Coffee Klatch

Here’s a search engine that I just found out about. It’s called Ixquick and it’s a metasearch engine, like Mamma or DogPile. When you search Ixquick, it looks through AltaVista/AllTheWeb, Ask Jeeves/Teoma, EntireWeb, Gigablast, Go, MSN, Netscape, Open Directory, Overture, Wikipedia, WiseNut, and Yahoo!, bringing you the combined results all on one page.

While it certainly has some nice features, like giving you the option to have your search term(s) highlighted on the resulting page or like providing you a narrower focus (theoretically more accurate) in your search results (a recent search of mine got “63 unique top-ten pages selected from at least 7,089,054 matching results”), the most popular feature right now is something they DON’T do.

They don’t collect any personal data on you or your searching. When your session is done, they delete your information. They are the “first search engine to stop recording privacy details” and yet they still let you search many of the big-name search engines. Read their press release: Ixquick.com eliminates ‘Big Brother.’

Are Christians saved by faith alone? Are works a part of it? Does what you do matter or affect your salvation? Do your works produce salvation?

While there is quite a deal of controversy about this topic within the various branches of Christianity, I think it’s mostly a matter of semantics. If Christians from different denominations would open their ears and their minds a little, most would find that they’re saying the same thing. Just emphasizing different aspects of it.

First, here are some verses from Scripture that talk about the relationship between works and salvation:

Romans 4:2-5 - If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.

Galatians 2:16 - 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.

Romans 9:30-32 - What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 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.”

Ephesians 2:8-10 - It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.

Matthew 16:27 - For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

Romans 3:27-28 - Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

John 8:39 - Jesus said unto them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.”

1 John 2:3-4 - We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Titus 3:5-6 - He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.

James 2:14-26 - What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Matthew 7:17-20 - Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Some people emphasize the need for faith apart from works, while other emphasize the need for works to prove out that faith. Most Christian denominations don’t advocate “getting saved” and then sitting on your butt until it’s time to go to Heaven. Instead, they say in various ways that the Christians needs to be active in the world, being “zealous for good works,” as the Bible says. The purposes include glorifying God, helping those around them, being God’s hand in ministering to others, and causing other Christians to glorify God. St. Paul called this “working out your salvation.”

Even the Catholic Church does not teach that works “save” in the way that Protestants view salvation, contrary to the hearsay that many Protestants believe. The Second Council of Orange stated that “If anyone says that … the beginning of faith … by which we arrive at the regeneration of holy baptism is not through the gift of grace, that is, … the Holy Spirit reforming our will … he is proved to be antagonistic to the doctrine of the Apostles.” Also, “If anyone affirms that without the illumination and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit … he can think anything good which pertains to the salvation of eternal life … or consent to salvation … he is deceived by the heretical spirit” (quoted from LumenGentleman Apologetics). They do teach that works can be meritorious (earning something), but that only by acknowledging that even the desire to do good works is a gift from God to the Christian. Works are seen as having value because they are acts of obedience. They are not the cause of initial justification, but are a result of it. You can read further explanation here.

So are works necessary for salvation? Yes and no. But I think we can agree as Christians that if someone claims to be a Christian and does not live a life of good works, his Christianity is questionable. “You will know them by their fruits.”