Tag Archives: Works

James vs. Paul: Are we saved by faith or by works or what?

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James 2:20–24, Faith without works is dead. James is here referring to the works of faith, not the works of the law. No man can live a good enough life to be saved by his Torah-obedience or the works of the law (Rom 3:20, 28; Gal 2:16; 3:11).

However, faith in Elohim is more than just mental ascent—“a knowing in your heart.” It has to be backed up by action (and we’re not talking about the works of the law). For example, when Elohim told Abraham to leave Babylon or to sacrifice Isaac, he obeyed by leaving that country and moving to Canaan. Moreover, many were healed in Yeshua’s ministry because they had faith in the Master and backed that faith up with corresponding action, which was the evidence of their faith.

This faith-action continuum had nothing to do with Torah-obedience per se, but had everything to do with “putting your money where your mouth is” by backing up your faith or belief with action. It is this kind of faith that James is talking about here, and this in no wise contradicts the teachings of Paul who said that no man is justified by the works of the law.

When Paul declares in Ephesians 2:8–9, “For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of Elohim, not of works…,” he was correct and not opposed to James. What’s more, Paul goes on to say in verse 10, “For we are [Elohim’s] workmanship, created in Messiah Yeshua for good works…that we should walk in them.” These good works (i.e. obedience to the Torah) are the fruits, evidence or proof of our salvation and are the works that back up our faith.

So, in summary, the Bible teaches that we need the faith (a heart that believes and wants to obey Elohim) to lead us to salvation, as well as the works of faith after we have received Elohim’s free gift of salvation as evidence that we are saved. This fact in no way contravenes the reality of salvation by grace through trusting belief in Yeshua the Messiah, which is apart from the works of the Torah-law.

 

Are you close, but not there yet?

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Mark 12:34, You are not far from the kingdom. Yeshua makes this complimentary statement to the scribe who had correctly and succinctly summarized the message of the Torah (both its letter and spirit intent) in verses 32–33.

However, note that Yeshua didn’t say, “You are in the kingdom of Elohim (i.e. you have eternal life).”

What was the one thing that kept the scribe from being in the kingdom?

It was doubtless the same thing that kept the rich young ruler from obtaining the eternal life that he sought (Matt 19:16). After having obeyed the Torah the best he could, the young ruler still needed to surrender all to Yeshua the Messiah, and to follow him unreservedly (Matt 19:18–22).

Not only is it difficult for humans to surrender all to the Master, and then to follow him wherever he leads, but having followed the Torah the best we can, we must still humbly recognize that without the righteousness of Yeshua in the equation, our best efforts at Torah-obedience will still miss the mark of YHVH Elohim’s acceptable standard of righteousness, thus leaving us maybe not far from the kingdom, but definitely not in the kingdom of Elohim.

 

May your face shine like the sun!

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Matthew 13:43, Shine forth as the sun. The reward of the resurrected and glorified saints will be that they will shine forth like the sun or stars (Dan 12:3), and like Yeshua (1 John 3:2), whose face shines like the sun (Rev 1:16), for he is the Sun of Righteousness (Mal 4:2), and the light of the world (John 1:6–9; 8:12; 9:5; 12:46), and he will be the light of the New Jerusalem shining in place of the physical sun (Rev 21:23; 22:5; Isa 60:20).

Paul speaks of the resurrection of the saints and their glorification that will occur at that time, and he likens the saints’ appearance to the stars. As stars have different levels of brightness, so too will the saints (1 Cor 15:41–43) in accordance with their levels of rewards commensurate with their level of obedience to the Torah (Matt 5:19; 16:27; Rom 2:6–11; 2 Cor 5:10; Eph 6:8; 1 Pet 1:17; Rev 19:8; 22:12–15).

 

New Video: Galatians Chapters 4 to 6 Explained Hebraically

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What is Paul really saying in his Epistle to the Galatians? Is he advocating the abrogation of the Torah (the law of Moses), or is there another issue he is addressing? What is the larger and loftier message in this amazing epistle? Watch this video to find out.
For the study notes that I used while giving this teaching, go to http://hoshanarabbah.org/blog/2016/09/03/galatians-chapters-4-to-6-explained/.

 

Is “faith without works” opposed to “salvation by grace”?

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James 2:20–24, Faith without works is dead. James here is referring to the works of faith, not the works of the law. No man can live a good enough life to be saved by his Torah-obedience — the works of the law (Rom 3:20, 28; Gal 2:16; 3:11).

Faith, however, in Elohim is more than just mental ascent—“a knowing in your heart.” It has to be backed up by action (and we’re not talking about the works of the law). For example, when Elohim told Abraham to leave Babylon or to sacrifice Isaac, he obeyed. Many were healed in Yeshua’s ministry because they had faith in the Master and backed that faith up with corresponding action, which was the evidence of their faith.

This faith-action continuum had nothing to do with Torah-obedience, but had everything to do with “putting your money where your mouth is” so to speak. This is what James is talking about here, and this in no wise contradicts the teachings of Paul who said that no man is justified by the works of the law.

When Paul declares in Ephesians 2:8–9, “For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of Elohim, not of works…,” he was correct and not opposed to James. What’s more, Paul goes on to say in verse 10, “For we are [Elohim’s] workmanship, created in Messiah Yeshua for good works…that we should walk in them.”

These good works (i.e., obedience to the Torah) are the fruits, evidence or proof of our salvation—the works that back up our faith. So, in summary, the Bible teaches that we need the works of faith to lead us to salvation, as well as the works of faith after we have received Elohim’s free gift of salvation as evidence that we are saved. This fact in no way contravenes the reality of salvation by grace through trusting belief in Yeshua the Messiah, which is apart from the works of the Torah-law.

 

Genesis Teaches Salvation by Grace Through Faith Resulting in Good Works

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Genesis 26:5, Because. Based on Paul’s teaching in Romans 4, we see that the Abrahamic Covenant is the model for salvation, which is salvation by grace through faith leading to or resulting in good works or righteousness (Eph 2:8–10).

From this verse, it might appear the Abrahamic Covenant wasn’t a faith-based covenant at all, but a works based on. In other words, Abraham had to do something to attain to be counted righteous or to come into good standing with Elohim — a concept which is commonly referred to as “receiving salvation.”

The fact is that in the Abrahamic Covenant, Abraham only had to have faith and believe in YHVH to be justified or to be considered righteous by Elohim (Gen 15:6). It was on this basis that YHVH granted him “salvation.” But this initial faith on Abraham’s part and the righteousness Elohim attributed to him was but the first step in Abraham’s faith walk. He had to walk out his faith and continue trusting YHVH.

The apostolic writers present the idea that one’s faith is a walk, not a one time event. It’s more than faith. It’s faithfulness to YHVH’s instructions. James clearly states in his epistle Continue reading →

 

Is obedience to Torah legalism and a system to earn YHVH’s favor?

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Here is an excellent question from Marcus G. that I will answer below. He writes:
“Our works can’t earn favour from YHWH yet, as you’ve said, we read that obedience is life and disobedience is death/curse. How do we get our head around this? We don’t want to do it in a legalistic way, where we declare YHWH owes us blessings and yet we know that not living in obedience is not loving our GOD either. We can never “earn” YHWH’s favour.”
My answer is this: The term works is a term Paul uses in his writings and relates to the process of receiving salvation from Elohim. Paul makes it clear in several places that one does obtain salvation based on works, but based on faith (e.g. Eph 2:8-9). However, Paul goes on to say that once one is saved through faith in Yeshua from the wages of sin which is death, one is expected to produce or walk in the fruits of good works, which is obedience to YHVH’s commands or, as Paul puts it, good works (Eph 2:10). Yeshua said it this way, “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).
We also see that though our salvation isn’t initially based on our works, since we can never be good enough or do enough good works to merit YHVH’s favor, our rewards in his eternal kingdom are clearly based on our good works. Those who faithfully obey YHVH’s commandments will have higher rewards in his kingdom than those who don’t (Matt 5:19; 16:27; see also Rom 2:6; 2  or 2 Cor 5:10; Eph 6:8; 1 Pet 1:17; Rev 2:23; Rev 19:8;  20:12; 22:12).
Now having established that our works don’t earn us salvation, but  our works will determine our rewards in YHVH’s kingdom, let’s consider a couple other things.
When the children of Israel were given the Torah, they were never promised eternal life if they faithfully obeyed it. They were promised a blessed and abundant life here and now in the Promised Land. On the other hand, in the gospel message of the Testimony of Yeshua, eternal lift is promised to those who place their faith in Yeshua. Once they are saved (in the initial sense), they are to show the fruits of salvation and that they love Yeshua by obeying him and keeping his commandments. To the degree that one keeps the commandments will determine one’s level of rewards in YHVH’s kingdom.

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