One of those difficult things about our belief system has to do with how we respond to the difference between what we have come to know as faith, and our works. Which is better? What are the essentials? Is either approach bad? It is a dilemma of the first order, but one with which we need to deal as believers.

The issue really arose for the early Christian community when the Gentiles were being saved without ever having had to live under the Law of Moses.

They had never been required to know the Hebrew concept of righteousness because they had never been Jews. Many Jews were offended that Gentiles be given a pass. Saint Paul addressed this matter in Romans 9.30-32: ‘What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it; a righteousness that is by faith.’ The Hebrews had always been the people of God, but the Gentiles came as individual believers.

The Gentiles came by faith, not birth. They did not have to work for righteousness by keeping the Law, as Paul continues: ‘but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? because they pursued it not by faith, but as if it were by works.’

Paul concludes: ‘They stumbled over the stumbling stone.’ The Jews were trying to do good in order that they could deserve salvation. The Gentiles accepted salvation as a gift, and did works to manifest their faith. They demonstrated their faith by how they lived! That is exactly what God has demanded—FAITH-FILLED WORKS!