Reply to comment in regards to James 2 (faith+works)

Sure, feel free to comment as much as you like. As I said I enjoy it. Also we can discuss through email if you like. hosscartwright1611@gmail.com

The Bible defines believing as NOT being a work (Rom. 4:5, Eph. 2:8-9). Therefore "believing" is not "earning" the "free gift".....it is RECIVING the gift.

John 1:12 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

Someone can offer you a "free gift" (Rom. 5:v15, v16, v18) but if you say "I don't want this" then you "receive it not" and reject the gift. You do not have to work for a free gift, but you do have to receive it according to John 1:12 + logic. :)

You said, "Believing or faith without works is DEAD, it's useless, just as James has said, therefore it's works."......James was written to the 12 tribes scattered abroad (James 1:1) before the revelations of the mystery and the gospel of the uncircumcision which were revealed to Paul first by Christ (Gal. 1:11-12, 2:7-8, 1 Tim. 1:11-16, Rom. 16:25, 1 Cor. 4:1, Eph. 3:1-9). James 5:1-11 shows that it is written in the context of the scattered Jews in the tribulation enduring to the end. They are waiting for the 2nd coming of Christ and condemning the rich men for hoarding money for the "last days". The rich men are condemned in the book of James because in the tribulation period you CANNOT be rich and be saved because in order to have riches you also have to have the mark of the beast (Rev. 13:17 )

James 5:
[1] Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
[2] Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
[3] Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
[4] Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
[5] Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
[6] Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
[7] Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
[8] Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
[9] Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.
[10] Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
[11] Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

Revelation 6:
[12] And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
[13] And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
[14] And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
[15] And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
[16] And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
[17] For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

The reason James says that a man is not justified by faith, but by faith plus works is because he (and the other 11 apostles) were told that they would be going through the great tribulation and would have to endure to the end of it without denying the true Christ (Matthew 10:1-34, 24:3-34).

Which is also why you will find Peter preaching that redemption comes at the 2nd coming of Christ and establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth....

Acts 3:
[19] Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
[20] And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
[21] Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

1 Peter 1:
[3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
[4] To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
[5] Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
[6] Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
[7] That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
[8] Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
[9] Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
[10] Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:

Which is in fulfillment of OT prophecy as found in Jeremiah 31:31-40, 32:36-42, 33:3-9, Ezekiel 11:14-21, 36:12-35.

And since tribulation salvation will be based on an enduring faith, that is also why some people will "scarcely be saved" according to 1 Peter 4:18.

However, in the "day of salvation" "under grace" (Rom. 6:14, 2 Cor. 1:1-2) which is to say the present age: we are not saved by an enduring faith. We are not going through the tribulation and we will still be saved even if we deny the Lord.

2 Timothy 2:
[11] It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
[12] If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
[13] If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

We can lose rewards and inheritance, but not salvation because for Christ to deny us salvation would be to "deny himself"--because we are "members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones" (Eph. 5:30).

I am about to do a blog post along those topics ("rightly dividing the word of truth" 2 Tim. 2:15) and so that is enough of that for now.

So no, belief does not "become a work" and it is not a work. Believing in not a work according to Romans 4:5 and Ephesians 2:8-9 as I stated in previous comments. Believing is not "earning" a gift, it is "receiving" a gift (John 1:12).

By the way, James 2 did not say that faith was a work, it said that faith without works is dead--because it doesn't cloth the poor or feed the hungry (James 2:15). Which is also another proof that James was written to future tribulation believers--the followers of Christ will not be able to buy or sell which would make them very poor. That is why Christ commanded them to have all things common and sell all that they had (Matt. 18:19, Matthew 19:16-23, Mark 10:21, Luke 12:21-33, Mark 6:7-9, Matthew 6:11, Matthew 6:25-34, Luke 9:1-4, Acts 2:44-46, Acts 3:2-6, Acts 4:32-37, Acts 5:1-11). However, Paul told us to work on our own and not eat other peoples bread and to mind our own business (2 Thes. 3:7-12).

Thanks, --bro. Eli "Hoss" Caldwell