Grace requires works to bear fruit!

[theefaith]

Grace requires works to bear fruit!

It is the duty of Christian to practice the virtues of Jesus Christ!

Matthew 11:29
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

United to Christ in faith and baptism we are called to employ the grace of God that makes us saints!

Jn 15:4-5 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Matthew 10:38
And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

Matthew 16:24
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Matthew 16:25
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Romans 8:17
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

2 Corinthians 12:9
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

2 Thessalonians 1:5
Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:

Colossians 1:11
Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

2 Tim 2:3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 2:12
If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

Phil 1:29
For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

1 pet 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;

James 1:2-8
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing

Hebrews 6:12
That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Hebrews 10:36
For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

Hebrews 12:4
Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

1 Peter 2:20
For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

Romans 8:17
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

2 Timothy 2:12
If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:


Rev 2: 19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.

Rev 2:23 .....I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

1 thes 1:3
Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;

Heb 2:10
For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.


2 Corinthians 12:9
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee!

The power of the grace of God working in us!

Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

 

[theefaith]

Works do not include:

“works of the law”
Or
“Works alone”
but
Prayer:
Alms:
Fasting:
Practicing the virtues of Jesus Christ:
Suffering in patience for Christ sake:

 

[Harold]

We are saved by grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ. Grace is grace, no matter if we work or not. We are not saved by works. Works salvation is false. We are saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ.

Only when someone is saved by faith alone, then they can perform good works. Faith is the seed, good works are the fruit. Good works are not required for salvation at all, it's FAITH ALONE, that's it, the simple Gospel TRUTH! We can only produce the fruit AFTER we believe in Jesus. Because only then are we made clean, only then the Holy Spirit comes into us and we are seen as righteous before the Lord. Without being saved by faith alone, all our good works are FILTHY RAGS!!

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.



Romans 3:28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.



Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,



Galatians 2:16 Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.



Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.



Romans 4:5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,



Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.



Romans 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”



Philippians 3:9 And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ



Galatians 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith



Romans 11:6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. [No longer meaning never]



Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ



Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”



John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.



Romans 3:24 And are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,



Romans 3:26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.



Genesis 15:6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.



James 2:23 And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.



Romans 10:9 Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.



John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.



John 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,



Galatians 3:22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.



John 8:24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”



John 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

 

[St. SteVen]

Grace requires works to bear fruit!

Interesting topic, thanks.

Requires?
Grace requires works?
Grace requires works to bear fruit?

Not sure what this means.
Grace has no requirements; otherwise it isn't grace, as I understand grace.
Perhaps you need to define what you mean by "grace".

Works do not include:

“works of the law”
Or
“Works alone”
but
Prayer:
Alms:
Fasting:
Practicing the virtues of Jesus Christ:
Suffering in patience for Christ sake:

Not sure why these disciplines would be considered "works" that are the "required" "fruit" of "grace".
This is not my understanding of either works, or fruit, or grace. Please explain. Thanks.

You included a pile of scriptures, none of which mention these disciplines, that I could see. TLDR

 

[Reggie Belafonte]

Grace abides in Christ Jesus !
When one is in Christ Jesus and him in you, then one has Grace !

If one is not truly Saved they one does not have Grace in fact.

Like a Tree that produce Fruit, so does one of Grace likewise.

Abiding in the Vine ? one is taking part in Christ Jesus in fact ! so it's you abiding in him and him in you.

I seen an old religious mate and I played a little game on him in town and he responded that if it was anyone other than me, he would of punched such a one ? and then said to me, I will get you back !
Now it was nothing but a practical harmless joke, he was just neatly snookered in a touch. but his response was over the top claiming if it was someone other that did such ?
Such would not bother me in the least at all. I would not even think of punching anyone for such at all and I have had many a real outright dirty criminal acts playing me for weeks of hard as hell work and cost me hugely, but I never punched any of them.
So why would one make such a big deal about nothing ? Such a one could not be Saved ! because he does not have Grace in fact. you drive down the road and some bugger does the wrong thing by you, one just lets it go and lets it slide, back off and leave such alone, pull back and let him go !

I had one dude try to punch me in the face, I just blocked the punch aside and he did not take another, but I was nice to him, he made a mistake and walked off, next time I seen him in a pub he was a bit worried directly but then he understood that I held nothing against him at all for taking a swing, must of had a bad day ?

I even know of people who hold a full on hatred for back in their school days 50 years after. Haha how pathetic !

 

[St. SteVen]

If one is not truly Saved they one does not have Grace in fact.

Thanks for your post.
This bit stood out to me.

What do we mean by "truly Saved"? How are such things measured?

 

[Dropship]

Monks shut themselves away in monasteries to work on getting closer to God and don't do any work in the worldly sense, and good luck to them..
"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philip 2:12 KJV)
By contrast my late dad neglected his spiritual welfare and was a chronic workaholic at a factory and sent himself half-nutty with overwork.

 

[Ronald Nolette]

Grace requires works to bear fruit!

It is the duty of Christian to practice the virtues of Jesus Christ!

Matthew 11:29
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

United to Christ in faith and baptism we are called to employ the grace of God that makes us saints!

Jn 15:4-5 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Matthew 10:38
And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

Matthew 16:24
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Matthew 16:25
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Romans 8:17
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

2 Corinthians 12:9
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

2 Thessalonians 1:5
Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:

Colossians 1:11
Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

2 Tim 2:3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 2:12
If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

Phil 1:29
For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

1 pet 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;

James 1:2-8
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing

Hebrews 6:12
That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Hebrews 10:36
For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

Hebrews 12:4
Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

1 Peter 2:20
For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

Romans 8:17
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

2 Timothy 2:12
If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:


Rev 2: 19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.

Rev 2:23 .....I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

1 thes 1:3
Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;

Heb 2:10
For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.


2 Corinthians 12:9
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee!

The power of the grace of God working in us!

Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

All these are true, but you are putting the cart before the horse! Grace produces the works and fruit! And these show we have been given new life!

 

[Ronald Nolette]

too bad no one here (AFAIK) is fluent in Russian. We all miss what youare trying to say.

 

[Reggie Belafonte]

Thanks for your post.
This bit stood out to me.

What do we mean by "truly Saved"? How are such things measured?

Many people claim to be saved, but are they truly ?
I say to be truly Saved one has 100% faith in Christ Jesus ! not 99.99% because if they have a shadow of doubt that's not the faith that can move mountains !

One may have the Holy Spirit or know of such and have faith in such and that's all good, but so did I ! I was their once but that was not Truly born again. One may claim that they are born again and they are in a way ? but they have not truly arrived yet as to the experience that I got with an encounter that totally woke me up directly 100% and even from their on one still learns, but the Faith in Christ Jesus is Solid and such can never be undermined, so in this case, once saved always Saved is correct !

But then again some people will say, once saved always saved, but such is only coming from a worldly religious position ? and as such has variations, one example was with a few that I know who claimed to be able to save one, by going through a few motions saying after them X,Y and Z and then they claimed they have saved one ? Well that was sad to see, as I was Saved before that, but they did not understand what I said to them ! because they were only religious ! As I knew it that They were not truly born again in fact.
They say so many silly things regarding the Bible concepts that are twisted or may sound like we are all on the same page, but in fact we are not, as an issue has been side tracked ? but after having more time with them I understood that many issues were off the rails or I though 1st up they were off the rails on an issue but I seek to know where they were at and then I found, Oh they are coming from another angle on the subjects. So ok I am up for such coming as maybe I will learn something, but no they were wrong ! they were a twisted group, that did not truly understand who Christ Jesus truly is in fact. For they have another Jesus. they seek another ? for they have not been found !

So what I say is I am Found ! on that day that I knew Jesus was the Christ 100% the lights came on ! I was totally saved and no one can undermine that faith as it's impossible ! one can not go back to the Vomit ! I truly understand what this world is, as regarding to what Jesus said such truly is, Full of Deceptions and Delusions.
Christ Jesus offers us the Kingdom of God ! So I am changed ? I am not of this world ! I am of the Kingdom of God !
Not like some snivelling Priest that works for a religious denomination under this world as we see everywhere nowadays, that are to gutless to preach Christ Jesus above all come hell or high water ! because if they did preach Christ Jesus they would not have the balls to do so in fact ! for they are of this world.
That's why they hide child molesters etc for they are trash.
For they are to weak to stand up for Christ Jesus, for they love this world.

 

[St. SteVen]

St. SteVen said:
What do we mean by "truly Saved"? How are such things measured?

Many people claim to be saved, but are they truly ?
I say to be truly Saved one has 100% faith in Christ Jesus ! not 99.99% because if they have a shadow of doubt that's not the faith that can move mountains !

Heaven will be a lonely place. Just you and Jesus.
Too bad God didn't have a better plan than that. Seems such a waste of humanity.

... So what I say is I am Found ! on that day that I knew Jesus was the Christ 100% the lights came on ! I was totally saved and no one can undermine that faith as it's impossible ! one can not go back to the Vomit ! I truly understand what this world is, as regarding to what Jesus said such truly is, Full of Deceptions and Delusions.
Christ Jesus offers us the Kingdom of God ! So I am changed ? I am not of this world ! I am of the Kingdom of God !
Not like some snivelling Priest that works for a religious denomination under this world as we see everywhere nowadays, that are to gutless to preach Christ Jesus above all come hell or high water ! because if they did preach Christ Jesus they would not have the balls to do so in fact ! for they are of this world.
That's why they hide child molesters etc for they are trash.
For they are to weak to stand up for Christ Jesus, for they love this world.

Wow. Feel the love.

 

[CadyandZoe]

Works do not include:

“works of the law”
Or
“Works alone”
but
Prayer:
Alms:
Fasting:
Practicing the virtues of Jesus Christ:
Suffering in patience for Christ sake:

False, wrong. You practice a religion, which necessarily requires rules to follow and answers to the question, "what must I DO to be saved?" You don't see or understand that prayer, alms and fasting should be done for it's own sake, but your religion has turned such things into currency, which God exchanges for his grace. You are attempting to buy God's grace.

What did Jesus teach?
Consider Matthew 25. Jesus told his disciples that "they will know you are my disciples by your love for one another. In light of this, Jesus gives three examples that typify the concept. Feeding Jesus when he is hungry; giving him water when he is thirsty; giving him lodging; giving him clothing; visiting him when he is sick; and visiting him when he is in jail.

These are not religious practices; they are acts of love. And they are acts of love directed toward Jesus himself. And how is that possible?

Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

The true works of faith are indicative of grace, not the means to grace. Because God has been gracious to me, I can be gracious to others. The one follows from the other.

Jesus is not talking about giving alms here. Even pagan, nonbelievers give alms. He is raising awareness of a particular social phenomenon, which involves ostracism of those in society whom the culture has rejected and wish to cast out. Jesus is talking about his "brothers", his followers whom he knows will be rejected and repudiated for the sake of the faith.

Contrary to Markist Christians, Jesus isn't talking about feeding the poor; he is talking about providing material support and encouragement to the Jesus followers that Society has cut off from access to the basic needs: food, clothing, housing and etc. Jesus is talking about discrimination against Christians because they ARE Christians.

The "works" of a believer amount to support for those Christians whom the world has rejected.

 

[St. SteVen]

Grace requires works to bear fruit!

Disagree. Grace is not a REWARD for works. See Romans 4:4-5 below.

How hard does a branch work?
His is the vine (rooted trunk), we are the branches.
If we remain in Him, we will bear fruit.
Is that works?

Romans 4:4-5 NIV
Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation.
5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly,
their faith is credited as righteousness.

It is the duty of Christian to practice the virtues of Jesus Christ!

Can you list them? (anyone) ???

 

[St. SteVen]

Works do not include:

“works of the law”
Or
“Works alone”
but
Prayer:
Alms:
Fasting:
Practicing the virtues of Jesus Christ:
Suffering in patience for Christ sake:

Reminds me of this. Scripture below.
And you still haven't listed "the virtues of Jesus Christ".

Matthew 23:4 NIV
They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders,
but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

Matthew 11:30 NIV
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

 

[stunnedbygrace]

Grace requires works to bear fruit!

This has me interested lately - what, specifically, are those good works, in your opinion? Just like, a brief list to give me an idea.

 

[stunnedbygrace]

Oops, I see you made a list. Sorry.

 

[stunnedbygrace]

We are saved by grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ. Grace is grace, no matter if we work or not. We are not saved by works. Works salvation is false. We are saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ.

Well…the man said this: grace requires works to bear fruit.
So you aren’t really discussing the topic he wanted to discuss, are you?

By the way, I don’t exactly know what he means by “grace requires works to bear fruit,” but I do know if a branch doesn’t bear fruit, it is dug around and fertilized and then if it still doesn’t bear fruit, it’s eventually cut off.

 

[stunnedbygrace]

Works do not include:

“works of the law”
Or
“Works alone”
but
Prayer:
Alms:
Fasting:
Practicing the virtues of Jesus Christ:
Suffering in patience for Christ sake:

I have a question about this.
When you say works of the law are not the good works you’re speaking of, do you mean that doing righteously by loving your neighbor at least as much as yourself is not a good work? So if so, and doing righteously isn’t a good work, what is it? Is it the end result from your statement? Where fasting would be a good work and loving neighbor would be fruit?

And one more question please. Does the word alms mean giving money to poor people? And if so, if I am physically poor myself and have No money to give another poor person, is there some other way for a poor person to do alms that doesn’t involve money? I think I just might not understand the word alms…

 

[Cassandra]

The way I understand it, is we are saved by the blood of Christ (justified). Titus 3:7. " ... so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life"
He then works through us to give us a new heart. (sanctified) Ez 36:26
"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh."
The love that is spoken of is love for God and love for neighbor.

Love of neighbor can be felt, and we can do good things for them, but through Christ, that love for neighbor is more real, and we will start looking at others as precious souls Christ has died for. His love for them comes though us.
This love blossoms to a love for enemies, too, and a desire that all should come to repentance. As we look at ourselves, we can see that this ONLY comes through Christ- we cannot do it alone Phil 2:13 " For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."

​

I always thought that for those who cannot afford to give money, that even a kind word to someone hurting is an alm. How many times have we all be comforted by " a word fitly spoken"?



.

 

[CadyandZoe]

Disagree. Grace is not a REWARD for works. See Romans 4:4-5 below.

How hard does a branch work?
His is the vine (rooted trunk), we are the branches.
If we remain in Him, we will bear fruit.
Is that works?

Romans 4:4-5 NIV
Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation.
5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly,
their faith is credited as righteousness.

Can you list them? (anyone) ???

He is talking about the Sacraments.