Text: James 2:14-26
Introduction
1. The Foundation of Salvation | Mankind is saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus + Nothing = Salvation, Romans 5:1-2.
2. The Proper Role of Good Works | Those who are truly saved will keep God's commands and have a life of good works. Faith in Jesus + Obedience = Good Works, Ephesians 2:8-10.
3. Some Common Errors:
(a) Works Salvation: Salvation is half faith and half good works, Faith in Christ + Good Works = Salvation.
(b) Sinning Saints: Good works are not necessary in the Christian life, Faith in Christ - Good Works = Salvation, Hebrews 10:26.
4. The Necessity of Good Works | Good works are not necessary to be saved, but are necessary to display one's salvation and prove one's faith genuine.
5. Key Statement | Faith without works is dead, James 2:17.
Breakdown of the Passage
v. 14, James challenges the false belief that Christians can live a Christian life without following Christ commands, John 14:15 & 1 John 2:4-6.
vs. 15-16, James gives the example of trying to help a brother or sister in need and only giving them "well wishes" is a shallow confession without action and is worthless.
v. 17, The most important statement in the text is given, "faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead;" thus proving that faith must have action to be considered valid and genuine.
v. 18, Faith and deeds are placed against each other in the mind of the skeptic who believes faith without deeds is still valid. Thus, James points out to the skeptic the only way to validate faith is by action and deeds. Example: How would one validate the claim made by someone, "I am a professional basketball player?" By the deeds of the person in a basketball game.
v. 19, James makes the point clear by stating that demons believe in God but are not saved. Thus, shallow affirmation does not justify someone, but obedience in the confession is needed. Example: To profess, "I'm in the Army," can only be really true if the one who confesses it obeys the rules of the Army.
v. 20, James again rebukes the shallow confessor as being "foolish," because they don't obey God's commands and demonstrate their faith.
vs. 21-23, James then gives the example of Abraham having faith and how he acted in obedience by being willing to sacrifice his son. Thus, Abraham's faith was validated by his obedience to God's commands.
v. 24, James declares that a person, "is justified by what he does and not by faith alone." This statement is not meant to contradict Paul in Romans 5, but rather clarify that true faith has validating action in obeying God's commands.
v. 25, James gives another example of Rehab, showing that her faith was demonstrated by acting in obedience to God by hiding the spies for their safety.
v. 26, The section ends with the conclusion, "faith without deeds is dead." Therefore, the statement made in verse 17 is proven true by the two examples and is left for the reader to accept as God's Word.
Therefore, the following is true from James,
1. The Foundation of Salvation: Mankind is saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus + Nothing = Salvation.
2. The Proper Role of Good Works: Those who are truly saved will keep God's commands and have a life of good works. Faith in Jesus + Obedience = Good Works.
Application
1. Have faith in Jesus for salvation, Romans 5:1-2.
2. Have faith in Jesus to obey His commands (i.e., "good works"), Ephesians 2:8-10.
Sunday Sermon
2 comments:
EXPLAINING AWAY MARK 16:16
Faith only believer want Mark 16:16 to just go away. It will not go away, so they try to explain it away. Over 100 translations of the Bible include Mark 16:16, however, that does deter some faith only believers from insinuating or simply stating that Mark 16:16 should not be including in the Bible because it was missing from a couple of manuscripts. If you believe God has a hand in guiding men to translate the Bible correctly, then have to believe Mark 16:16 should be included. If you do not believe the Bible has been translated accurately, then I would suggest that you burn all of your Bibles.
EXPLAINING AWAY
Mark 16:16 He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.
The most popular way of explaining away Mark 16:16 is to say that it does not say, that he who has not been baptized will be condemned, therefore water baptism is not essential to be saved.
If a secular law were written as such: He who does not commit robbery and does not murder will not go to prison; but he who commits robbery will go to jail. Would that mean you can still murder and not go to jail; because it does not state murderers will go to jail? NOT MURDERING IS ESSENTIAL TO NOT GOING TO JAIL!
Being baptized is essential to not being condemned.
There have been many attempts to explain water baptism away from Mark 16:16, including denying that, and, is a conjunction linking belief and baptism. Many attempts at distorting the simple meaning of words and sentence structure are used. Grammatical distortions are used in order to make Mark 16:16 fit the "faith only" narrative.
HAS BEEN BAPTIZED SHALL BE SAVED, STILL MEANS WATER BAPTISM IS ESSENTIAL FOR SALVATION NO MATTER HOW MEN TRY TO EXPLAIN IT AWAY.
YOU ARE INVITED TO FOLLOWING MY CHRISTIAN BLOG. Google search>>>>steve finnell a christian view
Thank you for sharing. However, I don't do "chat debates," but I will answer your claim with the simple words of the passage.
Mark 16:16, "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."
Thus, the lack of belief is the only thing that condemns. Otherwise, it would have read, "who does not believe nor is baptized."
This link offers a more in-depth answer and has chat board to debate various subjects, I recommend your reading it and debating it further there if you wish.
http://carm.org/bible-difficulties/luke-john-acts/are-we-saved-faith-or-baptism
#FaithAlone #Ephesians2
Post a Comment