Catholicism (and other false relgions) maintains that Salvation is by faith and works. So, let us assume that as our hypothesis to test against Scripture. The economy of salvation in a Christian's life is Regeneration, Justification, Sanctification, and when (s)he goes to Heaven, glorification. Most Catholics misunderstand Sola Fide to be dead faith alone. Sola Fide does not mean dead faith alone (faith devoid of subsequent works) but saving faith alone (faith, which as a result of justification, produces works). However, let us for a moment assume the following hypothesis: Christians are saved by faith and works.
Catholicism attempts to use many verses that (name removed) cited to disprove Perseverance of the Saints (PoS) and Sola Fide (SF). In the light of 1.Cor.3, the verses about rendering according to our deeds and receiving the just reward of our works do not mean works coupled with faith can save us but mean that our works will be tested and refined as by fire and what remains is our heavenly reward, our crown in addition to being finally saved. Nor does it refute Sola Fide for Sola Fide does not mean dead faith alone (i.e, faith devoid of subsequent good fruit/works).
So, the hypothesis begs the question: "Can good works done at justification part of salvation or later in our righteous/santification part of salvation justify us?"
To Scripture we go:
Titus 3:5 "NOT BY WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH WE HAVE DONE, BUT ACCORDING TO HIS MERCY HE SAVED US, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; " -- works of righteouness ("good works", "works of obedience") done either in justification or sanctification do not save
Isaiah 64:6: "But we are all as an unclean thing, and ALL OUR
RIGHTEOUS WORKS ARE AS FILTHY RAGS; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." In fact, works especially a Christian's works fall short and are regarded as filth by God.
"For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory;
but not before God. For what saith the scripture? ABRHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS COUNTED UNTO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS. NOW TO HIM THAT WORKETH IS THE REWARD NOT RECKONED OF GRACE, BUT OF DEBT." Romans 4:2-4 -- Works of the Law (ceremonial and moral) incur debt, not grace or salvation. Abraham was under the ceremonial law yet was still justified only because he believed. Further, all Abraham did was believe and he was accounted as righteous/justified/saved; note that in Genesis 15 that this justification was BEFORE circumcision (the OT equalivalent of Baptism).
"Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. " Gal. 3:6 -- same thing. Galatians explicitly condemned works of the Law (again, moral and ceremonial) and that
they are a liability that earns Hell and thus cannot save us
"We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES WAS IT CREDITED? Was it after he was circumcised (done a work), or before? IT WAS NOT AFTER BUT BEFORE!" Romans 4:9 - Justification was given to Abraham at the moment of belief, not after. God did not wait for a work to credit him righteousness or justification.
"But if it is by grace, IT IS NO LONGER ON THE BASIS OF WORKS, OTHERWISE GRACE IS NO LONGER GRACE." --Romans 11:6, basing salvation (either partially with faith or wholly as works alone) on works nullifies the Grace of God
"Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved." Luke 8:12 -- cutting off false professors who were never saved and then mentioning salvation immediately after their belief
"And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou SHALT be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house." Acts 16:30-31 - all they do is have true belief/faith alone (not death faith alone) and they ARE saved, not seemed to be saved or might be saved.
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that NOT OF YOURSELVES, it is the gift of God; NOT AS A RESULT OF WORKS,so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:8-9, speaks for itself saved not by works and especially not of ourselves
"For we maintain that a man is justified by faith APART FROM WORKS OF THE LAW." Romans 3:28, clear that we are saved independent works of the Mosaic law (which includes the moral part, not just the ceremonial/ritual part), which can be summed as "love the Lord your God..." and "Love your neighbor...". So, even loving our neigbor as part of the moral law can't save.
"For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM." Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, "THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." Gal 3:10, humans are not perfect; so, we cannot simultaneously do everything written in the law (ceremonial and moral). Even if we can, the works of the law bring a curse.
"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe IN THINE HEART that God hath raised him from the dead, THOU SHALT BE SAVED." Romans 10:9 -- same thing as Acts 16, there it is-heart belief: further corrects that Catholic misunderstanding of dead faith or mind belief erronoeusly meaning faith/belief alone (faith alone is not mere mind belief/credence, "lord, lord", or "I believe" but mind AND heart belief)
"And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was IMPUTED UNTO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS: and he was called the Friend of God." James 2:23 same thing -- note that Abraham's righteouness was IMPUTED to him, not infused
"You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. " Gal. 5:4 - those who try to be save or claim to be saved by works, either alone or coupled with faith, are alientated by God and cutoff from the Church (e.g, the Catholic parts of the Church)
If you look in the Gospels, what does Christ say? "Your faith has healed you", "Your faith has made thee whole". He didn't say "Your faith and your work of touching my cloak" or "your faith coupled with your work of touching my cloak". It was faith that they were made whole, not works or faith and works. All Christ mentioned was faith.
Yes, James 2 says "not by faith alone". In context where he also says that Abraham believed and was immediately counted as righteous, he is saying not by dead faith alone since those who have mere mind belief (and no heart belief from their hearts not being circumcised) won't be saved. Justification in that passage does not refer to justification before God, but before man. So, no contradiction to faith alone.
Those who rely on the devil's lie of faith and works and deny the Truth of Faith Alone have nothing at all for they make Christianity to be man-centered and God as a codepdendent puppet serving Man as the "master". The same thing with those who believe the devil's lie of conditional security and deny the the Truth of Perseverance of the Saints. As always, the opponents of faith alone punch the air and miss their target for they still misunderstand faith alone.
Therefore, the hypothesis that we are saved or justified by faith and works fails in the light of Scripture for works (even if done in a state of Sanctification or righteousness) do not incur salvation but Apostasy, a debt, curse, and God's punishment. So, all that is left is only faith. Hence, we are saved by faith alone, that is saving faith alone (not dead faith alone).
Additional verses:
"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe IN THINE HEART that God hath raised him from the dead, THOU SHALT BE SAVED." Romans 10:9
"It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, BUT THROUGH RIGHTEOUSNESS THAT COMES BY FAITH. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless," Romans 4:13-14
"We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES WAS IT CREDITED? Was it after he was circumcised (done a work), or before? IT WAS NOT AFTER BUT BEFORE!" Romans 4:9
"Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. " Genesis 15:6
"Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad--in order that God's purpose in election might stand: NOT BY WORKS BUT BY HIM WHO CALLS" Romans 9:11-12
"It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. " Romans 9:16
"Therefore NO ONE WILL BE DECLARED RIGHTEOUS BY OBSERVING THE LAW; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. BUT NOW A RIGHTEOUSNESS FROM GOD, APART FROM THE LAW, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. " Romans 3:20-21
"We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. " Galatians 2:15-16
"Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." " Luke 7:50
"Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour. " Matthe 15:28
""Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. " Mark 10:52
"But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour. " Matthew 9:22
"but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone." As it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." Romans 9:31-33
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices–mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law–justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former." Matthew 23:23
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." Matthew 23:13
""Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering." " Luke 11:52
"By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead. " Hebrews 11:4
"David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: " Romans 4:6
"To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him SHALL receive remission of sins." Acts 10:43
"And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:" Philippians 3:9
"To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. " Luke 18:9-14
"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. " John 5:24
"He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. " Acts 15:9
"Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." 1.Peter 1:5
"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" 2.Tim. 1:9
"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: " John 3:36
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