If you believe "saved by works", what do you think?

Works is the natural reflection of the grace God has shown in saving us. In other words I don't do good works so I can be saved, but I do good works because it's part of having a thankful spirit for what the Lord Jesus has done for me. The good works don't start until AFTER salvation. Before being saved all my works are filthy rags to God.

I personally think that a lot of people that say they believe saved by grace only are not really thinking about what they are saying.

Do you really believe that you can accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior and then that is it? There is nothing else to ever do? That you have a free pass to heaven the rest of your life? I honestly don't feel the scriptures back up this stance if you look at them in their entirety and honestly.

I have this same debate over and over with my Lutheran friend. He repeats the saved by grace alone mantra over and over. He never goes to church, doesn't study scripture, no effort at all, no volunteer time, no tithing. I agree that these types of 'works' alone should not and do not guarantee salvation. But, I must ask what is the motivator? Obviously, this is where the saved by grace alone theory is flawed. I see some that back saved by grace say that you do the works because of your love for Christ and I agree to some extent. But they are not seeing the entire picture.

Using my friend's logic, I might as well sleep in on Sunday, go back to my old sinful and adulterous ways with no worries. I have already met his saved by grace only criteria, so if I am wrong what is the difference? His theory doesn't make sense to me and is not back by scripture.

My personal opinion is that the saved by grace opinion is not corrected by leaders on purpose. I mean, let's be honest.. if a lot of people found out that it actually took hard work and commitment to be a Christian the attendance numbers would plummet. Many are content with sitting in a pew for an hour each Sunday, dropping a few dollars in the collection basket and back to their sinning ways for Monday through Saturday. It just seems way too convenient to me. There has to be something more.

I still believe that you are saved by grace but there are more steps after that that are conveniently forgotten or ignored.

The LDS do not leave the atonement of Jesus Christ out of any discussion on how we get to heaven. Facts are:

-We cannot exalt ourselves.

-We cannot save ourselves.

-Repentance would have no saving power if Christ had not paid for our sins.

As King Benjamin (a BOM prophet) taught, we must "Believe that salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent" (Mosiah 3:18).

But, once we accept Jesus Christ's atonement, we are under obligation to do His will (which is different from doing the dead works of the Mosaic Law that Paul warned about in Ephesians).

Some think Paul wrote only about being "saved by grace," (which he mentions 21 times) but he also stressed the importance of good works and deeds (over eighty times).

the word works in the context you are asking about is just another way of saying commandments. So if you are asking do we believe that we need to keep God's Commandments to get into heaven, the the answer is going to have to be yes. We simply do not believe that God was just blowing hot air when he gave the commandments. If He did not intend for us to obey them why did He give them?

Now will any of us be able to keep all the commandments perfectly like Christ did, so that we will be able to get into heaven on our own? ABSOLUTELY NOT. It will NEVER happen. And that is why we need Christ.

So the next question we need to ask is if God knew that we would not be able to keep all of the commandments then why did he give them to us?

For one, by striving to obey them we are able to develop a stronger faith in Christ. God wants up to grow and become better people, and like a body builder needs weights to provide resistance we need spiritual weights to grow in the way that God wants us to grow.

One of the funny thing about keeping the commandments, is how we are able to do that in the first place. Every breath we take is gifted us from God. All of our strength and knowledge is gifted us from God. So in other words we are only able to keep the commandments, and then the moment we keep a commandment God blesses us for our obedience, and thus he has paid us and thus we are still going to be indebted to him.

It it only through the Grace of Christ that we will be able to get back to heaven.

It is obvious by the teaching of scripture that we are saved through Faith. Once we receive Christ Jesus by Faith, then God can teach us and empower us to do His 'works' We don't boast of these works, rather, we give all Praise and Glory to God Almighty for enabling us to do His 'works'

If we all chose our own 'works' to do, Gods kingdom would be dis-organized and dependent on human will.

Apart from the Holy Spirit, our 'works' are as filthy rags before God.

Works are a sort of spiritual barometer of our Oneness with Christ Jesus. They are a sign of the Holy Spirit living in us.

God Bless You...Peace.

That this issue is always a big "debate" always surprises me. Any Christian who understands the life & teachings of Jesus Christ must surely recognize that of course we are Saved by Grace (because of Christ's atonement) BUT that what we DO (which is our works) and who we are becoming in this life MUST also be instrumental in our salvation THROUGH Christ. We can claim to be a true disciple of Christ all we wish - but if our works are not in sync with our supposed faith then Christ's gift of grace & mercy are all for NOT!

We are then Saved by the Grace & Mercy of Jesus Christ....after all we can do! Seems simple and true to me.

You left out Peter's additional reference stating "Faith without Works is Dead"..... many like to overlook this one!

Is anything more than faith needed in order to gain salvation?

Eph. 2:8, 9, RS: “By grace [“undeserved kindness,” NW] you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God—not because of works, lest any man should boast.” (The entire provision for salvation is an expression of God’s undeserved kindness. There is no way that a descendant of Adam can gain salvation on his own, no matter how noble his works are. Salvation is a gift from God given to those who put faith in the sin-atoning value of the sacrifice of his Son.)

Heb. 5:9, RS: “He [Jesus] became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.” (Italics added.) (Does this conflict with the statement that Christians are “saved through faith”? Not at all. Obedience simply demonstrates that their faith is genuine.)

Jas. 2:14, 26, RS: “What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.” (A person does not earn salvation by his works. But anyone who has genuine faith will have works to go with it—works of obedience to the commands of God and Christ, works that demonstrate his faith and love. Without such works, his faith is dead.)

Acts 16:30, 31, RS: “‘Men, what must I do to be saved?’ And they [Paul and Silas] said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’” (If that man and his household truly believed, would they not act in harmony with their belief? Certainly.)

What is the work that Jesus gave his disciples to do ?

Matthew 24v14 28v19-20 say "And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded YOU. And, look! I am with YOU all the days until the conclusion of the system of things.”

How was that done in the first century?

Acts 5v42 and 20v20 say

And every day in the temple and from house to house they continued without letup teaching and declaring the good news about the Christ, Jesus.

20 while I did not hold back from telling YOU any of the things that were profitable nor from teaching YOU publicly and from house to house.

saved by grace is biblical,

repentance is by works

exaltation is by works. and one cannot have exaltation in the resurrection unless he works out his sanctification by faith

the level of sanctification each of has is different for each individual.

the book of morm says salvation is "free gift".

i like to say: a free salvation only gets a person in the door. the reward we obtain after that Truly depends on works. the book of james says Faith without works is dead

I just think it's important to remember our complete dependence on Christ. There is no other way, other then Him--He's the example we are to follow. We literally cannot "work" our way to salvation/exaltation on our own merit or accord.

But on the same hand, I believe that Christ does expect us to put forth some effort, like He did Himself. It is by so doing that we actually can 'become' something greater, become like Christ.

If we don't need to do anything at all, then why the examples of Christ and the apostles doing so much to help and serve others? Why the commandments?

James 2:20 (NAB) Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless?

Don't believe that it says that?

Link: http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/james/james2.htm

James 2:20 (D-R B) But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

James 2:20 Latin vulgate: vis autem scire o homo inanis quoniam fides sine operibus otiosa es

James 2:20 (Jerusalem bible) Fool! Would you not like to know that faith without deeds is useless?

I think those apply nicely here.

You seem to be picking and choosing from the bible.