Justification, Faith alone, faith and good works or good works alone? (Jesus Christ, Creator)

[*Paul*]

JUSTIFICIATION:
The being regarded and treated as if innocent; or acquittal from the consequences of guilt before the tribunal of God. "Justification by faith" means that a person, on account of true and living faith in Christ as manifested by good works, will be delivered from condemnation on account of his sins; that is, his sins will be forgiven, and he be regarded and treated as if innocent and holy. Thus, besides the remission of sins and their penalty, it includes the restoration and everlasting enjoyment of the favor of God.
We obtain justification by faith in Christ. Yet neither this nor any other act of ours, as a work, is any ground of our justification. In acquitting us before his bar, God regards not our works, in whole or in part, but the atoning work and merits of Christ. He was treated as a sinner, that we might be treated as righteous. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus;" the moment we believe, our justification is as perfect as the infinite worthiness of our Redeemer. Its validity does not depend on the measure of our assurance of hope, nor on spotless holiness of life. Sanctification, indeed, or progressive growth in holiness, commences simultaneously with justification, and must in the end reach the same perfectness. Yet it is important to distinguish between the two, and to observe that, could the believer’s holiness become as perfect as an angel’s, it could not share with the atoning merits of Christ in entitling him to admission to heaven.

"The best obedience of my hands
Dares not appear before thy throne;
But faith can answer thy demands,
By pleading what my Lord hath done."

True justification, by the gratuitous gift of the Savior, furnishes the most powerful motive to a holy life. It is followed by adoption, peace of conscience, and the fruits of the Spirit in this life; and by final sanctification, acquittal in the day of judgment, and
admittance to heaven, Ro 3:20-31 5:1-21 8:1-4 10:4-10 Ga 2:16-21
Eph 2:4-10.

[Mustard Seed]

Im not sure where its at but I remember it being said that even satan believes in christ....

It stands to reason that the "works" you do, whether they are internal or external are the true testament to one's faith....simply going through the motions will not cut it. Only God knows whats in our heart.

I feel that all this bickering over small technicalities between christians of different religions/denominations is exactly what the "evil one" wants. We are over-looking Christs central message.

Just my two cents,
darnell

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by bible truth

I believe Katzpur has decided to end the "LDS Articles of Faith Thread".

Oh for crying out loud, BT, give it a break. I haven't decided to "end" any threads. I couldn't do that even if I felt like it. The fact that I'm personally not going to post on that thread any more is no reason for you or anybody else to continue your discussion.

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by *Paul*

What more is needed than this free justification which is received by faith? Surely to offer your own contribution to this is to take away from the glory that belongs to God alone for our salvation and to demerit the payement that was paid in full.

I give up. Forget it.

[JayHawes]

Salvation and Justification are two different things. Salvation is by faith alone.Justification comes after being saved, it is by faith and works, your salvation however is by faith only.

[joeboonda]

I never understood what about salvation being a FREE GIFT people just don't get. You cannot work for something that is given as a free gift then it would be an earned debt and God will be a debtor to no man. Good works always follow as a result of salvation, not to obtain or keep salvation. The more a Christian who became a Christian by believing in, trusting in Chrst, that He paid for all their sins and gave them His righteousness in place of their own, yields themselves to the Spirit and grows in grace, they will begin to produce fruit (good works) for which they will recieve reward and position in the life to come. Some will have nothing to show, yet will be saved 'as by fire', whatever works they did will have burned up as wood, hay and stubble. Salvation is free and irrevocable, rewards and position are not.

[joeboonda]

There was an analogy about a hundred dollars earlier. Jesus as a free gift, paid the hundred dollars. If we try to pay anything else in addition to what Jesus paid, we are adding something we did to what He already did and nullify the free gift. We cannot have Jesus plus anything we do. Jesus paid for ALL our sins on the cross and says salvation is given freely to anyone who believes in Him. We cannot say its Jesus death plus my good works, baptism, church attendance, prayer, Bible study, sacraments, rituals, ceremonies, etc. For it was Jesus death ALONE that paid for ALL our sins. What we do is based on gratitude that He saved us forever when we first believed and our works in no way help us obtain or maintain our salvation, they are merely evidence that we have believed and are yielding to the Spirit in our walk as new creations in Christ.

John 1:12
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Romans 4

Abraham's Faith Made Him Right With God

1 What should we say about those things? What did our father Abraham discover about being right with God? 2 Did he become right with God because of something he did? If so, he could brag about it. But he couldn't brag to God. 3 What do we find in Scripture? It says, "Abraham believed God. God accepted Abraham's faith, and so his faith made him right with God."—(Genesis 15:6)

4 When a man works, his pay is not considered a gift. It is owed to him. 5 But things are different with God. He makes evil people right with himself. If people trust in him, their faith is accepted even though they do not work. Their faith makes them right with God. 6 King David says the same thing. He tells us how blessed some people are. God makes those people right with himself. But they don't have to do anything in return. David says,

7 "Blessed are those
whose lawless acts are forgiven.
Blessed are those
whose sins are taken away.
8 Blessed is the man
whose sin the Lord never counts against him." —(Psalm 32:1,2)