@philokalia saidYou would find your interpretations only in your church handbook.Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV
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.
And this is where proper faith becomes important.
of course, to never do works is wrong, because works are the fruit of faith, but proper belief is vital to salvation.
You kno ...[text shortened]... m God. What really matters is the free will we have, how we use it, and how we choose to believe. ^^
Jesus said to never do good works leads to damnation and good works and righteousness leads to eternal life.
Therefore there is something wrong with your interpretation of Paul's writing.
@rajk999 saidSo how should "For by grace you have been saved through faith" be interpreted?
You would find your interpretations only in your church handbook.
Jesus said to never do good works leads to damnation and good works and righteousness leads to eternal life.
Therefore there is something wrong with your interpretation of Paul's writing.
What was St. Paul trying to say there?
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@philokalia saidYou figure that out. Jesus did not say that.
So how should "For by grace you have been saved through faith" be interpreted?
What was St. Paul trying to say there?
What did Paul say a couple chapters later in Ephesians about who inherits the kingdom of God?
Are the saved by grace Christians in the kingdom?
@rajk999 saidOh, so we are supposed to believe in Christ... but we are not supposed to believe in St. Paul.
You figure that out. Jesus did not say that.
What did Paul say a couple chapters later in Ephesians about who inherits the kingdom of God?
Are the saved by grace Christians in the kingdom?
So how can we accept the Gospels that were recorded for us as legitimate, if we are to be suspect of what St. Paul stated there?
@fmf saidThis isn't the right question.
Philokalia, do you think a person can come to believe in Jesus by themselves by reading the Bible and do so without the "Nicene Creed"?
The Nicene creed is a statement of the basic teachings of the Bible to prevent heresy.
The right question would be something like is it possible to be a Bible-believing Christian or a Christian at all while rejecting the Nicene creed.
For it is possible for someone to have not been familiar with the Nicene creed to believe in the contents of the Nicene creed simply through having read the Bible. Yet, this is also not going to be applicable to 99% of cases because of the fact that there will be a Christian community near them that has the Nicene creed and the theological understanding of their priest or minister.
@philokalia saidSo your answer to:
This isn't the right question.
Do you think a person can come to believe in Jesus by themselves by reading the Bible and do so without the "Nicene Creed"?
...is "Yes", right?
@fmf saidPeople can become Christians through a large variety of means that don't involve the Nicene creed, yes, lol.
So your answer to:
Do you think a person can come to believe in Jesus by themselves by reading the Bible and do so without the "Nicene Creed"?
...is "Yes", right?
However, anyone who denies the contexts of the Nicene creed is not a Christian in the conventional sense of the word.
These are very different topics.