Only God knows our hearts but the scenario you brought up sounds identical to the one of the thief on the cross whom Jesus brought into paradise that same day. The thief did do a “work”-the only one he had time to do. He expressed his faith in Jesus while the other man chose to mock Him.
James says in 2:22 that for Abraham FAITH was working WITH his works. That is, the faith by which he “believed in the Lord” (His promise) back in Gen. 15:6. The faith by which God justified him (reckoned him righteous) continued to work throughout his life; and as a result FAITH in Abraham was perfected (i.e., matured); ultimately demonstrated by his willingness to sacrifice the son through whom the promise was made.
No. You’re lifting James out of context again. James was writing to Jewish believers who knew the Law. By showing partiality to the rich amongst them, they were committing a sin and were convicted by that Law as transgressors of it (Ja. 2:9). And if they stumble in one point of the Law they’re guilty of all of it. But they were to act as ones who are under the “law of liberty” as reflected in Christ’s words:John 5:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life."As true love is demonstrated in mercy, James goes on to show that true faith is demonstrated in works. But James never teaches that either love or works are the cause of salvation/justification. That erroneous concept you read into the passages because it reflects your basic belief about salvation/justification.
Not if done simply for your own benefit, thinking they will gain you salvation. You’re not even building on the right foundation. But good works done for the right reason will not only immediately benefit others and glorify Christ, but will receive eternal rewards (1 Cor. 3:11-15). But salvation itself is gifted (upon faith in Christ), not rewarded.
But Paul tells us emphatically that there is not one who understands. We have gone through this all before. Salvation is not a matter of one’s intellect or knowledge or understanding. The Gnostics made the mistake of thinking salvation was a function of a secret “in the gno” knowledge.
The assurance of salvation is based on divine revelation. What God Himself has revealed to us about it. So it boils down to a matter of believing or disbelieving His Word. The way it was from the beginning of man’s creation.
If a person is saved at the very end of his life just as the thief on the cross was then can we say then that it is by faith alone?
Yes, much of this was my point. Abraham’s works perfected his faith, so when he attempted to sacrifice Isaac, Gen 15:6 was fulfilled…again. So I take this as ongoing justification. If there was once-for-all justification, 1 Cor 11:32 wouldn’t make sense … “the Lord disciplines us so that we won’t be condemned along with the world”. It looks like we have to be molded inherently to avoid being condemned along with the world (final justification).
Yes…and he words it like this…we’re justified “not by faith alone”.
God’s workmanship in us is a local (proximate) condition of entering into the kingdom. It is not a condition of election…we were elect irregardless of works of the flesh. But believers are disciplined so that they won’t be condemned along with the world (1 Cor 11:32). So I have to disagree. EDIT…I explain this below.
This is my view…I didn’t take anything out of context.
Of course James doesn’t say we work to be saved. Works, according to the CCC, are gifts of God (CCC 2007-2011).
No, because what is meant by the expression ‘Faith alone’ is the divorce of acts from an active verb, Faith.
I’m not saying “faith alone” should be a way of life for all but I am saying it is possible in certain situations such as the one mentioned and so it is by faith that we are made righteous and not by our deeds.
No. There is a deeper story to the good thief. You might want to read up on the various apocryphal works about our first saint - Saint Dismas to gain some additional insight. Popular belief was that this thief first met the holy family as a young man as they were fleeing Herod to Egypt and he spared them from his fellow thieves. Irrespective of this though we know from scripture here is that the Good Thief identified with Christ’s suffering and performed his own suffrage in solidarity with Christ’s passion. He intimately related to Christ on that cross and believed in him. He publicly proclaimed Christ from his own cross as “a just man” wrongly condemned while admitting he himself was justly condemned to death. Thus the good thief recognized the objective truth of Christ and Justice as well as the power of Christ to forgive and show Mercy. The good thief, converted and received a Baptism of Desire. He was thus able to directly participate in Christ’s merits since he gave all of his remaining life, as short as it was and as constrained as it was by circumstances in service to God. The Good Thief’s service was mostly empathetic suffrage with Christ and brief public testimony and example to those close enough to hear - after all his testimony comes to billions of us through the gospel!
The “good thief” did more than have faith. He publicl confessed Jesus as God and had confession, along with various heroic virtues.
Certainly.
Nice to see that you are taking Jesus’ job away Sandy! You are not the judge my friend, Jesus is. Perhaps your rigid, flawed understanding of justification, sanctification, and salvation have led you to believe that Jesus’ role in everyone personal judgment can be done with a polygraph test or something. Goodness.
But Paul tells us emphatically that there is not one who understands. We have gone through this all before. Salvation is not a matter of one’s intellect or knowledge or understanding. The Gnostics made the mistake of thinking salvation was a function of a secret “in the gno” knowledge.
Romans 3:9-19
“THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; 12ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”
What good did knowledge of Good and Evil gain Adam & Eve?
Genesis 2:17 “but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
Knowledge without Wisdom is unwieldy and only a fool take council of himself.
Job 38:2
"Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?
God teaches knowledge - men do not teach themselves. This is why one must have a handed down apostolic teaching.
Psalm 119:66
Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I believe in your commands.
Only Christ’s apostles were given the knowledge of the Kingdom - the impostors and false followers could not see it nor discern it. One must follow an apostolic teaching.
Matthew 13:11
“The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.”
Knowledge and even faith without love are empty and do not profit us. Knowledge passes. Love trumps all since it is impossible to truly love (verb -active lov) without trust and faith.
I Cor 13:2
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
…
1 Cor 13:8
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
There are many who profess knowledge that is not what was handed down teaching.
1 Tim 6:20
Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge. ed. this sure sounds like Protestant reformism to me - opposing ideas to apostolic teaching.]
There is a hiearchy and order of spiritual growth that leads progressively to Christian perfection. This is a divinization process that starts with grace and faith then slowly takes over to grow the soul. There is NO instant salvation nor instant transformation.
2 Peter 4-11
Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they **will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive ** in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ ed: work is implied here - knowledge is given so we may serve or work for God]. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. 10Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall ed: we can fail but if we progressively persevere in growth and service we mitigate that possibility and make it more sure], 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Bottom line - self-taught knowledge that is not taught by God through the apostles is a counter-productive knowledge that will bring personal downfall not salvation. Even apostolic knowledge received but not taken to heart to serve God is useless unless we love and progress in the the virtues of Christ to better serve Christ. One must do MORE than merely profess the lip service of believe in “The Lord”. One MUST also SERVE the Lord and continuing doing so until one’s life is over and one is called to His rest and reward. Only then will we hear the words “well done faithful and loyal servant”.
James
So just to be clear, are you saying that one cannot have assurance of salvation faith apart from doing good?
Faith is faith, whether we love God or hate Him. Other dispositions were also present in the thief, most notably contrition for sin. So he did what was in his power to do.
But I do understand what, IMO, you don’t—grace, mercy and God’s promises.**Romans 10:11, 13
I agree with attributing blame to the CC for Luther’s splintering, but all the rest of it - intra-Lutheran splits, Weslyans, Adventists, COC, Presbyterian, E-free, non-denom, etc etc etc you cannot, logically, blame on the CC.Actually, the cause of splintering is sin, and that’s true of splinters throughout the history of the Church, and IMO, the preponderance of the blame for all of that should be laid at the feet of the RCC. But that’s my opinion.