(Gospel e-Letter - February 2009)
Why is it that in God’s plan, salvation is by faith and not in any other way? Why not include our good works and our obedience to his law, in addition to faith?
The Bible gives us a clear and direct answer. In Romans 4, the apostle Paul shows how Abraham was justified by faith when he believed God’s promise. The same applies to all believers, all are justified by faith, and not on account of obedience to the law. Paul concludes that, ‘Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring’ (Romans 4:16).
This then is the reason: it is ‘by faith, so that it may be by grace’!
If God had conditioned justification on our obedience, his justice could not accept anything less than perfect and complete obedience to his law. That would have meant our doom and damnation, for no-one, except Jesus Christ, has ever kept the law perfectly. Elsewhere the same apostle reasons this way:
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." Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith." The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, "The man who does these things will live by them."
Do you want your works to count for justification? Make sure that you ‘continue to do everything’ the law demands - otherwise you are cursed. But if you honestly look at yourself in the law of God and realize that you are a law-breaker and guilty before him, then you must seek salvation in an altogether different way, through God’s determined means, namely by faith.
God justifies the ungodly by faith so that it may be by grace. God gives salvation as a free gift. Not that salvation is cheap! Our redemption is infinitely valuable for it was purchased by the precious blood of his Son. Yet God gives it to the undeserving freely. ‘Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.’ (Isaiah 55:1).
But why is it that faith corresponds to grace? It is because faith says,
I am unworthy sinner;
I am helpless and powerless;
I plead guilty and I have no defence;
My righteousness are filthy rags;
I merit God’s wrath, condemnation, hell!
Faith despairs of self, but faith does not despair of God! Faith fixes its gaze confidently upon the Lord Jesus Christ, saying,
You are worthy, for you shed your precious blood on the cross;
You are powerful, for you arose victorious from the grave;
You are gracious, kind and compassionate;
You promised rest to all who come to you;
So Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.
I am your sin, you are my righteousness.
May I never boast save in the cross of Christ my Lord;
And forever glory in the grace of God.
Did Christ die in place of his people to pay the penalty for their sins?
Historically the Catholic Church forbade the laity to read the vernacular translations of the Bible.
Your Comments
18 comments:
Joe,
I really admire your dedication to the the Holy Scriptures but for some odd reason you tend to over emphasized faith and leave the rest as footnotes. Do you noticed you skipped a lot of very important passages like:(emphasized Caps letter)
Heb 13:16, "Do not neglect TO DO good…for such sacrifices are pleasing to God."
Matt 25:14-30…about the two good servants increase what their Master has given them, and they merit a reward for it. The bad servant does not, and he is cast into the darkness.
Matthew 25:31-46
"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you DID NOT DO for one of the least of these, you DID NOT DO for me.'
Matthew 22:38-
Jesus said to him, "'You must LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'This is the greatest and most important commandment. The second is like it: 'You must LOVE your neighbor as yourself.'
John 15:13
No one shows greater LOVE than when he lays down his life for his friends.
And Mr. Mizzi lastly,
1 Cor 13:13.
"Right now three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is LOVE." (1 Cor 13:13)
Please, try to remember these very important passages where Jesus didn’t say Faith is the most important but LOVE and what does He mean by love, TRUE Love is GOOD WORKS IN ACTION everthing else is not love.
When you talk about faith in the Bible, it refers to a living faith and NOT just an intellectual ascent ( like believing in somebody and doing nothing.)
In our daily life if you just tell your wife , “ I believed you, I love you”’ but without doing anything to make it work…I guessed your wife must think you are crazy!
Believing IN Jesus is following Him and doing everything He commands you to DO!
First of all let me give my condolences to you and your family on the death of your father. May he rest in peace.
Now, in your website article claimed the slogan, that we are justified by "faith alone," the expression "faith alone" only appears once in the Bible—in James 2:24—where it is rejected and CONDEMNED.
Evangelicals say that definition of faith being discussed by James, is an inferior or bad faith. Some do this by pejoratively labeling it "dead faith."
But reading the context shows that James is not using the phrase as a definition. He is not defining the term "dead faith." That term does not appear in the text. He is stating a FACT, not offering a definition.
The interpretation flies apart at the seams when we test it by substituting "dead faith" wherever the text mentions faith.
James does not see anything wrong with the faith he is talking about. The faith isn’t the problem; the fact it is ALONE is the problem.
WHAT part do good works play in our salvation? Many Christians, especially Evangelicals, say they play no part, but the Catholic Church teaches that they do have a role. At the same time the Church warns against the idea that we "earn" our salvation through good works. Both errors can be avoided by paying close attention to Scripture.
"Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 7:21).
"One came up to him, saying, `Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?' And Jesus replied 'If you would enter life, keep the commandments'" (Matt. 19:16-17).
"He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him" (John 14:21).
"But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. For he will render to every man according to his works: to those who by perseverance in good works seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury" (Rom. 2:2-8).
"You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love" (Gal. 5:4-6).
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God--not because of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for GOOD WORKS, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:8-10).
"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:12-13).
"What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, `Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But some one will say, `You have faith and I have works.' Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you shallow man, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works, and the scripture was fulfilled which says, `Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness'; and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone" (Jas. 2:14-24).
Mr. Mizzi,
I would like to try and be objective about this subject of justification and with humble and ardent prayer I hope that God will show me.
From what I read and with open understanding of the Bible passages, Jesus gave us the grace and salvation by His cross with no charge and that we are justified by faith as first encountered AND secondly important also, we must be willing to cooperate with that grace He gave us at the cross or we could also freely choose to reject it. I think this is what the catholics are saying, that both faith and good works(love) are essential for justification (and increase thereof) and one without the other is false.
But they (catholics)also teach in some situation when a person was living an immoral life and at the point of death he repented of all his sins and accepted Jesus as his Lord and Saviour, the catholic teaches that man was saved by his faith (a gift from God) not good works because there was no chance and time to do or increase his justification but although he was saved. At this point the doctrine of purgatory comes in- not because he was given a second chance but more on paying and cleansing the effect of sins he had done.
I remember that catholic teaches that sin has 2 aspects-the guilt of sin and the effect (harm-consequences) of it to the community.
I'm a communicant of Eastern Orthodox and like our western brothers, the Catholic Church, we have more in common than disagreements. You could consider a very, very little difference like the "filioque" clause and that's about it well maybe just few administrative-cultural aspects only and not so much doctrinal. To me,i really don't know why we split on the first place.
Anyways, slogans of sola fide, sola scriptura were never heard of for 1,500 years of christianity since the Pentacost. Actually it's quite new, borned from the protestant movement 500 years ago.
There were no evidence for these ideas written on both secular and institutional history and of early christian commentaries. Historical aspect they only appear in Luther's time.
There were many heretical and false teaching of every generation during the Church's age and many of these people claimed to be guided by the same holy Spirit but primarily because of that "sola scriptura" every man and woman can now interpret the bible that will fit in their own liking.
I truly believed that was born of protestant movement was the precedent of modern day relativism.
True, without a visible head the body starts to split and fragments to pieces.
The principle of divide and conquer was the idea of the ancient evil one.
I hope someday we can follow the Lord when He said, "I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me". Jn 17:22
Pray for christian unity!
Joe,
I read your articles about Papacy, was Peter a pope? the power of the keys, etc. and it's fine according to evangelical's view but this passage from Jesus Himself bothers me....please interpret the words of Christ in Matt 18:15.
"If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the CHURCH; and if he refuses to listen even to the CHURCH, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.(Matt 18:15).
So said Jesus, if there are offenses, disputes we should take it to the Church as the final arbiter, but the question today, which one? which church was Jesus talking about? does it still exist today? is it the Mormon church? or Jehovah witness? the Baptist? Anabaptist? Methodist, Pentacostals, your own pastor? my own church? just me? or maybe we could say the church as whole body of believers (as we use to say).... could it render a decision and final judgement to declare that such an offender that still didn't listen to be an outcast-tax collector as prescribed in the passage?
I'm confused, where can i find such a church with Authority? does it still exist today? The answer to that very deep question is definitely YES! just trace back your church on when and where they started....I think Jesus established here on earth One Church only, not churches, because, "God is not a God of confusion."
Joe, you are a doctor and very learnt, please don't try to wiggle out from the obvious message of the text, about the Authority given to Peter and to his successors...have you consider the changing of names from Simon Bar-jonah to Peter in jewish history?
Before I forget, very important, Jesus said "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the CHURCH; and if he refuses to listen even to the CHURCH, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.(Matt 18:15).
Now try to place the word bible in the text instead of "Church", And by the way the bible (New Testament)wasn't even created yet when Jesus spoke those words.
Abram was changed to Abraham which denotes from just a father to a father of a great nation. Jacob to Israel....Simon bar Jonah to Peter...new names, new roles, does it ring a bell?
Mr. Mizzi,
According to your interpretation that "faith is sufficient, faith truly justifies the beliver on account of Christ’s blood and righteousness" and then imply that good works is not essential with one's salvation and just like an "automatic" thing after one was justified.
The big problem with that statement is and you can look in your the bible, that there is NO GUARANTY or like "automatically it will happen" that the justified or believer will do good works, do you agree with that, Mr. Mizzi?
A lot of examples exist in your bible, wherein the person became justified then "fell" away after being justified because of his/her OWN DOING or DONE NOTHING at all. But also you could find people who were first justified and DID'T stop there and went to DO good works accordingly to follow the instruction and commandments of God at particular time of their lives.
I agree with you that we are undeservely justified by faith FIRST by the blood of Christ but secondly important is we have the FREE WILL to cooperate with love or just totally ignore-reject it. It is still up to the person's free will which God could'nt force because He respected it.(free will)
Look at the "biblical passage" used by this ignorant catholic...(some more in the previous commentaries).
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but FAITH WORKING THROUGH LOVE" (Gal. 5:4-6).
Apostle Paul didn' say faith alone but faith AND good works.
Justification is not a one time event, it is a continuing saga in a believer's life that is why Jesus keeps reminding us,... "only those who persevere to the end will enter the kingdom", St. Paul,.. " I pummeled myself...or I will be considered cut-off".(Imagine Paul said that, considered a justified man).
Joe, just keep in mind, "there is NO guaranty that the justified will do good works."
A disturbing passage in the bible will happen in the Last Judgement, where Christ said, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me... then they were thrown into everlasting fire.
Jesus didn't say your faith but what you did with love that will matter...at the end it is love that we will be judged. (2 great commandments of Jesus)..love God with all your heart...love your neighbor as yourself. Now try to put the text faith in place of love, if it makes sense to you.
Joe asked a catholic on justification...
"am I doing works out of love for Christ, or for the purpose of meriting justification?"
Do you think that when a catholic is doing good works for his fellow men it's just to merit in justification and not out of love for Christ (catholic doctrine of justification?) Is that what you're trying to imply, Joe? your interpretation?
How in the world do you know their hearts and intentions and judge them? May I suggest to leave the judging to God alone, that's his business and not ours.
Do you know how many good catholic people in the world that have been doing good works through the ages sometimes offering their very own lives BECAUSE of their passionate love for Christ? If God will allow an increase in merit for the person doing good works, we treat it as bonus, BUT primarily it is out of our love to Jesus and nothing else. By the way, it is Jesus Himself who said and not us catholics, that you will indeed received a reward and increase merit AFTER being justified, if you do and keep His commandments. Are you aware of that Mr. Mizzi? Do you really believed that once a person was justified it means good works will surely follow? Wow, read again what Paul had said about "working out your salvation with fear and trembling" and "pumelling myself... or I may also be cut-off". These were from the mouth of Apostle Paul-a giant in terms of Justification matters.
Why do you guys always try to divide things up? I noticed in most protestant doctrines, from its founders of Luther and Calvin to modern day protestantism had been trying to divide things up, good examples...between the visible church and the bible, faith and love(good works), why is it a choice of either or? why not accept them both, like Jesus is both human and divine... that Jesus left us a visible church with Peter as the head in His absence and made His church an instrument to compile and declare certain books divinely inspired?(Bible). That both faith and love are necessary for salvation as what the bible teaches and NOT by faith alone.
Your article about sola scriptura (Scriptures Alone) and the early fathers supposedly teaching such idea was not really accurate in the way you present it. Of course, the early fathers sing praises to the holy scriptures as all inspiring even the so called catholic church to which they were part of, always, up to the present has never stop praising and putting the Holy Bible to highest level of veneration and honor for teaching the word of God and you could see that in lot of historical writings.
In Timothy 3:16 states, in the NIV, ‘All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.’
But the fatal flaw you made was equating “all” to “only” scriptures which make a lot of difference.
Reading into the text is when you read something which is not actually there. It actually states "all Scripture." Interpreting that passage as implying "only Scripture", as you seem to be doing, would be reading into the text . In addition, how do you know 2 Timothy is inspired by God? Many liberal scholars now are even doubting if Paul wrote the book or not. My point is you don’t have a reliable Bible unless the Catholic Church’s decision regarding the canon was infallible.
Nowhere can you find any early church father teaching "sola scriptura."
Now, regarding the “apocrypha” books. First of all, some Jews do use them. Ethiopian Jews and others from Africa use the deuterocanonicals to this day. Secondly, there was no consensus in Judaism until well after the early Church had been formed. By that time the Church wasn’t under the authority of the rabbis. The Church had received her authority from Jesus himself.
Several Fathers, such as Athanasius (some apocrypha books he included in his collection), Jerome accepted only the Jewish Masoretic canon, but it was never an individual father that made binding decisions for the Church; only the councils could do so. The problem was, you were quoting few fathers swimming against the majority and against tide.
The so called “Council of Jabneh or Jamnia" was a group of Jewish scholars who were granted permission by Imperial Romans around the year 90 a.d. to decide once and for all which books belong to the “jewish canon” . Even during the time of Christ there were competing opinions on what books actually belonged. There were various collections in existence. Sadducees and Samaritans accepted only the Pentateuch, the first five books, whereas the Pharisees accepted a fuller canon including Psalms and the prophets. The Masoretic text did not contain the deuterocanonicals, whereas the widely used Greek Septuagint did.
Now the question is, Is the the authority of the “council of Jabneh” binding to christians? By what authority did they get it from, whereas the Authority of “Binding and Loosing” was given by Christ to the his Church? And finally…
Why did you, Dr. Mizzi accepted the authority of the “Council of Jabneh” as binding , wherein the same council also rejected the four Gospels of Luke, Matthew, Mark and John practically the whole New Testament together with the so called “apocrypha” books as not divinely inspired?
Now, for your article of the so called, “Disagreement Among Protestants and Sola Scriptura” you mentioned that it is the same principle for the “disagreements and discord within the Catholic Church and of Protestant denominations”, Mr. Mizzi , the fatal flaw with this statement, is…..the so called disagreements and discord among Catholics is matter of obedience to the Authority of the Catholic Church (after the declaration of a doctrine), whereas on the Protestant side the so called disagreements and discord was a matter of doctrinal separation. A very big difference, don't you think, Mr. Mizzi?
I read your articles and the most I'm offended of was your claim about Our Holy Mother Mary.
Just some of the outrageous things you wrote...
"..never call Mary the “Queen of Heaven.” That was the title of a pagan false deity, probably the Canaanite goddess Astarte."
"Catholics worship Mary because they pray to her, kneel before her image, trust in her for salvation and attribute to her titles and honours which belong to God alone."
I don't want to go into your level and all your objections to the catholic teachings were all answered adequately from various catholic writings, Cathecism of the Catholic Church and from holy Scriptures. But inspite of that Mr. Mizzi and guys like you still make unsubtantiated accusations.
How low can you go? You are like the virulent anti-catholic author Lorraine Boettner, spewing half truths, lies and making up stories in order to mislead ignorant catholics.
Why do hate the catholic church so much that you are twisting the bible and historical facts in order to satisfy your lust of hate towards her?
I really don't know where you fall on this..."There are not more than 100 people in the world who truly hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they perceive to be the Catholic Church.(Bishop Fulton Sheen).
Please remember this guy, I, Ariel adopted son of Mary, Mother of God, The Ark of the New Covenant, The Golden Vessel, Morning Star and Queen of Heaven and Earth.
I wish you peace in Her Majesty's Holy Name, Blessed Virgin Mary.
Just to leave you a note...
Do you agree and believe that Jesus Christ,is of Royalty? A King? In fact, King of Kings?
So then, do you read about the Davidic Kingdom in the Old Testament?
"So Bathsheba went to King Solomon, to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. And the king rose to meet her, and bowed down to her; then he sat on his throne and had a seat brought for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right. Then she said, ‘I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me.’ And the king said to her, ‘Make your request, my mother; for I will not refuse you’" (1 Kgs. 2:19–20).
This account reveals the sovereign prerogatives of the queen mother. Note how the king rises and bows as she enters. Bathsheba’s seat at the king’s right hand has the greatest significance. In the Bible, the right hand is the place of ultimate honor. This is seen in particular in the messianic Psalm 110 ("Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool").
In fact, many New Testament passages refer to the right-hand imagery of Psalm 110 to show Christ’s divinity and his reign with the Father over the whole universe (e.g., Hebrews 1:13). Thus, the queen mother sitting at the king’s right hand symbolizes her sharing in the king’s royal authority and illustrates how she holds the most important position in the kingdom, second only to the king.
Now, go to passage of wedding feast at Cana, where Mary, the Mother of Jesus asked him to help the newly wed's shortage of wine. What did Jesus do? What did Mary say? Listen...He could'nt refuse His mother...
This is to show Mary's power (she has none) or she was more merciful than Jesus (nonsense) but because of her Son, Jesus has allowed her to be such... an example for the world to see of his power and generosity to help one another. Jesus could just do it by himself without Mary's intercession, but why did He choose to allow it?
If Jesus is King which you agree, what then His most beloved Mother be? Just think.
I haven't dropped in for awhile, so let me begin by offering my condolences at the loss of your father.
You've hit the faith-nail squarely, and I wholeheartedly concur. What people seem to mis-understand, is that even faith is a gift from God. And once given, it is from THAT faith alone that all works flow. Everything else is flesh-driven, and will receive no recognition or reward at the Bema Seat - no matter how seemingly wonderful the work(s).
Without that evidence (faith alone), it's quite likely the individual does not even have salvation. With it, they have not only salvation, but the evidence that flows there-from ... the very fruits noted in Gal 5:22, and so much more. The fact is, without faith (salvation), even the works themselves can be made into gods, idols.
The Pharisees got the works thing down pat. They also had their traditions/doctrine neatly packaged. Yet Jesus admonished them (Matt 22:29) for not knowing God, or His power. Seems we can be doing all the right "things" and be as lost as the pagan.
I won't even attempt to speak of how faith and Mary-worship intersect (or "don't", as is more appropriate). Having been raised a Catholic, and THEN having learned what the scriptures, as well as church history has to say, it's a paradigm I'm not likely to change.
Suffice it to say, many of my Catholic friends & family have been quite clear about embracing Catholic doctrine & tradition over scripture any day. It breaks my heart as they've accepted the traditions of men over the word of God, and that puts them in a terribly dangerous position (Mark 7:5-13).
Thank you for opening the doors of truth wide. The amazing grace found in Christ alone is sufficient. And faith alone makes that sufficiency so very personal & powerful & humbling, as well as the gateway to the fruits & labors that are the only proofs this soul requires.
God bless you.
Kathleen
Let's be rational and just use our common sense here, you say we are only save by faith alone and love(good works) is not necessary for one's salvation, am I right?
If that is the case, then there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to do good works towards fellow men or attend the church because they don't have any bearing at all towards one's salvation, right? why bother? If you believe in your heart that you have been saved? why bother?
On the other hand you also say that faith without good works is "dead". How would you know if your faith is dead wherein on the first place you say good works is not necessary?
This doctrine is just encouraging people not to do good works of love towards fellow men.
I'm not saying people who adhere to this doctrine have not been doing good works it's just to show that this doctrine is self-contradictory and have so much cognitive dissonance.
Another thought: the following website is a great resource for questions & answers related to salvation, as well as many other essential issues.
http://www.gotquestions.org/
In fact, there's an entire section devoted to "Questions for Catholics" that is, in my opinion, very helpful.
Be blessed,
Kathleen
Joe Said: What was true in the case of Abraham is true universally. 'by works and not by faith alone': As is clear from the context, this does not mean that genuine faith is insufficient for justification, but that faith unaccompanied by works is not genuine.'
However you slice it, you still need good works in order for a “saving” faith to be genuine.
Evangelical say: 1. Faith alone is sufficient for salvation;2. faith “always” produces good works; 3. God will not account your deeds or works for justification.
In 1 The Catholic Church say: The Bible is clear that faith holds a first and prominent role in the salvation of every person, an undeserved gift. (Eph 2:8-9,Heb 11:6)The Bible is equally clear that there must be a balanced relationship between our faith and its expression in good works.(James 2:14-18,1 Cor 15:58 Heb 6:10, Col 3:23-24).
In 2, I agree with you that faith produces good work and without it, faith is dead and useless, but implying as “always” is not true, it is as if somehow that God had crucially decreed good works will surely follow the faith of a person. God gave us the undeserved gift of justification without us having to work in order to merit it (coz’ there is no way we could earn it) in other words it is an unmerited gift. But remember for our part, God gave us free will and it is still our free will to decide to cooperate (an act) with faith… as the saying goes, true relationship or true love works both ways(reciprocating).
In 3. In the Bible, it is clear that God will indeed account for your deeds… in the Last Judgement (Matt 25).
The use of the word faith is different from what the catholics and evangelicals understanding, but I think it's close.
First the common agreed point, that faith is a grace from God and unmerited gift to men.
Now for the disagreement:
For evangelucals, faith is a combination of intellectual assent (and)that produces good works of love.
For catholics, they distinguish separately between faith(intellectual assent) and good works of love (an act/cooperation/free will).
There are people who don't know Jesus(not on their own fault)but still do work of love to their fellow men, ex. remote indian tribes and there are also people who believe Jesus (intellectual assent) but are indifferent and complacent to other people's need.
The question is, which side makes more sense? biblically speaking?
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