These verses close the Sermon on the Mount in Chapter 7 of the Gospel of Matthew.
“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 who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (NIV)
Jesus again makes it abundantly clear that salvation is by works.
Just do it.
I am ashamed of you Richard.
You are worse than Jefferson.
You disobey Christ, and preach a False gospel.
Doctrines of Devils.
what is worse still is you have the audacity to post articles which claim that though the bible is *Man made* and filled with error…. that Suckers can still have ‘confidence’ in its words… when all along you seek to *Cut St Paul* completely out … which is *most of the New Testament*… and *All of Grace*.
> You disobey Christ, and preach a False gospel.
> Doctrines of Devils.
I preach the gospel of Jesus. If you think that I thereby preach a false gospel, then I think *you* have a serious problem.
> when all along you seek to *Cut St Paul* completely out
Bullshit.
I’ve never sought to cut Paul completely out, let alone “all along” (like I had a plan or something). I just seek to make sense of the Bible, but doing so means reconciling the conflicting gospels of Jesus and Paul.
It’s not hard to conclude that Paul falls foul of many of his own strictures. (Assuming that 1 Timothy isn’t pseudoepigraphical, as some scholars seem to think.)
Richard
Your first scripture might be talking about liars and there’s more to salvation than escaping death. Escaping death is a gift and works are extra.
Also, new heavens… new earth… if you live on the new earth will you be in the kingdom of heaven?
Yes Reed *Paul laid the foundation*
Also… even if all our works prove to be nothing but wood, hay, stubble… *Yet we are still saved*.
Salvation is by grace *Without works*.
Furthermore …Christianity…. what Paul Preached… not Jesus… not Peter… is vastly superior to Judaism in this moral sense.
*We do good works* voluntarily *out of Love*, both for Our God, *And* for the sake of our fellow man… that *they might be saved*…*not As Jesus preached… as a compulsory obligation *for our own salvation*.
Richard is a Slave to the Law… whereas True Christians serve as volunteers.
I’m confused. So you don’t agree with Jesus? You think the Son of God was wrong about how He Himself saves people?!
(That’s pretty retarded, unless you are claiming not to be a Christian, and instead want to follow a cartoon caricature of St Paul filtered through John Calvin)
I also think you are missing the point of what Richard quoted. Our relationship with God is like any other relationship – it needs to be worked at. That’s what faith means. Our work is motivated by faith and love, but if it is absent, then can we truly claim to have faith or to love? Of course not.
Not at all Blair.
*Jesus was 100% right*…. for the Jews… of *His ministry*, yet they rejected his Kingdom offer twice… Once before the cross, and again after the cross via the preaching of Peter.
*Then* God set the Jews aside… for Judgement… *But* raised up St Paul with a *new gospel* and sent him to the gentiles.
This is the Gospel of Grace in which we are saved *Without works*.
And as I explained above… we are still ‘expected’ to do works… but not because of compulsion… as a condition of our own salvation… but out of love… and a sense of *reasonable service* … considering *We have been Redeemed*…. bought with a price.
None the less *Even if we shirk this ‘reasonable service’… We shall be saved.
Salvation under Paul’s Gospel is via 100% Grace.
Tim, almost none of what you say has any scriptural or patristic basis. Jesus came to save everyone, and Paul is His Apostle. End of story.
It is obvious that Paul is talking about Jewish ceremonial law, not good actions. Doing good things is just part of a saving faith. It’s simply illogical to think otherwise. I could quote you dozens of passages in the Epistles which show good actions as part of our salvation. How is it even possible to be saved in any meaningful way without doing good? Doing good, putting on Christ, being united to Him in all we DO, this IS salvation! I mean, I don’t think it’s wrong to say, as Paul did, that we are saved by grace through faith, and this not of ourselves but the gift of God. But to say”faith alone”, when the only place in the Bible where those two words appear together is a negation of the idea, is to render “faith” as some intellectual idea that has no transformative effect on us. It’s like saying you’re married even if you never talk to your spouse or live with her.
You say shirkers will nonetheless be saved. Well sure, we can all be saved through the prayers of the Church. But we cannot expect salvation if we do not live a life of repentance. That’s what faith is. Salvation is a journey of union with Christ, and if we know the way up the mountain, it’s foolish to stay stuck at the bottom expecting a chopper ride, because it’s not going to happen.
People shouldn’t confuse the works of the Jewish law (which Paul opposed) with good works, that is to say, refraining from sin, praying, fasting, almsgiving, meditation on Scriptures, taking the Eucharist. The latter are simply faith in action. Since salvation is union with Christ, it involves doing things, since Christ did things. It’s inconceivable that salvation would not involve “works”, unless you treated it, as most Protestant/Evangelicals do, as a mere legal status before God ie. saved/not saved. However, this is asking God to repent and change His mind about us, rather than asking us to repent and change ours.
Saying we’re saved “by faith alone” is a bit like saying “only God can cure cancer”. It’s true on a certain level in a theoretical sense, but here in the real world, 99% of the time, God cures cancer when you get off your arse, go to the doctor, and undergo treatment. God cures sin and heals our souls in the exact same way.