Some say man is saved by faith alone without any acts of obedience. Is it not ironic that these who put so much emphasis on belief do not actually believe what God said? Those who teach “faith only” salvation are the very ones who do not have faith in what God said!
- They don’t believe God, who said that “by works a man is justified, and not by faith only” (James 2:24).
- They don’t believe God, who said that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:20).
- They don’t believe God, who said that “ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth” (1 Peter 1:22).
- They don’t believe we have any role in our salvation, even though God said, “Save yourselves” (Acts 2:38-40).
- They don’t believe God, who said that baptism is “for the forgiveness of sins” (Acts 2:38).
- They don’t believe God, who said that baptism is to “wash away thy sins” (Acts 22:16).
- They don’t believe Jesus, who requires both belief and baptism for salvation: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16).
- They don’t believe God, who said that “water…baptism doth also now save us” (1 Peter 3:20, 21).
- They don’t believe God, who said man is not in Christ until he is “baptized into Christ” (Romans 6:3-5; Galatians 3:26, 27; cf. 2 Timothy 2:10).
- They don’t believe God, who said that man becomes “free from sin” after he has “obeyed that form of doctrine” (Romans 6:16-18).
- They don’t believe God, who said that “he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him” (Acts 10:35).
- They don’t believe God, who said to obey Him and “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).
- They don’t believe Jesus, who taught that belief in Him alone is not enough, and that only those who obey God will go to Heaven (Matthew 7:21-23).
Those who put so much emphasis on belief inconsistently accept verses about the necessity of grace, repentance, and confession (going beyond “faith alone”), but amazingly reject verses that speak just as plainly about the necessity of water baptism! One cannot really be a person of faith if he does not believe everything God said (Romans 10:17; Hebrews 11:6), so it seems hypocritical or inconsistent to preach about faith and lack faith at the same time. People of true faith believe every word of the Holy Scriptures, not just a few verses that talk about faith or grace. May we all study and “rightly divide God’s Word,” finding the harmony that exists in the totality of the Scriptures, with the desire to please God and go to Heaven (Psalm 119:160; 1 Thessalonians 5:21).