RSS

Archive | August 3rd, 2013

Faith Only: A Complete Listing

August 3, 2013

Comments Off on Faith Only: A Complete Listing

Here is an exhaustive listing of the places in the Bible that mention “faith only” (Or “faith alone” depending on your version)

Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. – James 2:24 KJV

Yes that’s it. The complete and unabridged list.

Faith is a Milestone

While faith is a very important milestone on the path to salvation, the path doesn’t end there. As I have outlined on my Gospel Plan of Salvation page, faith comes very early on that journey, but at this point, the seeker is only beginning to see the goal in the distance. God has never accepted a person’s faith by merely taking his word for it.

In my post, But, What Do You Do By Faith?, I listed off a few points for consideration when discussing “faith only” salvation vs. the requirement to be baptized for the remission of your sins. (Acts 2:38) With those points (and even more) we can quickly determine that we need a deeper study of the word if we have taken any passage and tried to prove “faith only.”

The Heroes of Faith didn’t get away with Faith Only

Relying on "faith only" and not obeying God will bar one from salvation

Moses Striking The Rock – Pieter de Grebber, 1620

One of the points in the But, What Do You Do By Faith? post looks to Hebrews 11 as proof that God requires more than just believing or “accepting” God. Each and every one in that chapter had to go do something:

  • Faith led Abel to offer the correct sacrifice (Hebrews 11:4)
  • Faith led Enoch to actively please God (Hebrews 11:5)
  • Faith led Noah to build the ark (Hebrews 11:7)
  • Faith led Abraham to pack up and move his family (Hebrews 11:8-10)
  • Abraham and Sarah had innumerable descendants through their faith (Hebrews 11:11-12)
  • Abraham knew that God could raise Isaac after he sacrificed him (Hebrews 11:17-19)

…and the list goes on. We know that we need faith to please him, (Hebrews 11:6) but we can also see that if any one of these folks in Hebrews 11 had failed to act on God’s command, the outcome would have been very different for them. (See: Moses Strikes the Rock)

God has a complete plan for us. It is up to us to complete the plan.

Continue reading...