Salvation is often said to be independent of works. However the reason for this is the lack of understanding of what salvation actually is. The overwhelming evidence in Scripture is that faith and works cannot be separated except in the most extreme cases (ex. true deathbed confessions). We cover in another section that salvation is a path, a race, not a punctiliar event.

Modern Theologians should be asking themselves one question that screams from the pages of Scripture.  The question is how can God, after describing salvation by faith, then base judgment only on works with no mention of faith?  The answer is clear.  A true and living faith produces works reflecting what Scripture teaches in many verses.  Anyone who suggests there is no link between faith and works has missed the core of Scripture.

SCRIPTURE James 2:17-25 “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.   Yea, a man may say, thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.   Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.  But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?  Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?   And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.   Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.  Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?” 

This is critically important and something most in the modern church dismiss.  Remember that the offering of Isaac his son, was done many years (decades) after Abraham first believed God (his initial righteousness).

But, as stated above, virtually every instance in the Bible where the eternal destiny of a person is described, is actually described based on works with no mention of faith.  How can this be?  Because the man who has a true and living faith works.  Consider the following passages which demonstrate what we talked about earlier in this Section.  Note that these passages tie contextually actions with where a person will spend eternity.  For example, in the passage immediately below, God could have inspired John to write that those who know Jesus Christ will be delivered unto the resurrection of life and those who do not know Jesus Christ will be delivered unto the resurrection of damnation, but that is not what the passage says.  

SCRIPTURE John 5:28-29 “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”

SCRIPTURE Romans 2:6-8 “Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath.”

SCRIPTURE John 15:1-6 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch IN ME that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.”

SCRIPTURE Matthew 25:31-46 “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”   There are others but these demonstrate what the breadth of Scripture teaches.

In addition, we also see that those who are condemned are also condemned by their works, again with no mention of lack of faith.  A sample of this type of teaching is “And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts” (Revelation 9:20-21).

These are just a few of the passages. Consider the warnings to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3. How many of them mention faith? How many mention works? The focus of Jesus Christ here in writing to the churches is what people are doing in His name. They believe. But is that belief driving them to act in God’s name?

Although we are not saved by works, it is axiomatic that works are a part (a result) of a true, living faith. Although we are not saved by works, we are not saved without them except in extreme circumstances (ex. a true deathbed confession). Let no one tell you otherwise.  Those who claim that we can believe in Jesus Christ and live anyway we want are misleading us, whether it is under the “faith alone” sound bite or a more insidious teaching.  It is not a matter of legalistic counting of works, but is a matter of submitting to the Holy Spirit and not the flesh.  We can see pretty clearly that the Holy Spirit does not lead many who name Christ as Lord, because not many submit their will to His will.  

The sound bite “by faith alone” gets us in trouble even though Sola Fide (faith alone) is one of the pillars of the Reformation. Men however have taken the scriptural concept to an extreme where it was never meant to go, and in doing so created all sorts of other scriptural conflicts.  In fact, if one would actually read the things written by the Reformers, they would clearly see that faith alone is not defined as the mental ascent but a faith that is demonstrated.  Calvin himself said “It is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone.” This statement decries that justification is not only a punctiliar event. Why? Because the works come after faith and for faith which is not alone to justify it must also be based on works which follow and is consistent with what James 2 reflects.

Much of the modern church sees only two viable options, both extremes.  Those options are either we are saved by grace independent of what we do or we save ourselves through works.  Neither reflect the balanced teaching of Scripture.  While there is no question, we cannot save ourselves through works, a life that is not committed to honoring God after coming to Him is equally errant.  But God does not force us to do works.  We retain our free will after coming to Christ even as we are led by the Holy Spirit.

SCRIPTURE Matthew 22:1-14 “And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants, the wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.”

SCRIPTURE Revelation 19:6-8 “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”

What do we note here?

1. We note that there is a strong parallel between the passage in Matthew and Revelation; specifically the wedding of the lamb.
2. The king identifies here with the father, the son, Jesus Christ
3. The king sent servants (the prophets) to call the Jewish people and we see indirectly the refusal of the Jewish people to come to the wedding of the king’s son
4. We see the Jewish people actually mistreating and killing those the king had sent (the prophets)
5. We see the anger of the king at the way His servants were treated
6. We see the king punish those who rejected His invitation and mistreated and killed His servants
7. We see the king then send out additional servants to invite everyone they could find including Gentiles
8. We see that many accepted the invitation and came to the son’s wedding when bidden by the king
9. We see that it seems all who were called and answered got into the wedding
10. We see there was a man who was in the wedding banquet but did not have wedding clothes but he was invited, answered, and was granted admittance into the wedding
11. We see that the man without the wedding clothes was thrown out was sent to a place of darkness (away from the king)

What can we see from this example?  The most important parts are the latter parts because they relate to salvation.  The earlier parts of the parable are a matter of history.  The most important points of this parable are as follows.

The man who was thrown into darkness was called and answered the call.  The man aligns well with a believer who answered the call of God.  We know this because obviously he answered the call and came and he was not rejected at the door; that is he got into the banquet.  Only those who answer God (the king’s call) get into the wedding banquet of the lamb.  

Although the invitation was proffered through servants, it came from the king.  This is an important point because if the king invited people he did not want, he should have set conditions on who can actually enter into the wedding banquet.  But He did not; instead, He said “as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage,” This raises an important point.  Since we identify God with the king, would God be telling the truth if He told His servants to invite those people, He had no intention of letting in?  Indeed, the man who got into the banquet answered the call of the king.  Furthermore, these servants who were inviting the people to the wedding were doing the expressly stated will of the king.  In doing so, it is clear the king wanted all to come.

The man who was thrown into darkness did not have wedding clothes.  The discriminator here is what the man did not do, not what he believed.  Many commentators suggest that the man was not clothed with the righteousness of Christ, however if we understand that it was belief in Christ, which allowed him to enter into what appears to be the wedding of the lamb, this interpretation fails.  What the man was missing was doing the work of God.  We see this idea in several teachings.  These include the very passage in Revelations 19 as stated above where we are taught “And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”  Many look at this and suggest that is the righteousness of Christ, however the phrase here is the “righteousness of the saints.”  Most other versions render this “the righteous acts of the saints.”  In fact, acts (Greek dikaiōma) means “a righteous act or deed.”  This is consistent with 1 John 3:7 where we are taught “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.”  The key phrase here is that he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he [Christ] is righteous.  In this passage in 1 John 3:7, the word righteousness (Greek dikaiosynē) means “to do righteousness, to live uprightly.”  The verbiage in the passage also confirms this as it is stated as “doeth righteousness.”