Paul's words in his letter to the congregation in Corinth was: "Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you - unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day  in accordance with the Scriptures,"  - 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (ESV)

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"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for ALL people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works." - Titus 2:11-14 (ESV)

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“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."- Ephesians 2:8-9 

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The word "gift" is the word Charis in the Greek text, which means Grace. Charis means free undeserved favor or God's unmerited favor."Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation." - Romans 4:4. 

 

What this passage tells us is that when someone works for something, that which he receives back is a reward for his work. This reward therefore is not given to him by grace, as a gift, because he worked for it, and thus he deserves it. In the same way, when the Word of God says that something has been given to us by grace it means that it has been given to us as a gift, as something for which we did not qualify for and which we did not work for.

 

It is clear therefore that something either will be earned by works or will be given by grace. It cannot be both by works and by grace at the same time: "And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were [i.e. by works], grace would no longer be grace."  - Romans 11:6. Difficulties in understanding and accepting this fact have caused many Christians, to try to achieve by works what they already have.

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How clear and pure is the Word of God. Many of us when we go to the Word of God, we think that what we read has to mean something different than what is said! We need to understand that the Word of God means what it says and says what it means! It is our refusal to accept the Word of God that has produced all these strange ideas that gift means wage and grace means works.

 

If we go to the written Word of God with any preconceived ideas that we must  do something to achieve  a right standing before God and then read in scripture that this right standing has already  been given to us by grace because of (1) the"finished work"  Jesus did on the tree by purging away ALL sin, and (2) by our having complete faith that He DID just that,....we will start to worry that something is wrong with the written Word of God. (that is why having a GOOD translation of the Bible is so essential)

 

When God says grace He means grace and not works! Does this mean that God does not want us to do good works? Of course not! In fact He has created us for good works: "For we are His workmanship,  created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”- Ephesians 2:10

 

If you start doing good works in order to achieve a good position before God then you have missed the point. You will always end up with condemnation because you are trying to achieve righteousness by works, which is impossible. However, if you believe in the "finished work" that Jesus did on that tree by purging away ALL sin, and place your trust in Him implicitly, then you will start doing the works God has prepared for you.

 

These works are not the means of your relationship with God but the fruit of that relationship. God wants us to bring forth much fruit for Him! As the Jesus said in John 15:8: “Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be my disciples.”

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Though works do not precede our salvation, they should definitely follow it! We, as professing Christians, are indeed expected to live and walk as Christians, doing what the Word of God says and walking in the good works that God has prepared for us.

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To conclude: Salvation is by grace through faith. It is not of works! On the other hand the fact that we once believed is not the end. We should move ahead and seek to find and do what God has prepared for us, bringing forth fruit for our Lord. As He said “every tree is known by its own fruit” (Luke 6:44). James goes even further saying “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). The fruit of our life proves therefore whether our faith is a true living faith or a dead faith (which is just a confession made sometime, somewhere). Are you saved? If yes, then walk as saved! 

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“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light …. finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.”- Ephesians 5:8, 10-11

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