Faith "plus works" has come up in the "how to be saved" thread several times so a separate thread on this is probably in order.

Grace, (the word) is not found in the book of James.

Here is the Gospel of our Lord as He and Paul proclaimed it:

John 3:16
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (NIV)

John 3:18
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. (NIV)

John 6:28-29

28 Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" (NIV)
29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." (NIV)

The apostle Paul reiterated what our Lord said this way:

Rom 3:21-22
21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, …………….. (NIV)

And here is how  the  author of James directly contradicts the Word of our Lord with this conclusion in James 2:24:

24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. (NIV)

Now church scholars have consistently and repeatedly bent over backwards with all kinds of pretzel-like arguments to try and  reconcile what James wrote with what our Lord said. They tell us that what we read in James 2:24 doesn’t really mean what any reader's eyes and intellect can plainly grasp.  

One of their favorite lines is the formula: “justification is by faith alone but by a faith that is not alone.”   This is attributed to Luther and  has been around since the time of the reformation.

But the reformers were just playing semantics here.  If justification is by faith alone, then nothing else is needed--period!  Cut out the spin!

For if in fact justification is by faith that is not alone as they say, then it follows that justification  is not by faith alone.  If this is true,  James and the Catholic church must be  right--justification is by faith plus works--and our Lord was mistaken.

beacon: Fist, I have no idea about those who are unbaptised. My preference is that if someone did not know that this was Gods will it would be covered under the death of Messiah in the category of sin offering as one of the numerous sins we still commit in ignorance. However as there is a clear direction given for the ordinance of baptism I would be remiss if I did not make others aware of it. I do not believe that water is salvic however there is a strong insinuation that it is the location where the blood of Messiah is applied. Baptism is not a work any more than repentance is. To say that I believe ans not repent and bear fruit demonstrates a false conversion. Even Messiah said that any vines that did not bear fruit would be discarded in the fire.
We can pick and choose which verses suit our theology but that is not fair to the total truth revealed in all of scriptures council. You spend an awfull lot of time on faith but none on bloods  propitiation and redemption.  So is faith good enough to save without atonement or is there a synoptic interworking between all ingredience provided for salvation. We are never told that baptism or obedience is a work. Rather it is a privelege. I do not see faith as being a passive attribute but something that requires a responce in the form of worship of which living an honoring life to our Lord is.
I would be inclined to agree that if a believer is living a holy life based only on law they do so from the wrong motives.
I am of the opinion that a tithe is a good thing as long as it is submitted to cheerfully and not from the motive that I must to establish or reaffirm my original justified position in Messiah.
Faith must be defined through a faithfull life of submitting to the One you call Master. That submitting should be joyfull, for the most part, and even when it is not we know that if we follow his will we do so to edify the body and bring about a greater righteousness which will have its own reward. The tree doesn't work to bear fruit. It just does because it obeys its God given purpose.        

Beacon2,

What can you do for me?  Just kidding!
I see what you are driving at.
We are not in a contest, neither are we considering gain to be a mark of G_d on our side. We are neither considering the amount of work(s) accomplished as a measure of our faith!
I would say that a lot of people might be "turned off" to real fellowship with Christ, by those measuring their faith by accomplishment(s).

tsk tsk


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Peace to you

Obedience comes from faith, then faith and obedience are complementary and supplementary. Faith is righteousness, and works evidence the faith. Also, baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire count more than water baptism.