By Faith Alone?

By Rob Albright

    A few years back, I entered a men’s baking contest. It was all desserts. I found a recipe that I liked so I started putting all the ingredients together. I also took into account how long I was to cook. It was all spelled out in the recipe. I thought I made a good cake – at least some people could eat it.

    In the matter of salvation there are different ingredients. The Bible teaches us we are saved “by grace, through faith” (Eph. 2:8); by “works” (James 2:24; by “calling on the name of the Lord” (Rom. 10:13; Acts 22:16); by “obedience” (Heb.5:8-9) by “baptism” (Mk. 16:16) by “belief” (Acts 16:31); and other things as well.

    Here is my point: Just as the ingredients of the recipe must be combined to make a cake, so must the ingredients of salvation be combined. You do not have salvation by faith alone. Just like you cannot take just one ingredient and claim to make a cake, you cannot just pick one ingredient and have salvation. The ingredients must be combined to get the desired results. You cannot produce a cake on flour alone and you cannot have salvation by faith alone.

- Rob Albright serves as one of the ministers at the Northwest Church of Christ in Greensboro, NC. He may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://www.nwchurchofchrist.com/