Is faith alone really enough for salvation?

Theology
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Is faith alone really enough for salvation?

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We live in a culture that often teaches we have to earn approval—through hustle, good behavior, or proving our worth. That mindset can easily seep into how we view salvation. Even in church, it’s easy to wonder: Is faith alone really enough?

This article walks through what the Bible says about justification by faith alone and why it’s more than a Reformation slogan—it’s the heart of the Gospel.
:backhand_index_pointing_right: Why the Doctrine of Justification by Faith Alone Matters - Bible Study | Crosswalk.com

**What do you think? Can someone be saved without works at all? **
How do we explain “faith alone” when Scripture also says faith without works is dead?

Justification by faith alone doesn’t make obedience optional—it makes it possible.

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Doesn’t salvation by faith imply salvation is based on your action rather than God’s?

Who saves us from sin? God? Or us? Or both us and God?

Faith comes from a heart open to recieve God’s Word and act upon it. This is the heart of a child.
Anyone can do what they think they are suppose to do out of fear of punishment.. But that doesn’t fulfill the Law. A wayward servant fears a fearful ruler, fears being thrown into the dungeon, or thrown out. These are two different hearts.

The works of a heart guided by God serve the Kingdom, not our personal salvation. Children who are loved do not fear being in their family home, nor do they fear being thrown out.

The same actions born from different hearts are not equally satiafying to God. God pays attention to what is in the heart.

The key is transformation. Cleaning the inside of the cup. Opening the heart to listen and see, to be like a child. A daughter, a son.

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Oh, Tillman dropped a poetic gospel smoothie—but let’s strain out the pulp and get to the solid food.

You asked: Doesn’t salvation by faith imply salvation is based on your action rather than God’s?

Answer: Only if you think faith is something you cooked up in your flesh, rather than a gift God gave you by grace (Eph. 2:8). Faith isn’t you flexing your spiritual muscles—it’s you collapsing into Christ.

Now let’s talk hearts.

Yes, God looks at the heart (1 Sam. 16:7). But here’s the rub: that heart of yours? Scripture calls it deceitful and desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9) until God gives you a new one (Ezek. 36:26). So no, salvation doesn’t start with a tender human heart—it starts with divine surgery.

You’re right that transformation is key. But don’t flip the order. God saves then transforms. We’re not saved because our hearts are pure—we’re saved so He can purify them.

So who saves? God alone. But He saves through faith—faith that He Himself provides, not faith that earns us a single ounce of grace.

Here’s the gospel math:
Grace is the cause. Faith is the conduit. Works are the consequence.

Anything else is just rearranging the furniture on the deck of a sinking ship.

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A hard heart and a filthy heart are two very different things.

The heart of Pharoah who refused God plague after plague is an example of a hardened heart that will not bend. The Scripture that refers to the seed falling on the rock refers to this- the Word of God never lands where it can take root. And only God can soften the heart that will not know Him, enough so that some day it can..

Where as Paul, who persecuted the Christians in error, immediately recieved God’s Word when God crossed his path. And he changed. This was a sinful heart redeemed.

Yes all have fallen short. But a hardened heart is something more. He tells God who God is…without ever asking God Who He is. Because that man has all the answers. And will not listen.

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Tillman, you’re drawing a sharp line between a sinful heart and a hard one—and fair enough, Pharaoh’s heart was so granite God used it as a display case for divine judgment (Ex. 9:16). But let’s not forget: both kinds of hearts are spiritually dead until God steps in.

Paul wasn’t saved because his heart was less hard—he was saved because God knocked him off his high horse and opened his eyes (Acts 9:3–6). That’s not soft soil—that’s sovereign grace.

Hard, filthy, proud, confused—it doesn’t matter the flavor of dead. Only God resurrects. So whether the heart is stone or sewage, the solution is the same: new birth (John 3:3), not better soil.

In the end, it’s not about how broken the heart is. It’s about who breaks in.

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God doesn’t break in. He knocks at the door. God is not a rapist. God woos the heart to Himself. He never forces.

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No, God is the one who saves us. It is a gift from Him. You can’t earn salvation or buy it.

Read Ephesians 2, paying special attention to 8-9.

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Hi,
Absolutely faith alone.
The faith we have been given allows us to receive the gift of God, which is grace.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. KJV

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast. KJV

Everyone has been given a measure of faith.
With this measure of faith, we may receive the gift of God
Faith is the pipeline through which grace is received.

Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. KJV

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. KJV

So absolutely faith alons in Jesus alone.

Blessings

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Ah, Tillman—there it is. The soft-gloved version of God: the divine gentleman caller, knocking politely, hoping we might give Him the time of day.

But let’s pull that Hallmark theology through the grid of Scripture, shall we?

Yes, Revelation 3:20 says Jesus knocks. But who is He talking to? The church in Laodicea—a lukewarm, self-deceived church, not the unregenerate dead. He’s rebuking His own people, not modeling His method of saving sinners.

When it comes to salvation, Jesus doesn’t beg at the door of a corpse. Ephesians 2:1 says we were dead in sin, not just deaf. Dead men don’t answer knocks—they get raised.

Was Paul wooed on the road to Damascus? No—he was blinded, confronted, and commanded. (Acts 9:4–6) Jesus didn’t whisper sweet nothings—He dropped Saul to the ground and changed his name.

God doesn’t rape the will. But don’t get it twisted—He rules it. “I will take out your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezek. 36:26). Not suggest. Not request. Will.

Grace doesn’t knock like a shy suitor. It kicks down the door of hell and drags the sinner into light.

So no, God doesn’t force. But when He saves, He doesn’t wait for permission either.

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Faith that saves is a trust in God for everything, realizing that one can’t be on good terms with God in any other way except by total rejection of the flesh and dependence on the character and power of God for everything. We can’t live without Him, so we rely on and cling only to Him. People who are saved know nothing they have or are is good enough for a Holy God, so they come to Him in total submission, and their faith gives them the riches of heaven and many blessings on earth.

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Your post is way too harsh!

God loves His adopted children and doesn’t expect them (us) to be perfect. Even though He has given us the gift(!) of the Holy Spirit, we are still not able to live by that Spirit 100%. In other words, we will still sin – unintentionally. We are to be guided by the Holy Spirit but God doesn’t expect us to be totally sinless.

People who are saved know nothing they have or are will ever be perfect, but God loves us as His children and forgives us for our unintentional missteps. As His children we come to Him as our “abba”, our loving parent; there is no need for “total submission”.

In the parable of the prodigal son, how did the father behave? Did he chastise his son for being so evil and misguided? NO! He forgave his errors and loved him as much or more than before. The son did not come to his father “in total submission”.

Ephesians 2:1-10, " As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, → we were by nature deserving of wrath. ← But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. → For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. ←

So when you write that “People who are saved know nothing they have or are is good enough for a Holy God, so they come to Him in total submission,” is contrary to Scripture. What Scripture does say is that their loving Father, GOD, gives them the riches of heaven and many blessings on earth.

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Oh, Benny. That was a warm cup of cocoa—heavy on comfort, light on truth. But let’s set aside the teddy bear theology and actually deal with the Word you just quoted.

You cited Ephesians 2, and ironically, proved my point better than I did. Let’s walk it back:

“We were dead in transgressions… by nature children of wrath…”

Dead, Benny. Not limping. Not misguided. Not just making “unintentional missteps.” DEAD. And God didn’t cuddle us into life—He resurrected us. That’s not pampering, that’s power.

You say: “There is no need for total submission.”

Really? Tell that to Jesus:

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

Deny. Die. Follow. That’s not optional—it’s the deal. God doesn’t adopt rebels who plan to keep the throne.

As for the prodigal son—you missed the most critical verse:

“I will arise and go to my father and say, ‘Father, I have sinned… I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.’” (Luke 15:18-19)

That’s not a casual stroll home. That’s repentance dripping with submission.

Yes, God is “Abba.” But He’s also consuming fire (Heb. 12:29). And the fear of the Lord isn’t cancelled by adoption—it’s ignited by it.

You say God doesn’t expect perfection. True. But don’t twist that into complacency. He does expect transformation (Rom. 12:1–2). He does command holiness (1 Pet. 1:15–16). And He does discipline those He loves (Heb. 12:6).

So no, Benny, I’m not being “too harsh.” I’m just not sugarcoating the gospel.

Grace isn’t soft. It’s stronger than death. And it demands a response: not excuses—submission.

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Hi, I think we should not make up doctines. For most of them people do not explain.

For example: Salvation

Shouldn’t we first know the meaning?

And then we use those doctrines to make others doctrines..without saying everything that could be meant by it our not meant bt it.

And “faith alone” Shouldn’t we know what faith is, and whose faith, or faithfulness it’s referring to?

Then you have the different versions, one might say you “have been saved” and another " you are saved"

I just believe that it’s hard enough to know what scriptures are referring to…and then to add what it does not say…
…
For example say we applied the same sentiments to the ark in Noah’s day.

Grace have you been saved through faithfulness of the ark. The faithfulness of the ark is not of yourselves it is a gift from God. Not by your work to earn but a gift so no man can boast.

Now one also has to know what type of work…Is it speaking of: works to earn, or any effort on our part?

It’s earning that causes one to boast. Earning comes with an attitude.

But when God tells you to get in the ark and it takes effort to :man_walking: :woman_walking: walk. That effort is a type of work too.

The Ark is a place of deliverence.
The ark is a place of salvation.

The ark can save, but the ark alone saves no one, unless they take the effort to get in the ark.

But the ark saved, meaning it was a place of refuge when the flood came. Without the flood the ark would have no reason to save. The ark which went through the the waters wasn’t without the waters.
So it makes it sound like the same water that could have destroyed them help to bring them through. For the ark could not float until the waters came.

Just as the waters in the red sea, for Israel’s obedience to Moses’s command brought them safely through the waters but they had to take the effort and move toward the water. Without believing God through obedience to the commands of Moses they would have been killed by the Egyptians.

So in this case they were saved through the water by the water as well.

So yes one might say we are saved through His faithfulness but saving through his faithfulnes takes your obedience.

So Salvation in this sense of using “faithfulness of Christ”
Is not without your obedience to believe on Christ.

The question is: Where else in scripture is Christ’s faithfulness said to be a gift?

Just my thoughts

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Hi, I am new here.

And Although I do not understand much, I can only speak for myself. Repentance and turning to God with our whole heart. As from faith to faith, it’s from the one who gave it all that wants it all quite resembling how He gave it.

You draw near to Him He draws near to you.
…
What shall I do to inherit the kingdom? Lay down your life…sell all you have and come follow me. Honestly I see why a sabbath is made for man..I think of all the things I am caught up in that are truly meaningless.

And maybe it might take some weeks for me to reorganize how I am going live my life so that I do not continue running meaninglessly on my own.

Good stuff…Jesus did it all…to remove from our lives the ideal we must do anything but to trust Him.

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Welcome, Corlove13. You might be new here, but what you wrote hits deeper than most folks who’ve been circling church pews for decades. That phrase—“from the One who gave it all, that wants it all”—is solid gold. That’s the heartbeat of true repentance: not performance, but surrender.

You’re right that Jesus did it all—He paid the full price, bore the full weight, finished the full work. But that doesn’t mean we do nothing—it means we do everything from a different place. Not to earn, but to respond. Not to save ourselves, but because we are saved.

He didn’t die just to give us a ticket to heaven—He died to make us His (Titus 2:14). That means the call to “sell all” and “follow Me” isn’t legalism—it’s love in motion.

So yes, take that Sabbath. Reorganize. Lay it all down. But not out of fear… out of fire. Because a heart that’s seen the cross can’t stay unchanged.

Keep pressing in. You’re closer than you think.