The question in the title of this article is the topic of discussion with one of my friends. He wrote me saying,

This question casts doubt on what the Apostle Paul wrote in his epistles about salvation:

But does Paul teach that Christians do nothing at all after getting saved? In his letters, the phrase “good works” appears 11 times. Here’s one of them.

My friend’s statement about works and the law and about reading the Bible without including any of Paul’s letters inspired me to research the question directly from the Bible. I could search the Internet and tell you what other preachers have to say, but I want to see what the Scriptures themselves have to say. Is the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in the Word of God alone taught only by Paul who called himself an apostle of Christ? I was inspired to take up the challenge to see if the doctrine of salvation through grace alone, through faith alone is taught by other writers of the Bible as well, and not only by Paul.

In this Bible study, I will purposely not reference any of Paul’s letters to the churches. Let’s search the Scriptures if the doctrine of salvation through faith alone and grace alone came only from the Apostle Paul or if other writers of the Bible also confirm it.

Confirmation from the Gospel of John

Let’s start out with the Gospel of John. Did you know the word “believe” occurs more in the Gospel of John than all the other three Gospel accounts combined? In Matthew it occurs 7 times, Mark 11 times, Luke 5 times and John 52 times! And if you include the word “believeth,” Matthew has none, Mark has 2, Luke has none, and John has 17! I will list only the verses with the words believe or believeth that apply to salvation. Saving faith is believing what the Word of God says.

There are more verses about the importance of believing who Jesus is in the Book of John, but these are the ones I think are the clearest that apply to salvation.

Confirmation from the first Epistle of John

The Apostle John also makes it clear in his letters that salvation comes through belief in the Word of God about Jesus Christ.

Why is belief in God’s Word so important? When a person hears God’s Word and accepts it as truth, God counts it to that person as righteousness! The very first occurrence of the word “righteousness” in the Bible has to do with belief in God’s Word!

Confirmation from Jesus to the dying thief on the cross

In my opinion, this passage from the Gospel of Luke is one of the strongest proofs of the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The dying criminal had no opportunity to do good works, or even to receive water baptism, and yet because of his proclamation of faith in Jesus as Christ, Jesus told him that he would be with Him in paradise! What amazing grace!

Confirmation from the Apostle Peter

The Apostle Peter in the Book of Acts taught the house of Cornelius salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

The Holy Ghost fell on them because they not only heard the Word of God, but they believed it as well!

Peter also defended the doctrine of salvation through grace by faith in the Word of God in Acts chapter 15.

Peter in his epistle wrote about it:

Confirmation from James

The concept of obtaining righteousness through belief in the Word of God is confirmed by James, the half-brother of Jesus, the writer of the Book of James. This is especially interesting for me because the Catholic Church and other legalists use the Book of James to try to prove we need to do good works and keep the law of Moses in order to be saved.

As you see here, James gave only four ordinances for the Gentiles to keep. Sabbath day observance was not one of them!

Confirmation from the Book of Hebrews

The authorship of the Book of Hebrews is in dispute, but it’s safe to say that Paul did not write it. The style of writing is different from Paul’s letters to the churches. Hebrews teaches us that we are no longer under the old Mosaic Covenant but under a new Covenant, the Covenant of Christ!

Salvation by faith alone through grace alone are two of the four solas (Latin meaning alone) of the Protestant Reformation. They are: Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), solus Christus (Christ alone), sola fide (faith alone), sola gratia (grace alone).

This is exactly the opposite of what the Roman Catholic Church teaches! The Roman Catholic church teaches that Christ, having purchased redemption by His blood and death, delivered it to the Catholic Church to be distributed to men through her sacraments. The Catholic Church teaches, “extra ecclesiam nulla salus,” or, “outside the Church there is no salvation.” This doctrine ties you to organized religion, the Roman Catholic Church, and not a direct relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ based on your personal knowledge of the Word of God in the Bible and your belief in it. In fact, the current pope, Pope Francis, actually discourages you from having a personal relationship with Christ! He says,

By absurd dichotomy, the Pope means it’s absurd to separate salvation from the Church! And what is his definition of “the Church”? He’s not talking about the biblical definition of church which is the true Body of Christ, the true believers in Jesus Christ, he’s talking about the Roman Catholic Church, his organized religion! And of course, he excludes all other churches because they don’t hold the popes of Rome as the Vicar of Christ on earth. The Roman Catholic hierarchy wants you to be dependent on them because they consider all other churches competition. This is also the attitude of the Russian Orthodox church. They don’t like missionaries coming to Russia and ripping off their sheep. It’s less income for them when they lose church members.

Conclusion

We are no longer under the law of Moses according to the Book of Hebrews, but under a new law, the Law of Christ! That means if we are truly saved and been born again into God’s family, we will keep God’s commandments! And we will do good works to help others! It comes naturally after being born again in Jesus Christ!

This is Christ’s Law of Love. If we obey it, we will not lie, cheat, steal, curse, kill, or do anything ungodly to our neighbor or our brother or sister or wife or child or anybody! We will be kind even to God’s creatures, cats, dogs, etc. We will automatically fulfill the Law of Moses and love the Lord our God our all our heart and soul and mind and our neighbor as ourselves.

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