… by grace you have been saved through faith; … it is the gift of God, (Eph 2:8)
… faith without works is dead. (Jas 2:26)
Jhn 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. 2 He removes every branch in me that does not produce fruit, and he cleanses every branch that does produce fruit so that it might produce more fruit. 3 You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I will abide in you. Just as the branch cannot produce fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who abides in me while I abide in him produces much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Eph 2:8 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, that no one would boast. 10 For we are his masterpiece, [or workmanship] created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared long ago to be our way of life.
Jam 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Rom 10:9-10 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
Jhn 1:12 However, to all who received him, to those believing in his name, he gave authority to become God’s children, 20:31 but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
Mat 25:31 When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels are with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be assembled in front of him, and he will separate them from each other as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
33 He will put the sheep on his right but the goats on his left.
34 Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who have been blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
35: For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.
36 I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you took care of me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink?
38 When did we see you as a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
39 When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?
40 The king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, in that you did it for one of the least important of these my brothers, you did it for me.’
41 Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Get away from me, you who are accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels!
42 For I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink.
43 I was a stranger, and you didn’t welcome me. I was naked, and you didn’t clothe me. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
44 Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or as a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and didn’t help you?
45 Then he will say to them, ‘Truly I tell you, in that you did not do it for one of the least important of these, you did not do it for me.’
46 These people will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
The word eternal is, according to the Greek text, αἰώνιον, aionios. Many linguists do not consider it correct to translate aionios forever (or eternal). I have written about this in more detail in the last article, which is called the Last Judgment.
In Eph 2:8-9 the Bible assures that: For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; and not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
– Compare to the previous verse in Revelation 20:13 which tells how people “were judged, each one according to his works’. How is the verse Rev 20:13 possible when the last judgment is taking place and they were judged every man “according to their works?”
Let us have a look at few more verses:
Jas 2:14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith but has no works? Can faith save him? 2:18 But someone may say, You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith without any works, and I will show you my faith by my works. – James is getting to the core of the matter: the kind of faith that does not create a person’s wish to do the works of faith to his neighbor is useless and in fact dead. True faith shows itself in loving acts. How much are there believers who with Jesus’ words said, “Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.” (Mat 25:45 KJV)
For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead. (Jam 2:26)
Read also the article “Which saves: faith or baptism?”
Keeping the faith
“Therefore I [Jesus] said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.” (Jhn 8:24)
Phl 2:9 Therefore God highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 12 And so, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only when I was with you but even more now that I am absent, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.