Salvation is Either By Faith or By Works NOT Both

Today there are wolves in sheep's clothing that teach that salvation is both by faith and by works. These cultists can be the most obvious (ex. Roman Catholic priests, Buddhist monks, Pentecostal pastors, Mormon ministers) to the least obvious (those who pretend or claim to be born again Christians, the magisterial Protestants, New World Order expositors) but nonetheless, they are boarded on the same boat of works salvation. These false teachers need not their names to be mentioned, they expose themselves for the wolves they really are! The Lord Jesus didn't single out and name all the Pharisees either, His words exposed all of them at once for who they are!

They can teach trashy, unsound doctrine with statements like, "Well salvation is initially by faith because you can't save yourself. However Christians still need to do good works to enter Heaven." or "You can't show me one verse in the Bible that says you are saved even when you fall into sin." There is also the device using the confusion of terms or "double standard" like how one can try to say that good works are not equal to works of the law like saying, "Salvation is not by good works but through faith and doing the works of the law." Well it's simply using synonyms just because they are spelled differently, doesn't mean they don't mean the same thing!

These cultists teach a DICTATOR god without mercy that would choose to kill the wounded and the beginners in battle and who demand the impossible. This type of god is harsh and cruel like the pagan gods Odin or Allah, who have little mercy for the weak in contrast to the Lord Jesus Christ who was sent to give strength to the weak. On the other hand, God cannot condone sin and He'll always punish sin but He has a different way of dealing with His own who sin. While He will not cast them out (John 6:37) but He will still chastise them anyway (Hebrews 10:26, 12:5-6) or it would still be works salvation if He would cast them out whenever they screw up.

Some of them have gone too far as to twist what Ephesians 2:8-10 has to say. For example, a cultist that appears to be a Christian regardless whether he is a Catholic, Pentecostal, whatever... would say, "Well if you read Ephesians 2:10, it still shows works are required for salvation." But if that's true, then Ephesians 2:8-9 (which can be taken out of context too by cheap grace heretics who believe there's no change after salvation) would be null and void. Reexamining it, one can see this, "For by grace are ye saved through faith: it is not of yourselves it is a gift from God. Not of works lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Further analysis has it this way- salvation is always by faith, never by works so nobody can boast yet grace through faith results to good works as one is saved to serve NOT to sin.

Romans 11:6 sheds the light and ironically, some false preachers post this verse on their webpages. It says, ""And if by grace then it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace; otherwise work is no more work." That means it's either by grace or by works that one is saved NEVER both. So somebody can say, "Well that's the fallacy of false dilemma." Sorry it's not. It's Biblical doctrine. It can't be argued with the light of evidence that the Bible is filled with verses of salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ and that this faith results to works NOT the other way around.

Philippians 3:8-9 also says, "Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ. And be found not having mine own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith;". That means these good works happen because of the righteousness of God is in the Christian, which is in harmony with Philippians 2:13 saying, "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."

Also Galatians 2:21 says, "I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness come by the Law, then Christ is dead in vain." That means, if good works were necessary to be saved or to stay saved, it's still working for salvation isn't it? It can be very weird also how some works salvation preachers still post this on their webpages when they still teach people to labor to maintain their salvation. Honestly, it can get very, very weird doctrinally.

Romans 10:3 also warns, "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." And how true indeed. The works salvationist still tries to establish their own righteousness, saying they are trying to work for the righteousness of God because God can't condone sin and there is no justice in salvation by faith. Truth is, they need to read what Romans 3 entirely before they can start with their own selfish, prideful selves. It's their own effort still like doing good works to be saved or to stay saved- either way it's still a wrong Gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ already paid to all so why still labor for salvation? Of course, it's also unsound to say that there is no good works that will result from a Christian too.

Saved people on the other hand have a different mindset than unbelievers as 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Christians do good works not to make Jesus Christ their Lord but because He is their Lord. Their obedience is a result of His Lordship in their lives after salvation. He becomes their Lord the moment they are saved and instruct them along the way.

Lastly, what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross was sufficient enough to pay for the penalty of sin which is death (Romans 5:6-8, Romans 6:23). All it took was faith in Him and believing that what He did had already paid it in full. If He didn't, then His work of dying and rising from the dead would be all for nothing!