By Faith Alone?

There is no question, Christians are saved "by faith alone". But let’s examine a couple of different interpretations of the term:

The Protestant churches' way.
The true biblical way.

1. By Faith Alone - The Protestant churches’ way:

(Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Baptists, etc.)

Do nothing
Read Bible passages not contradicting to the church's theology.
Be creative with your prayers. Which is rubbish to God! He can’t hear it unless you're filled with the Holy Spirit!
Tithe 10% based on the obsolete Leviticus law of Moses (Hebrews 7:5 Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people - that is, from their fellow Israelites), which, now in the new covenant is considered "works".
And sing hymns & wave arms.
Basically similar to believing in Santa Claus!

2. By Faith Alone - The biblical way:

Learn Jesus’ commands and keep them, John 14:15, 1 John‬ 2:4‬. Examples:

- Pray the Lord’s Prayer once a day as Jesus instructed based on the new covenant of God. So you become filled with the Holy Spirit.

- Forgive others so God forgives you.

- Seek God and His kingdom by studying the whole Bible, including the parts contradicting to your church's agenda.

First become filled with the Holy Spirit, then He can hear your other prayers and requests.
No works of the flesh, and no salvation-by-good-deeds. See my James article.
Donation? "Any gift is good" per the apostle Paul, Philippians 4:16-18. No need for 10%, Hosea 6:6 I don’t want your sacrifices - I want your love; I don’t want your offerings - I want you to know me.
Singing hymns is good, after following the above points.

Which “by faith alone” is the right one?

#2 does not contradict the principle of "by faith alone" in any way! What’s wrong with worshipping God once a day as specified in Jesus' Prayer?! Church members are good people. But church leaders, seminary college professors, and decision makers are to blame!

If you’ve seen these Bible passages you’d agree with the #2 biblical meaning:

John 14:15 Jesus said:

“If you love me, keep my commands."

1 John‬ ‭2:4‬

“The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and yet doesn’t keep His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

Jesus has specific new-covenant commands throughout the New Testament.

Paul introduced Jesus to the Gentiles. But Protestants ran with the intro as the complete message!!

1 Corinthians 3:1-2 Paul said:

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.

Protestant church leaders found a way to remain forever "milk, not solid food"!!! And still collect their 10% tithing using the obsolete "tithing" law of Moses!!! But the innocent church-members are the duped victims!! Blaming the church for it, will not get you off the hook on judgement day!

3. Protestants Act Like the Book of James Does Not Belong in the Bible!!

Let's first be clear. James did not say we earn salvation by our good deeds!! No no no! He said your good works are an indication of your genuine faith! Some examples:

‭‭James‬ ‭2‬:‭24‬ ‭ “You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.”

‭‭James‬ ‭2‬:‭17‬ ‭“In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

James‬ ‭1‬:‭22‬-‭25‬ ‭ “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”

Are you a Protestant person? Do you see these "sola scriptura" verses? Please run them by your church minister.

4. "By faith alone" meant no added works of the law of Moses

It is in the Bible, but your church missed it:

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭2‬:‭16

“know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”

Acts‬ ‭15‬:‭5‬-‭7‬, 15:11‬

Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.” … Peter got up and addressed them: ... No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are…

The Lord's Prayer prayed once a day, is not works of the law! And is not repetitive! Jesus said daily, not me! It is to receive the Bread of life for forgiveness of sins and receive the Holy Spirit. Where did I come up with this? Look here: The Lord's Prayer is Insanely Misunderstood

Protestant churches and their people MEMORIZED verse 13 in this passage, but have no idea that verse 14 even existed!!

Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ Paul:

13 “for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”‭‭

👉 Verse 14 - How can they call on His name without knowing Him??!! Do they know His commands? No. Do they understand His parables? No. Their church convinced them these were meant for the Jews!!!

Paul assumed people upon hearing and believing, that surely they would go digging in the scriptures to learn everything Jesus said and apply it to their lives. Protestant churches ignore verses like the ones above, and instead, they call it: "By faith alone and nothing else, nothing, nothing else at all, nothing at all". And of course, Catholics are on the other extreme side of lost, added purgatory conditions etc. Protestants and Catholics are both extremely lost!!

In those days, Paul pressed hard the message of "by faith alone; not by works". This was due to two reasons:

1. He was trying to explain to his fellow Jews that they no longer needed to do any of the requirements of Moses, that Jesus fulfilled them. He and other disciples of Jesus spent a lot of time explaining to the Jews that their works of the flesh was no longer needed. And therefore many pages of the New Testament are filled with the term "by faith not by works".

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭2‬-‭3

“Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.”

2. He was facing a difficult situation at the time, where the Gentiles general public feeling was that some works of the flesh had to be done for the forgiveness of sins. Add to that the strong influence from the Jews, who kept poisoning the early church with their flesh requirements, as in the example reference above. Paul kept drilling in the message of "NO, it is by faith alone; you don't need to do anything else in the flesh..." This is why we see this statement a lot in Paul's teaching, "saved by faith alone, not by works..."

Do you have a favorite verse? Please stop that!

- Romans 10:13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

- Matthew 7:21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven...

The Bible is contradicting? No!!! You have to read the whole Bible to understand. You can't pick and choose your favorite verses and run with them! If anybody asks you this popular question, "what is your favorite verse in the Bible?" Start running the other way. No one understands!! No one cares to truly seek God!!

A guy emailed me recently asking, how is it that the criminal on the cross next to Jesus was saved instantly, and we have to go through a different process to be saved? I answered, "that criminal had minutes to live. He declared belief in Jesus as the Messiah, and Jesus granted him salvation. Had the criminal lived a full life after that, he would have been required to be renewed day by day like the rest of us." He never wrote back.

Are you a "Do Nothing" "Lip-Service" Believer?

God has a custom verse just for you:

Matthew 15:8 "These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me."

"Their hearts are far from Me" means, they refuse to learn Jesus' commands and they refuse to keep them - they just want to "do nothing"!!!

And Isaiah prophesied about you!

Isaiah 30:7 ...to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless. Therefore I call her Rahab the Do-Nothing.

Please stop the "do-nothing"; you're becoming spiritually dead. You're "honoring God with your lips, but your heart is far from Him". A big difference between "Works" and "Spiritual Requirements":

Works of the law: Also called "works of the flesh", means earthly efforts or still trying to apply the Jewish law - Circumcision, tithe 10%, sacrifices, refrain from certain foods, do a lot of good deeds to offset the bad, etc..

Not works of the law / flesh: Spiritual requirements that Jesus commanded: seek God, diligently study the Bible, pray the Lord's Prayer daily, forgive others, etc.. These are only some of Jesus' commands required for spiritual growth! Jesus' commands are in His parables, and in the Sermon on the Mount.