Quote Originally Posted by dberrie2000 View Post
Then the question remains for orthodox Christians--can one obtain salvation through dead faith?


James 2:20---King James Version (KJV)


20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

I have often said--one must distinguish between orthodox Christianity and the true Christianity of the first century church, and found within the Biblical NT.
While you are dead in your sins, God will reach out to you....
Each person is saved by Grace though faith....not by works...

thus you never have to worry that you have lacked in this or that work or project , as if you had to earn your salvation.

The good news is that there is NO heavy lifting to being saved, for the Lord has done all the work...

"But Alan, is there no work by the person needed to be saved?"....None!, save the work of having faith in the completed work of the cross of Christ.

Thus we are not saved by the fulfilling of works, but rather we are saved by Grace though faith, and out of our faith comes works...

In this way the works in my life are like the sound that comes forth from my car's motor.
The sound is not the important part, but it does tell you the condition of the motor.

No sound (no works in the life of the person) tell you that the motor is not running, (dead faith)

But you dont fix the car's motor by simply turning up the radio or by making a louder noise, rather when you get the motor running the correct sound will naturally come from this at the same time.

The running motor will "alone" drive the car, but the running motor is never alone, (there is always sound with it)

Just as we are saved by Grace though faith alone, ...but such faith is never alone.