Articles
Can Faith Alone Save Us?
Faith is undeniably crucial to our salvation. Jesus said, “If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” – John 8:24. Furthermore, Hebrews 11:6 tells us, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” It is obvious that if we desire to be saved, we must have faith in Christ as the Son of God and Savior of mankind! But is faith alone all that God requires? Will faith by itself save us?
Many churches teach that faith is all we need. Since salvation is a free gift from God given by His grace, we can do nothing to earn or secure it. This teaching is often accompanied by the doctrine of inherited original sin. The idea is that when Adam sinned, he became a sinful creature; his very nature became sinful. Thus, all his offspring were born with a sinful nature and they passed it on to their offspring who passed it on all the way down to us. According to this doctrine we are born totally sinful. Since we are totally sinful, we are not even able to have any spiritual interests. It takes a miraculous working of the Holy Spirit on our hearts to spark our spiritual awareness and regenerate us from a sinful creature to a spiritual one. When the Spirit does this work, all it takes on our part is faith – an acceptance of Jesus Christ into our lives as our personal Savior and a sincere prayer of faith and confession, often called “the sinners prayer.”
Though many churches may teach that faith is all we need – along with the doctrine of inherited original sin – we must go to the Bible, the word of God, to know whether or not it is true.
The first thing we need to consider is the idea of inherited sin. No where does the Bible teach that we inherit our father’s sin going all the way back to Adam, the original sinner. What it does teach is that “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself” – Ezekiel 18:20. It is therefore impossible for the son to inherit the sins or sinfulness of his father. God explains the sin process in James 1:14-15. “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” Note that sin and its consequences do not occur until a person gives in to his own desires and lusts. This does not occur at birth. It occurs when we are old enough to be personally tempted and thus to choose between right and wrong.
We therefore are not born sinners and incapable of having spiritual interests. We have the ability to choose to believe upon hearing the word of God. This is why Jesus told the apostles to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature – Mark 16:15. It does not require a miraculous working of the Holy Spirit to be saved. God has placed the power of salvation in the word, the gospel message – see Romans 10:17; 1 Corinthians 1:21; Romans 1:16. Thus, whoever hears, believes and is baptized will be saved, just as Jesus said – Mark 16:15-16.
Mark 16:15-16 is one of many passages that indicate that faith alone will not save us. We must act upon the things we hear; we must obey the gospel message. “…and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” – 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8. Thus, we must do more than believe; we must put our faith into action and obey our Lord’s commands. “And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” – Hebrews 5:9.
It is obvious that faith alone cannot save us. Likewise, we are not born with inherited original sin, nor does it take a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit to spark our spiritual awareness. It is true that we are sinners; but we become sinners when we personally give in to our own lusts and disobey the commands of God. Yet, by the grace of God, we can be forgiven by hearing the gospel and choosing to believe and obey it.
“Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead... You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only” – see James 2:14-26.
