The Bible has many seeming paradoxes. God is both spirit and flesh, God is a trinity, man is both sinful and good, and so forth. One of the most troubling intellectual and theological conflicts for believers and nonbelievers alike is the difficulty in drawing a line between works and faith in regards to salvation. Some churches preach that one must work their way into heaven and other pulpit-pounders declare that a tiny bit of faith is all one needs to walk past the gates made oyster's jewel. This continual conflict is seen as unnecessary when one considers that both positions can be right.
A line of reasoning that says faith is the first step, and then good works spring from that faith, has no problem explaining many otherwise difficult facets of the Bible. Jesus produces many parables that seem contradictory to themselves and other New Testament writers, but in reality these razor sharp arguments are treading a line of deep understanding. Faith is the key that unlocks the door, but action propels one through the passageway. The process of salvation is both simple and complex at the same time; works, words, and an internal witness are needed.
The Gospel of John sheds eternal light on the divisive issue of salvation. One of the most prominently used examples of all that one needs is faith is found in John, chapter three. Jesus brings up the process of salvation to Nicodemus. Jesus said,” I tell you the truth, on one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and of the Spirit\"(NIV, John 3:5). This sentence seems to clearly indicate that there is some active part in the process of 'getting' into heaven. Some say baptism is the water part, and others emphasis the cryptic meaning of being born of the Spirit, saying that one confesses one's faith before people and asks God for forgiveness in one's heart and then one is born again. These small details are expanded to include mega hierarchies of doctrine.
Leaning towards the faith side, Jesus continues and said,” everyone who believes in [me] may have eternal life\"(NIV, John 3:15). This latter Jesus quotation does not include clauses on salvation. Swinging the pendulum again, Jesus said,” whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may been seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God\"(NIV, John 3:21) Living by the truth means doing the actions of truth: loving one's neighbor, keeping the Ten Commandments, etc. This verse is also phrased \"whoever does good.\" Clearly, Jesus intricately tied faith and works into a tapestry.
Another enlightening example on this issue involves Jesus' interaction with an invalid. This man had been lying around a holy healing pool for years on end, and Jesus comes up to him and asks him if he wants to get well. The man responds without hope, but Jesus tells him to pick up his mat and walk. The man must have a seed of faith that sprouted like bamboo, for he leapt up and walked away. Later, Jesus sees this man again, and the Christ warns him. \"Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you\"(NIV, John 5:14). This warning proves that faith does not make the cloudy skies perfectly clear, and that refraining from evil and doing good are requisite for rewards, namely, one may think, heaven.
Following this, Jesus makes another profound pronouncement. \"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned\"(NIV, John 5:24). These two statements show that salvation is based on knowing the sayings of Jesus and trusting in the Father.
In the feeding of the masses, Jesus couches his statements on faith in occupational language. He said, \"Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you\"(NIV, John 6:27). This adventure towards eternal life seems to require an action on some part. Food does not just fall magically out of the sky; one must labor and toil for sustenance. Ever since Adam, the ground must be tamed into submission. Jesus continues on this theme by talking about the food of his flesh and blood. He said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life” (NIV, John 6:53-54). Actions must be done in order to qualify for life everlasting. The Catholic Church reflects on this in their use of the Sacraments as dispensations of Divine Grace.
Scholar Stephen Harris also notes the harmony between faith and works.
“God so intensely loves the world that he sends his Son, not to condemn it, but to save it, awakening in humanity a faith that gives “eternal life.” Believers pass the test for eternal life through their attraction to Jesus' “light,” while others judge themselves by preferring the world's “darkness”(3:16-21)”(Harris 230).
This passage reflects the dual nature of faith being a matter of the heart and of faith propelling one into actions of light, and refraining from deeds of darkness.
Scholars Harrington and Moloney add insight to the idea of Jesus as the arbiter of those that have faith and those that don't.
“[The story of John the Baptist and of Nicodemus] open with the claim that Jesus is the unique revealer of the heavenly and then move to the logical consequence of such a claim: salvation or condemnation flows from the acceptance or refusal of this revelation”(Harrington 89-90).
Buried in this quote is the idea that understanding the fullness of Jesus is the ticket to heaven; Jesus acknowledges before His Father those that He knows.
Hardly ever can works be separated from faith. Any real faith produces godly works and, in the words of James, any “faith” without works is dead. The only scenario of an absence of good works would be a deathbed conversion, but nobody should play the game of life that precariously. “As it is said, \"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as they did when they provoked me\"(Hebrews 3:15)
A line of reasoning that says faith is the first step, and then good works spring from that faith, has no problem explaining many otherwise difficult facets of the Bible. Jesus produces many parables that seem contradictory to themselves and other New Testament writers, but in reality these razor sharp arguments are treading a line of deep understanding. Faith is the key that unlocks the door, but action propels one through the passageway. The process of salvation is both simple and complex at the same time; works, words, and an internal witness are needed.
The Gospel of John sheds eternal light on the divisive issue of salvation. One of the most prominently used examples of all that one needs is faith is found in John, chapter three. Jesus brings up the process of salvation to Nicodemus. Jesus said,” I tell you the truth, on one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and of the Spirit\"(NIV, John 3:5). This sentence seems to clearly indicate that there is some active part in the process of 'getting' into heaven. Some say baptism is the water part, and others emphasis the cryptic meaning of being born of the Spirit, saying that one confesses one's faith before people and asks God for forgiveness in one's heart and then one is born again. These small details are expanded to include mega hierarchies of doctrine.
Leaning towards the faith side, Jesus continues and said,” everyone who believes in [me] may have eternal life\"(NIV, John 3:15). This latter Jesus quotation does not include clauses on salvation. Swinging the pendulum again, Jesus said,” whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may been seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God\"(NIV, John 3:21) Living by the truth means doing the actions of truth: loving one's neighbor, keeping the Ten Commandments, etc. This verse is also phrased \"whoever does good.\" Clearly, Jesus intricately tied faith and works into a tapestry.
Another enlightening example on this issue involves Jesus' interaction with an invalid. This man had been lying around a holy healing pool for years on end, and Jesus comes up to him and asks him if he wants to get well. The man responds without hope, but Jesus tells him to pick up his mat and walk. The man must have a seed of faith that sprouted like bamboo, for he leapt up and walked away. Later, Jesus sees this man again, and the Christ warns him. \"Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you\"(NIV, John 5:14). This warning proves that faith does not make the cloudy skies perfectly clear, and that refraining from evil and doing good are requisite for rewards, namely, one may think, heaven.
Following this, Jesus makes another profound pronouncement. \"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned\"(NIV, John 5:24). These two statements show that salvation is based on knowing the sayings of Jesus and trusting in the Father.
In the feeding of the masses, Jesus couches his statements on faith in occupational language. He said, \"Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you\"(NIV, John 6:27). This adventure towards eternal life seems to require an action on some part. Food does not just fall magically out of the sky; one must labor and toil for sustenance. Ever since Adam, the ground must be tamed into submission. Jesus continues on this theme by talking about the food of his flesh and blood. He said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life” (NIV, John 6:53-54). Actions must be done in order to qualify for life everlasting. The Catholic Church reflects on this in their use of the Sacraments as dispensations of Divine Grace.
Scholar Stephen Harris also notes the harmony between faith and works.
“God so intensely loves the world that he sends his Son, not to condemn it, but to save it, awakening in humanity a faith that gives “eternal life.” Believers pass the test for eternal life through their attraction to Jesus' “light,” while others judge themselves by preferring the world's “darkness”(3:16-21)”(Harris 230).
This passage reflects the dual nature of faith being a matter of the heart and of faith propelling one into actions of light, and refraining from deeds of darkness.
Scholars Harrington and Moloney add insight to the idea of Jesus as the arbiter of those that have faith and those that don't.
“[The story of John the Baptist and of Nicodemus] open with the claim that Jesus is the unique revealer of the heavenly and then move to the logical consequence of such a claim: salvation or condemnation flows from the acceptance or refusal of this revelation”(Harrington 89-90).
Buried in this quote is the idea that understanding the fullness of Jesus is the ticket to heaven; Jesus acknowledges before His Father those that He knows.
Hardly ever can works be separated from faith. Any real faith produces godly works and, in the words of James, any “faith” without works is dead. The only scenario of an absence of good works would be a deathbed conversion, but nobody should play the game of life that precariously. “As it is said, \"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as they did when they provoked me\"(Hebrews 3:15)
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