Faith that Works

The matter of faith and works became a focal issue during the Reformation. I am told it was not so in the early church. Perhaps it was the conditions that existed during the Reformation, and the insistence by some churches that certain works were required for salvation. But the discussion has taken on a different aspect in our day where it is claimed by some that faith requires no works at all. Just believe.

Faith must first believe there is a God (Hebrews 11:6). That the Bible is His inspired word (2 Timothy 3:16). That all power in heaven and earth have been given to Jesus (Matthew 28:15). That He is able to do more than we can ask or think (Ephesians 3:20-21). That God gives the Holy Spirit to all who obey Him (Acts 5:32). That we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works (Ephesians 2:10). That faith is not real until it produces the fruits of righteousness in our lives (Galatians 5:22-23). That faith without the works of faith is not faith at all (James 2:20,26). That the grace of God that brings salvation teaches how to live in this present world (Titus 2:11-12). And the list could go on.

It should be obvious that works cannot produce salvation. Salvation is the gift of God and not of works (Ephesians 2:8-9). There is no way we can earn salvation, yet the purpose of salvation is to deliver us from sin (Matthew 1:21). Deliverance requires repentance, and is not repentance a work? (Acts 3:19). Salvation cannot exist without the works of righteousness. Yet the righteousness produced by gift of grace have no saving merit in themselves (Titus 3:5).

So then, we are laborers together with God (1 Corinthians 3:9). It is God who works in us (Philippians 2:13). To believe that we can be save by faith alone is error. To believe that we are save by doing good works alone is error. But when we have a faith that works according to the design of our Savior, we can have the joy of knowing we are in His will and that we are accepted of Him.

—Silas Martin