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What we believe in our minds and what feels true in our hearts determines how we live. Unbiblical beliefs lead to sinful living. This is especially true of beliefs about the relationship between faith and works. Here are five faulty views:
True faith requires perfection in all areas of life: obedience, spiritual desire, applications of Scripture, and submission to the church. This is impossible because we’re not God and can’t have perfection. This view robs people of rest and assurance.
Faith results in Christ’s righteousness being imputed to our account, which becomes a substitute for following Christ as Lord and makes works of faith unnecessary.
No response of faith like repentance or regeneration, can contribute to justification. This view is faulty because God doesn’t justify an unregenerate person.
Works produced by faith are equal to works of the Law. In Scripture, like Romans 3:20 and 28, and Galatians 2, Paul isn’t rejecting works of faith but is opposing the view that believing Gentiles must be circumcised and practice the Law of Moses to be a person of faith and a member of Abraham’s and God’s family of faith.
Church guidelines/applications of Scripture function like works of the law that Paul condemns. The decrees given to the church in Acts 15 are an example of guidelines and applications of Scripture, and the New Testament doesn’t view the decisions in Acts 15 as functioning like works of the Law.