Salvation by Grace through Faith

Because we are all sinners, we have earned only death; justification is not earned, but must come through faith and believing God as did our father Abraham.

Grace implies empowerment for growth. It is the single most important aspect of our salvation, and His giving of it is completely unmerited on our part.

God's grace supports and fulfills us, but it does not mean 'once saved,always saved.' It is possible to fall from grace, as Israel's experience demonstrates.

God gives grace from start to finish in a person's relationship with Him. It cannot be limited merely to justification and His forgiveness of our sins.

Three times, James states, 'Faith without works is dead!' Here's how James' teaching agrees with and complements the teaching of Paul on justification.

John Ritenbaugh clarifies that, in terms of salvation, grace and works are mutually exclusive (Ephesians 2:8-10), but good works are the result (or the fruits) of God's creative efforts. Grace frees one; works prove that one has been freed. Grace (or the g. . .

Everything that we go through has been engineered by God. We are His workmanship, created for good works, a response to the faith He has given us.

A summary of the Covenants, Grace, and Law series, reiterating the differences in the Covenants and the respective places of grace and law in God's purpose.

God is doing more than merely saving people; He is producing children in His image. The difference between the covenants is in the quality of the faith.

God's calling us is just our initial taste of His grace. Grace is unmerited, but it is not unconditional. We have an obligation to respond to God.

Righteousness consists of applying the Law's letter and/or intent. Sin constitutes a failure of living up to the standards of what God defines as right.

Forgiveness is only the beginning of the grace process, enabling us to grow to the stature of Christ. Paradoxically, grace puts us under obligation to obey.

Both the 'eternal security' and 'no works' doctrines are destroyed by the remarkable example of Noah, who performed extraordinary works based upon faith.

John Ritenbaugh focusing upon the topic of camouflage, concealment, or deception, warns that Satan, the grand master of deception, has provided what appear to be plausible alternatives to Christ's sacrifice for salvation. We are saved through a combination. . .

John Ritenbaugh assures us that God is involved in the minute details of every converted person's life just as much as He is in the major historical world events. As a new creation of God (II Corinthians 5:17) we receive continuous, meticulous, detailed at. . .

Protestantism unthinkingly presents grace as "free." However, Scripture shows that God expects a great deal of effort from us once we receive it—it is costly.

The Law (including the judgments, ordinances, and statutes), far from being done away, shows us our faults and outlines the way of mercy and love—how to live.

God begins His spiritual creation by grace because the wages of sin is death. Consequently, God's people will exercise humility and faith in yielding to Him.

We need to be sobered at the awesomeness of the cost to set us free from sin—what the Creator endured. We have been purchased, and are obliged to our Purchaser.

John Ritenbaugh, reflecting on how God perceives us, indicates that God established permanent patterns, electing Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as well as all of those He has called. This Election (predestined and foreordained by Almighty God) should be the do. . .

We would like God to instantly gratify our desires. Consequently, we find living by faith difficult; we do not trust that He has things under control.

Those who advocate doctrinal change portray God as a confused and false minister who lacks the power to instruct his chosen leaders to 'get it right.'

Are we 'once-saved, always-saved'? Once God grants us His grace, are we assured eternal life? The fallacies of the doctrine of 'eternal security' are exposed.

What many religious people do not seem to understand is that justification before God is just the beginning of something far more involved—and that is living by faith. John Ritenbaugh covers the faithful life and work of Noah, illustrating that walki. . .

While we must express some of our own faith as we come to salvation, the great bulk of "saving faith" is a gift of God, given graciously and miraculously as part of God's creative process in us. In particular, John Ritenbaugh uses the examples of Abel and . . .

The yoke grievous to bear (Acts 15:10) was not God's law, but an entire package of Pharisaic regulations that had been elevated to the level of God's law.

The quality of leadership affects the morality and well-being of a nation, and the quality of family leadership trickles up to civic and governmental leadership.

God's creation did not end with the physical creation or our election, but God continues to work, giving us the motivation and the power to do His will.

John Ritenbaugh, focusing upon the seemingly innocent but subtle and pernicious doctrine of Dispensationalism, attacks the assumed yet unbiblical adversarial relationship between law and grace. Modern "Christianity" totally rejects the Bible in i. . .

There is a direct relationship between loving Christ and doing the right works. God's love for us places us under a compelling obligation to reciprocate.

Christ emphasizes that the internal, weightier matters, which change the heart, take precedence over external ceremonial concerns that don't change the heart.

The major issue in the Acts 15 decision was not doing away with God's law, but seeking a theological solution to the problem of circumcision and the Pharisaical misconception that it was a recipe for salvation. Within the context of this decision, both Pau. . .

Those who have made a covenant with God can be corrupted unless they make a concerted effort to know God, realizing He has the right to do as He pleases.