T., thanks for your continued patience! Another partial answer for you this morning.

Regarding works, you asked,

“Doesn’t that mean that works are kind of necessary because without them you will have a dead or powerless faith?”

Maybe it would help to separate this question out:

• Are works necessary as a precondition to salvation? No.
• Are works necessary to merit salvation? No.
• Are works necessary to maintain living faith? No.

But we could answer in the affirmative if we frame it differently:

• Will works necessarily result from living faith? Yes.
• Are works necessary to glorify God? Yes.
• Are works necessary to fulfill the purpose God has for our lives? Yes.
• Are works necessary to demonstrate the authentic Christian life? Yes.

I love your point that it’s important “not to downplay the importance of works.” There are a few texts that bring grace and works together in a beautiful way.

The first is Luke 7:36-49, where Jesus tells the parable of two men who are forgiven of their debts. The one who is forgiven more, loves the one who forgave him more. Jesus draws out a principle: “He who is forgiven little, loves little.” Forgiveness melts the heart of a sinner. It comes freely. It attaches us to the one who loves us. “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

The second text is Colossians 3:13: “As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” The irony of this passage is that I am unable to obey it if I am not first forgiven! So I must receive this forgiveness freely and then forgive others from that state of being forgiven. If I insist on achieving forgiveness by works, then I can’t obey this command. Being freely forgiven by faith only, and receiving the Spirit by faith only, is what empowers me to love my enemies, and forbear with difficult people, and pray for my enemies, and live by the Spirit.

So works don’t maintain our faith. Rather, our living faith energizes our works. This is why Paul speaks of “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6).

I must maintain a distinction between faith and works (Romans 4:5), and between works and grace (Romans 11:6), yet it is grace and faith that set the stage for the best and only and most powerful way to become a loving and forgiving person who keeps God’s commandments. Faith is a very “weak instrument” — it has a simple, needy, dependent, empty-handed posture of receiving from another. It trusts in the righteousness of another. When faith grows strong, it only grows more confident in its neediness and dependence on another. It says, “I am not righteous; Christ alone is righteous.” It declares spiritual bankruptcy. It looks to the worthiness of another. Then it is given instant and free access to the riches of Christ’s righteousness.

Ironically, this is the only way to become a person that does works that please the Father. This is the only way to have works at final judgment (Matthew 25:31-46) which show the evidence of my identity in Christ and the real transformation that the Spirit did in me. I must trust in Christ only, by faith only, and then, and only then, can I bear fruit.

Jesus said, “As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” (John 15:4). I must be connected to the vine to bear fruit. Therefore, bearing fruit is not what connects me to the vine.

In summary:

• Our works are evidential, but not meritorious.
• Work are inevitable, but not identical to our faith.
• We are prepared for works (Ephesians 2:10), but they are not a prerequisite to our salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9).

I hope this encourages you. This free grace also helps inform the way we pray to God for mercy. “Lord, help! Forgive me. I believe, help my unbelief. Forgive me, an unworthy sinner. Don’t change me, and then later forgive me. No, Lord, forgive me now freely, and then transform me!”

Grace and peace in Christ,

Aaron