A servant of the Lord who faithfully... - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2025

Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1.

A servant of the Lord who faithfully preached the Word of God had delivered a sermon of salvation by faith alone, as the apostle Paul describes it in the epistle to the Romans. In the congregation was a man who was fully convinced that salvation could be attained only by good works.

After the sermon he went up to the preacher armed with the verse from James 2:24: "You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only" He told the preacher, "If your assertion is correct, then James is wrong; but if James is right, then you and Paul are wrong. Otherwise you must admit that there are contradictions in the Bible." The one addressed first made one thing clear: "There can be no contradictions in the Bible, the Holy Spirit being the sole author. He cannot contradict Himself."

Then he went on to explain, "When Paul states that salvation is by faith alone, He is speaking from God's viewpoint. God can read our thoughts and see into our hearts. For God we are saved the moment we believe. Faith is a matter of trust, not mere intellectual agreement with a few theories.

"When James emphasises that salvation also comes from works, he is speaking from man's viewpoint. You cannot read people's thoughts nor see into their hearts. You need something visible or tangible to judge whether someone is saved or not. As far as people are concerned, we are saved if they see our good works as the fruit of our redemption."

Today's reading: Jeremiah 27:1-11 · Romans 3:1-8