'Grace Alone' or 'Grace through Faith'?

The Ephesians were a a special group of people. They were converted through Paul's teaching (Acts 19) and received a beautiful epistle from him later on (Ephesians). A popular phrase "saved by grace alone" is commonly attributed to the Ephesian letter in 2:8-10. But did you know that the Ephesians were not saved by grace alone? They were saved by grace through faith. What is the difference?

[pauluskim]

Wrong. "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." (Hebrews 11, 1) Its simple believing. It is this kind of faith needed to please God. Faith itself does not mean obedience, but it results in it. Eating an ice cream results in gaining weight, but it does not mean gaining weight. Just because the ephesians did all kinds of stuff as a result of their faith it does not mean that this was what faith itself is and that the results thereof saved them. The belief that one is really only saved by faith differs from the belief that one is saved by faith and having to repent and living a better life. Only the first one causes us to produce the right fruits

[crown]

Obedience is not a requirement for justification, but rather it is part of our sanctification. We are saved by Grace, through Faith. No where else does it mention that we add works. The thief on the cross who chose Jesus could do no works with his faith, and yet he was saved. This video complicates salvation.

[ronevartt]

Mat 19:16 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" Mat 19:17 And he said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. IF you would enter life, keep the commandments."

Mar 10:17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Mar 10:18 And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. Mar 10:19 You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother. Mar 10:20 And he said to him, "Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth." Mar 10:21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."

Luk 18:18 And a ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Luk 18:19 And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. Luk 18:20 You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.'" Luk 18:21 And he said, "All these I have kept from my youth." Luk 18:22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."

Joh 14:15 “IF you love me, YOU WILL keep my commandments.

Joh 15:10 IF you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

1Jn 2:3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, IF we keep his commandments. 1Jn 2:4 Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 1Jn 2:5 but whoever keeps his word (Commandments), in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 1Jn 2:6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

1Jn 3:22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

1Jn 3:23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.

1Jn 3:24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

1Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

Did you know Jesus gave us over 1, 000 commandments in the New Testament! That He expounded upon the law given to Moses, and didn’t change it, as Deuteronomy states:

Deu 18:17 And the LORD said to me, 'They are right in what they have spoken. Deu 18:18 I will raise up for them a prophet (Jesus) like you (Moses) from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command him. Deu 18:19 And whoever will not listen to my words (Commandments) that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.

The TRUTH is The Word of God, and NOT the doctrines of men…

[Joshuadaniel-dh]

I think you misunderstand the concept of Faith here. When Paul said that you are saved by Grace through Faith it means that we have to believe in the Grace that God has shown us through what Jesus Christ did on the cross. You're right in saying that Grace alone does not save because God's Grace is poured out unto all creation by the death of Christ on the cross, yet the world is not universally saved, as they need to believe in His death and Resurrection to be saved. However, (points 3-5) is our response in being saved. When we get saved, we start to turn away from the world and sin as the Holy Spirit gives us our new life and sanctifies daily, we also start to proclaim the name of Jesus to the world and finally get baptized. Points 3-5 are not pre-requisites to be saved, rather they are the fruits of salvation.

[SuperDinoAsa]

Thank you so much for this. I was so confused and I couldn’t understand, but this has really cleared everything up. God bless you for everything you do. You really are changing lives thank you.

[dedios]

Grace "alone" has t be said because as if the apostle Paul didn't say it himself people keep saying as you say. He says it over and over i his letters....not by works of righteousness but by His mercy...not of works...if it be work it no longer is grace and vice versa...and finally he tells them of we start in grace we grow in grace. Grace in the Apostle Paul's letters implies alone. That is in fact his whole argument Romans Galatians and Ephesians! We are in fact saved by grace which implies alone meaning there is no human Merit at the beginning at the middle or at the end of your life because Grace has Paul says is not Grace if you had any work to it because they cancel out each other. That is why he famously says in Galatians....

Galatians 3:11-12

New International Version

11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, (A) because “the righteous will live by faith.”[a](B) 12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”

Galatians 3:3 (KJV) ~~ Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

baptism in water is an outwardly expression of an inward truth that we are baptized by the Holy Spirit into Christ in the Inner Man and we are a new creation created in true Holiness by The Obedience of Jesus and not our own for by the Disobedience of one came condemnation so by The Obedience of one came justification by faith in his perfect work. The only baptism that saves is to be baptized by faith by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ.

Sono in a sense we are not saved by grace alone but by grace through faith and this faith is void of any work as Roman tells us but for him that work is not but believes on the one that justifies the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness. we simply say grace alone and we shouldn't because it is understood the grace must be alone and apart from our works but so that people may understand that Grace is just that we have to say alone but it is grace alone through the vehicle of faith apart from works of of righteousness that we have done.

as you can see Romans make the distinction.

1. him that works not

2. Without works simply beliefs

3. his faith that has no works is counted for righteousness

why because God only accepts perfect work for salvation and that perfect work is found in the person of Jesus Christ who by the spirit offered his body in perfect obedience to the father and has now manifested the righteousness of God by faith apart from works as Romans tells us.

James is simply wisdom literature to already saved people on how they can escape our father's judgment in this life and the one to come and how to make that Faith alive and a prophet to others.

all of this is simply a teaching that Faith somehow always always produces works and this is not true we Must Be watchful because our faith may not produce any works if we let the cares of this life stop our growth in faith and we may end up not bearing the fruit that Jesus wants Witcher and holy and be filled with many sorrows in this life in the one to come when we lose what God had an eternity for us raining with him but our home and our son ship is secured by The Obedience of Christ and we will be with him forever because of his great love towards us

[rksamuels]

I don’t believe this was an accurate exegesis of the scriptures posted. Indeed, grace alone saves - yet our reception to this grace is by faith. Baptism is not salvific, it’s an outward expression of your confession.

[claudettenava]

Beautifully put, I would love to see a Spanish version of this

[andrewnichols]

Grace alone through Faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone.

[EmeraldcityDT]

All work that you do is your own. Don’t twist the worlds to help your point. That would be called “adding to the word”

[colton]

I agree with most of this video, and good job. But it should be clear that repentance is a change of mind, leading to conversion (new heart). less sin will be the consequence of being born again. with human effort (the flesh) we cannot cease from sin. It’s only if we walk by the Spirit. It can’t be our job to stop sinning because that would be impossible. We must be born again first and then good deeds will come naturally.

Two other things I find important to understand:

water baptism plays no part in saving you, it is a celebration of your new birth in Christ. The spiritual baptism that happens after faith is our salvation, causing someone to become a new creature.

also Jesus Christ didn’t provide an atonement for our sins. The word “atonement” implies a temporary covering of sins through an animal sacrifice that reminded the children of Israel of their sins annually. What Jesus Christ accomplished is exponentially greater than those temporary sacrifices. He provided a propitiation, or ONCE FOR ALL forgiveness, which means He took away our sins in such a way that He chooses to remember them no more, treats us as if we’ve never done anything wrong, and we don’t earn more forgiveness by confession.

[robusc]

Great White Throne Judgement awaits those who place faith in their 'works' to be Judgement Seat of Christ (rewards) is only for believers who place only and all their trust in Christ ALONE for Salvation

[joebolling]

Justification by faith is for cleansing of our former sins. We can’t go on disobeying God “by faith” and expect to be waltzed into heaven afterward.

Unless we die immediately after our former sins are forgiven (on our death bed, or the thief on the cross, for example), we continue on in life and face various temptations. We’ll either choose to give into some of them or we’ll endure by taking the path of escape that God has promised to always provide. Christ is our intercessor for those who stumble and repent. Those who endure are approved, and those approved have the promise of eternal life and entry into heaven.

One could easily argue that one approved by God and given to Christ will never lose that status, but it certainly does not refer or apply to someone that has merely had their former sins forgiven.

[markrobby]

Grace thru faith, but is faith an act of works to you now, because it's not faith alone?it should be! Because grace offered, then you believed that thru faith, and that doesn't mean it's an act if works. My God, what a manipulation of what the Bible actually say. This sound dortrines cults like SDA or JW.

[joelmartinez]

0:03 You are totally wrong but I will believe you if you can show me One Person who was saved by calling on the name of Jesus and was saved by simply believing??? Let me answer that there is zero. I can give you example after example of people being saved in the book of Acts up to 3, 000 in one day. Read the story before John 3:16, jesus tells Nicodemus no one can enter I to the kingdom of Heaven unless you are born of the water and Spirit. Now let me take you to the COMMANDMENT and gift Jesus left us. Matthew 28:19-20 then let's see how mark said this same commandment in Mark 16: 15-16, Luke gave the Place where people will be saved in Luke 24: 46-47 and John tells us who will start the Birth of the very first Church under the Dispensation of Grace in John 21: 15-17. Now Jesus ascended and let's go to the next book which is the Birth of the Church which is the next book Acts. Peter obeyed the commandment after they received Power from the Holy Ghost in Acts 1:13-15, 2: 37-41, 120 plus 3, 000 were added to the CHURCH (Jews) in Acts 8:12-17 the Samaritans were saved one year later, in Acts 10: 12-17 the Gentiles were saved 8years later, in 19: 1-7 those Baptized by John the Baptist were rebaptized in Jesus name 22years later. So no where in the Bible will you find not ONE person simply believing in Jesus name and is saved it is non biblical and false. Repenting=death, Baptism =Burial and Holy Ghost = Resurrection as a new Creature, this is a COMMANDMENT not a work. The word not saved by works means you cant buy your way, be good, help others, or do good works to be saved. Repenting being Baptized and receiving the Holy Ghost is not being saved by works. This Doctrine you believe maybe only covers Repentance which is death, and there are alot of dead Christians walking this Earth who have not been buried nor Resurrected and put on Jesus GALATIANS 3:27. So my question to you is "ARE YOU SAVED AND PUT ON CHRIST?"

[steelmilkjug]

Tell me how you're going to do the works of God, the works that Save, without the Free Gift of the Spirit of Grace doing the work in you... without God working in you BOTH to WILL and to DO His own good pleasure? LOL !!! Without God's Spirit of Grace doing the work, you're just working yourself into a Pit. And then working to climb out of the bottomless black hole that is your own soul.

[TheSavioursServant]

By this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commands. The one who says, “I have come to know him, ” and does not keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him but whoever keeps his word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in him: the one who says he abides in him ought to walk just as he walked. 1 John 2:3-6

[statesman]

This topic cannot be summed up in a 7 minute video. You are trying to redefine the term "faith" to force the text to agree with your doctrine.

We are saved by grace alone, apart from works so that no one can boast. Works here refers to our efforts, which is why it says so that no one can boast. Your effort adds nothing to your salvation. Otherwise you would be boasting that you achieved salvation by your assistance to what Jesus achieved on the Cross. It clearly says apart from works. You mentioned James, but James is not talking about the same topic that Paul is talking about. They are not both talking about salvation. Only Paul is talking about eternal salvation.

The problem is that many people misinterpret the New Testament on this issue because they are not starting with the correct foundation of salvation is by faith alone, which Paul makes abundantly clear in Ephesians 2. The reason why this topic cannot be summed up in a 7 minute video is because with a wrong foundational understanding, so many other verses must also be corrected because these "faith & works for salvation" people are misinterpreting many verses and not seeing their own contradictions when they are trying to explain their doctrine.

[bobhubson]

Whichever interpretation you fancy, whichever resonates with you the best is correct!

That's the beauty of scripture. There are no incorrect interpretations so long as you come to them through genuine effort.

[steelmilkjug]

God does Light Work. Unless you do the Works of God, you cannot be saved. It is God who works in us both to will and to do His Good pleasure. You who think you are doing works for God... God needs your hands for nothing. Unless His Gives you His Spirit and His Spirit does His Light Works inside you, you are dead in your worthless works and deceived by your counterfeit faith.