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Then what happens to your faith when you come accross a verse that SEEMS to contradict another verse?...It can shake you up some unless you decide from the outset to balance them out and figure out what is really being implied here...For Hawyaw does not contradict Himself...
Sounds like you answered your own question. I agree that scriptures never contradict each other.
Is this a reference to the Ritual washing customs of personal hygiene and aspects of slavery; but not to the Spiritual application or Revelation?
Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. And He said to them, 'The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called benefactors. But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet, I am among you as the One who serves.'
Many desire to lord over others, exhibiting an inordinate opinion of their own superiority as benefactors without true humility or understanding the nature of the cross; and what Christ endured because of humanities errors.
Many things in the NT are best understood in light of the OT...
It does not seem that Jeshua commanded this because it says that he who does not believe shall be damned...Here it is an open statement, It could mean by water or by the Holy Ghost...There is not enough information to give a definite definition...Except for the thief on the cross was not baptized and if baptism is an integral part of Salvation, then the thief is damned regardless of what Jeshua told him from the Cross...For there is a certain set of steps that Hawyaw has decreed in order for Salvation to occur...Though it be all His doing and nothing of us that saves...And since Hawyaw has decreed it to transpire a certain way then it will transpire that way or no Salvation can occur for Hawyaw is not fickle or double-minded...
Mar 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Richard,
The thief on the cross lived and died under the Law of Moses. Baptism was not a requirement of the Law.
We don't really know whether the thief received John's baptism or not. The Bible doesn't say. But it doesn't matter because it was not required.
The thief was not saved by simply believing, or by faith alone. Genuine faith always results in works. These are things the thief did.
1. He made a public profession of faith
2. He repented of his sins; He publicly admitted his guilt
3. He preached the truth of Christ to the other thief
4. He asked the Lord to be remembered in the Heavenly Kingdom - acknowledging both His Lordship and His Sovereignty over a Heavenly Kingdom.
The thief was saved by faith, working faith. Faith Alone = Dead Faith
James said "Faith without works is dead."
As I read through some of the posts here and in the other threads that have dealt with this issue of faith and works, I realized that no one really spoke of the idea that many have claimed to "believe", but truly do not in the salvation sense of the word. One evangelist referred to it as "mere intellectual assent".
A lot of people claim to "believe in Jesus", but often simply believe about Jesus. So the faith/works scenario in James 2, it would seem, would be one way to distinguish the two situations.
It seems there are some who wish to include works in the salvation process. When there are responses to the contrary, some will even suggest that faith and repentance are something we have to do, making them works, rather than part of the salvation process.
So thanks for getting that post on here. Pehaps there will be more to share.
You're wlcome...I try to see the NT Letters in the light of the OT...Many things which people call a mystery in the NT are in fact lighted only by the OT cultural thought process...As Jeshua folding His death cloth and putting it aside in the tomb...This has a significance that can only be understood through Jewish cultural dining customs...To which the Jewish Apostles would understand that when they saw it...
Does God give the gift to the believer? Or does a pastor/preacher/church leader give the gift to the person at water baptism ritual?
The son of man will give you the Holy spirit if you walk in his ways and judge justly.
"Keep the ways of the Lord by doing what is right and just".
"All those who do right will rise to live.The evildoer's will rise to be damned."
"The wicked will remain wicked they will have no understanding but the wise will have it."
'Offer to God praise as a sacrifice and fulfill your vows to the most high, then call upon me in your time of distress and I shall rescue you and you shall glorify me".
Those are not my words but the words of the Lord who sent me.I am son of man. I came down from heaven to do his will not my own. Anyone who chooses to do His will shall know about this teaching, namely whether it comes from God or I'm merely speaking on my own.
Amen...
How I understand and see it is that.....
The geniune Christian faith will be so in tune with the Holy Spirit that the nature of Christ is now their life....., the old is gone and new creation in one has begun.
The new faith one is now walking in will not recognize, nor acknowledge they are doing the works of God.
They will without even thinking about it, become it....., the new nature (Christ) the regenerated man/woman (born again) it will be their life.... living through and out in their everyday, moment to moment life..... their faith in Christ becomes so much a part of them they do not even realize it is the work of Christ, His nature in them that other's will witness in their life and the world around them !!
Christ' nature through the Holy Spirit becomes what and how they live the rest of their life on this earth.....
Before you were born from above were there things in your life that you did without thinking that they were right or wrong as long as they did not hurt others?...But, after your regeneration, you did them and felt that they were suddenly wrong and 'worked' to change that habit within you?...
Sounds like you answered your own question. I agree that scriptures never contradict each other.
Katie
However, many do not do this...They either stay away from verses that they cannot reconcile or they decide that the Bible is just a collection of stories and Myths...I've seen this many times...
Katie, there is a difference between genuine Faith and claimance of faith...James was merely stating that the proof of one's Faith is in the substance of their actions, not just in claiming faith...That is why he said show me your faith without your works and I will show you my Faith BY my works...In other words...Proof of Faith...It parralells the verses that state that you shall know them by their works...In other words when one becomes a genuine believer it becomes their nature and desire to follow after doing good works knowing that it is not the works that save them but only Jeshua saves them...However, by True regeneration of the spirit, they have been changed on the inside by Hawyaw...It is not of themselves...Anyone that believes it is of themselves through work are the ones that James is speaking of, in other words, flase christians...
Ephesians 2: 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
The problem I'm seeing is that you and others who teach faith alone saves, cannot seem to separate the works of the Law of Moses, and the works of men (devised by men), from the works ordained by God. Works ordained by God include faith, repentance, declaring with your mouth that "Jesus is Lord," baptism, love of God and neighbor, prayer, etc. These works cannot be included in "not by works" in the Eph. 2:9 scripture. If they are, then you have to throw out faith because it is a work of God.
These are not works done by man to earn salvation. They are works commanded by God, which He prepared in advance for us to do.
There is not one single example in all of the Bible, which shows a person being saved by faith alone. Genuine faith always results in works, whether it is PRIOR to initial salvation or after.
Faith Alone = Dead Faith
This is exactly what James says. Faith without works is dead. It doesn't matter whether that faith is before initial salvation or after it. Genuine faith always results in works.
We are justified by faith and works, not by faith alone.
Notice the sequence of Romans 6:17-18 Obedience came first. Forgiveness of sins came second.
17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
The thief on the cross lived and died under the Law of Moses. Baptism was not a requirement of the Law.
We don't really know whether the thief received John's baptism or not. The Bible doesn't say. But it doesn't matter because it was not required.
The thief was not saved by simply believing, or by faith alone. Genuine faith always results in works. These are things the thief did.
1. He made a public profession of faith
2. He repented of his sins; He publicly admitted his guilt
3. He preached the truth of Christ to the other thief
4. He asked the Lord to be remembered in the Heavenly Kingdom - acknowledging both His Lordship and His Sovereignty over a Heavenly Kingdom.
The thief was saved by faith, working faith. Faith Alone = Dead Faith
James said "Faith without works is dead."
Katie
You are misunderstanding James' context...Then all Faith is dead Faith...Paul said that one is saved by Faith without works and that not of oneself...It is the gift of Hawyaw...He said that one is saved by Faith without works so no one may boast...Boast of what?...The thief had Faith already for he told the other thief that He had done nothing to deserve death but that they deserved it for the life that they led...What is working Faith as opposed to Faith?...So, in light of what Paul said and in light of what James said there seems to be a contradiction...So, here is where one must use logic and reasoning to balance the two out...James indeed said Faith with works is dead faith...However, he also said that he would prove his Faith BY his works...Meaning you can say you have Faith all you want but if it does not evidence a change in you, it is dead faith, for real faith has a changing effect on a person...Faith is not the results of works but works is the result of True Faith...If you believe that you must either work for your Salvation or work to maintain it then you have no Faith in the Blood of Jeshua...You have no Faith in what He said that He would do for those that believed in Him and you have no Faith in what He says He accomplished on the Cross...
Faith=Belief, Therefore Hawyaw swore that because of their unbelief (Faith) they shall never enter My Rest...
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I agree that scriptures never contradict each other. 
