Brothers & Sisters,
"Works", mention that word to a Christian and how by your faith you show your works they immediately get a long face, and if we were back in time 2000 years ago or so they would stone you (irony indeed), and claim that all you need to do is just have faith and faith alone.
This is only 1 part of what the truth. God reveals to us in the book of James that your faith is dead without works, and dead means what? It means dead,useless,worthless.

quote:

---

James 2:14-26
14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18 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.
19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
23 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.
24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

---

God Bless,
Will

So, do we keep His commandments because we want to be saved or do we keep His commandments because we are saved?

Its because we are saved that we keep His commandments, since we cannot do anything to be saved, and we are saved by grace through Faith in Christ.
He has written His laws in our hearts and on our minds because we are His people.
God Bless,
Will

If we must work our way into heaven, then why did Jesus die on the cross for our sins? How can a person "work" his/her way into heaven? I think there is no works to be able to gain the right of passage into our Father's heaven. But to believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, that is our way into heaven.

There is a verse in the bible. I can not think of exactly where it is now. Believe in the Lord thy God and ye shall be saved. Is that a lie? It says, ALL I have to do is to BELIEVE in the Lord God and I shall be saved! Why would Jesus lie about something like this? I do not think He would. So, if it says this in the bible, why would I or anyone else believe that one must work his/her way into heaven??

Hi Brandi,
No one is saying that you work your way into heaven. We are justified by our fath, and we have a faith that works.
God Bless,
Will

Hi Brandi,
What does the book of James tell you especially the passage I quoted in its context? I sometimes find myself missing certain pieces of informationdue to me reading through something quickly. Of course we are saved by believing that Jesus is The Son of God who was sent by His Father to take away our sins by the shedding of His blood. It is by His merits that we go into heaven not of our own.
The Bible also says that the devils believe and tremble, so there must be some different things that occurr in a Christian when they have come to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
You must have a burden for souls right? Jesus said that we will be rewarded by what we have done.
It is through Christ that we can do all things. The Bible is very clear on this and the Apostles and disciples in the early church and the Twelve did things. They didn't sit around. What are your thoughts on this?
God Bless,
Will

Well, the James 2:14-26 text, quoted in an earlier post, definitely says that faith without works is dead, therefore, since we are saved by His grace, through faith and not of works, and faith without works is dead, then where does works fit into all of this?

Eph. 2:8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Thats a good point Daryl. Scripture stats in layman terms "dont think that because you do something good means you earned salvation", but "because you are saved by grace through Faith in Christ you will want to witness to others, share the gospel, help the less fortunate, and this is a result of your faith"
Any thoughts on that?
God Bless,
Will

I love what the Amplified Bible does with the word "believe"(trusts in, clings to, fully relys upon).......that whosoever believes in Him......

Will, praise God for your faith! So are you saying that once we accept Christ as our personal Lord and Savior we are not to sit in the pew and just wait until His return??????

James has generated much controversy over the ages, from who is the author of the book to the apparent contradiction with Paul on faith alone vs faith & works. This latter controversy led Martin Luther to call the book of James "the Epistle of Straw", and Martin's comments have led many to reject this book as scripture.

Here is the best research I've found on the subject, written by Daniel B. Wallace , Th.M., Ph.D, from Dallas Theological Seminary:

http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=1361

It covers all the latest research on who the book's author is, etc. Here is a clip on the faith-works controversy:

"(iii) Biblical Argument: Abraham, Rahab (2:21-26). For his positive argument, James uses two illustrations from the OT. First, Abraham was justified by works when he offered up Isaac (2:21). His faith could not be divorced from works, but cooperated with it (2:22). That Abraham’s faith preceded his works is implicit in two ways: (1) works perfected his faith (22) and (2) the scripture which said he had faith (Gen. 15:6; Jas. 2:23) was fulfilled by his works. That saving faith is more than intellectual assent, and indeed more than faith + works is seen in James’ last comment in v. 23—“he was called a friend of God.” Thus, saving faith implies a relationship to God—it involves “trust in,” not just “belief that,” or even “belief that,” plus “work for.” James summarizes by saying that “a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” (2:24). This is the clearest statement against the Pauline slogan of sole fide (cf. Rom. 3:28—“a man is justified by faith, apart from works of the law”). It should be kept in mind that James is not reacting to Paul directly, however, for he uses every key term differently. By “works” James means “charitable deeds.”; Paul means “works of the law”; by “justified” James apparently means either vindicated before men, or eschatologically justified, while Paul has a forensic idea in mind (an idea which is foreign to virtually every other NT writer); and by “faith” James distinguishes unsaving faith from saving faith, while Paul seems to speak primarily or exclusively of the latter (both would agree that “belief in” and not just “belief that” is the essential ingredient of saving faith).

Lest one think that heaven is reserved only for those with the moral qualifications of Abraham, James hastens to add another illustration. Rahab, too, was saved (ejdikaiwvqh—justified, vindicated) when she helped the spies get away (25). James reminds his audience that Rahab was a prostitute—yet she was saved. There is no evidence in the text that her lone deed erased her sins; rather, her belief in God did—and it is evident that this was a genuine belief because she acted on it. Both illustrations link faith and works together in such a way that it is unthinkable that one could please God without both. Yet, faith preceded works in each illustration. James concludes with an analogy (26) which ought not to be made to walk on all fours: a dead faith is surely the same as a faith which never was alive."