Your question: Where does the Bible teach that there is "nothing else included"? (faith alone for salvation?).
Hey Ac28, I am sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you. I would like to respond to this post of yours and then I will answer the question you asked earlier.
1 Cor 15:1-4 All you need is to believe - faith. Nothing else is mentioned.
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
Agreed that this verse teaches the importance of believing. But it doesn't say that that is the ONLY thing necessary. As a matter of fact there is a contingency clause right there. It says "by which ye are saved,
if ye keep in memory what I preached to you..."
That contingency clause shows that it is possible to NOT keep in memory what they should and risk losing their faith and salvation. It says you are saved IF......
This writing of Paul's ties to Jesus' words when He says "whoever endureth to the end will be saved."
Which means endurance to the end is necessary. That is something different than believing.
Eph 2:8-9 Nothing but faith - no works.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Agreed. Salvation is by God's grace through faith. But it doesn't say by faith ONLY and as a matter of fact you left off verse 10 which says: "For we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works
Can't say "no works in sight" here. They are part of the faith that saves. They are not optional.
,..."
Eph 1:13-14 Once you believe Paul's Gospel (above), you're sealed with the Holy Spirit and have permanent salvation.
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
The verse doesn't say that salvation is permanent. And that would contradicts the contingency clause in 1 Corinthians 15 above that said "by which ye are saved, IF...."
Act 16:30-31 Nothing but faith.
And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
And 2 verses later they were baptized. Why? For show? Baptism is just a show? Kindof superfluous and unnecessary and a waste of time really, then.
Unless.....baptism actually has an effect on the person.
John 3:16 Many have gotten saved from this verse. Here again, all you need do is believe.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Love this verse. But it doesn't say belief is all that we need. It (like the other verses you have brought up) show the necessity of having faith/believing. But it doesn't say that is all that is needed. It just doesn't say that.
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Someone mentioned Mark 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. In the Gospels, Christ was ministering ONLY to Israel - Matthew 10:5, Matthew 15:24, Romans 15:8, John 1:31. Of course, everything in the Gospels is truth and Christ's words are blessed. It's just that the Gospels weren't addressed to me or you, as Gentiles.
So then what are we to do with Christ's words?
Ignore them all if we wish?
Follow them all if we wish?
Or pick and choose which ones we like and fit with our theology and follow those, but reject the ones that we don't like and don't fit with our theology and don't follow those?
It also seems to me that you have a glaring contradiction.
If Christ was ministering ONLY to Israel, as you say. Then John 3:16 cannot apply to Gentiles. Gentiles cannot be saved by Christ's words in John 3:16. After all, Jesus was ministering ONLY to Israel and He was obviously talking to a Pharisee named Nicodemus here.
I've never met a Christian who would admit that Christians do not need to be born again. But earlier in John 3, Jesus speaks of being born again and He is again talking to the Pharisee Nicodemus. But those words do not apply to Gentiles if your logic is correct.
Do you believe Christians have to be born again or not?
If yes, why? Jesus was ministering ONLY to Israel and was speaking to a Jewish Pharisee named Nicodemus when he taught about it. How can that apply to Gentiles?
In another place, Christ said to keep the commandments to get saved - Mt 19:16-17. That's not for you or me either. Besides being for Israel, it conflicts with Eph 2:8-9, where Paul says that NO works are necessary for salvation.
Paul does not say that NO works are necessary....look at verse 10.
Also, look at Romans 2:6-7: "...who “will render to each one according to his deeds”:eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality;..."
If I use your logic here I could say: "See. No belief in sight. God gives rewards to each person based on their deeds/works/obedience. To some He will give eternal life. No faith in sight. It looks like obedience is all that is needed."
Here's another one: Hebrews 5:9:"And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,"
There we go again. No faith in sight. No belief in sight. Obviously, all we need is obedience.
You wouldn't accept that. I don't either.
But I don't see how that logic is any less valid than the logic you are using when you quote a verse that shows the importance of belief and conclude "that's all that is needed."
I think it is important to look at
all of the verses that speak to a topic and not just
some of them.
You have mentioned some that speak of the importance of faith/belief. But none of them say faith/belief alone. There are other verses that speak about the importance of forgiving others (but no faith/belief). There are verses that speak about eternal life being a reward for doing good (but no faith/belief), etc. There are more.
When we do a little more digging we can find that Paul did write about faith combined with something else. You just avoided those verses:
Galatians 5:6-7: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love."
What is important Paul?
"Just Faith. Period. Just Faith alone with nothing else included." Nope. That is not what he said.
He said "faith working through love." Since faith and love are not the same thing....that is faith with something else. That is not faith all by itself.
He also shows this in 1 Corinthians 13:2 where he says, "and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing."
Faith, without love, makes one nothing. That is what Paul says.
Now, IF what you mean by "faith alone" is what Paul is talking about here. A faith working through love. Then we can stop because I agree with you 100%. We are saved by Faith alone in that sense.
But I don't see how that can be called faith "with nothing else included" because obviously love is included.
When things obviously conflict, it's usually because one didn't rightly divide, 2 Tim 2:15.
And who can tell who is rightly dividing and who is not? How can an individual person tell if they are rightly dividing or not? Seems like a recipe for a free for all to me and every person who has their own belly button gets to decide for themselves how they want to divide or not divide. No wonder there is so much disunity in Christianity.
Not really. Not if you are a Christian. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.
Since Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles and Jesus Christ was a minister to Israel. I "try the things that differ" - see margin - Phil 1:10, then rightly divide the 2 verses and choose Pauls.
I don't want to offend you but I am going to be honest here....without claiming the charism of infallibility, how do you know that you or anybody else is or is not rightly dividing? Rightly dividing looks to me an awful lot like cherry-picking verses that do fit my theology (like accepting John 3:16, for example even though that was intended for Jews only) and rejecting those that don't fit my theology (like Christ's words in John 6 about eating His flesh and drinking His blood).
It must be your turn.[/QUOTE]
I will try to answer your other question tomorrow.
Peace.
