I do teach salvation by grace through faith, but you refuse to understand. Congratulations, you have just described a dead faith (James 2). Use your definition of faith and explain to me how the walls of Jericho fell by faith, I DARE YOU!
Oh man can I get a double dog dare . . . give me a break . . . I dare you . . . wow . . . now back to reality. I have not described a dead faith. I have described faith as it relates to the salvation of the spirit (Ephesians 2:8-9 - NO WORKS). It's not by works. There is nothing that you can do to get salvation. There is nothing that you can do to keep salvation and there is nothing you can do to prove salvation. It's really amazing how simple the message of salvation is, but yet people try so very hard to complicate matters.
mman the walls of Jericho falling have nothing to do with salvation by grace through faith. Absolutely nothing! If you want to see the picture of salvation by grace through faith in Israel then you have to go back to Exodus 12. That's where salvation by grace through faith comes into play, and only there.
I have no doubt there is a difference between the spirit and the soul. That is not the question. My question is to show from the scriptures how one can be saved while the other is lost.
1 Peter 1:9: Receiving the end of your faith, [even] the salvation of [your] souls.
James 1:21: Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
Jesus linked the believing and the baptism to the salvation. Therefore if this is salvation of the soul, then that means the spirit is saved before believing, since they are linked, but by your logic, that is impossible because believing saves the spirit. Since the soul can't be saved with the spirit being lost, the spirit and the soul are saved at the same time, at baptism. That is the ONLY possible conclusion of this text.
To which are the sins attributable, to the soul, to the spirit, or both?
The spirt and the soul are not saved at the same time as I pointed out to you in Hebrews 4:12 and Genesis 1:3. The spirit is now in the light once a spiritually dead man has placed his faith in Jesus' substitutionary death. At that point the soul and the spirit are separated. The soul and the flesh are at enmity with the spirit, because the spirit is in the light and the other two are still in darkness. That is why there is such a battle to walk by the Spirit or to walk in the flesh.
One must believe in Jesus'substitutionary death. But after one is made alive spiritually then they must believe in Jesus as the Christ (King/Master). They must be baptized as an act of obedience, which is the key to the salvation of the soul.
Faith is not left on the wayside when it comes to the salvation of the soul, but rather works eminate out of faithful living, which saves the soul.
So there is zero contradiction in Jesus using beliving and baptism in the same sentence, because the original audience was alive spiritually and were not entertaining the message of salvation by grace through faith, which most of Christendom believes they were entertaining.
Therefore repentance is unnecssary for the saving of the spirit. Confession is unnecessary for the saving of the spirit. Baptism is unnecessary for the salvation of the spirit. Is that what you really believe?
That's what the Bible clearly teaches, so that's what I believe. Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly explain this. Acts 16:30-31 clearly explain this.
The message of salvation by grace through faith is so simple even a child can understand it. Unfortunately parts of the church have so cluttered the message that it becomes very difficult to keep things in order as to what one must do.
The Bible tells us clearly that one must believe in Jesus Christ. That's it.
Baptism is a work of God, not a work of man. Col 2:12, "having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead." This is the only time any "work" is ever attributed to baptism.
It seems to be that teh powerful working of God is being raised with Him through faith. The powerful working of God was in the resurrection, not in baptism.
This is certainly a unique, although unbiblical, approach.
I think what has been shown proves otherwise, but it's not my job to convince you of anything.
Faith does not mean "belief only with no action".
It does if you are talking about salvation by grace through faith, because the Bible clearly says that it is not of works lest any man should boast. No works.
That definition fails miserably when compared to God's definition and examples of faith in Heb 11.
Once again Hebrews is talking about the salvation of the soul not salavtion by grace through faith. And the faith that is spoken of in Hebrews 11 is not a saving of the spirit faith. That happened before those folks were able to "act" in faith.
Let me ask you a question to get a better understanding of what you think the difference between a soul and a spirit.
James 5:19-20, "My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins."
This is obviously not talking about physical death, because all men die, even the righteous are not spared physical death. So what kind of death is avoided? I would guess that you think that since at one time he was a "brother" and walking in the truth, his spirit was saved. Therefore if he is not returned, what happens to him with a saved spirit and a "dead" soul.
He loses his soul in the coming 1,000-year reign of Christ. This is clearly stated in three of the four gospel accounts. If you lose your life (same word for soul) now then you will find it in the coming age (the next age to come is not eternity as most think, but it's actually the 1,000-year reign of Christ), but if you keep/find your life (soul) now you will lose it in the coming age.
