Sermon Quotes: "Got Faith?"

“They are not antagonists facing each other with crossed swords; they stand back to back, confronting different foes of the gospel.” Alexander Ross

“Paul denounces the idea of salvation by dead works; James rejects salvation by dead faith.” J.I. Packer

“Both James and Paul view good works as a proof of faith—not the path to salvation.” John MacArthur

“James is not arguing that works must be added to faith. His point is that genuine biblical faith will inevitably be characterized by works.” Doug Moo

“Saving faith results in a distinctive life. A thing as potent as the new birth, if it has taken place, cannot be hidden; it cannot fail to make its presence felt. To have the life of God in us and to remain unchanged is unthinkable.” Alec Motyer

“Paul said that a man is justified through faith without the works of the law, but not without those works of which James speaks.” Augustine

“So alongside the famous and celebrated ancestor of the Jewish people, a man, ‘the friend of God,’ he places an obscure Gentile woman of low moral character. Thus he implies that anyone is capable of acting on his or her faith—whether a patriarch or a prostitute.” Doug Moo

“He designedly put together two persons so different in their character, in order more clearly to show that no one, whatever may have been his or her condition, nation, or class in society, has ever been counted righteous without good works.” John Calvin

“O it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith. It is impossible for it not to be doing good things incessantly. It does not ask whether good works are to be done, but before the question is asked, it has already done this, and is constantly doing them. Whoever does not do such works, however, is an unbeliever. He gropes and looks around for faith and good works, but knows neither what faith is nor what good works are. Yet he talks and talks, with many words, about faith and good works.” Martin Luther

“I pray the Lord to give you a gentle and loving spirit towards all men, and a practical conviction that grace alone has made you to differ. It is easy to acknowledge this in words, but it is a great thing to act suitably to such an acknowledgement.” John Newton

“A company of travelers fall into a pit: one of them gets a passenger to draw him out. Now he should not be angry with the rest for falling in; nor because they are not yet out, as he is. He did not pull himself out; instead, therefore, of reproaching them, he should show them pity. A man, truly illuminated, will no more despise others, than Bartimaeus, after his own eyes were opened, would take a stick, and beat every blind man he met.” John Newton