Is faith a type of work?
Ninety percent of people I interviewed with the above question informed me that faith is not a work. This question is valuable to the debate, because group one states: “Salvation is of faith only, because no one can work their way to heaven.” On the other hand, group two describes that faith is also a work and the prove their statement with the following two scriptures.
1 Thessalonians 1:3
Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
2 Thessalonians 1:11
Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:
Based on your knowledge, what do you believe about faith?
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Faith is a complete trust in someone or something. Faith is a strong belief in God! It could also be a conviction to a doctrine of a religion. Faith is dependent on spiritual confidence rather than proof we can see and touch. Each Christian and each denomination has a system of beliefs and are upheld by their members. The trick to finding or joining a denomination is believing in what they believe in and finding a church that believes everything in scripture without humans twisting it! Checking out what your denomination believes and promotes is a must, because your reputation is on the line.
Denomination one believes that one must only have faith and repent. In fact, their view is that baptism is a work; therefore, no works can be involved in salvation. They base their opinion on the following scriptures: Ephesians 5:26 “so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,” However, they attempt to explain the voice of the denomination in terms of grammar usage and other scriptures like the following: 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Do you believe we can toss out Hebrews 10:22 or should we also give it the same merit as Ephesians 5:26 and 1 John 1:9? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Denomination two believes that one must have faith, repent, and be baptized. They take the literal interpretation of scripture. For example, according to Hebrews 10:22 we must wash our sins away with pure water. Hebrews 10:22 says, “let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
This gospel passage (the entire chapter) confirms the rights and privileges Jesus furnished for us. Through Jesus Christ we have forgiveness of our sin, an advocate with the father, we have been set free in liberty of the spirit, and as our high priest we have access to God. Faith is required to please God; and the better we advance our faith the more we know God. Moreover, with our faith in Christ Jesus our hearts have been sprinkled with the blood of forgiveness from an evil conscience. In addition, our bodies are washed with pure water from the water in our baptism location. Finally, the very next verse (Hebrews 10:23) informs us to hold fast to our confession of faith.
Debate Ten: Is faith a type of work?
I hope through our time together that you continue to examine one single verse of scripture by yielding to the Holy Spirit. When we discern what the Holy Spirit teaches by first filtering it through what we know the Bible teaches on the subject at hand. Let’s put this knowledge into practice by beginning in John. Please pray and read the following text.
John 3:3-7, “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus said to Him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?’ Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.'”
Record your first impressions of the first!
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