The text for this past Sunday's message was taken from James 2:14-26. Few texts create as much "controversy" among Protestants as this one...primarily due to the emphasis upon works. What I sought to show in the message was that James is not arguing against salvation by faith alone, he is arguing against a faith that is lonely...or...to put it another way...the passage teaches that our salvation is found...
Not Faith AND Works - as if we could contribute something to our salvation,
Not Faith OR Works - as if the two are mutually exclusive,
But a Faith THAT Works - a faith that shows itself in serving and working for others as a result of having been changed by Christ.
According to James, it is works that make faith alive, visible, useful, and complete.
Dealing with this passage creates problems when we try to directly compare James' comments to those of Paul...yet, in all truth, the two are arguing for different things. Paul is discussing how a person ATTAINS salvation, while James is talking about how a person DEMONSTRATES salvation.
Showing posts with label good works. Show all posts
Showing posts with label good works. Show all posts
Monday, October 6, 2008
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