THE FAITH-VERSUS-WORKS DEBATE (1)

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11 

“What does it profit...if someone says he has faith but does not have works?” Jas 2:14 NKJV

Our eternal salvation rests entirely on God’s grace (unearned and undeserved favor) and is appropriated through our faith in the finished work of Christ. It’s a free gift of God to everyone who will receive it. The Bible also says that saving faith will produce good works. After all, how could the living Christ take up residency in you and not make any difference in the way you think and act? The entire “faith-verses-works” debate hinges on the failure of some of us to make a distinction between the requirement for true salvation and the result of true salvation. Good works are never a requirement for salvation, but they are certainly the result. People who have passed from death to life and from darkness to light, who have had their sins forgiven and have become new creations in Christ, can’t help but see the world differently and respond accordingly. In the “faith-verses-works” debate, people tend to gravitate toward the extremes. Some overemphasize the faith aspect while they completely neglect the fact that it should result in good works. And the adherents of a works salvation think that there’s a way to earn our way into eternal life. Salvation is not about faith and works; it’s about a faith that works! If you can grasp this simple sentence, you will understand the heart of the entire issue. The church today desperately needs to rediscover a faith that works a faith that bears fruit. After all, a faith that has no fruit is a false faith, a futile faith, and worse, a fatal faith.