A short article regarding salvation by Works/Faith, a simple, personal view.
I firmly believe we are saved by faith not works. I will talk a little more on this later in the article. I offer just a few, of many Bible verses that back up my belief:
‘…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.’ Romans 10:9
‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.’ Ephesians 2:8-9
‘He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.’ – Titus 3:5
Faith in Action
Whenever I declare my salvation is by faith not works, online or in person to our friends the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the standard reply from them is to go straight to James 2:
‘Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ‘In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.’ James 2:15-17
This favourite go to passage that Jehovah’s Witnesses regarding salvation by faith or works, doesn’t actually disprove salvation by faith, what it does is address the importance of putting faith into action through acts of practical love and compassion towards those in need.
In this short passage the apostle James challenges believers to align their faith with practical acts of love and compassion. He presents us with a hypothetical scenario of a brother or sister in need, lacking clothing and daily food. James highlights the futility of offering empty words without corresponding actions. He is saying to us that genuine faith should be evidenced by works of compassion and practical assistance to those in need.
Our good works are not for our salvation, we are already being saved, they are from our salvation, a natural consequence of receiving the unconditional love of God, and passing that love on to our fellow humans. It is, love of God, and love of our fellow humans.
James mentions ‘a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.’ As a Christian I would interpret this to be not just our brothers and sisters in Christ, but far, far wider than our church family.
We can see Christians put this into action as individuals care for the needy they are aware of, and more widely with churches having food banks, designated funds for the homeless, soup kitchens etc. et. the list goes on and on. We see thousands of churches throughout the UK offering these and similar services, and millions of churches throughout the world.
Added to those are international charities, many of them Christian based, providing all manner of help and relief for those affected by conflict, disease, natural disasters etc. etc. throughout the world. For good examples see a recent article on the Reachout blog.
Most charities seek to minister to people of all faiths, and people of no faith.
Salvation by Grace Alone
Salvation by grace alone is the only concept that works for me, its Biblical of course, but its also very personal to myself and my conversion.
In brief, I reflect on when I first started to attend church, I was new to church and faith, and I was subconsciously working on a sort of ‘salvation by works’ model, without thinking about it. I started going to church in a collar and tie, I donated money. I attended fellowship groups, Bible studies, church events like coffee mornings. Please don’t think I am saying there is something wrong with carrying out these and other worthwhile activities, its just that I was doing these things unconsciously ‘ticking off’ activities contributing to my salvation.
Then, I discovered Grace, or more accurately, Biblical Grace!
I realised that salvation is a gift! Just like it says in:
‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.’ Ephesians 2:8-9
You see, if we could earn our salvation, how could we ever know if we had done enough?
If we came to faith late in life, or at the end of our lives, we wouldn’t have time to earn our salvation, the account of the thief on the cross in Luke’s gospel is an example of this:
‘Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him. When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.
‘But Jesus was saying, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’ And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, ‘He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.’
‘The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying, ‘If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!’ Now there was also an inscription above Him, “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
‘One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, ‘Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!’
‘But the other answered, and rebuking him said, ‘Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”
And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”
‘And He said to him, ‘Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.’’ Luke 23:32-43,
I might ask how does the thief on the cross fit into your theology? No baptism, no communion, no confirmation, no mission trip, no volunteering, no donating money, no time to rack up church or meeting attendance and no church clothes.
Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not preaching against such things, I think we as Christians should do all we can, I’m simply saying good works etc. don’t contribute to our salvation, that is the gift of God.
This broken person couldn’t even bend his knees to pray. He didn’t say the sinner’s prayer and, by his own admission, he was a thief. Jesus didn’t take away his pain, heal his body, or rebuke the scoffers.
This self confessed wrongdoer walked into paradise the same hour as Jesus, simply by believing.
He had nothing more to offer other than his belief that Jesus was who he said he was.
Just a naked man, dying in pain on a cross, unable to even fold his hands to pray.
I can identify with this poor man, I’m not dying on a cross thank God, (and I mean that literally), but I know my life is far from perfect, I know I let my Lord down constantly.
In human terms my crimes are not, perhaps, as bad as the thief on the cross, but I am still a wretched sinner, being saved by amazing grace.
As Paul said in Romans:
‘We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
‘I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.
‘And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the law is good.
‘In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
‘I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
‘For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do.
‘And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
‘So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
‘For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.
‘But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.
‘What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
‘Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!
‘So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.’ Romans 7:14-25
Striving or Submitting?
Dear Jehovah’s Witnesses, are you striving for your salvation?
I ask this because the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, or JW religion seems to operate on a very works based salvation model.
Are your congregation Elders, your Circuit Overseer urging you to do more? More literature study, more praying, more meeting attendance, more field service?
Or are you accepting this great and wonderful Gift of God?
‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.’ Ephesians 2:8-9
Do you, have the Son?
‘And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Concluding Affirmations
‘I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.’ 1 John 5:11–13
Thank you for your time in reading this.
Robin McEwen
