Is believing/faith a work ?

TibiasDad said:
No, righteousness has always existed but the Jewish Law has not. There was no law until Moses!

Faith and believing are human acts, they are not works of the law! The law cannot save; the law can only show that we need saved. Man’s actions are incapable of causing God to save. God cannot be obligated by anything outside of himself. That’s why it is by grace that we are saved.

Doug
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Believing is a work, if you rest your salvation on your believing, its works and denial of grace.
 
Salvation by works is when man chooses God, but Salvation by Grace is when God chooses the man ! Ps 65:4

4 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.

That word causeth qarab:

(cause to) approach, (cause to) bring (forth, near), (cause to) come (near, nigh), (cause to) draw near (nigh)

Ps 33:19

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
 
Samuel Richardson wrote in his piece " Justification by Christ alone"
Fourthly, our believing cannot justify us, because the act of faith is a work, and if we be justified by our faith, then we are justified by works. That the act of faith is a work appears. 1. Because we are commanded to believe, {as we are,} to love one another, as he gave us commandment. “And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.” I John 3:23. 2. To obey a command, is a work; but to believe, is to obey a command. “And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:31.Faith is an obeying of the will of God; therefore it’s a work, and a good work. 3. It is a work, because we are reproved for the smallness of our faith. Christ said, “O ye of little faith,” Matt.6:30, “why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” Matt.8:26. If faith were not acted by us, {although the power to believe is exclusively of God,} why are we reproved for not believing? 4. It is a work, because the Saints are exhorted to exercise faith. “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” Heb.10:22. We are not exhorted to nothing but to that which is our duty, as it is to do a good work, as believing is. 5. It is a work, because to believe is a work of all the faculties of the soul; namely, memory, conscience, affections, principally the understanding and will. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God 51 hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Rom.10:9-10. 6. To receive a thing is an act of the whole man; but to believe in Christ is to receive Him. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” John 1:12. Therefore, to believe in Christ is a work. 7. Because unbelief is a work of darkness; therefore to believe is a work of righteousness. “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.” Acts 26:18. 8. Because, to a good work faith is required; therefore, it partakes of the nature of a good work, and so is a part of every good work. “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.” Col.1:10. 9. It is a work, because we are said to do it. “And Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest; and he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” Acts 8:37. To believe is the action of the heart, mind and will. With the heart man believeth. He does it as truly as he confesseth with his mouth. Rom.10:9-10. 10. If to confess Christ be a duty and a work, {though only by grace we are enabled to do both,} then is the act of believing a work also, and a work that we do, and is one of those works of righteousness that we have done. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.” Tit.3:5 https://www.sovereignredeemerbooks....-richardson/justification-by-christ-alone.pdf
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brightfame52 said:
The answer is absolutely yes. If we agree with the overall definition of work according to the greek word for work ergon:

See strongs # 2041:

  1. business, employment, that which any one is occupied
    1. that which one undertakes to do, enterprise, undertaking
  2. any product whatever, any thing accomplished by hand, art, industry, or mind
  3. an act, deed, thing done: the idea of working is emphasised in opp. to that which is less than work

    A work is anything done, accomplished by #1 hand, #2 art, #3 industry, #4 or MIND

    The mind is :

    (in a human or other conscious being) the element, part, substance, or process that reasons, thinks, feels, wills, perceives, judges, etc.

    Psychology. the totality of conscious and unconscious mental processes and activities.

    So believing something via the mental activity and process of reasoning is work. The process of decision making is a activity, work of the mind.

    Now for instance, the sin of hatred Gal 5:19-20


    Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,


    20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

    How is that sin committed ? It starts in the mind or heart ! Yet in Vs 19 its stated as an work of the flesh
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brightfame52 said:
So activity in and with the mind/heart is a work, this cannot be denied..

Now believing is either a work of the flesh [unregenerate] or of the Spirit [ regenerated]

But now Salvation is not by works, Neither by works of the flesh or works of the Spirit.
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Believing is a synergistic work of the Spirit in the mind, not of the flesh. It is humble faith. That man has a part at all is an exception of God's prerogative.
 
Kampioen said:
But man's faith ie "work" is an exception in God's mind. Thus God accepts it.
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yes we are Gods workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God has planned for us that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10.

And we know faith without works is dead. Real faith produces good works. A Good tree bears good fruit.
 
brightfame52 said:
So if one says God saved me because of my believing/ faith

Then congratulations you are boasting about God saved you by your works !
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No, absolutely not. Believing and faith are not "works" for salvation; they are the means by which God's grace is received, as salvation is a gift from God, not earned by human effort. The Bible teaches that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, with faith being the necessary conduit for receiving God's gift of salvation.
 
brightfame52 said:
You promoting salvation by works, a false gospel
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Man's synergistic faith is an exception in God's mind. If it was faith in God like a man has faith in Zeus then it would be false faith from the flesh. Most monergists didn't even know about monergism when they got saved, maybe even you. They learn it later. Perhaps they're not saved?
 
Angelo said:
No, absolutely not. Believing and faith are not "works" for salvation;
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True when they are acknowledged to be the works of God in them He saves. But when you reverse it and say they r works or conditions man performs to get saved, then its salvation by works and condemned by God
 
Kampioen said:
Man's synergistic faith is an exception in God's mind. If it was faith in God like a man has faith in Zeus then it would be false faith from the flesh. Most monergists didn't even know about monergism when they got saved, maybe even you. They learn it later. Perhaps they're not saved?
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brightfame52 said:
False teaching
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Did you know about monergism when you got saved? Then maybe you're not saved? How about your fellow believers? Did they get saved when they later get taught monergism?
 
brightfame52 said:
Jesus saves His people from their sins my friend Matt 1:21

21 ;And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.
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A fireman rescues people from their calamities too. Some don't get rescued but it doesn't mean that the fireman's rescue was particular. Circumstance determines it. ...

... Neither is Jesus particular. Some just don't want it. God prefers libertarian free will over saving everyone.
 

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