Secure Eternal Salvation

[BreadOfLife]

Belief is having faith, just as it's obvious that faithfulness is having faith, trust is having faith, confidence is having faith, and fidelity is having faith. You can't have a belief without having faith. You're just deciding 'belief' is the one word that doesn't mean 'having faith' in order to defend the false 'faith is works' works gospel of the Catholic church.

Upi have it BACKEWARDS, son.

You can't have FAITH without belief. You CAN have belief without faith.
It doesn't take ANY faith to know (bewlieve) that 1+1=2. It's just a logical and mathematical FACT that can be arrived at by holding up 2 fingers.

As I have educated you several times now - BIBLICAL faith requires MUCH more than just belief, which even the demons possess (James 2:19).

LOVE (1 Cor. 13:2)
WORKS (James 2:14-26, Gal. 5:6, Matt. 19:21, 25:31–46, Luke 18:22)
OBEDIENCE (Matt. 16:24, John 14:15, 15:10)
HOPE (Matt. 24:13, Rom. 5:9–10, 1 Cor. 3:12–15).

Without these - you DON'T have "Faith".

 

[BreadOfLife]

You didn't address this.
The work of love is the work of the law (Leviticus 19:18).
You don't seem to realize that when you say a person is made righteous by faith and works (because faith and works are the same thing) that you are saying a person is made righteous by faith and the works of the law, the very argument Paul says is NOT true in Romans 3 & 4. So, next time you say a man is made righteous by faith and works (love, obedience, etc.) I will remind you that the works you cite as making a man righteous are works of the law, the very works gospel condemned in scripture.

That's a LIE.
I never said - or even implied that.

In facy - I have pointed out SEVERAL times that works of the LAw are NOT the same as the works that GOD Hinself prepearef for those of us in Christ - in advance to do (Eph. 2:10).

So go back and READ the posts instead of spewing these pathetic lies . . .

 

[BreadOfLife]

I just go by what the word says, I could care less what YOUR CHURCH says, I do not follow men.

I know.
Jesus warned about people like you . . .
Luke 10:16
Whoever listens to YOU listens to ME. Whoever rejects YOU rejects ME. And whoever rejects ME rejects the ONE who sent ME."

lol. So we ignore all the other passages.

Paul was speaking to people tryign to add works of the law to the gospel. what is the difference between the jews adding works of the law. and the church adding works of the church?

Zero Zip Nada.

Again, Good luck in trying to earn salvation.

Continue to ignore pauls words. and Jesus words.

Grace and works cancel each other out!

Romans 11:6
And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.

We are not saved by any good deed (works of righteousness) we have done.

2 Timothy 1:9
who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,

Titus 3:5
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

You want to boast of all your sacraments, feel free. Your not saved by them. they will not save you, Your saved by grace alone. Through faith NOT WORKS

Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, Not by works, lest anyone should boast

Romans 4:2
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

the true living bread. whoever eats it will NOT DIE. Unlike your false bread of life. which people eat weekly and still have the ability to die

John 6:51
I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”

John 6:58
This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”

I can go on and on and on.

It's painfuolly obvious that you haven't actually read the text surrounding these cherry-picked verses - and therein lies the danger.

NONE of the verses you posted out of context explains that the "works" that we do in Christ are NOT the works that Paul is talking about.
We CAN'T boast about them because God Himself placed them for us to do (Eph. 2:10) as PART of our faith.

As I keep warning you guys - this is the danger of cherry-picking Scripture - and was the folly of your Protestant Fathers . . .

 

[Eternally Grateful]

I know.
Jesus warned about people like you . . .
Luke 10:16
Whoever listens to YOU listens to ME. Whoever rejects YOU rejects ME. And whoever rejects ME rejects the ONE who sent ME."

I do listen to THEM.

Why don’t you?

It's painfuolly obvious that you haven't actually read the text surrounding these cherry-picked verses - and therein lies the danger.

NONE of the verses you posted out of context explains that the "works" that we do in Christ are NOT the works that Paul is talking about.
We CAN'T boast about them because God Himself placed them for us to do (Eph. 2:10) as PART of our faith.

As I keep warning you guys - this is the danger of cherry-picking Scripture - and was the folly of your Protestant Fathers . . .

No I just take them for what they say.

You want to bring in passages which contradict those verses when we use them as you use them

The Bible must agree. It can not contradict.

You need to stop listening to what you are told. And start to listen to the apostles themselves.

 

[robert derrick]

@Truman

Reminds me of Galatians 5.17-18:

"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law."

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Paul is confirming the source of wretched double mindedness in Romans 7, which a Christian must be delivered from, if he is to obtain eternal salvation.

Double mindedness is having lust still in the heart, so that obedience to the flesh is overcoming obedience to the Spirit of life in the believer.

The victory in which there is no more condemnation of double minded sins of the flesh is to overcome the law of sin and death, which is from the flesh, by the law of the Spirit of life from the heart:

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

Submitting ourselves to God is to commit all our ways to Him and His righteousness, which is to not commit to any sin at all:

Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.

Once we do so, we then can begin tot fight the good fight of faith, to purge our hearts of all lust, but destroying the thoughts for sins in the mind:

Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.

The war is therefore fought in the heart and the mind to repent of committing to any sins, and has then overcome all such thoughts for sin in the mind by the Spirit of life from the heart, then that overcoming saint can know the peace and sure righteousness of being no more in condemnation for sins:

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

There is therefore no condemnation only for them that obey Him in all things, because they have overcome the thoughts for sins i the mind and purges the lust for sins in the heart, so that there is no more war in the heart and mind with the law of sin and death:

But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

Only the overcoming saints in Christ Jesus know the perfect peace that passes understanding, because they know of a surety they are being led of the Spirit, and no more under the dominion of the law of sin and death.

They are no more condemned by the law of Christ: they are no longer under condemnation of the law of God.

They now freely keep the law of Christ, and no longer obey the law of sin, and so they have no wages for sins, which is death.

The law of sin and death is the soul which sinneth it shall die. Them that obey that law will not obtain eternal salvation, because they do not obey the law of Christ and the Spirit of Life: Go and sin no more.

 

[robert derrick]

Faith is only separated from obedience insofar as faith all by itself is what MAKES you righteous. From that righteousness we then do works of righteousness. Those works then testifying on our behalf that we have the righteousness that comes from God through faith.

Faith is only separated from obedience insofar as faith all by itself is what MAKES you righteous.

False. That is the intellectualized argument of a carnal mind that does not subject itself to Scripture, and so does not take Scripture literally.

Faith separated from obedience, being all by itself, is dead, being alone. Period.

What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

Faith alone and separated from obedience cannot save anyone.

No honest heart can read Scripture and believe we are being saved by grace through faith alone, separate from obedience. No Scripture says that, and to try and teach it from the verse of being saved is to throw out all other Scripture pertaining to faith that obeys God.

If the good work of salvation began by faith alone, then so also can it end by faith alone.

No salvation of God ever begins by faith alone, nor is His eternal salvation obtained by faith alone.

By separating faith from obedience for salvation, then obedience is not necessary for salvation, and so eternal salvation would also be for them that disobey Him, because they still have faith alone.

Neither are we saved by obedience alone, because without faith it is impossible to please God.

Them that falsely preach being saved by faith alone without obedience, are more than ready to condemn works of obedience alone without faith, which is being saved by works of the law alone.

Yet, you will never condemn being saved by faith alone without obedience, which is being saved without obeying Him at all, which is dead.

Only those being saved by faith with works, which are the works of faith, will obtain eternal salvation for them that obey Him.

 

[Illuminator]

I do listen to THEM.

Why don’t you?

No I just take them for what they say.

You want to bring in passages which contradict those verses when we use them as you use them

BoL quoted 2 verses. Luke 10:16 and Eph. 2:10 are different subject matters. There is no contradiction.

The Bible must agree. It can not contradict.

Rom. 3:20,28; Gal. 2:16,21; 3:2,5,10; Eph. 2:8-9 – Paul’s teaching that we are not justified by “works of the law” refer to the law of Moses or to any legal system that makes God our debtor. They do not refer to good works done in grace with faith in Christ. This makes sense when we remember that Paul’s mission was to teach that salvation was also for the Gentiles who were not subject to the “works of the law.” Here is the proof:

James 2:24 – compare the verse “a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” to Gal. 2:16 – “a man is not justified by works of the law,” and Rom. 3:20,28 – “no human being will be justified in His sight by works of the law.” James 2:24 appears to be inconsistent with Gal. 2:16 and Rom. 3:20,28 until one realizes that the Word of God cannot contradict itself. This means that the “works” in James 2:24 are different from the “works of the law in Gal. 2:16 and Rom. 3:20,28. James is referring to “good works” (e.g.,clothing the naked; giving food to the poor) and Paul is referring to the “Mosaic law” (which included both the legal, moral and ceremonial law) or any works which oblige God to give us payment. Here is more proof:

Rom. 3:20,28; Gal. 2:16 – Paul’s phrase for “works of the law” in the Greek is “ergon nomou” which means the Mosaic law or Torah and refers to the teachings (legal, moral) and works (ceremonial) that gave the Jews the knowledge of sin, but not an escape from sin. We have further proof of this from the Dead Sea Scrolls which provide the Hebrew equivalent (“hrvt ysm”) meaning “deeds of the law,” or Mosaic law. James in James 2 does not use “ergon nomou.” He uses “ergois agathois.” Therefore, Paul’s “works of the law” and James’ “works” are entirely different types of works. Again, they could never contradict each other because the Scriptures are the inspired word of God.

Rom. 3:29 – Paul confirms that works of the law in this case refer to the Mosaic law by rhetorically asking “Or is God the God of the Jews only?” It does not mean “good works.”

Rom. 4:9-17 – Paul provides further discussion that righteousness God seeks in us does not come from Mosaic law, but through faith.
But notice that Paul also never says “faith alone.”

 

[robert derrick]

Faith is only separated from obedience insofar as faith all by itself is what MAKES you righteous. From that righteousness we then do works of righteousness. Those works then testifying on our behalf that we have the righteousness that comes from God through faith.

The main error of separating faith and obedience of God is that they arrive in the heart at the same time: faith is not ever separate from obedience to the faith, no more than shining is ever separate from the light that shines:

For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

The faith of Jesus is the light thereof, and obedience to the faith is the glory that He lightens.

Separating faith and obedience to the faith separates the Lamb from God.

We believe we obey, and nothing in between. To separate faith from obedience is to separate I from Am.

With God there is no believing without obeying, even as there is no I without Am.

We do not believe and then obey, but we believe and we obey. If we believe we are obeying. When we believe, we obey. There is no believing without obeying, which is dead. And there is no obeying without believing, which is vain.

There is no temporal time difference between the two, because obedience with faith begins in the heart and does the work of salvation to purify our hearts, cleanse our minds, and our hands of sins.

The instant work of salvation by faith is obeying the first commandment to love God with all the heart and the mind and the soul.

We obey God in the heart to love Him with all the heart: to obediently cast down every vain imagination and thought for sin from the mind, and so purge every lust from the heart.

If God does not see that obedience working in the heart, then He does not see His faith at all, no more than He would see His Light without His shining thereof.

People who speak of outward works of faith only, show the carnal mind at work, which does not speak of the inner works of obedience to the faith.

It is not faith alone in the heart followed by outer works of the body, but rather it is faith obeying God in the heart, with outer obedience following inward obedience to God.

The first work of faith that the believer does is to obey the first commandment and purify their hearts and minds, that they may indeed love Him with all the heart and mind, and so obey him in all things of the body.

We obey Him in all things inwardly, then we will obey Him in all things outwardly.

Obeying the commandment to purify our hearts of lust and cleanse our minds of vain and sinful imagination is keeping the commandment to love God with all the heart.

Faith alone in the heart is dead, because it is not obeying God to love Him with all the heart.

Faith alone in the heart are them who love God with the mouth, but not in deed and in truth, which begins in the heart.

Them who are not loving God with all their heart and mind are not being saved by obedience to the faith of Jesus: They are the double minded who are still commanded to purify their hearts, that they may indeed cleanse their hands of sins once for all.

 

[GodsGrace]

BoL quoted 2 verses. Luke 10:16 and Eph. 2:10 are different subject matters. There is no contradiction.



Rom. 3:20,28; Gal. 2:16,21; 3:2,5,10; Eph. 2:8-9 – Paul’s teaching that we are not justified by “works of the law” refer to the law of Moses or to any legal system that makes God our debtor. They do not refer to good works done in grace with faith in Christ. This makes sense when we remember that Paul’s mission was to teach that salvation was also for the Gentiles who were not subject to the “works of the law.” Here is the proof:

James 2:24 – compare the verse “a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” to Gal. 2:16 – “a man is not justified by works of the law,” and Rom. 3:20,28 – “no human being will be justified in His sight by works of the law.” James 2:24 appears to be inconsistent with Gal. 2:16 and Rom. 3:20,28 until one realizes that the Word of God cannot contradict itself. This means that the “works” in James 2:24 are different from the “works of the law in Gal. 2:16 and Rom. 3:20,28. James is referring to “good works” (e.g.,clothing the naked; giving food to the poor) and Paul is referring to the “Mosaic law” (which included both the legal, moral and ceremonial law) or any works which oblige God to give us payment. Here is more proof:

Rom. 3:20,28; Gal. 2:16 – Paul’s phrase for “works of the law” in the Greek is “ergon nomou” which means the Mosaic law or Torah and refers to the teachings (legal, moral) and works (ceremonial) that gave the Jews the knowledge of sin, but not an escape from sin. We have further proof of this from the Dead Sea Scrolls which provide the Hebrew equivalent (“hrvt ysm”) meaning “deeds of the law,” or Mosaic law. James in James 2 does not use “ergon nomou.” He uses “ergois agathois.” Therefore, Paul’s “works of the law” and James’ “works” are entirely different types of works. Again, they could never contradict each other because the Scriptures are the inspired word of God.

Rom. 3:29 – Paul confirms that works of the law in this case refer to the Mosaic law by rhetorically asking “Or is God the God of the Jews only?” It does not mean “good works.”

Rom. 4:9-17 – Paul provides further discussion that righteousness God seeks in us does not come from Mosaic law, but through faith.
But notice that Paul also never says “faith alone.”

Good post.
You're right of course.
James is merely saying what he stated:
FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS A DEAD FAITH.
James 2:17, 20

James states that faith, all by itself, useless since it does not do any good for humanity and God means for US to be His hands
and do HIS work here on earth.

We are NOT saved by works.....
But once we are saved, works are required of us.

James 2:26
For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Galatians 6:9
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

Hebrews 10:24
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,

Matthew 7:21
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 5:16
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.


and so many others...
I believe Matthew 7:21 is particularly important.

 

[GodsGrace]

The main error of separating faith and obedience of God is that they arrive in the heart at the same time: faith is not ever separate from obedience to the faith, no more than shining is ever separate from the light that shines:

For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

The faith of Jesus is the light thereof, and obedience to the faith is the glory that He lightens.

Separating faith and obedience to the faith separates the Lamb from God.

We believe we obey, and nothing in between. To separate faith from obedience is to separate I from Am.

With God there is no believing without obeying, even as there is no I without Am.

We do not believe and then obey, but we believe and we obey. If we believe we are obeying. When we believe, we obey. There is no believing without obeying, which is dead. And there is no obeying without believing, which is vain.

There is no temporal time difference between the two, because obedience with faith begins in the heart and does the work of salvation to purify our hearts, cleanse our minds, and our hands of sins.

The instant work of salvation by faith is obeying the first commandment to love God with all the heart and the mind and the soul.

We obey God in the heart to love Him with all the heart: to obediently cast down every vain imagination and thought for sin from the mind, and so purge every lust from the heart.

If God does not see that obedience working in the heart, then He does not see His faith at all, no more than He would see His Light without His shining thereof.

People who speak of outward works of faith only, show the carnal mind at work, which does not speak of the inner works of obedience to the faith.

It is not faith alone in the heart followed by outer works of the body, but rather it is faith obeying God in the heart, with outer obedience following inward obedience to God.

The first work of faith that the believer does is to obey the first commandment and purify their hearts and minds, that they may indeed love Him with all the heart and mind, and so obey him in all things of the body.

We obey Him in all things inwardly, then we will obey Him in all things outwardly.

Obeying the commandment to purify our hearts of lust and cleanse our minds of vain and sinful imagination is keeping the commandment to love God with all the heart.

Faith alone in the heart is dead, because it is not obeying God to love Him with all the heart.

Faith alone in the heart are them who love God with the mouth, but not in deed and in truth, which begins in the heart.

Them who are not loving God with all their heart and mind are not being saved by obedience to the faith of Jesus: They are the double minded who are still commanded to purify their hearts, that they may indeed cleanse their hands of sins once for all.

Great post !
Well said.

 

[robert derrick]

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

The double minded say that committing sin is only being committed to sin, but not committing a sin.

1. With God committing a sin can only be by committing to it: committing ourselves to do that sin.
2. The devil sinned, and he was committed to it from the beginning, which proves no sin is committed without being committed to it from the beginning of it.

Nevertheless, what of committing to sin, and not just committing a sin, which is over the devil?

Not committing to not sin and so go and sin no more, is committing to sin and so go and sin some more.

To not commit to not sinning, is sin of disobedience of the devil from the beginning.

Those who will not commit themselves to not sinning are committing themselves to commit sin: they are committing to sin, they are of the devil that committed sin from the beginning, when he would not commit to not disobeying God.

Those who reject even the possibility of not committing sins, therefore would never commit to not sinning, and so will remain committed to sinning, and will in deed commit them by committing themselves to them.

OSAS therefore teaches committing oneself to sin for life, by declaring it is impossible not to.

And so, they must sin daily and from time to time to keep their commitment to sin, lest they prove Christians can commit to not sinning daily and from time to time.

OSAS is unconditional salvation for them committed to sin of the devil. OSAS is doctrine of devils.

 

[robert derrick]

Great post !
Well said.

The faith of Jesus says: I believe and Am obeying.

Not one without the other.

The great faith of I Am is I Am obeying.

 

[robert derrick]

Eternal salvation is for them found clothed with the answer of I Am obeying.

Salvation begins with I Am obeying, and continues with I Am obeying, at this moment, one day at a time, with no thought for the temptations of tomorrow, because sufficient for the day is the evil to resist thereof.

Them that are found naked are them that must say in that day I am not obeying.

OSAS teaches it is not possible to be only obeying, and therefore, the Lord will come as a thief in the night to find them not obeying.

If we are disobeying God, then we are declaring to God, I am not obeying. And we think He will not come at that hour of disobedience, when we think not to obey Him.

 

[farouk]

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Paul is confirming the source of wretched double mindedness in Romans 7, which a Christian must be delivered from, if he is to obtain eternal salvation.

Double mindedness is having lust still in the heart, so that obedience to the flesh is overcoming obedience to the Spirit of life in the believer.

The victory in which there is no more condemnation of double minded sins of the flesh is to overcome the law of sin and death, which is from the flesh, by the law of the Spirit of life from the heart:

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

Submitting ourselves to God is to commit all our ways to Him and His righteousness, which is to not commit to any sin at all:

Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.

Once we do so, we then can begin tot fight the good fight of faith, to purge our hearts of all lust, but destroying the thoughts for sins in the mind:

Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.

The war is therefore fought in the heart and the mind to repent of committing to any sins, and has then overcome all such thoughts for sin in the mind by the Spirit of life from the heart, then that overcoming saint can know the peace and sure righteousness of being no more in condemnation for sins:

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

There is therefore no condemnation only for them that obey Him in all things, because they have overcome the thoughts for sins i the mind and purges the lust for sins in the heart, so that there is no more war in the heart and mind with the law of sin and death:

But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

Only the overcoming saints in Christ Jesus know the perfect peace that passes understanding, because they know of a surety they are being led of the Spirit, and no more under the dominion of the law of sin and death.

They are no more condemned by the law of Christ: they are no longer under condemnation of the law of God.

They now freely keep the law of Christ, and no longer obey the law of sin, and so they have no wages for sins, which is death.

The law of sin and death is the soul which sinneth it shall die. Them that obey that law will not obtain eternal salvation, because they do not obey the law of Christ and the Spirit of Life: Go and sin no more.

We will not achieve "sinless perfection" in this life; but we are saved by faith, resting in the finished work of the Lord Jesus at the Cross.

Being saved Monday, lost again Tuesday, saved again Wednesday, doubtful Thursday......This is not the Gospel.

 

[TEXBOW]

We will not achieve "sinless perfection" in this life; but we are saved by faith, resting in the finished work of the Lord Jesus at the Cross.

Being saved Monday, lost again Tuesday, saved again Wednesday, doubtful Thursday......This is not the Gospel.

I'm not sure which day of the week but Paul tells us to examine ourselves.

 

[farouk]

I'm not sure which day of the week but Paul tells us to examine ourselves.

This is healthy, and to do so we go to the Scriptures and search our consciences.

 

[post]

Matters of discipline are not included only faith and morals

Peter in Galatians 2 was acting immorally, which shows lack of faith.
that is exactly why he was disciplined!

only God Himself is infallible

 

[Ferris Bueller]

So you STILL lose the argument.

YOUR podition all along had been that the demons "have Faith" (Pisteuo, James 2:19).
However - according to Strong's Greek Concordance, this word hasa MULTIPLE definitions - and NOT all of them mean "Having Faith".

This is James's argument regardijng the demons - that they have BELIEF - but NOT Faith.
Just accept the fact that you've been proven wrong - and learn from it instead of continuing this asinine argument.

We know 'belief' and 'faith' are the same thing from this:

“Abraham believed (pisteuo) God, and it (pisteuo) was credited to him as righteousness.” Romans 4:3​

'Believed' is the same word as in James 2:19 where James talks about the demons who also 'believe' (pisteuo). The difference is the demons believing does not justify because they believe something about God (God is the one and only God), not believe God's promise as Abraham did.

If you need further proof that a 'belief' and 'faith' are the same thing (pistis in the Greek) consider the fact that right in James' passage he equates the belief the demons have with the same belief a person may have and calls that dead faith, and a faith that can not save.

 

[Ferris Bueller]

it is grace from the merits of Christ that enables us to do so!

IN Genesis 15:6, what work did Abraham have along with his faith in that moment that God made him righteous? None of course. And Paul calls him our example of how we also receive the righteousness that is from God through faith without work.

But it is also true that, later, the righteousness that Abraham received through faith without works was seen in his obedience to God, and so he is our example of how we are justified that way, too, in that our works show us to have the righteousness that comes from God through faith without works.

 

[Taken]

As I keep warning you guys - this is the danger of cherry-picking Scripture

Your “cherry-picking” warning, IS YOUR FALLACY, and irrelevant!

Scriptures to Jews.
Scriptures to Women.
Scriptures to those Dead IN Sin.

Since you WARN AGAINST “cherry-picking”, ALL of Scripture must APPLY TO YOU....

A Woman Jew Dead IN Sin....