Question: Preacher, Don’t you folks teach works righteousness, that one is saved by works?

Answer: Some among us have referred to the response to the gospel as "works." The rationale seems to have been to cause people to recognize all that is involved in responding to the gospel according to the New Testament. The end is good, but the means are not justified by the Bible. Ephesians 2:8-10 teaches: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life." Now we know that in order to be saved we must be in Christ, and one gets into Christ only by believing, repenting, confessing, and being baptized (Mark 16:15, 16; Acts 2:38; Romans 10:10; Galatians 3:26-29). Please consider that in Ephesians 2:8-10, Paul intends for us to view our response to the gospel, not in terms of meritorious human effort (works) resulting in salvation, but in terms of trusting in Christ whereby we come into relationship with him.