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NASB | Luke 8:13 "Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Luke 8:13 "Those on the rocky soil are the people who, when they hear, receive and welcome the word with joy; but these have no firmly grounded root. They believe for a while, and in time of trial and temptation they fall away [from Me and abandon their faith]. |
Subject: One example of loosing salvation NT |
Bible Note: New Creature, I anticipated your quoting of James 2 and delt with it on my last response but had to edit it because I was over on word limit. So lets deal with James 2 shall we. First of all do you believe that God speaks in a forked toungue? Or that scripture contradicts itself? Or that Paul is schizophrenic? If your answer to any of these is yes, we have a different problem to deal with. The common passage quoted by works/salvation folks is James 2:17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. James 2:18 But someone may well say, "You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works." James 2:19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. James 2:20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? James 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? James 2:22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; James 2:23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS," and he was called the friend of God. James 2:24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. James 2:25 In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? James 2:26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. Now I will agree,if this was the entire bible and we had no other inspired scripture then one could only conclude that salvation is a joint venture of faith and works. But this is the point that we have been trying to make, that no scripture exist in a vacuum! God calls us to "rightly divide the word of truth" 2Tim2:15 So the question arises, what is James saying in light of the abundance of scripture that appears,on the surface, to say the opposite. Romans4, Titus 3:5, Eph 2:8-9,Roman 1,Gal 3:6,etc. Notice that in verse 23 its says Abraham was made RIGHTEOUS BY BELIEF/FAITH,and thereby had peace with God.Righteouss,simply meaning to be right before God, not guilty. You see this same language in Genesis and Romans 1. Since it has already been established through the rest of scripture that it is Christ in us that produces fruit, fruit will naturally follow. So too, will works. If you are a child of God, works will be produced, because works are a natural outpouring of true saving faith. And as verse 26 rightly says, faith w/o works is dead. Why? because a said faith cannot produce true works/fruit, only a true faith can. So you may ask how is it that Abraham and Rahab were "justified" by works,vs 24-25? Justification before God has already been established at the cross. Christ, yelled tetelisti, paid in full, our debt of sin. So what can this mean? Simply, that one way we recognize a believer is by his works. See vs 18. This is "justification" before man, not God. Do you see why scripture cannot exist in a vacuum? The sum of James 2 is that man is justified by faith alone, but a faith, that is not alone.Our works testify to our saving faith. I might add that works is not restricted to action and benevalonce to others, but also includes correct doctrine.Titus 2:7 in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified. May we worship Him with our heart, soul and mind. In Christian love, Brad |