Faith and Works

James 2:14-26

​    Often in study, we try to teach people about the importance of baptism. A phrase used by much of the religious world is that one can be saved by “faith only” or “faith alone.” Rightly we point them to the only place in the Bible that that phrase is used, James 2:24 to show them that the text says “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24 emp. Added). Unfortunately, many in the religious world tend to think that members of the Lord’s church promote salvation by baptism only. This could not be further from the truth. So what do we do?
    We show our religious friends that it is our faith that leads us to the baptismal waters (Mark 16:16). The claim is often, “Well you think you’re saved by works.” Throw them off and tell them “YES!” The difference is we believe we are saved by the workings of God (Col. 2:12). We know we are not saved by the works of man (Eph. 2:8-9) or works of the Old Testament Law (Gal. 2:16). But, we must stop denying that we are not saved by works. God sending his only son (John 3:16) to this earth was a work. He dying so that I might have hope of eternal life (Rom. 5:5-10) is a work. It is a work of God, and that grace has been offered to me. To accept it I must obey Christ (Heb. 5:9; John 14:15). I must obey all of Christ’s commands and not just some. One of those commands, along with hear, believe, repent, and confess, is to be baptized and to deny that is to deny his teachings. Jesus tells us that belief (faith) and baptism = saved. We need to show people that it is our faith (So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ Rom. 10:17) in the word and commands that Jesus gave us that lead us to baptism and not separate from baptism at all. We need to fix this misconception that faith and baptism are separated (Acts 8:36-38) and show people how to follow ALL of Jesus’ commands. 


In His service,
Steven Hugley