Will Faith Alone Save?

First of all, I'd like to point out that the definition of faith is, according to World Book Dictionary "belief in God or God's promises, religion, or spiritual things." So faith is belief. Can it, by itself, save your soul?? So many believe that it does. James 2:24 says, "You see that a man is justified by works and not faith alone." That is the only place in the New Testament where the Bible mentions the two words "faith" and "alone" beside each other. Never does it say that ALL you have to do is have faith, or believe only to be saved.

Now some will use Eph. 2:8-9 to say that baptism is an act and won't save us. First of all, works won't earn us salvation. It is a free gift of God, but we must obey His Word to recieve it. Faith and works work hand in hand as James 2 points out! Anyone who says faith alone saves does not take into account what James says.

A good metaphor is: Say you're out in a lake drowning. A man sees you and sends his son down with a rope to save you. His son throws the rope out to you. Because of his grace, he freely offers to save you. It is up to you to act upon it. If you only believe that it will save you, that's not good enough. You have to grab the rope to be pulled in. You must obey all of God's Word before you are saved.

For more info on the steps of salvation, click here.

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