Compelling Love

As believers in Jesus Christ, we are saved by grace through faith.  We are His workmanship, and co-laborers with Him.

Ephesians 2 (NKJV)
⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Living faith is always accompanied by action, as seen in James 2:18, “But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

James 2 (NKJV)
Faith Without Works Is Dead
¹⁴ What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? ¹⁷ Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Peter H. Davids writes,  “So is faith without works dead?  What James seems to say is that our works don’t save us, but they do reflect a saving faith.”

https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/what-james-means-by-faith-without-works-is-dead

John’s gospel describes how grace and truth came through Jesus Christ:

John 1 (NKJV)
¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

¹⁵ John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ”

¹⁶ And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

Christ has made God known to us, as the New Life Version declares:

¹⁸ The much-loved Son is beside the Father. No man has ever seen God. But Christ has made God known to us. 

God’s saving grace through Jesus Christ is clearly seen in John 3:16,

John 3:16 (NKJV)
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

By grace through faith we receive power to have victory over sin.

John 8 (NKJV)
¹⁰ When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹ She said, “No one, Lord.”

And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

¹² Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

Romans 5 describes the eternal blessings of being saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ:

Romans 5 (NKJV)

¹ Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

David Krause, dhkrause@neteze.com, https://compellinglove.net/,11/10/2019

Photo credits:
(1) https://www.amazingfacts.org/bible-study/scripture-pictures/scripture-pictures-by-books-of-the-bible/verse/e/29238/t/ephesians-2-8-9
(2) http://dailyscriptureblog.com/scripture/masterpiece-4/
(3) http://michellenezat.com/
(4) https://www.hearthymn.com/bible-verse-who-is-jesus-christ.html
(5) https://sevennotesofgrace.com/2012/07/19/this-is-how-we-know-john-316/