One of the first questions I struggled with many years ago was the question of, "Faith or Works?" At the time, I did not have a strong foundation nor the tools to wrestle with so big a question!

In the years since then I have learned a lot about life, the Bible and most importantly about God! He truly is a Good Father and the Good Shepherd! He has provided the perfect way for us to return to Him and to be with Him in this life and in eternity! He provided Himself! He took on flesh and blood and entered into His won creation! He showed us what it means to love by sacrificing Himself for us and He expects us to follow in His footsteps!

What exactly does all of this have to do with the original question? Well, I thought you would never ask!

As anyone who has heard the Romans Road would know, we are born as sinners! We are born spiritually dead and there is nothing that we alone can do to give ourselves something which we do not have, which is life! God knows this and has provided for us! God ask us to believe that He came and died for our sins! Yes, I have skipped ahead in the Romans Road! We need faith as we read in the epistle to the Hebrews that without faith it is impossible to please God!

OK, so we need faith, but that does not answer the question completely! What about works? Works of the Law to be more precise! Yes, the works of the Law were the animal sacrifices that were performed by the priests to cleanse Israel and individual Jews from their sins! The system of animal sacrifices was eliminated by the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross and completely gotten rid of when the Roman army destroyed the Temple in the putting down of the Jewish revolt in 70 AD, but that still does not answer the question.

Are 'works' required for salvation or are they not needed as many claim?

Let's look at the evidence! God calls us out of lives of sin and asks us to believe and repent, but what has God done in the past when He has called people?
               God called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees!
               God called Israel out of Egypt!
               God called David out of the sheepfold!

OK, so God called all these, but what does it have to do with the question?

When God calls someone out of somewhere, He also calls them to somewhere!
               Abram and Israel He called to the land of Promise!
               David He called to be King over His people!
So when God called us out of sin, He calls us and makes us to be new creatures! It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives through me! As Paul tells us!

We cannot save ourselves, but once God puts us on the journey of salvation that will end with us with Him, He gives us the grace to be and do so much more than we could do on our own! Our works do not save us, but they are a part of the process of of maturation as a Christian and are the fruit that shows that we are His!

God calls us and then gives us the grace to accept His call! We still have free will and accept to accept the call or not, but if we accept the call and have faith, then God keeps giving us the grace to take the next step and grow as a Christian!

The main difference between the two positions of faith or works is this, faith alone does not require anything of the one saved. With the works alone position the whole responsibility for salvation rests on the shoulders of a dead person! The only solution is that faith is first and fundamental to the process of salvation, but works are a part too!

I can have faith that I can bench press 500 pounds, but if I am 98 pounds soaking wet and have never lifted a barbell in my life, I can believe that all day long and it will never happen! However, if that same weakling eats properly and begins a proper workout regimen, he may never be able to lift eh 500 pounds, but he will be able to reach his God given potential!

God has given us gifts that need to be developed in order to be useful and He expects us to continue the work Jesus began and reach out to those in need of salvation and healing! If we only need to believe and we are all done, then who will do the work! Now don't get me wrong, faith has to come first, but the works then is God given and the grace to do it is given by God as well! It is a sign that we are alive and doing well and that we are not either dead or thorns and thistles that will be gathered up and thrown into the fire! Dead trees produce no fruit as well thorns and thistles do not produce good fruits! So God requires fruits of us and those fruits are our good works done in a faithful and loving manner!

Finally, we are told in the book of Revelation that our works will follow us, so let us have faith and let that faith be alive in us to all sorts of good works, the fruits of our salvation and the works of God on Earth!

Here are a couple examples from Scripture:
Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. 
Matthew 3:8-10

“A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not pick figs from thornbushes, nor do they gather grapes from brambles. A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.
“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command?
Luke 6:43-46

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 
Matthew 7:15-21

And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Revelation 20:13

Then I heard further [ perceiving the distinct words of] a voice from heaven, saying, Write this: Blessed (happy, to be envied) are the dead from now on who die in the Lord! Yes, blessed (happy, to be envied indeed), says the Spirit, [in] that they may rest from their labors, for their works (deeds) do follow (attend, accompany) them!  
Revelation 14:13

And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is `the book' of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Revelation 20:12

    Antonio
    La Barbera

    A revert to Catholicism, Antonio believes that if both Catholics and Protestants have something to add to the conversation!

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