Are Christians saved by faith alone, or through obedience to laws?

The short answer, of course, is that faith saves us. It is a gift from God. We can do nothing on our own to earn salvation from our sins, restore fellowship with God, or gain eternal life. Jesus Christ paid for this gift once and for all on the cross some 2000 years ago. The message of salvation is simple:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4–10 listen)

But what kind of faith saves us? Is it enough to believe that God exists yet to go on living as we were before we became Christians? The passage above says that we were saved not because of our good works, but so that we may perform good works. James elaborates on this quite a bit more:

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? (James 2:18–20 listen)

So we are saved by faith, and the kind of faith that saves us is the kind of faith that produces a change in our lives — the kind of faith that encourages and enables us to do good works and to walk in obedence with Christ as the center of our lives. The kind of faith that saves us does not make us do good works in fear that we might lose our salvation, but rather do good works because we love God. We are not passive in our faith but become true partners with Christ.

We’ve all had relationships in our lives that were based on fear and relationships that were based on love. Remember that tyrant of a boss for whom even the tiniest chore was tiring drudgery? That’s not the kind of relationship that Christians have with Christ. Think rather of that special relationship — a grandmother, an understanding teacher, a supportive boss — for whom we did things out of love. You probably hated getting a cup of coffee for that surly boss but would go to South America and pick the coffee beans ourselves for that loving grandmother. That’s the kind of love which is evidence of a saving faith.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God… (Romans 8:14–16 listen)

When you make God the center of your life you can bask in his warmth even on the coldest of days, love him when it seems like no one loves you, and experience the peace and joy that can only come from God even when your life is falling apart. That doesn’t mean that everything is easy and that you won’t have trying times, but it does mean that your heart is set on God and that you trust in him to be your guide.

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation. (Habakkuk 3:17–18)

Take time to examine the kind of faith that you have in God. Is it the kind of faith that produces love and good works or is it the kind of faith that you only think of at Easter or Christmas? The latter is not only no fun, it’s not the kind of faith that saves. Having a saving faith allows you to walk with God without fear in joy and peace.

Has your faith in God changed your life? If not, throw it away and get the kind of faith which does change your life.