Abraham was justified when he believed the promise of God.

Abraham was justified when he walked before God with a perfect heart.

Abraham was justified by works of obedience when he offered up Isaac to the Lord.

He who comes to the Lord for salvation must believe in the Lord Jesus and be baptized into His name. He must confess Jesus as Lord and believe in his heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead. Such behavior brings righteousness and salvation.

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (Mark 16:16)

He who comes to the Lord for salvation must live in a righteous, holy manner. Righteous, holy behavior results in eternal life.

And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; . . . . (John 5:29)

To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: (Romans 2:7)

But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. (Romans 6:22)

The outcome, the result, of slavery to God, of choosing righteousness and holiness, is eternal life.

He who comes to the Lord for salvation must be ready to obey God sternly no matter what God demands. Such obedience brings fruitfulness and rulership.

Would Abraham have continued to be justified if he had refused to offer up Isaac when the Lord demanded the boy? What is your opinion? If we are going to base our belief in justification by faith on the actions of Abraham then we need to include the whole life of Abraham. We cannot take one incident in Abraham's life and from this conclude how a righteous person is to respond to the Lord!

It is not scriptural to say we are justified by faith alone. It is only as faith is made perfect in works that we are redeemed. We think the Apostle Paul would give his Amen to this.

Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? (James 2:22)

Romans 10:9,10.

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9,10)

Romans 10:9,10 is a passage used frequently to support the position that the Christian redemption consists primarily of belief and a spoken confession of faith.

We know from the remainder of Paul's writings that there is much more to redemption than belief and confession. How, then, do we explain Romans 10:9,10?

Perhaps many of us have had the experience of making a statement that someone called into question. Our response may have been that we cannot tell the whole story in one sentence. A statement we made when stressing one particular point may need considerable explanation before the listener is able to grasp our meaning.

This obviously is true of Romans 10:9,10 and other passages that unwisely are used as "key verses." We ought to attempt to detect the apostolic line of thought rather than to approach the writings of Paul in the "key verse," "promise box," superstitious manner.

To be continued.