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Is Obedience to God necessary for salvation?
I like to read all the replies here, they are very insightful and thoughtful.
The reason for this question, is that I've read more than one reply that states that there is nothing left for us to do regarding salvation. Is this biblical?
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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on
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1) I totally disagree with point #1. My 10 month old daughter is in a sinless state, and if she died today would go to heaven. Jesus said in Luke 18:16, "But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God." There are three states of people. We are born what I call "SAFE". We are in that state until we understand right and wrong, and choose wrong. There are some who will never reach this state. I believe some, like those with Downs Syndrome, will never reach a point where they understand right and wrong, and they will never reach a point where they can choose to follow God. Therefore they are SAFE. Once we sin, we are "LOST". This happens at different ages for each person. Now a person has a choice to remain lost, or choose to follow God, and become "SAVED".
You are free to disagree, but the age of accountability is not provable. You have to do what you have spoken against on several occasions and attempt to use some isolated verses (about 4 or 5) and imply a direct meaning to them. If we follow your logic we are only guilty after we hear the Word of God, but this is not true. We are born with the sinful nature, are God’s creation (not children) and need a Savior. I guarantee you that once your child is old enough to play in a sand box and you put them in the box with another child with only one toy that both children want to play with a struggle will ensue. They both will reveal that which is already in them (not a learned trait), that of selfishness. I understand that it comforts people to believe all children and certain others are going to heaven … they often accuse God, as if man is allowed to do that, of being unfair. This cry of unfairness is always based on human understanding.
2) I agree, God did arrange a way for us to become saved, but He cannot abide by sinfulness, and will cast away from Himself anyone who doesn't accept that sacrifice. God will not save everyone, not even all of those who call on His name (Matt 7:21). I think we do react similarly to how He reacts, because we were made in His image. I think he enjoys watching us discover new things about His world, just as I enjoy watching my daughter's wonder at discover things that I take for granted. I also know that He will disown those who disobey Him. (Read any of the Old Testament. The Israelites turned away from God and He disowned them many times. Threatening to destroy them and start over, but His mind was changed by His faithful servants.)
To be made in His image is a far cry from saying we react as He reacts when He tells us our thoughts are not His thoughts and our ways are not His ways. I am absolutely convinced on this next statement … I don’t know you, but am sure glad beyond what words could express that you are not God … nor any other human being for that matter.
How God dealt with the Israelites, or anyone in the OT, is not fully relevant on this side of the cross. The work of Jesus through His death and resurrection brought about a new covenant that brought about changes to how God deals with humans. Israel as a nation was never disowned … they were punished, but they even in the state of being punished were His chosen people. That never changed. He dealt with the individual one way, but with the nation it was never going to be lost. One could say this is true of the church, except that through the New Covenant how He deals with the individual has changed.
Regarding God saving everyone … never even came close to implying that. In fact, I am probably far right of center on this one compared to what most believe … because the Scripture teaches an interesting doctrine that we call “The Lostness of Man.”
3) Do you think Judas will be in Heaven? His sin of betraying Jesus was no worse than Peter's sin of denying Jesus. But Peter was repentant; Judas was not. Peter will be in Heaven; Judas will not.
Judas acted and died under the old covenant. Judas was not born again, nor were any of the disciples until John 20:22. Judas was not present at what is recorded in John 20:22. The new covenant had not yet been fully realized when Judas died.
You don't believe that everyone is born a child of God?
This is not something I simply believe, the Word of God does not teach that every human is a child of God. That is a false assumption. Only those who receive Him (are born again) have the right to become children of God (John 1:12)
You don't believe that He loves every one of us from birth?
His love for us is not dependent on us being children. God IS love … that is a state of being not a verb. God loves all of His creation, because God is love. Again, often, people attempt to apply human standards to God. When God demonstrates hate that does not negate the reality that He is still love. His justice and righteousness do not negate His love. These attributes (for clarity hate is not an attribute) are all part of who He is and none are ever inoperable. Everything He does is confined by His nature. All His actions emanate from His characteristics. Love is in full operation (state of being) when a sentence is applied to a lost soul who will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire.
These are questions, because you say that God only disciplines His children, not the World.
He disciplines His children because they are His children … The Holy Spirit lives in us, we know better and should live a life that honors Him. When we don’t the Holy Spirit brings conviction. If we continue down that path we will experience divine discipline (divine correction) for our good, not our harm … some discipline may seem painful at the time (Hebrews 12). Those who are not children of God live and act according to their default state … sinful nature and separated from God. God may deal with them under the law as they have not come under the blood and experienced the New Covenant and all that is afforded us under that covenant.
I just want to understand your position here, because I believe He loves every one of us.
His love is not either or, but because of who He is. God IS love. His children are His family and have an eternal hope. The lost are not His children and face damnation, yet this does not mean He is not love or does not have love for them. Your view is quite troubling. Think about it. Your view says God loves everyone and that they are all His children. You believe this loving and just God is going to send His children to the Lake of Fire for eternity.
I believe He doesn't want anyone who was ever born to be "lost", but He is willing to condemn us if we do not obey Him, because sin cannot exist where God is.
Sin has existed where God is … Read Job 1. Satan was speaking with God. Plus, God is omnipresent, therefore wherever sin is in all of creation God is there. This sin exists in His presence. God desires all to come to repentance and through the repentance process because of the work of Jesus on the cross and the current work of the Holy Spirit one can become a child of God. God will not force that upon anyone, and there are many who will never hear and therefore will remain in the default state.
4) We can know how God will react, because He has told us that He will condemn us to Hell if we sin. We can only come back to Him through Jesus. I am not trying to put actions or words to God that He Himself has not already told us about. Our sin doesn't even have to be murder to exile us from Him. All sin is equal in His eyes. If you violate any of His commands, you are a law breaker (James 2:10 - "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all."
So, again, if you were to look lustfully at a woman and die before you repented you are headed to the Lake of Fire for eternity, because you give no room for the idea of remaining in sin, but just a sin.
The true child of God cannot remain in sin. He may enter a season of rebellion, but the Holy Spirit will not relent and divine discipline will be meted out for the child of God’s good, not harm.
5) I believe in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the saved today (Acts 2:38). I believe that we are "born again" at baptism, and that we are transformed at that point into a new life (Romans 8:6). I believe that we do get all the blessings in this life that you are talking about. But I believe that we can lose those blessings if we turn away from following God after we are saved in baptism.
We are not saved in baptism (water baptism). That is simply an error on your part that you keep attempting to push.
Obedience does not follow faith. Obedience is a part of faith (James 2).
Hebrews 11:6 states that without faith it is impossible to please God. Thus, obedience is not possible without faith. Obedience follows faith in that it flows from faith and cannot flow without faith to begin with. None, not one, has stated that obedience was not important.
You have said that you don't believe any action is required on our part to bring us to salvation. We don't have to repent first?
What is repentance? Who changes our mind? Is it us or God?
We can have salvation while we are still living a sinful life? Repentance is an action we take.
Repentance is not simply an action we take, it is a process that is initiated by God that culminates with the opportunity for us to surrender to God. We respond to the illumination and conviction brought on by the Word of God and the Spirit of God working together.
We (not God in us) turn away from sin (Luke 24:46-47) before we can be saved.
In your default state you can attempt to live a religious life, but you will not seek to live for Him because you love Him until we are brought through the repentance process and surrender to Him at which time by the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit we become children of God.
You don't believe we have to confess that Jesus is the Lord, the Son of God? That is an action we take.
If by confess you mean I have to mouth the words to be saved … no. If because I have gone through the repentance process and have been transformed that I will confess that which is already true in my heart … yes. You don’t believe that one has to confess to be saved … you believe a person has to be baptized and therefore negate any profession as being inadequate prior to baptism … which of course I reject.
We (not God in us) believe the Scripture, and confess "with [our] mouth" (Romans 10:9).
Read Luke 24:45. If you believe in your heart your mouth will confess. Spiritual conviction flows from the heart (new life).
These are all actions we must take that Scripture says "lead to" the forgiveness of sin, salvation, redemption, justification, etc. Scripture also says that baptism is part of this list. I don't understand how these statements of Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, etc. are in any way confusing. If thing A leads to thing B, we cannot do thing A after we do thing B, because we never get thing B without thing A. This is not human reasoning, this comes from Biblical example. Scripture says, "If you confess me, I will confess you..." Now will He confess us if we don't confess Him? NO! We are told, "be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins..." Will we be forgiven if we aren't baptized? NO! We are told, "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." (Matt 6:14). Which comes first? We forgive others, obviously. Because the very next verse says, "But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." Again, can the unforgiven enter Heaven?
This final statement lumps way too many things together for me to even attempt to line item address your concerns. All I will add is one day you’re A and B theology will come crumbling down around you. I hope it is in an eye opening moment and not a perilous situation.
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Permalink Reply by Jon Houser on
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I will concede you you that I wrote wrongly when I said in point 3 that we are born a child of God. That doesn't change the fact that I believe we are not born with "original sin", but my terminology was mistaken, and that point I concede.
But to say that we do not need to confess the name of Jesus, or to turn away from our sins (that we are not capable of doing so because of our sinful nature) is truly a perversion of Scripture. Paul, in his sermon to the people of Athens in Acts 17:26-27, said, "And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us." These were Gentiles who had not ever heard the Gospel before, yet he said that every one of them (and all other people everywhere) were capable of seeking the Lord, and finding Him.
What is faith? Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith is not a belief in your heart. It is visible and tangible. It is solid (having substance), and can be seen and documented. Faith is no more a feeling in your heart, than the crucifixion of Jesus was a walk in the park.
James 2 says that faith includes, no requires, works. Verses 15-20 say, "If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 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? 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?"
Faith, belief, repentance, confession; these are not things God does in us or for us. They are commanded actions we must take.
My wife just asked me which denomination you are a minster of. I am ashamed to say that she believes as you do, that baptism comes after salvation. But she believes that confession and repentance are commanded actions we take before we are saved. She, not I, have ever heard anyone say that these are things we are not even capable of until after we are saved.
I don't understand your reference to Luke 24:45 which says, "Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures..." Romans 10:9 says, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." It says nothing about IF you believe THEN your mouth will confess. Where do you get that? I can not find that anywhere in Scripture.
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Permalink Reply by Seek on
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Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. II Timothy 1:9
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I am not saying any differently. Timothy is saying that we don't have the ability to get to Heaven without God's saving grace. What is grace? It is a gift that is not merited. We don't deserve to be offered salvation, but God offers it anyway. That doesn't in any way negate the fact that we must take hold of that salvation by doing what God told us to do to receive it.
I offer an example. A person is in prison for murdering someone. He has admitted he did the crime, and is to be executed tonight. I go to him and tell him that I have the power (and I do have that power for this example) to make you a king if you will kiss my feet. Now, he can believe me, or he can not. Let us say that he believes me, because there are other people that used to be in the prison who have written letters to the prison telling of my generosity. So he gets down and kisses my feet. Now I know there is more to our relationship with God than this example, because this murdered would be a terrible king if his heart wasn't changed. That is something that the Spirit works in us to do and is not part of this example.
But let me ask you, did kissing my feet earn him the kingship? No. Did it pay back his debt to society for the murder he committed? No. Was it grace (an unmerited gift) for me to make him a king? Yes. Was there any way for him to earn his freedom (let alone get a kingship) from his position in prison? No. That is what baptism is. It is getting down and kissing God's feet (in a manner of speaking).
He said to us, I love you, and I want you to be with Me in Heaven. So even though you have broken my commandments, I am going to sacrifice my Son, who is the only sacrifice good enough to pay the price for your sins. Because of His sacrifice, I will offer you forgiveness of sins, and a place with Me in Heaven. All you have to do is believe in the Gospel message (the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus) (John 3:16, Romans 10:9, Mark 16:16), repent of your sins (Luke 13:3, Acts 2:38), confess that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God (Matt 10:32, Romans 10:9), and be baptized for the remission of your sins (1 Peter 3:21, Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38). (all of this is "kissing his feet" from my example). Then My Spirit will come on you, and give you guidance, and lead you into a closer walk with Me. Doing these things is not earning our salvation. It does not violate verses like John 3:16, because John doesn't say that the only thing necessary is belief. If we believe, we will want to obey, and God says that that obedience leads to the forgiveness of sins.
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OK, until you actually read what we say and respond to what has been said instead of making up what you think we said this will be my last response and I am done.
Let me give you an example of what I mean:
I did not say that we do not have to turn from sin ... you made that up to create your strawman ... STOP IT!
I did not say say we are born with original sin, whatever that is. I said we are born with the sin nature and this is one of the consequences of the fall.
You misunderstand the power of the gospel and the Holy Spirit, nor do you understand what is the process of repentance. To you it is an act, but the Scripture clearly lays out a process by which God works in the minds and the hearts of the spiritually dead giving them enough light to choose Him when they hear the gospel message in accordance to the work of the Holy Spirit.
Faith is not a visible tangible thing. the visible and tangible are only evidence of the faith that already dwells within.
James does not say what you say he says. He says if there is no evidence of good work then the faith is dead, meaning no faith at all.
I never said repentance was not part of the salvation process. I said salvation does not come because one confesses with their mouth. The confession can only follow that which we already know to be true. We do not confess to make it true, but only can confess because we now know it is true. The knowing is a work of God in us. We can seek for God, but unless the Son reveals the Father we will never find Him. Yes the Word says if we seek we will find, but that is not all on us, but rather involves the work of God in us as we take that journey.
Faith absolutely is what God does in us, for without His working in us we would never find Him because we start spiritually dead and blind. Repentance is a process that leads us to salvation, it is a change of mind that leads to salvation and leads to a change in actions. Confession is only possible after one knows something is true and we only know the truth of God because He reveals it to us, thus the reference to Luke 24:45.
Regarding baptism ... explain why there is not a clear teaching in Ephesians regarding needing to be baptized to be saved. The Ephesian church did not have all of the letters, but would have been dependent upon what they had heard and especially on this letter from Paul. If baptism was required he did them a disservice by not including this teaching that you think is required.
Regarding your wife's question. I am a pastor with The Christian and Missionary Alliance, though I minister through the C&MA my allegiance is to Christ alone. The C&MA has a set of core beliefs, but is not dogmatic on every issue brought up by man. Thus, there are a divergence of beliefs within the C&MA that we see as secondary issues that do not divide us. We unite around the core issues.
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Let me apologize if I have misunderstood what I read. My wife read what you wrote too, and she understood it the same way I did. I did not mean to misrepresent what you meant in any way. I simply heard you to be saying that we, because of the sinful nature, don't have the ability to turn to God, that His Spirit must work in us to bring us to repentance. If that is not what you were saying, then I heard you wrong, and I apologize.
Repentance is a changing of our mind away from chasing after sin, and to following after God. It is an act that we have to do, continuously, because of "the sin which doeth so easily beset us." Repentance is not a one time thing, but a life-long endeavor. But it also is not complete when we begin it. We must start (and yes, that is under our own power), but the Spirit joins in after our salvation. and helps us by giving us strength and discipline. But we can stop turning to God, and fall away from the Holy Spirit, if we do not continuously fight to stay turned to God.
I believe you confuse belief and faith. Faith is not simple belief, or even complex belief. Faith is defined in Heb 11:1 as evidence and substance. These are things that can be seen. James continues by saying that without the works (actions we take), faith is dead and has no effect. Therefore, without the actions taken, faith does not exist (it is dead). And we are told that faith leads to salvation, so it must start before salvation. It must continue after salvation, but must also begin before, because it leads to salvation.
God revealed that Jesus was His son to Peter, but today we don't need God to reveal that to us, because we have Peter's testimony. The Spirit may be a part of our understanding, but He is not required to open our hearts to that understanding. That is the whole purpose behind the eye-witness accounts in Scripture. We are given their testimony so that it can be as Jesus told Thomas, "because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."
There is evidence in Scripture that the different congregations sent copies of the Apostles letters to each other. So it is very likely that they did have the other letters that Paul wrote. But the letters were written for specific purposes, to specific people, to tell them what they needed to hear at that time. If you compare Eph 2 and Col 2, they are very similar.
Eph 2 talks about salvation by grace through faith. Col talks about salvation by faith through baptism. Eph does go on to talk about baptism in chapter 4. But the point is that, because we both agree that Scripture does not contradict Scripture, these two passages must agree. Now in Col 2:11-13, Paul says that we were dead in sin. But having been buried with Jesus in baptism, our sins are forgiven and we are resurrected with Jesus through baptism. Compare the language here to Romans 6:3-5. Here he says we are buried with Jesus, and we are resurrected to a new life. When you put all three passages together (due to the infallibility of Scripture), there is no conclusion to come to other than that our belief in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus leads us to surrender to Him in baptism where our sins are washed away, and we are resurrected with Jesus to a new life. Then the Holy Spirit indwells that new life, and we can begin walking the Christian walk with the help of the Holy Spirit.
I have never heard of the C&MA, but that is not surprising to me, because I don't pay much attention to the names of congregations. I am more interested, like you said, in the congregation's faithfulness to the core "salvation issues" (as I call them). All other issues are secondary, and we can be united even though we disagree. As I referenced above, Eph goes on in 4:3-6 to say, "Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."
So we are called to be united in seven things: One body (the Church), One Spirit (the Holy Spirit), One hope (salvation through Jesus Blood), One Lord (Jesus), One faith, One baptism, and One Father.
What is baptism doing in this august list? Why is baptism listed with the Father, the Son, the Spirit, the Church, the faith, and the hope? I believe it is because it is the door through which we step that brings us into the Body and into fellowship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Would you mind telling me, given the infallibility of Scripture, how Cor 2 and Rom 6 don't mean that our salvation happens through the power of the Blood of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in baptism? I know that the act of getting we doesn't save us. There is no power in the water other than the power of Jesus Blood. There is no more significance in the water than there was for Naaman in the Jordan River. But he was cleansed when he dipped (but not until the 7th time), just as Romans and Corinthians say we are cleansed when we are immersed (but only once).
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You misunderstand the power of the gospel and the Holy Spirit, nor do you understand what is the process of repentance. To you it is an act, but the Scripture clearly lays out a process by which God works in the minds and the hearts of the spiritually dead giving them enough light to choose Him when they hear the gospel message in accordance to the work of the Holy Spirit.
I've been looking at Isaiah lately in its prophecy of Revelation and while going over some passages this morning, this stood out regarding an act for repentance.
Isaiah 28
9 “Who is it he is trying to teach? To whom is he explaining his message? To children weaned from their milk, to those just taken from the breast?
10 For it is: Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that; a little here, a little there.”
11 Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people,
12 to whom he said, “This is the resting place, let the weary rest”; and, “This is the place of repose”—but they would not listen.
13 So then, the word of the Lord to them will become: Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that; a little here, a little there—so that as they go they will fall backward; they will be injured and snared and captured.
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Permalink Reply by JB on
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Jon, it might do you good to look at the synonyms for Baptized, I believe you will find them used differently throughout the bible.
Synonyms for baptized
Baptized =Christened, Blessed, “Immersed”, Sprinkled, “Initiated”.
Emphasis in this case will be on “Immersed” and “Initiated”,
Baptized in the “name” of Jesus, to me = immersed “baptized” in His
Spirit. In His authority, or His image
Baptized into a church, as with Catholic’s = “initiated”. Being accepted into their fellowship or church.
So if you only have one definition for “baptized” then you must really have a hard time understanding Being “born again”. As did Nicodemus.
Also I might add, How do you explain;
Ro. 4:5-8
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
And2 Cor. 5:18-19
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.JB
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Baptized does not mean blessed, or sprinkled, or initiated, in the Bible. It may have been used to mean those things in some denominations, but that is not what it means in the Bible. It means immersed. My father was a Greek scholar, and one of the first things I learned from him about Biblical writing was the transliteration of the word baptizo. The servants of King James who were translating the Bible for him had the practice of sprinkling instead of immersion in that day. So instead of correcting their error, they created a new word in English, "baptize", and defined it as sprinkling. Today, we know the difference, and so have redefined the word to mean immersion.
I don't pay any attention to anything the catholics do, or say, or believe, because they are truly lost in their perversion of the Bible. There may be some who are raised in the sect that come to true belief (I have a very good friend who was raised catholic, but came to true faith and left the catholics and became a Christian), but the "catholic priesthood" is truly a perversion.
If you go back to Romans 3:21-31, what is Paul talking about? The Law and the Prophets. This is the Law he speaks of in almost every one of his letters. His message in every case is the comparison of the Old Law which was a Covenant of Works, to the New Law which is a Covenant of Faith. The Old Law was very strict, was impossible to keep perfectly, and (2 Cor 3:6-7) lead to death.
But Paul says here in Romans 4:5-6 that "Faith is counted for righteousness." Let's look at how the Bible defines faith. Heb 11:1 says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith is something we can see. It has solidity. It is not something we do in our heart.
Now James 2 says that faith without works is dead. The example is given in James 2:15-17, "If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 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? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."
So where Paul says, in Romans 4:5-8, that Faith is counted as righteousness, what faith is he talking about? It is the active, obedient, alive faith. Not some passive belief. James says that a passive belief that does nothing is dead.
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Jon,
In all your zeal it amazes me how you do the very thing you tell people not to do. You tell us to not use a single verse here or there (paraphrased). Then you go to James to try and explain what Paul meant instead of reading Paul and understanding what Paul simply stated.
On top of that there is no contradiction between Paul and James. A faith that is alive will produce good works and be evident by the fruit. What is not true is that the salvation is dependent on those works, but rather (once again) the works flow from the person who has been transformed and is a new creature. This transformation came as stated in Ephesians 2:8-10 noting that the works even here follow the transformation.
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True, faith produces works, but that faith, and thus those works, lead to salvation. They don't only come after salvation. That is why James says "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." You are right; James and Paul don't contradict, because Paul is talking about Works of the Law (of Moses).
I have read Ephesians 2:8-10, and you are right. It says we are saved by "grace through faith". Thus faith comes before salvation. Agreed? But what it doesn't do here is define faith. Hebrews 11:1 does. And James 2 clarifies it. Faith that is alive is active is evident. Living faith can be seen. Living faith is the actions we take in obedience to God's commands. "Without faith, it is impossible to please Him." But that faith has to be living and active, and James says that living and active faith is seen "in [our] works."
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