READING: ROMANS 1-8, GALATIANS 2:15-3:18.
1. What is the Gospel "Good News" - Romans 1:16,
1 Corinthians 15:1-4,17. 2. What is sin - Lawlessness - 1 John 3:4; missing the
mark - Romans 3:23. 3. Who sinned - Romans 3:10-12,23, 2:14-16, Ecclesiastes
7:20, 1 John 1:8,10, Romans 5:12, Ephesians 2:1-3, Luke 18:19.
4. What is the penalty for sin - Romans 6:23, Revelation
20:11-15. 5. We can't save ourselves - Isaiah 26:10, Jeremiah 13:23,
Matthew 7:17, 18, 20, Romans 7:18, 8:7-8, Psalm 49:7-8, Isaiah 64:6, Proverbs
21:2. 6. What is Repentance - - Mark 1:14-15, Luke 13:3. Repentance is that change wrought in the life of a sinner by
which he turns away from sin and turns to God. Being essentially
a change of direction, it involves a change of view, a change of
feeling, and a change of purpose. It therefore includes three
elements: a. An intellectual element Repentance involves a change of view -- a recognition of sin
as involving personal guilt, defilement, and helplessness. If
unaccompanied by the emotional and volitional elements, this
recognition may manifest itself in fear of punishment, without an
accompanying hatred of sin. b. An emotional element Repentance involves a change of feeling -- sorrow for sin as
committed against goodness and justice, and therefore hateful. If
accompanied by the volitional element, sorrow for sin is
repentance. If not, it is remorse, which is sorrow for the
consequences of sin. Remorse may lead to despair. c. A volitional element Repentance involves a change of purpose -- an inward turning
from sin, and a disposition to seek pardon and cleansing. This
element includes the two preceding elements, and is therefore the
most important aspect of repentance. 7. What is Grace - Unmerited favor - Romans 11:6. 8. Faith - Trusting in Christ for our salvation - Romans
3:21-26, Ephesians 2:8-10. 9. Remember Christ is God - Colossians 2:9, John 1:1-3,14,
5:18,23, 8:24. 10. Read the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20 and Matthew
5:21-22,27-28. 11. Those who live a sinful lifestyle will not go to heaven - 1
Corinthians 6:9-11. 12. We must agree that we are sinners deserving of punishment
- Romans 3:4. 13. We must repent change our mind to totally submit to God - Acts
3:19, Matthew 10:37-39. 14. We are not to trust in our own righteousness (salvation is
a free gift) But in Jesus' payment for our sins - Ephesians 2:8-9, 1
Corinthians 5:21, Romans 3:24-25. 15. We are a new creation - 2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans
8:4,9. And we become apart of the family of God John
1:12-13 16. We are those who do God's will - Matthew 7:21, 1 John
5:2-3. 17. We confess our sins - 1 John 1:9. 18. We have assurance that we are a Christian 1 John
5:12-13, Rom 8:28-39. 19. We are Changing our Character Romans 5:1-5, 2
Cor 4:16-18, Gal 5:22-23, 2 Pet 1:3-11, Gal 2:20 We are those who read, study, memorize and meditate on God's
Word 1Pet 2:1-3, 2 Tim 2:15, Ps 119:11, Jos 1:8, Ps 1 20. We are those who rejoice pray and trust in God Phillipians
4:4-7 21. We are those who bring the Good to people News Dan
12:2-3 22. We are those who get together with other Christians Heb.
10:24-25 23. We are those who get Baptized as a testimony of what God
has done for us Romans 6:1-6 and we get Baptized as an act
of obedience that come from Faith in Jesus Matthew 28:19-20.
24. We look forward to a glorious future! 1 Corinthians
15:49-58, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Revelation 21-22.
James 2:14 What use is it, my brethren, if a man says
he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If
a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily
food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be
warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is
necessary for {their} body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith,
if it has no works, is dead, {being} by itself. 18 But someone
may {well} say, “You have faith, and I have works; show me
your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my
works.” 19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the
demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But are you willing to
recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is
useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when
he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith
was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith
was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says,
“AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS
RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called the friend of God. 24 You
see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone. 25
And in the same way was not Rahab the harlot also justified by
works, when she received the messengers and sent them out by
another way? 26 For just as the body without {the} spirit is
dead, so also faith without works is dead. Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith —and this not from yourselves, it is the gift
of God — 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we
are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do. Galatians 3:6 Consider Abraham: “He believed God,
and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 7 Understand,
then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. 8 The
Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith,
and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations
will be blessed through you.” 9 So those who have faith are
blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. 10 All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it
is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do
everything written in the Book of the Law.” 11 Clearly no
one is justified before God by the law, because, “The
righteous will live by faith.” 12 The law is not based on
faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will
live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the
law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed
is everyone who is hung on a tree.” 14 He redeemed us in
order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the
Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive
the promise of the Spirit. 15 Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just
as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been
duly established, so it is in this case. 16 The promises were
spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say
“and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to
your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. 17 What I
mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set
aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away
with the promise. 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law,
then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave
it to Abraham through a promise. "The difference, then, between Paul and James is a
difference of terminology, not of meaning. This difference of
terminology is one indication that the Epistle of James was
written at a very early date, before the controversy with the
Judaizers (see Galatians) had arisen and before the terminology
had become fixed. James is not correcting Paul, then; he is not
even correcting a misinterpretation of Paul; for if James had
been writing after the terminology had become fixed, what he
would have said is that although a man is justified by faith
alone and not at all by works, yet one must be sure that the
faith is a real faith and not a mere intellectual assent like
that of the demons who believe and tremble. (Machen) Mt 11:19* The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they
say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of
publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her
children. Mt 12:37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified,
and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Lu 7:29* And all the people that heard him, and the publicans,
justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. Lu 7:35* But wisdom is justified of all her children. Lu 18:14* I tell you, this man went down to his house
justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth
himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be
exalted. Lu 10:29* But he, wanting to justify himself, said to
Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Lu 16:15* And He said to them, "You are those who justify
yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is
highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. 1344 dikaioo dikaioo {dik-ah-yo'-o} 1) to render righteous or such he ought to be 2) to show, exhibit, evince, one to be righteous, such as he
is and wishes himself to be considered 3) to declare, pronounce, one to be just, righteous, or
such as he ought to be Justified by works (ex ergwn edikaiwyh). First aorist passive
indicative of dikaiow (see Galatians and Romans for this verb, to
declare righteous, to set right) in a question with ouk expecting
an affirmative answer. This is the phrase that is often held to
same words, but they are talking of different acts. James points
to the offering (anenegkav second aorist--with first aorist
ending--active participle of anaferw) of Isaac on the altar (#Ge
22:16f.|) as proof of the faith that Abraham already had. Paul
discusses Abraham's faith as the basis of his justification, that
and not his circumcision. There is no contradiction at all
between James and Paul. Neither is answering the other. Paul may
or may not have seen the Epistle of James, who stood by him
loyally in the Conference in Jerusalem (#Ac 15; Ga 2|).
OUTLINE OF WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN
The Relationship between Faith and
Works