First of all Paul taught that any works whether those of the Mosaic Law or general works were not meritorious in the eyes of the Lord.
The strongest of course is:
Titus 3:5
He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
Pauline doctrine is replete with the concept our works mean naught in the equation of salvation.
Now if we are saved by God’s mercy as Titus 3:5 says then “sola fide” is heresy. Also if our works are “naught in the equation of salvation” then how can scripture say that God will render to every man according to their works [Ro 2:6] Obviously works figure into “the equation of salvation” somehow but the protestant doctrine [or praxis, if you want] of "sola fide’ does not take it into account.
QUOTE=unacanta;6383136]Exactly, you make the point very well. Are you so foolish, do you actually think that God does not know who is justified? Do you believe the Lord is so inept that he must depend on oh sinful man to make up for something he failed to do at the cross. You are tangled in a web of deceit and bound by chains of demonic doctrine.
Your blindness is only surpassed by that of the Teaching Magisterium. If you would but read and understand Jesus when he clearly defined for the RCC and the Pharisees what the word “works” means, you would find yourself resting in the finish works of Christ rather than trying to attain salvation for yourself.
John 6:29
Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
WORK OF GOD = YOU BELIEVE IN HIM.
Read this S L O W L Y…if you don’t get it read it again. Once you understand then read James, you will then understand what is being said.
Take off the distorted lenses of the Teaching Magisterium and enter New Testament reality, Your King and Savior accomplished what you and your pitiful works could not, salvation. Your works are worthless, as rags when compared to His.
Concerning James:
The solution of the difficulty appears in the definition of the word “faith.” The apparent contradiction is due simply to the fact that when James in this chapter says that “faith” alone is insufficient, he means a different thing by the word “faith” from that which Paul means by it when he says that faith is all-sufficient. The kind of faith which James is pronouncing insufficient is made clear in the nineteenth verse of the same chapter: “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” The kind of faith which James pronounces insufficient is the faith which the devils also have; it is a mere intellectual apprehension of the facts about God or Christ, and it involves no acceptance of those facts as a gift of God to one’s own soul. It is called dead faith, not the saving faith of Christ
My, My, My, a little testy aren’t we. By the way, forget the saved by works accusation. It isn’t true and never was. We are saved by grace. Okay? That is the teaching of the Catholic Church. You protestants keep beating the stuffing out of a strawman called “saved by works” that you created in your false allegations. You can go to hell for lying don’t you know. It’s called bearing false witness in the Commandments.
In addition, Paul never says that the devils have any faith. He says that they ‘believe’ there is one God. Now what is their belief based on? Is it based on faith OR is it based on knowledge? Paul tells us that Faith “is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” [Hebrews 11:1] Did the Devils have conviction of things not seen? NO, the devils were angels and prior to their fall participated in the vision of God. They actually saw and witnessed God. They didn’t have to have faith to believe they had actual knowledge. They KNEW! So as usual, your argument fails.
It is right out of scripture.