If I were to ask you if we are saved by faith, what would your answer be? If I were to ask you if we are saved by works, what would your answer be? If you answered yes to both questions, you are right. W are saved by both faith and works. It is important to understand, however, that it is specific kinds of faith and works that save. In truth, some faith will not save you.
James 2:24 (KJV)
24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
In the context of this verse, James tells us that faith apart from works is useless (ver. 20).
It is also true that some works will not save us.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (KJV)
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
So, what kind of faith saves us? The answer is simple. It is not faith alone. It is not faith without works. It is the same faith that Abraham had, that is, an obedient faith.
James 2:21-22 (ESV)
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works;
Now, what kind of works saves us? Again, the answer is simple. It is not perfect or meritorious works. It is certainly not what Paul called “works of the law,” which, by the way, is the same thing as perfect works (Galatians 2:16). Since the law demanded perfect doing (Romans 2:13), not making sufficient provisions for sin (Hebrews 10:1-4), the only way to be justified by the law would be to live a perfect, sinless life. This is why Paul indicated that justification by the law would lead to boasting.
Romans 3:27 (ESV)
27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.
Why would the law of works not exclude boasting? It is because it involves perfection. One would be earning his salvation if he lived without sin. The problem is we all sin (Romans 3:23); thus, no one is justified by the law (Romans 3:20).
We know, then, what kind of faith and works save us, and which do not. Why is there so much confusion on this subject? It is because the majority of people in the religious world today have been taught that faith alone saves. It comes from misunderstanding Paul’s teachings.
Most believe when Paul taught that we are not saved by works, the works referred to anything that man does, including acts of obedience. The misunderstanding can be easily resolved when one realizes that the contrast Paul makes between faith and works is not one of faith and obedience, but rather, one of faith and sinless living.
What joy it is to know we can be saved despite our imperfections, as long as we continue to have the proper kind of faith, that is, a faith made perfect by works of obedience.
As you wind down for the night, think about these things.