Featured How To Get To Heaven When You Die

Interesting post.

The “fruit from faith” statement.

Am I assuming that you are posting that faith produces fruit or are you mixing fruit and works, for James links the results of true faith is works.

The declaration of true belief is the result of the changed core of the person. The declaration is not to gain that change.

There are some that will contend the opposit is the truth, but even the worldly understand that unless a person has a change of the very core then any results are not long lasting

This is one of the truths of the parable of the sower and seed.

In order to bear fruit, one must have the Holy Spirit which produces the fruit in which no human law can prevent.

 

Faith comes which always brings fruit, as that seems to be one lesson from really the entirety of Romans 4. Faith is credited to us as righteousness. The Law brings wrath, but faith brings salvation. However, faith that will stand at the Judgment will produce works (James 2:14).

That said, I am debating if we can lose our salvation by abandoning faith. Whether we have the free will to do so. But that is a discussion for another thread really.

 

I would be a little careful about using “credit” with faith.

The word “credit” generally is taken as some manner of guarantee of payment is shown, that credit might be extended with the understanding that payment made or anticipated payment is warranted based on the ability of the one in which credit is extended.

Faith cannot be put in such a light and remain within the Scriptural principle.

 

This is the fault of the thinking that faith has to be self generated so that if some acceptable measure is met it is “credited” as salvation, therefore, if faith is “lost” one also looses salvation. This is unfortunate, but the typically popular view.

Scripture does present a view in which God as the Sovereign dispenses that “measure of faith” (Romans 12:3) in which He determines is necessary to be used in the specific task of a believer in the assembly. All determined by what God sets as His purpose (2 Timothy 1).

There is no “loosing salvation” because Christ is both the author and the finisher of the faith (Hebrews 12:2)

Hope this helps clarify your thinking.

 

We do not get saved by praying a prayer, being baptized, asking Jesus into our hearts, confessing our sins, joining a church, cleaning up our lives, doing penance, taking the bread and the wine, believing a set of facts, or doing all these thing accumulative.


Salvation takes repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Acts 20:21. Make no mistake. We cannot be a friend of Christ and remain a rebel against God. The word repent, from the Greek word “metanoia”, means a change of mind or direction. That change is not 50%, 75%, or 99%. It is 100% or we are not repenting.



God is not receiving those who almost or kind of repent. It is like the word about face which is a 180 degree turn. We turn from not wanting God fully in our lives to accepting Him fully in our lives.



When any person comes to the place where they are broken over their sin to the point they want to get right with God no matter what it will cost them they are in a state/spirit of repentance toward God.

We then take that heart we have towards God and place it on the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Master and that becomes faith. At that moment God’s grace through Christ is applied to us and we are born again, saved from eternal hell and sealed by the Spirit so that we will never again return to the practice of sinning. 1John 3:9,10.

Repentance of sin is the result of the new birth/salvation and will be part of the sanctification process and our new life with the Lord Jesus Christ, Eph 2:10. While we may sin from time to time after salvation it will not be our practice 1John 3:9,10.



John 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.