Unit 2 Choice 2: James 2. “Faith Without Works is Dead”

1.Some people teach that faith is all that is needed in order to be saved and that good works are not necessary. James clarified the relationship between faith and works.

• Your friend, who is investigating the Church, has expressed a question in the letter below.
• Write a response using counsel from james 2. How could you use Matthew 7:21; 19:16-17; Ephesians 2:10; Revelation 20:12-13; and 2 Nephi 25:23 to help support the truths you teach?

“Dear LDS Friend,

Some of my friends are saying that Mormons are not Christian because you believe that you need to do righteous works along with having faith to be accepted by God. My other friends claim that with the grace of Christ, works are not necessary. They say that if I join the Mormons I would be denying Christ’s grace. How should I respond to them?

-Your Friend”

Dear Friend,

We know that the only way for us to be saved is through Christ’s grace because there is no possible way for us to save ourselves. None of us are perfect and we can only come close to being clean by using the Atonement. It was only through Christ’s love and grace that the Atonement is available to us. We accept Christ’s grace and are so very thankful for it.

We believe that as disciples of Christ we should follow his example and try to live as he lived. We strive to follow the teachings of Christ and obey the commandments. One of the things we learn from Christ is to do good to others and not be selfish. Doing service and caring for others are “acts” in that we are physically doing something. Can we truly say that we have faith in Christ and believe His words if we are not willing to do the things that He has asked us to do? Christ said that we need to do the will of the Father (Matthew 7:21) and that we need to keep the commandments (Matthew 19:17). Both of these scriptures talk about us taking action, not just having faith.  The “acts” that we perform show Him how much we love and honor Him and are striving to be like Him. Christ has commanded us to “love our neighbor”. How can we show our love for our neighbor without helping them and performing “acts” of service or good works for them?  We follow His example in going to church, teaching one another, and caring for and serving our neighbors. The devil knows that Christ is the Savior, but the difference between he and I are our works. The devil tries to lead people away from Christ while I, through my works, am trying to bring joy, love, and Christ into people’s lives.

We learn in Revelation 20:12 that we will be judged according to our works and James 2:17 tells us that faith without works is dead. There are many scriptures that talk about the actions that we need to take as followers of Christ, but ultimately it is up to us to gain a testimony of the gospel and gain the desire to do ask Christ has asked us.

-Amie