–46). One who dies in the state of friendship with God (the state of grace) will go to heaven. The one who dies in a state of enmity and rebellion against God (the state of mortal sin) will go to hell.

Matt 24 shows that serious sin will cause us to fail at the judgment: "But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'My master is staying away a long time,' and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

John 15 shows we must obey Jesus' command to love others to remain in his friendship: "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. . . . My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command."

Paul shows how our deeds will be judged in Romans 2: "God will give to each person according to what he has done."

Some will face condemnation: "But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. For those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile;

Others will be justified by their good works: To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. [There will be] glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.

Rev 20 shows that those alive in friendship with God will be judged separately from those dead in sin: "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. . . . Each person was judged according to what he had done. . . .If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."

The answer is no. We are not saved by faith alone, but by our loving obedience in baptism (Mark 16:16; John 3:5), believing Christ and putting faith in him (e.g., Luke 7:50, 8:12), self-renunciation (e.g., Matt 5:3, 10), repentance (Matt 3:2; 4:17; 18:8-9; Mark 9:42-48), obedience to God, doing what is right and just (e.g., Luke 10:25-28; John 12:50), adopting the humility of a child (Matt 18:3-4; 19:14), eating the bread of life (John 6:51, 53-54), and endurance to the end (Matt 10:22, 24:13; Mark 13:13, Luke 21:16-18).

Cheers,
Bruce

Answer 2

Strange that the Christian faith should deem deeds not important in salvation. Essentially, you can do what you like, and be as immoral as you like, maybe even kill someone, but if you repent, well, it's fine, isn't it? You'll be saved regardless of your (mis)deeds on Earth.
Meanwhile, an atheist, or a Hindu, a Muslim or a Buddhist etc. can work for hard for an honest wage all their life, love their family, volunteer for charities, never break the law or do an immoral thing, give all their possessions away to the poor, and yet they still supposedly get sent to hell. Because they didn't have faith.

If deeds aren't counted, what else is? It's faith alone, it would seem, so start praying and forget about everything else. I think this religion has their priorities wrong.

Answer 3

The whole premise of 'saved by grace through faith in Jesus or escape judgment through good works' is just another paradox like free-will and predestination. It will never make sense because human thought is dualistic and contradictory. Humans imagined the idea of God as a way to deal with the unknown/unknowable but had to back it up with some form of system that explained everything with that idea in mind.

What system works when you start with the solution and then work backwards to create the problem?

Answer 4

We cannot BE worthy of salvation. Nothing WE do can make it so...... so God never judges us WORTHY of salvation. We get salvation as a free gift, based upon JESUS being WORTHY.

WE get judged by our works..... my being saved is NOT one of MY works.

Salvation IS by faith alone. In the work that JESUS did. Not in any work that I did.

BTW - Repentance means turning away from your old ways and turning to Jesus as Lord. Someone claiming to be a Christian, yet living just like he always did hasn't repented, and is therefore not saved. Trying to get to heaven based upon your own works is telling God that Jesus wasn't needed. That's pretty insulting and missing the point of the OT Law - to prove to us once and for all that NOBODY can live a sinless life and be worthy. ONLY by the free gift of Christ's sacrifice can one enter the kingdom of heaven.

Hope this helps you understand. Your choices are up to you.

Answer 5

faith isn't sole standards - the Bible says: James 2:19 you have self belief there is one God, do you? you're doing particularly nicely. And however the demons have self belief and shudder. for sure, the demons isn't saved, yet they suspect.

Answer 6

The NT is giving us "rules to live by". While salvation is definite by faith alone because if we make a mistake and break one of these rules, we are surely forgiven.

Answer 7

In the end, the sole criteria for judging us worthy of salvation is do we love the Lord are God with all are hart, and with all are soul, and with all are mind. And do we love are neighbor as are self.

Answer 8

Yes, In heaven, we will also will wear crowns upon or head...some will have more crowns than others.....amount of crowns given all reflects what we have done upon earth..(Works,Deeds)...this is the meaning....YOU MUST BE SAVED, BAPTIZED, AND FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPRIT TO ENTER IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

Answer 9

No. Faith without works is dead

Answer 10

Could you translate into english please.