Faith Without Works Is Dead

This question was posed on Quora:

Why do Latter-day Saints believe that actions like accepting Christ and keeping covenants aren't considered "salvation by works"?

See the question and my answer HERE.

I answered as follows:

The idea that we can’t be saved by our works stems from the Apostle Paul’s declaration in Ephesians:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. [Ephesians 2:8,9]

It is a fact that salvation is a gift of God, and nothing we can do earns us salvation. If works could save us, then we wouldn’t need Jesus Christ — many people, including some Christians, seem to get the idea that there is some amount of good deeds that lets us into Heaven. But without Christ, no amount of good deeds get us there. This is because our works have no power to overcome our sins.

But that is beside the point! All throughout the New Testament Jesus and his apostles make it clear that we must obey the commandments. And what are those commandments? You can start with the Ten Commandments — they were not done away with or fulfilled like the Law of Moses was fulfilled by Jesus’s Atonement. And Jesus even gave us a new commandment:

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. [John 13:34]

This is not a one-time commandment like baptism! It is a commandment that is to be kept to the end. As Jesus said:

But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. [Matthew 24:13]

Enduring to the end is a work as Paul said in that passage in Ephesians. It cannot save us, but it is by that work, which is to keep the commandments, that Jesus grants us his grace — and that is why Jesus saves us!

Because of that passage in Paul, however, some Christians have come up with the idea that the only thing we need to do to be saved is to “accept Christ” as our Savior. And some even believe that baptism isn’t even required, calling the requirement of baptism “magical sacramentalism.” Those people treat baptism as something we should do, but if we don’t it’s all good.

But it’s not all good. Jesus himself told us that works are required. In the very beginning of his ministry he told Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, that without baptism one could not enter into the Kingdom of God. [see John 3:1–7]

When Jesus came to John the Baptist at the River Jordan, he came to be baptized. But John objected, saying “I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?” Saying thus John acknowledged that Jesus was his superior, just as he had been telling people before this, that one was coming who was mightier than he, who would baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire. But Jesus reassured him that it was right that John should baptize him, saying “Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” [see Matthew 3:13–17]

So, I ask you: if Jesus, who was without sin, needed to be baptized in order to fulfill all righteousness, how can it be claimed that baptism is an optional accessory for the Christian? And is not baptism a "work"?

Now, baptism is the first Christian covenant. What does it mean? According to Paul, baptism represents a believer’s union with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Going under the water symbolizes dying to sin, while emerging from it signifies rising to a new life in Christ, reflecting spiritual renewal and transformation. [see Romans 6:3-4] But is that the end and there is nothing more required?

Here we can call upon the Book of Mormon to see what the covenant of baptism obliges us to do. In the Book of Mosiah the prophet Alma called upon the people to whom he had been teaching the gospel and said:

[A]s ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you? [Mosiah 18:8–10]

The plain fact of the matter is this: that Christ requires of us that we keep his commandments, enduring until the end, starting with baptism. And when we have reached the end, having done all we can do to keep his commandments, then will he grant us his grace and we will be saved. It’s not a “one and done” thing!

The Apostle Paul made it clear that salvation was an ongoing process, as he wrote to the Philippians:

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. {Philippians 2:12]

It is indeed the case that your works cannot earn you salvation or save you. But the scriptures make it abundantly clear that your works are nevertheless required in order to be saved by the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. As James wrote:

What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? … faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. [James 2:14,17,18]

All of this is dispel any doubt that works, though they cannot save us, are nevertheless required in order to be granted Christ’s grace.