Originally posted by DHK:
POSTED AGAIN FOR NEAL'S SAKE:
Let's look at the verse more carefully and examine what is what.
Ephesians 2:8-9 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.
First: "For by grace are ye saved"
Romans 11:6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
Paul makes it clear: if salvation is by grace, works have NOTHING to do with it. It is either by grace or by works. You can't have both. The one nullifies the other.
We know that salvation is by grace. Over and over the Scripture tells us that salvation is by grace. Three times in Ephesians two alone it tells that we are saved by grace. But what is grace? Simply defined grace is God's undeserved favor to man; that is all. It is the merit from God that we do not deserve. God doesn't have to send us rain; He doesn't have to make the sun to shine; He doesn't have to keep the air "breatheable" with oxygen; He doesn't have to keep the earth rotating on its axis and revolving around the sun. All of these he does through his grace and his mercy. His mercy, because He loves us and shows us compassion. His grace, because in spite of our rebellious natures and we don't even deserve these things, He gives them to us anyway.
It was out of love, mercy, and especially grace, that God incarnate (Jesus Christ) came down and died for our sins. He shed His blood on our behalf. He paid the penalty four our sins, a penalty that we could never pay, a penalty that could never be paid by works no matter how many works we would be able to do. He paid the penalty of death with his own blood
The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23)
When Christ hung on the cross, with his last gasping breath, he cried out "It is finished." (John 19:30), meaning that the work of salvation was done. There was nothing more to do. There was nothing man could add to it. Not baptism, church membership, any sacrament, NOTHING that man could do would merit salvation. It was ALL of grace. The penalty had been paid. Christ had paid it. "It is finished." Then "He have up the ghost and died."
"saved by grace" refers to Christ's part in the work of salvation. Christ did it all. Man did nothing. It is all of grace. Nothing is of man. Christ paid the penalty, man paid nothing. This alone nullifies the doctrines of purgatory and of baptismal regeneration. It is the grace of God that saves, not any work of man. Christ, by His grace, saves; not man, by his works.
"through faith" That great work on the cross is meaningless unless it is appropriated through faith. That is why Paul said to the Philippian jailor, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." To believe is to have faith. Believing is an action word here. It is not mere intellectual assent. As Romans 10:9,10 point out is "believing in thy heart," that saves. My parents are Roman Catholics. They believe all the orthodox doctrines about Christ: His deity, death on the cross, burial, resurrection on the third day, His power to save, His coming again, His virgin birth, etc. And yet they are not save. If they believe that Christ is God, and that Christ saves, why are they not saved? Because they have not appropriated that knowledge to themselves. They have not believed in their hearts. It is all head knowledge. To equate saving faith or belief to intellectual belief (such as the demons have) is wrong.
Salvation is by faith, and faith alone. Eph.2:8,9 clearly teaches that.
FAITH + NO WORKS = FAITH
1 + 0 = 1
FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS EQUAL TO FAITH ALONE.
Salvation is by faith alone. The verse plainly teaches this.
It also teaches it in the verse part when it say that salvation is by grace. As we see through Romans 11:6, If salvation is by grace it is impossible for salvation to be by works; the one nullifies the other. Any person claiming that works has anything to do with salvation does not comprehend the Bible's teaching on salvation.
DHK