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NASB | John 5:24 ¶ "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 5:24 ¶ "I assure you and most solemnly say to you, the person who hears My word [the one who heeds My message], and believes and trusts in Him who sent Me, has (possesses now) eternal life [that is, eternal life actually begins--the believer is transformed], and does not come into judgment and condemnation, but has passed [over] from death into life. |
Subject: Saved vs. Works (John 5:24 and 5:28-29) |
Bible Note: Any remaining confusion clears when we realize that Paul and James used the same terms in somewhat different ways and contexts. In Romans, faith means true faith in God with all this entails; in James it means mental assent that could fail to affect conduct, which would not be true, living faith at all. In Romans, works means dead works that can be done apart from faith; in James it means living works that can be done only through faith and that will attest to the existence of faith. In Romans, justified means "declared righteous by God"; in James it means "shown to be righteous!" It is evident that Paul and James both agreed that saving faith will produce a life-changing reliance upon God, evidenced by works. Paul taught that we are saved through faith; James taught that saving faith will produce works and is only demonstrated by works. If works do not come with a person's faith, there is something wrong with his faith. Hebrews 11 beautifully illustrates the complementary relationship between faith and works. The main purpose of this chapter is to show how necessary faith is and to show what it will produce. It names many Old Testament heroes and records their deeds done "by faith." The passage demonstrates that faith will always produce works and that it can only be shown by works. Every time the writer described someone's faith, he listed those actions faith caused. Certainly, we are saved by grace through faith. We rely on God's work and not our own works to bring salvation. However, this does not relieve us of our responsibility to respond to God, to obey Him, and to act upon our faith. Saving faith is a living faith that works. Faith and repentance work together in salvation. Jesus preached, "Repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15). A person must have some faith in order to repent. No one seeks to repent from sin unless he believes that sin is wrong and that repentance is both possible and necessary. God's Word declares that all will perish without repentance and that all men everywhere must repent (Luke 13:3; Acts 17:30). Certainly, then, faith in the Word of God will lead to repentance. Faith can begin at the first hearing of the Word of God even though at this moment faith does not bring salvation. We have explored biblical examples that show that a person can have some degree of faith prior to the salvation experience. A person is not saved at the first moment faith begins, but rather salvation is experienced as faith matures, gains control of his heart, and leads him to a positive response to Christ and the gospel so that he obeys the Scriptures in repentance, water baptism, and seeking and receiving the gift of the Spirit. |