Quotes About Faith Versus Works

Quotes about faith versus works from throughout Christian History.

Ignatius, A.D. 110

You have taught others. Now I desire that those things may be confirmed [by your conduct], which in your instructions ye enjoin [on others]. Only pray both inward and outward strength for me, so that I may not only speak, but also be willing; and that I may not merely be called a Christian, but really be found to be one. For if I be truly found [a Christian], I may also be called one, and be then deemed faithful. (Letter to the Romans 3)

Do not err, my brothers. Those that corrupt families shall not inherit the kingdom of God. If, then, those who do this in regard to the flesh have suffered death, how much more shall this be the case with any one who corrupts by wicked doctrine the faith of God, for which Jesus Christ was crucified! Such a one becomes defiled and shall go away into everlasting fire. So shall every one that listens to him. (Letter to the Ephesians 16)

Let us not be unaware of his kindness. Were he to reward us according to our works, we would cease to be. Therefore, having become his disciples, let us learn to live according to Christianity. (Letter to the Magnesians 10)

Pseudo-Barnabas, A.D. 120 - 130

Each person will receive as he has done. If he is righteous, his righteousness will precede him. If he is wicked, the reward of wickedness is before him. Take heed, lest resting at our ease as those who are the called ones, we should fall asleep in our sins, and the wicked prince should acquire power over us and thrust us away from the kingdom of the Lord. (Letter of Barnabas 4)

Letter to Diognetus, A.D. 80 - 200

For God has loved mankind. He mad the world on his account … He has promised him a kingdom in heaven, and he will give it to those who have loved Him. (ch. 10)

Pseudo-Clement, A.D. 100 - 150

Let us, then, repent with our whole heart, that none of us may perish needlessly.  For if we have commands and [if we] engage in withdrawing from idols and instructing others, then how much more should we not perish because we already know God.
     Let us therefore help one another and lift up the weak in what is good so that all of us may be saved, convert, and admonish one another.
     Let us not only seem to believe and pay attention when we are admonished by the elders, but let us also remember the commandments of the Lord when we return home. Let us not be allured away by worldly lusts, but let us draw near to one another very often in order to try to make progress in the Lord's commands. In this way, when we all have the same mind, we will be gathered together for life, for the Lord said, "I come to gather all nations and languages."
     This refers to the day of his appearing, when he will come and redeem us—each one according to his works. The unbelievers will see his glory and might, and when they see the empire of the world in Jesus, they will be surprised. They will say, "Woe to us, because you were, and we did not know you, did not believe, and did not obey the elders who clearly explain our salvation."
     "Their worm shall not die, nor shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be a spectacle to all flesh" (Is. 66:24).
     He speaks of the great day of judgment, when they shall see those among us who were guilty of ungodliness and erred in their estimate of the commands of Jesus Christ.
     The righteous will have succeeded both in enduring the trials and hating the indulgences of the soul. They will give glory to God when they witness how those who have swerved and denied Jesus by words or deeds are punished with grievous torments in unquenchable fire. They will give glory to their God and say, "There will be hope for him who has served God with his whole heart." (Second Clement 17)

Clement of Alexandria, c. A.D. 190

He that fell from Paradise [i.e., Adam/man] receives as the reward of obedience something greater, namely heaven itself. (Exhortation to the Heathen 11)

We are therefore to love him equally with God. And he loves Christ Jesus who does his will and keeps his commandments. "For not every one that says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father" (Matt. 7:21); and "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not the things which I say?" [Luke 6:46] (Who Is the Rich Man Who Will Be Saved 29)

Cyprian, c. A.D. 250

How can a man say that he believes in Christ, who does not do what Christ commanded him to do? Or whence shall he attain to the reward of faith, who will not keep the faith of the commandment? (On the Unity of the Church 2)

Those whom [satan] cannot keep in the darkness of the old way, he circumvents and deceives by the error of a new way. He snatches men from the Church itself; and while they seem to themselves to have already approached to the light, and to have escaped the night of the world, he pours over them again, in their unconsciousness, new darkness; so that, although they do not stand firm with the Gospel of Christ, and with the observation and law of Christ, they still call themselves Christians.
   Walking in darkness, they think that they have the light, while the adversary is flattering and deceiving, who, according to the apostle's word, transforms himself into an angel of light, and equips his ministers as if they were the ministers of righteousness. They maintain night instead of day, death for salvation, despair under the offer of hope, perfidy under the pretext of faith, antichrist under the name of Christ; so that, while they feign things like the truth, they make void the truth by their subtlety. (On the Unity of the Church 3)

Martin Luther, 1520

See salvation by faith alone quotes by Martin Luther.

George MacDonald, 1875

Is Christianity a system of articles of belief, let them be as correct as language can give them? Never. So far am I from believing it, that I would rather have a man holding, as numbers of you do, what seems to me the most obnoxious truths, opinions the most irreverent and gross, if at the same time he lived in the faith of the Son of God, that is, trusted in God as the Son of God trusted in him, than I would have a man with every one of whose formulas I utterly coincided, but who knew nothing of a daily life and walk with God. The one, holding doctrines of devils, is yet a child of God; the other, holding the doctrines of Christ and his Apostles, is of the world, yea, of the devil. (Unspoken Sermons: Series I, II, and III, p. 389 )

While the mind is occupied in enquiring, "Do I believe or feel this thing right?" the true question is forgotton: "Have I left all to follow him?"
   To the man who gives himself to the living Lord, every belief will necessarily come aright. The Lord himself will see that his disciple believe aright concerning him. (The Truth in Jesus [Minneapolis, MN: BethanyHouse; 2007] p. 60-61, italics in original)

Do you ask, "What is faith in him?"
   I answer, the leaving of your way, your objects, your self, and the taking of his and him. It is the leaving of your trust in men, in money, in opinion, in character, in atonement itself, and doing as he tells you. (The Truth in Jesus [Minneapolis, MN: BethanyHouse; 2007] p. 61, italics in original)

If you do nothing that [Jesus] says, it is no wonder that you cannot trust in him and are therefore driven to seek refuge in the atonement as if something he had done, and not he himself in his doing were the atonement. (The Truth in Jesus [Minneapolis, MN: BethanyHouse; 2007] p. 66-67)