Faith Vs Works

This is an overtly religious post, so if you aren't into that walk away now, thanks. Everyone else note this represents a personal hypothesis or suspicion I have, not something I am completely sure of.

In Christianity, I think that the argument of "salvation by works" vs. "salvation by grace" is a false dichotomy. This is just another case of some Christians telling other Christians that they are not sufficiently Christian, an all too common activity for Christians.

It appears there is a period of time between death and the resurrection in which people can make spiritual discoveries and progress related to their salvation. Consider 1 Peter Chapter 3 v 18-20:18 :

18 Christ... died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.19 So he went and preached to the spirits in prison— 20 those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood.

Some have tried to say this refers to some form of non-human spirits, but the obvious and clear meaning is that Christ preached to deceased human ghosts who had died long before. See also 1 Peter 4 v 6. Some disagree because this implies you don't have to be Christian in order to be saved by Christ. But as Peter declared in Acts 10 v 34-35, hundreds of years before there was any such thing as a "Christian Nation,":

34 Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. 35 In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right..."

The only thing that reconciles this with needing faith in Christ to be saved is IF and ONLY IF it is possible to allow Jesus into our hearts AFTER we die, but BEFORE the final judgment! This is obviously the case in 1 Peter chapters 3 and 4.

In most religions it seems that salvation is more or less earned by doing good deeds in this life. But in Christianity, it seems like salvation comes through Faith in Christ. But what does "Faith" mean in this context? In the ultimate debate over Salvation by Faith vs. Salvation by Works, James declared (Chapter 2 v 19-20):

19 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. 20 How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?

Part of HOW we are saved is by following the good advice God gives us. We have FAITH that he knows what he's talking about, even if the advice is hard for us to follow. Let's consider the universal religious concept that sex should be between people who are married to each other. If you compare two typical people side by side for any 20 year period of their life, and the only difference between them is one takes this rule to heart, and the other ignores this rule, we see that obedience to the rule itself "saves" the chaste person IN THIS LIFE, not 100% but relatively compared to the non-chaste, from unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, two of the most crippling consequences we can have in life. By submitting to God's will, ironically, we have more options.

But doesn't God set the bar so high for entrance to heaven that it is impossible to be saved simply through our own righteousness? Yes, very much so. Consider Mathew Chapter 5 v 48:

48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

So then we are only saved by the grace of God, right? But then why the preaching to the spirits, why the declaration of the uselessness of faith without deeds? It is simple, 1 Peter chapters 3 and 4, we will reach perfection before we reach the final judgement, even if not in this life.

Consider the parable of the Good Samaritan. Is the meaning of the parable that we are all wounded Jews and Jesus is the Good Samaritan who is the "other" who saves us each individually? No, of course not. The meaning of that parable is we are supposed to be good to each other. In so far as we are good to each other, our lives are better. Rules let us have nice things. Is it any wonder then that we are supposed to be able to obey the rules before we go through the pearly gates?

The grace of God is that he gives us many opportunities in this life and beyond to repent and eventually become perfect, that quality of behavior standard needed to stand by the throne of the universe. This does NOT excuse our deeds, this is NOT "saved after all we can do." We will actually eventually meet the standard of perfection, and the opportunities needed to reach that standard is Grace. Christ's sacrifice bought us the opportunities we need to improve, and this is the Grace He extends to us.