₦airaland Forum

Perfectbeing:
"Except a man is born again, he can never see the kingdom of God" - Jesus.

I want you to ponder on that.
Read the Bible if you have to and see his explanation of what born again means..

Except a man is born again he can never see the kingdom.

That simply means a man must be born again first, before he can see the kingdom.
And truly, the disciples had to follow Jesus to Jerusalem first before they were able to see and experience the crucifixion.
If they had not followed him to Jerusalem to see, there was no way they would have saw it and fully believe that Jesus was the Christ and be saved, therefore born again was the only way to the kingdom of God

It's like saying a child must go through high school first before he can be admitted into a college or university.

That means high school and university are not the same.

So, born again and the kingdom or salvation are not the same.

In those days before Jesus was crucified, born again was the only means to the kingdom. But the moment Jesus resurrected,born again at that point achieved it aim and is not needed anymore.

Having said born again was disciples following christ, there is no physical Christ to follow anymore, we are already in the kingdom of God today, which was the aim of born again.

Therefore it is far greater to be Christian than to be born again.

MuttleyLaff:
May God's blessing and grace not diminish from you

Amen!

Born Again preceded salvation
The disciples, Nicodemus and a lot others were already born again before getting the gift of salvation

you are absolutely correct

It is highly unlikely, anyone will be born again and not have or get the gift of salvation

but John the baptist was born again, he was never privileged to have the gift of salvation. He was killed before salvation was fully established when Christ resurrected.
The same thing applies to Judas Iscariot, he was born again too infact he was closer to Jesus than any other disciple yet he lost salvation and killed himself.

Since you didnt answer my "was the kingdom of God at this juncture and/or time seen or not seen?" question

the kingdom of God was seen

Check out John 2:23 to read about people seeing the demostration of power of the kingdom of God
John 2:23, IMHO, is where John 3, should have actually and appropiately started.

that is very correct

Scoffers, mockers, cynics, pagans etcetera will never see anything good about the kingdom
and that's because they are not born again, are not born from above, are not spiritually rebirthed
Regeneration has not taken place in them

it is true that those disciples who followed Jesus were born from above or spiritually rebirthed due to the fact that not everyone who heard about Jesus in those days decided to follow him.
Those who choosed not to follow him were not spiritually rebirthed just like the scoffers, mockers, cynics and pagans of today.
But that notwithstanding, not all who were spiritually rebirthed or born from above and followed jesus in those days ended up seeing Gods kingdom.
Jesus even confirmed that not all who called him lord lord will see the kingdom and that was what happened.

It didnt publicly need to be preached because it is a straightforward fact,
and Jesus was surprised that Nicodemus who happens to be a teacher, didnt know this and all

its very possible!
One can be a teacher of the bible yet he knows very little about it.

Perfectbeing:
From your first paragraph it seems you differed salvation from being born again... Is that the case?

exactly,
Salvation and born again do not fall into the same category

MuttleyLaff:
I hope you have the stamina because it is going to be a long read

"¹There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
²The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God:
for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
³Jesus answered and said unto him,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
⁴Nicodemus saith unto him,
How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
⁵Jesus answered,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
⁷Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again"
- John 3:1-7

Very important bible useful rule of thumb, to remember, is that the bible wasnt originally in chapters and verses.
This why one needs to be so very careful when reading it

I love John chapter 3 a lot and have noticed that John chapter 3 actually and appropriately should have started from John 2:23
but it sad to see, many, be under a delusion or living in a fool's paradise, cavorting with the "born again" cliché

paxonel, someone like you and most are familiar with driving a car or riding a motor-cycle
know how a car's flat/dead battery is brought back to life
or know how a motor cycle thats being lying around or standing about for months/years is brought back to life

Now, here's the beginning of the point, here's how many so-called believers, "believers" and/or christians, misunderstand John chapter 3
and as a result, unnecessarily slip into resorting to using a "born again" cliché

I am unable to understand why some and/or others dont ever wonder why Jesus never publicly gave "born again" teaching.
Think about it. Not even one public teaching about "born again" did Jesus give
I guess it's because born from above also known as, born again, actually isn't a badge of honour, but is a matter of just fact
It is unneccessary to publicly teach a known fact

paxonel, well, what was Nicodemus opening remark and what was Jesus' immediate reply back to Nicodemus opening remark?
Tell now, repeat Nicodemus' question to Jesus now paxonel

The arresting point that got Nicodemus captivated was the mention of regeneration in Jesus' immediate reply to Nicodemus' opening remark.

Jesus said to Nicodemus, it takes one having a spirit renewal or spirit re-birth, to see and recognise the kingdom of God
Jesus said, except born from above, one cant accept the truth of nor admit the existence of the kingdom of God

If one isnt, then such one, will rubbish, ridicule, make fun of, poke fun at, make jokes about, scoff at, be sarcastic about the kingdom of God
Such one not born from above, will take the mickey out of demonstrations & power of the kingdom of God

Notice, it's, from being born from above, that one is be able to confess and acknowledge the demonstrations & power of the kingdom of God
and its' from being born of water and born from above, is the order for entering into the kingdom of God

paxonel, here is an illustration, to explain "see the kingdom of God" and "enter into the kingdom of God"
When you're on a plane from France to Ghana, with a connecting flight at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, you land in Holland.
You dont go outside or beyond Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, you see Amsterdam city and/or Holland from inside Amsterdam Airport Schiphol,
Except you have the correct travelling documents etcetera, you cant go into town, cannot physically enter into Amsterdam city and/or Holland.
You will just see Holland and the city from whilst inside Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (i.e. the main international airport of the Netherlands)
but will not enter the city

Now lets rewind a bit paxonel
After dark one evening, Nicodemus came to speak with Jesus.
"Rabbi," he said,
"we all know that God has sent you to teach us.
Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you."
- John 3:2

Going back to John 3:2,
Nicodemus in John 3:2 managed to have seen somethings, he admitted and confirmed the origin of what hes being seeing
John 2:23 is testament to this
but Jesus switched gear on Nicodemus, Jesus changed from talking about "see the Kingdom'' to 'talking 'enter the Kingdom''
All this happened as a result of Nicodemus trying to make sense of Born Again and entering mother's womb
- paxonel, it is a fact, it is possible, we can see things of thing without entering the thing

People jumble two separate things together here paxonel.
Just because you cant enter into something, doesnt mean or imply you can't see the something

People see America, people watch America
but to enter into America, to set foot on American soil in America, requires certain criteria being met

Two people looking at the same thing at the same time,
both observing the same thing but only one is seeing something,
only one is admitting seeing what's being observed or only one confesses and acknowledges what was played out before them both

You see things when the spirit falls or rests on you
You can't see things unless you are born from above (i.e. you are born again)
You wont confess and acknowledge unless you are born from above (i.e. you are born again)

Please study John 3:1-3 by slowing reading but reading it out loud
Hope you notice how Nicodemus instigated Jesus switching the gear on him.
Jesus in responding to Nicodemus' admitted John 3:2 observances, decides to up the ante
from ''see the Kingdom'' to ''enter into the Kingdom'' after Nicodemus brought in the issue of re-entering a mother's womb

Nicodemus had no problem with Jesus' first reply
This is confirmed if John 3:3, is re-read like this:
You are right Nicodemus, I say to you, EXCEPT a man be born again, he CANNOT "see" the kingdom of God

Jesus knew what Nicodemus was having a problem with
and also knew why Nicodemus asked that question in John 3:4

paxonel, you see, Nicodemus was confused about the entering aspect,
He was thinking, is it going to be his present body or would he have to return into his mother's womb for a re-birth?

paxonel, re-read Jesus' John 3:5 reply to Nicodemus bewilderment, like this:
"You are right Nicodemus,
I say to you, EXCEPT a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he CANNOT "enter" into the kingdom of God"

Nicodemus was like, OK, I've seen the demonstration and power of the Kingdom,
but my question now is, how do I enter the Kingdom.
What are the qualifications?
Remember Nicodemus was a Pharisee, and the Pharisees idea of what the Messiah and His Kingdom is or would be is different

Born Again isnt the false doctrine it's being built up to be,
but is a fact, reality and truth that, except a man, is biologically born of human being (i.e. born of water)
and spiritually born of God (i.e. born again, as in born from above, born of the Spirit) you cannot enter the kingdom

You, paxonel, is born of water and born again

i have seen what you mean.

But how about the time factor?

Because we may read John 3 without considering the time of interaction between Jesus and nicodemus.

Was there salvation at the time Jesus met nicodemus?

If there was no salvation, assume nicodemus obeyed Jesus at that time and become born again, will he be saved simply because he became born again?

PastorDavidAwuj:
Where is this in the Bible?

put it this way,
The time or era after Jesus crucifixion and resurrection till this moment is the kingdom of God(the time of christianity which is the time of salvation as there was no salvation until christ resurrected).
The era before Jesus was crucified was the days of John the baptist.
Right from the days of John the baptist the kingdom of God suffereth violence(verb), and the violent(collective nown) actually took that kingdom by force.

Now, who were the violent?

The violents were actually Jesus disciples (about 5000 of them trodding Jesus for 5 loaves and 2 fishes) who later ran away the moment Jesus was captured.

All these 5000 disciples were the born again.

How do i know?

Jesus told nicodemus.
Marvel not that i say you should be born again(meaning, i want to open up and tell you what i mean by born again). John 3:7

Then he came up with this parable in

John 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Now, these are the elements of the parable based on how Jesus interpreted his other previous parables.

The sound of wind represent the crowd of his disciples (over 5000 of them)
Nicodemus saw these crowd of people following Jesus, he could not tell where they were coming from and where they were going to. (Remember they were going to Jerusalem where Jesus was to be crucified but nicodemus didnt even know that)
These people were the born again because Jesus concluded to nicodemus, so is every one(of that time,take note of the timing) that is born of the spirit .

And i have said, all these people of that time ran away the moment Jesus was arrested, infact peter denied him three times.
Since they all ran away, born again siezed to exist.
There is nothing like born again today, rather we have christianity today.

All these things happened in the days of John the baptist which was the transition between the old covenant and the new covenant.
I can tell you emphatically that John the baptist was the founder of that born again covenant(if there was anything like that) because John the baptist himself was born again, yet he missed the kingdom (the new covenant).
The least person in the new covenant which is you and i, is greater than John the baptist and every born again who ran away and also missed the kingdom

MuttleyLaff:
I concur without any demur with the emboldened

PastorDavidAwuj, it might interest you to know that the disciples, including Nicodemus were born again before Jesus' death and resurrection.

Born again, as in the context it is used in John 3:1-7,
and in an outright or oversimplified manner, means "born from above"

Whilst the mention of "born again" seems incidental,
it actually is serious, important and worthwhile to know and understand

paxonel, you are born again
and if you permit me, I can prove to you, that you are

ok, prove to me that i am born again.
I really want to understand you

Born again simply means to become jesus disciple or follower as at the Jesus was never crucified or resurrected. At that time there was nothing like christianity, so christians saying they are born again is aberration and they are only ridicling themselves.

There is nothing like born again anymore

op, dem don threaten your life from childhood with this fake rature doctrine abi.

just know that any doctrine that is putting you in perpertual fear is not of God

happy eid el maluid to our muslim brothers and sisters

sweetrace:
Being born in a Christian home does not make you a believer please. You have to make the decision to know and accept Christ for yourself.

this is what they used to tell us.
But there are no scriptures in the bible to support these lies.

Take it or leave it, we are saved by our faith.

Romans 6:8 Now if we be dead with Christ(as christians), we believe that we shall also live with him(we shall live again as christians)

And the only way we can live again as christians at resurrection is when we are brought up from christian homes.

A child born into an islam home will grow up a muslim, there is no magic.
A child born into a christian home will grow up a christian, there is no magic that can change that too.

That is, if you understand it from the concept of resurrection in 1 cor 15:35 to and of that chapter.

It takes simple reasoning to understand these things, but the problem about nigerians is that they dont reason at all.

All they do is to take bible to play religion without having a clue of what is written there

Perfectbeing:
Charles Haddon Spurgeon on the eternal security of the believer:
I have heard it said by some preachers, that when the Christian is holy, he is in the covenant; that when he sins, he is crossed out again; that when he repents, he is put in again, and if he fails he is scratched out once more; and so he goes in and out of the door, as he would in and out of his own house.
He goes in at one door and out of another. He is sometimes the child of God, and sometimes the child of the devil—sometimes an heir of heaven, and anon an heir of hell.
And I know one man who went so far as to say that although a man might have persevered through grace for sixty years, yet should he fall away the last year of his life—if he should sin and die so, he would perish everlastingly, and all his faith, and all the love which God had manifested to him in the day’s gone by would go for nothing.
I am very happy to say that such a notion of God is just the very notion I have of the devil.
I could not believe in such a God, and could not bow down before him. A god that loves today and hates tomorrow; a God that gives a promise, and yet foreknows after all that man shall not see the promise fulfilled; a God that forgives and punishes—that justifies and afterwards executes—is a God that I cannot endure.
He is not the God of the Scriptures I am certain, for He is immutable, just, holy, and true, and having loved his own, He will love them to the end, and if He hath given a promise to any man, the promise shall be kept, and that man once in grace, is in grace forever, and shall without fail by-and-by enter into glory

God bless you sir

EzeIgboNwaChukwu:
paxonel the nairalander is the founder of eternal security.
i pray God saves him before it's too late

when you think very well, you agree with me that those posts are true.
A lot of us dont use our brain when we read the bible and the result is the current impunity we are experiencing today among the body of christ.

This bible is very straight foward without any atom of contradiction, but the doctrines we inherited by our forefathers in christ are full of contradictions.

Again i ask the question.

How come Jesus told nicodemus you must be a good christian(if born again truly meant good christian) before you see the kingdom of God when there was nothing like christianity before christ was crucified?

Remember christianity only came on earth after christ resurrected.

That is a question the church today must answer or their generations to come will keep asking that question

You cant continue to fool people

Perfectbeing:
I think you're making some sense. Those blind, leprous, paralysed and dead folks didn't need any miracles from Jesus too.. Jesus should have just showed blind Bartimeus some love. He'd have just educated him and left him blind even though he had the power to make him see..

Having compassion on blind bartimeus isn't an act of love but hate. Jesus hated every one he healed and raised from the dead.

Same with Peter, Paul and the other apostles. They had no love in them that's why they healed the people they healed..

Thanks for letting me know this. I've learnt something today..

you have learnt in the wrong way how will you possibly know what i meant in the post?
Smart people ask questions first before talking indirectly .

The church dont need miracles this modern day
What they need is education and love.

Love is far greater than any miracle .

Any pastor seeking to perform miracle and deliverance in a country where there is no love, that pastor na moi moi pastor

almarthins:
You make me laugh.
God is consistent and immutable, he would bend his eternal law for any one. He had bn able to over look our sin as a result of the blood of Jesus, which was shed on the cross of calvary.

Read Ezekiel 3:20..tell me again that being saved is a license to partially the law of God and get away with it.

The book of Daniel talked about resurrection to everlasting joy and resurrection to everlasting punishment. So u need to guard ur faith jealously, righteous is one thing you to protect. You need Ernestly contend for the faith...

you are very correct.
You need to Ernestly contend for the faith

almarthins:
If you saved once and you are forever saved then why Christ make the parable of 5 wise virgins and 5 foolish virgins,

in that parable the 5 wise virgins refers to his disciples while the other 5 foolish once refers to the pharisees.

Remeber, the pharisees were never his disciples they opposed him, and parables like these were used to get the pharisees confused the more

It was a case of what happened even before Jesus was crucified and does not apply anymore today.

why did he warn his disciples against backsliding.

backsliding simply means going back to commit sins one has repented of.
In anycase sin is sin, and there are consequences for every sin commited thats why he may not want them to backslide.
The consequence of any sin has no connection with salvation through grace.
If you are a christian and you commit sin, you will face the consequence here on earth but that will never stop your resurrection with christ after you die.

Why did he pray for their sanctification " sanctify them through thy truth thy word is truth" why did he tell them to watch in Matthew 24, why

watch what?
What will happen in the last days?

Matthew 24 has been fulfilled to them in that generation, that generation of the disciples did not pass until everything in matthew 24 was fillfilled, so relax you dont have any fear today

Brightest04:
Only God knows those who're really saved-not by religion

is there any scripture to back up this?

There is non.

Obviously we were made to believe a lot of lies like this, not because they were written in the bible, but because they were laid down doctrines.

Please we are saved by our religion or faith, without religion or faith it is impossible to please God.

Everyone in christianity have all believed in christ therefore they are all saved like that irrespective of whether they can stay away from sin or not, as a matter of fact no one can stop committing sin.
And no one in christianity believed in muhammad or abraham or something else

Rapture4real:
Op.You are very wrong.Christianity is not a religion you are born into.You must be born again before you can be saved.John 3.Being.born.into Christianity does not save you.Each person must personally encounter Jesus through salvation experience.

the only people who need to encounter jesus to have their salvation experience are non christians.

There is no way you can prove that christianity is not a religion.

For your info, the word religion is a recently used word in place of the word Faith used in bible days.

So Faith and Religion are the same thing

adegeye38:
the bible says with our hearts we belive and with our mouth, we confess into salvation

very true.

And when you read it from verse 1, it says i pray that israel should be saved.
That simply means that until the israelites abandon their judaism and join christianity (the religion of christ) they can never be saved.

Remember the jews(israelites) had the old covenant through abraham and that was the beginning of their religion judaism .

But christ had the new covenant which is christianity, therefore salvation is all about the faith

femi4:
The scriptures doesn't contradict. Salvation is via the second/last Adam (Jesus)

The punishment on Adam and Eve still stand even after Salvation but a woman with holiness, love and faith shall be save from the portion allocated to women.

true

In 1Tim2:15 Emphasis was on "The Woman" , mankind wasn't used. I rest my case!

The woman was used because she first committed the sin, inspite of that she was saved through christ, thats the bottomline and that is grace for you

Thank God i have seen one christian who is interested in analysing scriptures, not like what our pastors are doing in church

femi4:
I m not an half Bible Christian that validate a point with just a scripture without backup scriptures.

Now, to understand 1Tim2:15..... you need to go back to 1Tim2:1. There, Paul was given them (man and woman) instruction on how to Worship.

V8 talked about how men should pray

V9-10 was about how women should dress to worship God

before i concluded that it was talking about salvation i have read it from the beginning and saw all these.

Verse 14 is very Important cos it revealed how the first woman sinned.

14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.

first of all you have to understand that the moment the fact that adam and eve sinned was mentioned, it point to the fact that mankind sinned from the beginning and needed salvation. Therefore there is no way you can exclude salvation out of this scripture no matter how you are seeing the scripture

Now in verse 15, It was clear that the instruction was for women, the first woman, Eve was caused in Gen 3:16
“To the woman he said, ‘I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.

So, Women would be saved from these pains IF......they continue in Love, Faith and holiness.

so, i will ask you questions, when you say love, faith and holy, what Faith was it talking about?
If it was referring to faith in christ are there not women today who have faith in christ who are still experiencing the pains of childbearing today?

Or have you ever heard in the history of mankind that there has been any woman who has not experienced pains again when she was giving birth to children by the blood of jesus ?
Because, this scripture you quoted has nothing to do with salvation i can tell you that
Gen 3:16
“To the woman he said, ‘I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.

And scriptures made us to understand in

Romans 5:19 For as by one man's(Adam) disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one (Jesus christ) shall many be made righteous.

Which implies that christ has restored every losses of Adams fall, yet women(including believers) are still experiencing pains during childbearing.

Therefore, the Gen 3:16 has nothing to do with salvation but was part of the purnishment to Eve for disobedience.
And 1 tim 2:15 i quoted truly refers to salvation of Eve (invariably salvation of all mankind).

There are other scriptures which points that men are saved from childbearing i can show you

guyla:
Christianity has its root in Judaism, yet in the days of Judaism Christ said to a Judaist "except a man be born again he can not see the kingdom of God" John 3:6
You must be born again, it's true we are not saved by works but by grace, yet he that names the name of the Lord must depart from iniquity, finally be you holy for the God we serve is holy
You are not totally right,

and you made a very valid points here.
Thanks

YAHREIGNS:
You need to define Christianity, Righteousness, Salvation and faith. You've used them in contradiction with each other.

the op did not define any of these talkless of using them in contradiction.

Anyway,christianity is a religion dont mind them.

It is the religion established on earth by Jesus christ and his apostles.

Righteousness can be seen in two ways, the way God views it which is quite different from the way men views it.

Men says if you do good that is righteousness but God only looks at faith, not the good you do.

As a matter of fact no one has ever in the history of mankind been good except christ.

sweetrace:
Being born into a Christian home can at best make you religious. True Christianity is a one on one relationship with Christ.

everyone born into a christian home whether they are religious or not were made to believe in christ by their parents thats the point of salvation.

Whoever believed is saved.

femi4:
Wrong Heading. No one is save via physical birth, you need spiritual birth. Except a man is BORN AGAIN ...........your Father's, parents or family's faith cannot save you

1 Timothy 2:15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

Who is doing the childbearing?
Are they not parents?

Therefore it will be difficult for a child who was brought up from a christian home leaves his home religion to go and join islam or any other religion.

This is the concept of salvation, dont mind what churches are saying they have never understood salvation to this point

Ihedinobi3:
You are exactly right that the only criterion for salvation is faith in Jesus Christ. However, it is also true that when one chooses to place their faith in Jesus Christ, they become born again and receive the righteousness of the Lord Jesus so that they become righteous in the eyes of God.

you are 100% correct sir.

Consequent upon that, the believer must begin to learn to know the Lord so that they can also imitate Him in behavior and attitude. That is sanctification. It is the product of true faith in the Lord.

very true, God bless you

Didcot:
My friend shut the fu ck up and stop preaching nonsense!
Odensin

you think being emotional will help you know the truth?
Dont start using your brain first?

PrecisionFx:
If u are born into a Muslim family, You at forever saved too.

Next!!

hibrahim:
Once saved is forever saved is the doctrines of Satan.

lie from the pit of hell

The false pastors recently distorted and misrepresented some of the scriptures you quoted to achieve their evil agenda. And the result today is the lukewarm churches scattered all over tthe world, the kind of cchurch the Lord promised to spew out of his mouth.

lukewarm of what, explain in details

almarthins:
This is heresy ...

christ preached what the jews considered heresy thats how he was crucified, so not all heresies are false

once saved is nt forever saved. You need constantly watch and pray. Jesus said, we should watch and pray. Backsliding is possible and dangerous, it can take many forms.

lie.
Go get your bible

KyrianOkeke:
No doubt op, it's your faith in Christ that makes you a Christian, however, the faith in Christ you talk about has to be confirmed by works.

lie,
The bible says we are justified by our faith not by our works

Do you fear God enough to desist from the things that don't please him? Are you walking in Christ's image in your day to day activities? Is there an explicit difference in lifestyle between you who's a Christian and people who are not?

The work is what proves You a Christian, not claim of faith that nobody sees

very true!
It proves to men who christians are, but not to God.
We are to please God for our eternal life not men.

No man can give us eternal life.

Only faith pleases God not works.

Without faith it is impossible to please God

adegeye38:
Your heading doesnt make aby sense, Jesus says no one comes to the father except through me, meaning without believing and confessing in the death and resurrection of jesus christ dere is no salvation

this is the same thing the op is saying. Everyone in christianity have believed and confessed that Jesus is the christ already .

and it doesn't matter wether u ar born in a Christian home or not.

says who?
Certainly not the bible or do you have any scripture to show for this your error?

Every body is an individual, no one can get saved for another person.

this one you have said is true, no one can get saved for another person, everyone have their rights to choose to be christian or not

And if you decide to live your life in sin, yoy lose d salvation

from your own invented doctrine, not the bible.
Contrary to that, the scripture affirms that we are justified by our faith, not by our works