St. Paul's Faith Alone vs. Jesus Teaching to Obey,
for Salvation Through Jesus

NAB 1TH 3:2

. . . .and send you Timothy. He is our brother and God's fellow worker in preaching the gospel of Christ, and so we sent him to strengthen and encourage you in regard to your faith lest any of you be shaken by these trials. (1TH 3:4-3:8)

NAB ROM 11:17

If some of the branches were cut off and you, a branch of the wild olive tree, have been grafted in among the others and have come to share in the rich root of the olive, do not boast against the branches. If you do boast, remember that you do not support the root; the root supports you. You will say, "Branches were cut off that I might be grafted in." Well and good. They were cut off because of unbelief and you are there because of faith. Do not be haughty on that account, but fearful. If God did not spare the natural branches, he will certainly not spare you.
Consider the kindness and the severity of God severity toward those who fell, kindness toward you, provided you remained in his kindness; if you do not, you too will be cut off. And if the Jews do not remain in their unbelief they will be grafted back on, for God is able to do this. If you were cut off from the natural wild olive and, contrary to nature, were grafted into the cultivated olive, so much the more will they who belong to it by nature be grafted into their own olive tree.

NAB 2PE 2:20

When men have fled a polluted world by recognizing the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and then are caught up and overcome in pollution once more, their last condition is worse than their first. It would have been better for them not to have recognized the road to holiness than to have turned their backs on the holy law handed on to them, once they had known it. How well the proverb fits them: "The dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow bathes by wallowing in the mire."

Trees, rocks, stars, light, cows, and mountains are not unfaithful to God. The difference between a rock being not unfaithful and doing the will of God and man being faithful to God is that man, unlike the rock, chooses faithfulness. Some think of man like a rock in that the only way he is not unfaithful is by God making him so. They are wrong. You cannot be obedient unless you have the option to be disobedient. You cannot love God unless you have the option not to love God. You can not have faith unless you have the option not to have faith.

Faith is a marvelous equilibrium that God has allowed us. To love God we are to obey Him, but when we fail, our zeal to obey and be His followers stands in obedience's place because of Jesus' blood. In the following scripture you will see sinners coming through Jesus mercy into eternal life by faith. This whole story is a grand view of free-willed acts of faith and how faith interrelates with obedience, love and salvation.

NAB 2MC 7:1 Martyrdom of a Mother and Her Sons.

It also happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king, to force them to eat pork in violation of God's law. One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said: What do you expect to achieve by questioning us? We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors.

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NAB 2MC 7:3 At that the king, in a fury, gave orders to have pans and caldrons heated. While they were being quickly heated, he commanded his executioners to cut out the tongue of the one who had spoken for the others, to scalp him and cut off his hands and feet, while the rest of his brothers and his mother looked on. When he was completely maimed but still breathing, the king ordered them to carry him to the fire and fry him. As a cloud of smoke spread from the pan, the brothers and their mother encouraged one another to die bravely, saying such words as these: "The LORD God is looking on, and he truly has compassion on us, as Moses declared in his canticle, when he protested openly with the words, 'And he will have pity on his servants.'"
When the first brother had died in this manner, they brought the second to be made sport of. After tearing off the skin and hair of his head, they asked him, "Will you eat the pork rather than have your body tortured limb by limb?" Answering in the language of his forefathers, he said, "Never!" So he too in turn suffered the same tortures as the first. At the point of death he said: "You accursed fiend, you are depriving us of this present life, but the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever. It is for his laws that we are dying."

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NAB 2MC 7:10 After him the third suffered their cruel sport. He put out his tongue at once when told to do so, and bravely held out his hands, as he spoke these noble words: "It was from Heaven that I received these: for the sake of his laws I disdain them." Even the king and his attendants marveled at the young man's courage, because he regarded his sufferings as nothing.
After he had died, they tortured and maltreated the fourth brother in the same way. When he was near death, he said, "It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the God-given hope of being restored to life by him; but for you there will be no resurrection to life. "
They next brought forward the fifth brother and maltreated him. Looking at the king, he said: "Since you have power among men, mortal though you are, do what you please. But do not think that our nation is forsaken by God. Only wait, and you will see how his great power will torment you and your descendants. "
After him they brought the sixth brother. When he was about to die, he said: "Have no vain illusions. We suffer these things on our own account, because we have sinned against our God; that is why such astonishing things have happened to us. Do not think, then, that you will go unpunished for having dared to fight against God."

NAB 2TH 1:3

It is no more than right that we thank God unceasingly for you, brothers, because your faith grows apace and your mutual love increases; so much so that in God's communities we can boast of your constancy and your faith in persecution and trial. You endure these as an expression of God's just judgment, in order to be found worthy of his kingdom - it is for his kingdom you suffer - even if strict justice would require that God visit hardships on those who visit them on you. He will provide relief to you who are sorely tried, as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels; when "with flaming power he will inflict punishment on those who do not acknowledge God nor heed" the good news of our Lord Jesus. Such as these will suffer the penalty of eternal ruin apart from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his might on the Day when he comes, to be glorified in his holy ones and adored by all who have believed - for you already have our witness to you.

INT PRO 16:6

Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the Lord a man avoids evil.

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NAB 2MC 7:20 Most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was the mother, who saw her seven sons perish in a single day, yet bore it courageously because of her hope in the LORD. Filled with a noble spirit that stirred her womanly heart with manly courage, she exhorted each of them in the language of their forefathers with these words: "I do not know how you came into existence in my womb; it was not I who gave you the breath of life, nor was it I who set in order the elements of which each of you is composed. Therefore, since it is the Creator of the universe who shapes each man's beginning, as he brings about the origin of everything, he, in his mercy, will give you back both breath and life, because you now disregard yourselves for the sake of his law."

NAB JOH 3:3

Jesus gave him this answer: "I solemnly assure you, no one can see the reign of God unless he is begotten from above." "How can a man be born again once he is old?" retorted Nicodemus. "Can he return to his mother's womb and be born over again?" Jesus replied: "I solemnly assure you, no one can enter into God's kingdom without being begotten of water and Spirit."

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NAB 2MC 7:24 Antiochus, suspecting insult in her words, thought he was being ridiculed. As the youngest brother was still alive, the king appealed to him, not with mere words, but with promises on oath, to make him rich and happy if he would abandon his ancestral customs: he would make him his Friend and entrust him with high office. When the youth paid no attention to him at all, the king appealed to the mother, urging her to advise her boy to save his life.

NAB MAT 16:24

Jesus then said to his disciples: "If a man wishes to come after me, he must deny his very self, take up his cross, and begin to follow in my footsteps. Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would a man show if he were to gain the whole world and destroy himself in the process? What can a man offer in exchange for his very self? The Son of Man will come with his Fathers glory accompanied by his angels. When he does, he will repay each man according to his conduct." (JOH 12:25) (LUK 17:33)

NAB MAT 10:28

"Do not fear those who deprive the body of life but cannot destroy the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna." (LUK 12:4)

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NAB 2MC 7:26 After he had urged her for a long time, she went through the motions of persuading her son. In derision of the cruel tyrant, she leaned over close to her son and said in their native language: "Son, have pity on me, who carried you in my womb for nine months, nursed you for three years, brought you up, educated and supported you to your present age. I beg you, child, to look at the heavens and the earth and see all that is in them; then you will know that God did not make them out of existing things; and in the same way the human race came into existence. Do not be afraid of this executioner, but be worthy of your brothers and accept death, so that in the time of mercy I may receive you again with them."

NAB HEB 11:35

Women received back their dead through resurrection. Others were tortured and would not receive deliverance, in order to obtain a better resurrection.

NAB DAN 12:13

Go, take your rest, you shall rise for your reward at the end of days.

NAB PSA 41:11

"But you, O LORD, have pity on me, and raise me up, that I may repay them." That you love me I know by this, that my enemy does not triumph over me, But because of my integrity you sustain me and let me stand before you forever. (PSA 71:20-23)

Upon Jesus resurrection he is born again. The mother tells her son to choose to remain faithful to God's will to the end and she will receive him, the fruit of her womb, for a second time. The mother tells her son that after death the Creator will breath life into him for a second time. In fulfilling faith and obedience to God the son will be born again and resurrect into his mothers arms for a second time.

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NAB 2MC 7:30 She had scarcely finished speaking when the youth said: "What are you waiting for? I will not obey the king's command. I obey the command of the law given to our forefathers through Moses. But you, who have contrived every kind of affliction for the Hebrews, will not escape the hands of God. We indeed, are suffering because of our sins. Though our living LORD treats us harshly for a little while to correct us with chastisements, he will again be reconciled with his servants. But you, wretch, vilest of all men! do not, in your insolence, concern yourself with unfounded hopes, as you raise your hand against the children of Heaven. You have not yet escaped the judgment of the almighty and all-seeing God. My brothers, after enduring brief pain, have drunk of never-failing life, under God's covenant but you, by the judgment of God, shall receive just punishments for your arrogance."

NAB 1JO 3:1

See what love the Father has bestowed on us in letting us be called children of God!

It is under God's covenant of creation to Adam, covenant of circumcision to Israelites and covenant of baptism to Christians that we become fleshly Children of Heaven. A Child of Heaven has the option to turn away from God in times of adversity and lose the eternal life-saving covenant. It is those remaining faithful and obedient to God's covenant till death, like the martyred mother and seven sons, who will be reborn to eternal new life through the mercy of Jesus Christ.

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NAB 2MC 7:37 "Like my brothers, I offer up my body and my life for our ancestral laws, imploring God to show mercy soon to our nation, and by afflictions and blows to make you confess that he alone is God."

NAB MAT 5:16

"In the same way, your light must shine before men so that they may see goodness in your acts and give praise to your heavenly Father."

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NAB 2MC 7:38 "Through me and my brothers, may there be an end to the wrath of the Almighty that has justly fallen on our whole nation." At that, the king became enraged and treated him even worse than the others, since he bitterly resented the boy's contempt. Thus he too died undefiled, putting all his trust in the LORD.

You cannot love God yet think it all right to choose disobedience. You cannot choose the option of disobedience yet claim fidelity. Without fidelity in ones heart what love can you have for God? Faith, obedience and love are all tied together. Some people cast out love and obedience and claim that only faith is needed to inherit salvation. I ask them though how can your faith in Christ grow while you choose to hate Him with all your heart? How can your level of faith in Christ remain unchanged when you choose to betray and disobey Him?

Could Abraham be faithful to God and disobey Him in the same act? Because Abraham had faith it was accredited to him as justice. How did Abraham have allegiance, fidelity, trust, and confidence - all of which are faith in God? Abraham showed God faith through obedience. God commanded that Abraham sacrifice his son and Abraham had faith in God through his obedience. Abraham could not have maintained or increased his level of faith in God had he chose to disobey. Abraham had the opportunity to love God and the option to hate God. Abraham did not lose these options when he acquired faith. Abraham could have had faith strong enough to move mountains, yet if he had used his option not to love God, of what value would his faith have been (1CO 13:2)?

NAB JAM 2:18

To such a person one might say, "You have faith and I have works is that it? Show me your faith without works, and I will show you the faith that underlies my works!" Do you believe that God is one? You are quite right. The demons believe that, and shudder. Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that without works faith is idle? Was not our father Abraham justified by his works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? There you see proof that faith was both assisting his works and implemented by his works. You also see how the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as justice"; for this he received the title "God's friend."
You must perceive that a person is justified by his works and not by faith alone. Rahab the harlot will illustrate the point. Was she not justified by her works when she harbored the messengers and sent them out by a different route? Be assured, then, that faith without works is as dead as a body without breath.

NAB GEN 22:15

Again the LORD's messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said: "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing - all this because you obeyed my command."

NAB HEB 11:17

By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac; he who had received the promises was ready to sacrifice his only son, of whom it was said, "Through Isaac shall your descendants be called." He reasoned that God was able to raise from the dead, and so he received Isaac back as a symbol.

NAB REV 14:12

This is what sustains the holy ones, who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. I heard a voice from heaven say to me: Write this down: Happy now are the dead who die in the Lord! The Spirit added, "Yes, they shall find rest from their labors, for their good works accompany them."

Love, obedience and faith are one, and one are three as the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are One. Three are one and one are three as our loving Father, obedient Jesus and faithful saints, when begotten into the Holy Spirit, will be One in heaven. God accepts Abraham's faith as obedience and love. And Abraham's obedience is love and faith for God. Israelites or Christians who are faithless and disobey but repent will be seen faithful and obedient because they now love.

Faith, love and obedience do not function independent of one another. A choice of disobedience results in a decrease of faith. An act of obedience increases your faith. An act of faith is seen as an increase in obedience and love. Repentance to love can override faithlessness and disobedience. However, love is an obedient and faithful heart.

NAB 1TI 1:5

What we are aiming at in this warning is the love that springs from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. Some people have neglected these and instead have turned to meaningless talk, wanting to be teachers of the law but actually not understanding the words they are using, much less the matters they discuss with such assurance.

NAB GAL 5:6

In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor the lack of it counts for anything; only faith, which expresses itself through love.

NAB 1TI 1:19

and hold fast to faith and a good conscience. Some men, by rejecting the guidance of conscience, have made a shipwreck of their faith,

NAB LUK 7:47

"I tell you, that is why her many sins are forgiven - because of her great love. Little is forgiven the one whose love is small." He said to her then, "Your sins are forgiven"; at which his fellow guests began to ask among themselves, "Who is this that he even forgives sins?" Meanwhile he said to the woman, "Your faith has been your salvation. Now go in peace."

NAB JOH 14:14

"Anything you ask me in my name I will do. If you love me and obey the commands I give you."

NAB MAT 21:22

"You will receive all that you pray for, provided you have faith."

Faith Love and Obedience, three as one, bring sinners into the saving merciful hands of Jesus Christ.

NAB SIR 2:1

My son, when you come to serve the LORD, prepare yourself for trials. Be sincere of heart and steadfast, undisturbed in time of adversity. Cling to him, forsake him not; thus will your future be great. Accept whatever befalls you, in crushing misfortune be patient; For in fire gold is tested, and worthy men in the crucible of humiliation. Trust God and he will help you; make straight your ways and hope in him. You who fear the LORD, wait for his mercy, turn not away lest you fall. You who fear the LORD, trust him, and your reward will not be lost. You who fear the LORD hope for good things, for lasting joy and mercy. Study the generations long past and understand; has anyone hoped in the LORD and been disappointed? Has anyone persevered in his fear and been forsaken? has anyone called upon him and been rebuffed? Compassionate and merciful is the LORD; he forgives sins, he saves in time of trouble. Woe to craven hearts and drooping hands, to the sinner who treads a double path! Woe to the faint of heart who trust not, who therefore will have no shelter! Woe to you who have lost hope! what will you do at the visitation of the LORD? Those who fear the LORD disobey not his words; those who love him keep his ways. Those who fear the LORD seek to please him, those who love him are filled with his law. Those who fear the LORD prepare their hearts and humble themselves before him. Let us fall into the hands of the LORD and not into the hands of men, For equal to his majesty is the mercy that he shows.