The gospel is the "good news" of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) and is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that
BELIEVES.. (Romans 1:16) To "believe" the gospel is to
trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as the ALL-sufficient means of our salvation. To trust in works for salvation is to not believe the gospel.
That salvation is by grace through faith and is not by works is not hard to understand. It’s just hard for unbelievers to ACCEPT. It’s a shame that human pride will not allow unbelievers to believe the gospel. Their hands are full of their works and they will not let go in order to receive Christ through faith.
Faith is
not works.
Again, faith = belief, trust, reliance. Obedience which follows = works and we are saved through faith, not works. (
Ephesians 2:8,9) Prior to my conversion several years ago, I too was unable to make a distinction between faith AND works (and there was a reason for that) and I basically infused them both together, just as you are doing now and the end result is salvation by faith + works, which renders Christ an IN-sufficient Savior.
The people in Matthew 7:21-23 had the
wrong foundation and did not have saving faith in Christ. They trusted in works for salvation. Faith is faith and works are works. Faith is the root of salvation and works are the fruit. James is simply saying faith that is not accompanied by evidential works demonstrates that it's dead. If someone merely
says-claims they have faith but
lack resulting evidential works, (James 2:14) then they have an
empty profession of faith/dead faith and not authentic faith. You need to remember that James is discussing the evidence of faith (
says-claims to have faith but has no works/I will show you my faith by my works - James 2:14-18) and
not the initial act of being accounted as righteous with God (Romans 4:2-3).
By saying that works are an essential component of faith, you are basically saying that works are the very essence of faith, which is absolutely false. Works are the fruit, by product and demonstrative evidence of faith, but not the essence of faith and not the means by which we obtain salvation. (Romans 4:2-6; Ephesians 2:8,9; Titus 3:5; 2 Timothy 1:9 etc..). We are saved
FOR good works and
NOT BY good works. (Ephesians 2:10)
You just proved that Catholics believe in salvation by works (faith + works). After a casual reading of the sheep and goats you naively came to the conclusion that Matthew 28:31-46) suggests that salvation is the result of good works. All scripture proves itself right and non-contradictory when compared with the totality of scripture. This passage needs to be taken alongside the whole of Scripture. Jesus was not advocating salvation by works. That would be contrary to (Romans 4:4-6; Ephesians 2:8,9; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:5) etc.. One's works are an effect of (and therefore indication of) one's salvation status, rather than being a cause of one's salvation. A tree is known by it's fruit.
The good deeds mentioned in Matthew 25:35-36 are merely the fruit that will be manifest in the lives of the redeemed. Those who are placed at Christ's right hand are not there based on the merits of their good deeds, but because they have received the righteousness of God which is by faith (Romans 4:2-6; Philippians 3:9). When works are mentioned in connection with salvation, the works are always the
result of, not the condition of, obtaining salvation. The stress is on works as a manifestation of one's faith (or lack thereof), not simply on the faith from which these works follow. You must not confuse descriptive passages of scripture with prescriptive passages of scripture. We must properly harmonize scripture with scripture before reaching our conclusion on doctrine.
No, you are trying to turn 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 into salvation through faith + love/acts of charity/works. Once again, in regards to
1 Corinthians 13:1-13, after we have been saved through faith, love certainly is the greatest quality of the three because God is love and love will still be the principle that governs all that God and his saints are and do throughout eternity in the new heaven and new earth. How much faith and hope will we need in heaven in the presence of the Lord?
1 John 4:19 -
We love Him because He first loved us.
Romans 5:5 - Now hope does not disappoint, because
the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Those with true faith have love and faith works through love. (
Galatians 5:6) If we have faith, then we have hope.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for.. (
Hebrews 11:1) Paul is stressing the importance of love in
1 Corinthians 13 and is not teaching salvation by grace through love/acts of charity/works.
1 John 4:7- Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and
everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who
does not love does not know God, for God is love.