Pax, you asked if it is necessary for us to love God in order to be saved? That’s a totally different question, and the answer is still no. And that’s not based on my own personal opinion, that’s according to divine revelation. God saves “by grace through faith.” Always has, always will. Why can’t you comprehend that?
I find what you say nothing but your own opinion, for it contradicts Scripture. Without love there is no true faith in God. Believing in Christ and in the merits of his Passion alone are not formally sufficient for our salvation. We must obey the will of God and keep his commandments out of love of Him and our neighbour to reach heaven. Refusing to give our love amounts to rejecting God’s grace which is needed in order for us to regain, nurture, and perfect our friendship with God in the Spirit of Christ. Our relationship with the Father, however imperfect and striving for completion, must emulate that which exists between the Father and the Son. This is the essence of our adoption as sons of God and the meaning of true faith. Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey my commandments, " meaning we must obey out of sincere love of God and not merely out of fear of eternal damnation or the misguided intention of paying off a debt, or making God indebted to us.
You are separated from Christ, you who are trying to be justified by the law; you have fallen from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we await the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working (expressing itself) through love. {Gal 5: 4-6}
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I have not love, I am a noisy gong and a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and IF I HAVE ALL FAITH, so as to remove mountains, BUT HAVE NOT LOVE, I AM NOTHING…So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. {1 Cor 13}
We are not made righteous by simply observing the law for its own impersonal sake, thereby attempting to flatter God. We pursue righteousness before God through faith in Christ - the apprehension and acceptance of his teachings concerning what it means to be true heirs of the kingdom of heaven (Rom 9: 31-32). Thus Paul does not mean we are justified by faith alone - apart from good works as opposed to the works of the law. We must not confuse the works of the law with ‘good works’, works of mercy and charity which accompany true faith (Jas 2: 24). Our justification is no longer based on the works of the law, but on the grace of Christ which is available to all of us - Jew and Gentile (Rom 11: 6-11; Eph 2: 8-9). The works of the Mosaic law in themselves are no longer necessary because Christ now saves ( Rom 15: 9-12). Hence, initially we are justified by faith, but this faith is perfected and completed by ‘good works’ which necessarily accompany it in a filial spirit of love and obedience to God in his grace and in accord with Christ’s commandments of love. ( 2 Cor 10: 15).
We are back to Paul’s letter to the Galatians. It is wrong to disassociate faith and good works. The Scriptures do not divorce faith from good works based on love (Eph 3: 17; 1 Thess 3:6, 12-13; 2 Thess 1:3; 1 Jn 3:23). Faith is a gratuitous gift by the grace of God and is not earned or merited by anything good we may do at any stage of our faith, but God desires our sincere filial response to his grace for the completion and perfection of our faith. And we should be aware that good works are a ‘cause’ and not just an ‘effect’ of our justification, as Protestants mistakenly believe - a kind of window dressing. Our thoughtful apprehension of faith must be united with free human action or else the whole notion of love and obedience is nothing but flotsam on water. Faith and works distinctively and mutually go together hand and hand. Faith does not qualify our good works, just as our faith is not earned by anything we may do apart from the free gift of God’s grace (Jas 1: 22-25; 2:17, 26; 2:18; Rom 2:13).
“We add, also, and say, ‘Thy will be done, as in heaven so in earth;’ not that God should do what He wills, but that we may be able to do what God wills. For who resists God, that I He may not do what He wills (I-He
)? But since we are hindered by the devil from obeying with our thought and deed God’s will in all things, we pray and ask that God’s will may be done in us; and that it may be done in us we have need of God’s good will, that is of his help and protection, since no one is strong in his own strength, but he is safe by the grace and mercy of God.”
Cyprian (A.D. 252)
Pax vobiscum
Good Fella
