Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: gdsimpson@amherst.bitnet Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Message-ID: Date: 25 Mar 91 10:12:48 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 30 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu How do Protestants interpret Matthew 7:21 where Jesus says "Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven"? Doesn't this verse say that Jesus believed in good works as a means of salvation rather than faith alone, or there another way to read this? -Gilberto Simpson "The water will engulf us if we do not dare to tread" -De La Soul [The simplest response would be simply to cite John 6:40: "For this is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life." That is, doing the will of the Father means in the first place to have faith in Christ. Note that Protestants believe we need to obey God. We see salvation as a free gift of God. Our response is in the first place committing ourselves to God's mercy (which is one way of characterizing faith -- I'm wary of using that word with Catholics because they sometimes think we mean simply intellectual assent). From that follows obedience and good works. The good works are necessary, in the sense that if they don't follow, you can be pretty sure that there was no real commitment (except in unusual cases -- probably the thief on the cross didn't have a chance to do any good works). But the emphasis shouldn't be on the works themselves. They alone wouldn't save us. They are significant only because they follow from a commitment to God. As far as I can tell, Catholics agree with this. Is there a real difference here? --clh]