One Cannot Be Saved by Faith Alone

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Faith comes by hearing.

What does faith hear?

Faith is the substance of things hoped for.

How is faith related to hope?
 
teachccd

I agree. We hear God’s loving Word.

We hear God’s loving Word in our hearts.

Love is heard by faith.
 
Is faith considered the same thing as just believing in the Trinity?
 
I think it is accepting God’s love.

God’s love is poured into our new hearts.

As is in I John, God is love and then I use I Cor. 13.

For my own prayer life and studies, I use St. Paul’s I Corinthians chapter 13.

There are many other passages, but I use St. Paul as the foundation.

I did not answer yes or no because I am answering from what I do. I am sure we must believe in the Trinity. But I center on Love. God’s love poured into our hearts includes many things such as peace, kindness, chastity, sobriety, forgiving others, accepting forgiveness, humility, meekness, courage, prudence, generosity and much more.

Once we believe that those are good, then He will make them grow in us.
 
Lampo said:
Is faith considered the same thing as just believing in the Trinity?
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Just believe in the Trinity? How does one just believe in the Trinity? Faith must also incorporate a working knowledge of the nature of God (Trinity) along with His will. So yes faith is a belief in the nature of God which is Trinity and being a follower of His will, being that of the will of Father, Son and Holy Spirit…God Bless…teachccd
 
God is Love. So a faith without love negates the mirroring of God. If we have faith in a God that we need not imitate then what kind of faith do we have? Jesus never taught “faith alone”. Faith is the door to salvation but love is the road. How does this remove Jesus from the only Way to the father? It doesn’t. It can’t. God is Love and that love we mirror imitates Christ and His ultimate love for us. Being saved by faith alone is a dead faith, a said faith. Faith must include charity to be a faith filled the love of God. Nothing else makes sense. So, Jesus and Love, Faith and works…God Bless…teachccd 🙂
 
Seamus_Sully said:
Faith comes by hearing.

What does faith hear?

Faith is the substance of things hoped for.

How is faith related to hope?
Click to expand...

None of which has anything to do with salvation by faith alone.​

Why is this so hard to understand ? 😦 ##
 
personally, I am a little bit of a stickler on this issue…

I refuse to accept any other definition of the word Faith other than ‘A hope for things not yet seen’

This is how the bible describes it,
This is how the dictionary describes it.

Any other definition distorts what is meant in scripture.

Saying a ‘saving faith’ transforms us and we will just magically do what god wants as has been espoused to me many times by protestants is a twisting of the word, and a twisting of scripture.
It is not intentional, but simply because you use an erronous definition, your understanding is also worng.

We cannot chose what a word means, no matter how much we want it to mean something. We cannot say "what does the word faith mean to you?"
Faith has a simple definition.
A hope for something not yet seen.

If you think it means anything more or less, you are destroying your own understanding of scripture.

Please, remember what Paul said. Do not argue about words and the meaning of words. This will only lead you to destruction.

In Christ
 
I found this article about what faith is a most interesting read.

However, I am not sure how discussing what faith is actually addresses the title of this thread…

That is: “One Cannot Be Saved by Faith Alone”

This statement does not seem to be very well defined in the OP, or at all backed up…

I know that my Roman Catholic friends like to jump to James and claim that shows that we are saved by faith and works…is that the only “biblical” argument for “not faith alone”?
 
heisenburg said:
personally, I am a little bit of a stickler on this issue…

I refuse to accept any other definition of the word Faith other than ‘A hope for things not yet seen’

This is how the bible describes it,
This is how the dictionary describes it.

Any other definition distorts what is meant in scripture.

Saying a ‘saving faith’ transforms us and we will just magically do what god wants as has been espoused to me many times by protestants is a twisting of the word, and a twisting of scripture.
It is not intentional, but simply because you use an erronous definition, your understanding is also worng.

We cannot chose what a word means, no matter how much we want it to mean something. We cannot say "what does the word faith mean to you?"
Faith has a simple definition.
A hope for something not yet seen.

If you think it means anything more or less, you are destroying your own understanding of scripture.

Please, remember what Paul said. Do not argue about words and the meaning of words. This will only lead you to destruction.

In Christ
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CCC 166 Faith is a personal act - the free response of the human person to the initiative of God who reveals himself. But faith is not an isolated act. No one can believe alone, just as no one can live alone. You have not given yourself faith as you have not given yourself life. The believer has received faith from others and should hand it on to others. Our love for Jesus and for our neighbor impels us to speak to others about our faith. Each believer is thus a link in the great chain of believers. I cannot believe without being carried by the faith of others, and by my faith I help support others in the faith.

CCC 1814 Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith “man freely commits his entire self to God.” For this reason the believer seeks to know and do God’s will. “The righteous shall live by faith.” Living faith "work through charity."7

CCC 1815 The gift of faith remains in one who has not sinned against it. But “faith apart from works is dead”: when it is deprived of hope and love, faith does not fully unite the believer to Christ and does not make him a living member of his Body.

CCC 1816 The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it: “All however must be prepared to confess Christ before men and to follow him along the way of the Cross, amidst the persecutions which the Church never lacks.” Service of and witness to the faith are necessary for salvation: “So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”
 
Thistle…

I agree completely with what the CCC says. I am not arguing the purpose of faith, or how it is obtained… I am simply saying that the word faith still means ‘a belief in something not yet seen’. The Catholic church is not using a modified definition of Faith as many protestants use.

Faith is a personal act… I agree… but it is the personal act of believing in god when no proof can be given

Para 1814 is in agreement with that more basic understanding. it is not redefining the word faith, it is simply talking about faith and how it relates to Christianity.

1815 talks about where this comes from… and I agree

the last paragraph talks about nothing more than acting on what you believe, something I also agree with,

however, in each of these paragraphs, the Church is NOT redefining the word Faith, but merely how it relates to Christ.

Faith still simply means the belief in something not yet shown, and each of these paragraphs are merely saying the how that belief relates to Christ and how it is obtained.

Thanks for the paragraphs though… still got a lot out of it 👍

In Christ
 
Agreed,one cannot be saved by faith alone.

Faith is to believe in something with or without seeing, it is Love that has saving power.

First we must believe or have faith, than we are to love, and than we are to do the will of the Father and that is what saves in the end.

God Bless,

Kathleen
 
Hello Bobkat!
BOBKAT said:
Agreed,one cannot be saved by faith alone.

Faith is to believe in something with or without seeing, it is Love that has saving power.

First we must believe or have faith, than we are to love, and than we are to do the will of the Father and that is what saves in the end.
Click to expand...
I am just curious as to where you find this in the Bible, you know, a verse that says “It is by your love that you are saved”, or “Your love has set you free” or “Your sins are forgiven because of your love”.

Compare them to: Luke 7:50 and Ephesians 2:8, Mark 5:34, and Matthew 9:2.

Now, I am not saying that love has no part in our saving. But our love does not get us saved!

God loved us, and for that reason saved us (John 3:16). God forgets our sins because he loves us (Isaiah 38:17). For us, love is a correct attitude to have in response for forgiveness (Luke 7:47, Galatians 5:13), but we do not love to be saved, but because we are saved (1 John 4:10)

-hvg3
 
heisenburg said:
personally, I am a little bit of a stickler on this issue…

I refuse to accept any other definition of the word Faith other than ‘A hope for things not yet seen’

This is how the bible describes it,
This is how the dictionary describes it.

Any other definition distorts what is meant in scripture.

Saying a ‘saving faith’ transforms us and we will just magically do what god wants as has been espoused to me many times by protestants is a twisting of the word, and a twisting of scripture.
It is not intentional, but simply because you use an erronous definition, your understanding is also worng.

We cannot chose what a word means, no matter how much we want it to mean something. We cannot say "what does the word faith mean to you?"
Faith has a simple definition.
A hope for something not yet seen.

If you think it means anything more or less, you are destroying your own understanding of scripture.

Please, remember what Paul said. Do not argue about words and the meaning of words. This will only lead you to destruction.

In Christ
Click to expand...
As one Catholic to another, I’d like to suggest that you consider a definition of “faith” that is taught by the Church that wrote the Bible:

CCC: 1814 Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith “man freely commits his entire self to God.” For this reason the believer seeks to know and do God’s will. “The righteous shall live by faith.” Living faith "work through charity."7

How does this compare with: ‘A hope for things not yet seen’?

Faith = Belief
Hope = Trust
Charity = Love

Hope this helps. :tiphat:
 
hvg3akaek said:
Hello Bobkat!

I am just curious as to where you find this in the Bible, you know, a verse that says “It is by your love that you are saved”, or “Your love has set you free” or “Your sins are forgiven because of your love”.

Compare them to: Luke 7:50 and Ephesians 2:8, Mark 5:34, and Matthew 9:2.

Now, I am not saying that love has no part in our saving. But our love does not get us saved!

God loved us, and for that reason saved us (John 3:16). God forgets our sins because he loves us (Isaiah 38:17). For us, love is a correct attitude to have in response for forgiveness (Luke 7:47, Galatians 5:13), but we do not love to be saved, but because we are saved (1 John 4:10)

-hvg3
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Out of faith, hope and love, love is the greatest virtue and the greatest commandment. Without love there cannot be faith nor hope. Remember scripture says “Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.” [1 John 4:8 ] …
 
Michael_Howard said:
Out of faith, hope and love, love is the greatest virtue and the greatest commandment. Without love there cannot be faith nor hope. Remember scripture says “Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.” [1 John 4:8 ] …
Click to expand...
This “know” (ginosko) is an actual knowledge from experience, not academic knowledge. This knowledge is even used for husband and wife.
 
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