
Ephesians 2:8-10 reads, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them”
Ephesian 2:8-10 does N0T teach “sola fide” (i.e. Latin for the doctrine that a sinner’s salvation is “by faith only or alone”) nor “sola gratia” (i.e. salvation “by grace only or alone”). Logically, there cannot be two or more “sola,” “onlys”or “alones.” That scripture clearly teaches that two elements must necessarily come together to save a soul: faith or belief in Jesus Christ on the sinner’s part AND grace or unmerited favor extended to the obedient, faithful sinner on God’s part. The absence of either a sinner’s faith or God’s grace, or both, makes the sinner’s salvation impossible.
Ephesians 2:8-10 is clear that salvation cannot be attained by “works” of which the sinner can “boast” (i.e. claim credit or payment, or earning, one’s salvation for). That such a “work” (which merits, or is deserving, salvation) does not exist is taught in Romans 4:4-5, “Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.”
Acts 16:30-31 is not the only scriptural passage regarding the sinner’s action that brings about salvation. All of revealed scripture is God-inspired (2 Timothy 3:16) and therefore true (John 17:17; Psalm 119:160) and the noble act of “searching the scriptures”to determine God’s truth (Acts 17:11) must cover all scripture.
It is impossible to “earn” our salvation by good works simply because, as Ephesians 2:10 says, man was “created in Jesus Christ for good works” which “He prepared beforehand that we walk in them” (the “them” being “good works”). Everything we “do” are works which ought to be “done” in the Lord’s authority (i.e. “in the name of the Lord Jesus,” Colossians 3:17) and “to the glory of God” and not seeking our own “profit” but others’ (1 Corinthians 10:31-33; Matthew 5:16). When we do our Master’s will as He commands us, “We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.” (Luke 17:10, which is spoken in the immediate context of the apostles asking Jesus to “increase our faith” (Luke 17:5-10). Sinners must do good works WHICH ALL MEN WERE CREATED TO DO WHICH IS THEIR DUTY TO DO which includes obeying the commandments of God, including all that scriptures, properly handled (2 Timothy 2:15) require to be done. In our time, these include “obeying” the gospel (2 Thessalonians 1:8; 1 Peter 4:17-18) which necessarily includes belief in Jesus Christ AND being baptised (Mark 16:15-16). Not doing good works is sin (James 4:17) which invites the wrath of God and condemnation, unless repented of (Acts 2:38, which attaches to that act the necessity of being “baptised for remission of sins”)
Divine revelation has no place for works of merit and sinners deserve nothing when they have their sins forgiven. However, instead of meritorious faith, what IS required is OBEDIENT faith. Clearly, sinners are to be obedient to the faith (Romans 1:5-6; 16:25-27 for God’s glory). In simple and direct terms, “… faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17) and “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26; see also 2:20). Indeed, the only place in Divinely-inspired scripture where “faith only” (i.e. closest to “sola fide”) appears is the succint, conclusive and unequivocal James 2:24, “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by FAITH ONLY.” Lest there be the least confusion that works of obedience (and not works of merit) are meant here, James provides the example of the patriarch Abraham in whom, “… faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect.” (James 2:22). For clarity, James underscored the obedient faith of Rahab through her work. “Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also was justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?” James 2:25). Indeed, the actions and works of every one of the heroes of faith who appear in the lengthy list of faithful in Hebrews 11 are recorded in scripture as examples to God’s people of the good works they did.
Even if one insist that “belief” (or “faith”) is a standalone and the only necessity for salvation, he must remember that our Lord Himself called it a “work” to be directed to God. In John 6:28-29. when Jesus was asked by a crowd in Capernaum, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” He answered unequivocally and said unto them. “This is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom He sent.” Even without what science today tells us about human thinking as an act of free will, the result of billions of synapses “firing” messages through our brain and requiring energy expended through an individual’s neurological system, we know intuitively that thinking and believing requires some “doing” or “work,”- an activation of our free-will to accept something as true. Hence, to suggest that “believing” is something that happens without the believer “doing” anything is simply wrong. We believe not because it earns us merit or makes us deserving of God’s favor but because by believing in His Son we are obeying His commandment to believe (see 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22).
That works of obedience are necessary for our salvation is obvious from scriptures which tell us we will be held accountable during the Final Judgment for what we have done, or not done, during life (Matthew 7:24-27; 25:1-46; Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; 2 Corinthians 5:10). We cannot even claim to love the Lord if we do not keep His commandments (John 14:15; 1 John 5:1-5 which makes a necessary connection between belief that Jesus is the Christ and Son of God, love of God and His children and our faith, and keeping (i.e. obeying) God’s commandments.
All scriptures relevant to a biblical topic (such as salvation) are Divinely-inspired (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and authoritative. Properly handled, the sum of what they teach constitutes truth to be instructed by and/or to be obeyed.
That being baptized necessarily supplements faith or belief in the Lord Jesus is clearly taught as necessary for salvation in Mark 16:15-16 as part of the gospel. This is as clear as the fact that confession of Jesus Christ is as necessary for one’s salvation as believing in Jesus Christ (Romans 10:8-10). Believing, confessing Jesus, repenting of sins and being baptized are all works of obedience to God’s commandments necessary for salvation.
Romans 10:8-10 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.