Do Good Works Always Follow Faith Or Is It Possible For Faith To Exist Without Works?

 

This is to prove that Faith does not necessarily beget Good Works & therefore Salvation:

“…So, just as the body is dead without its spirit, so faith WITHOUT deeds is also dead.” [James 2:25-26] & “So you see, a person is JUSTIFIED by WORKS and NOT BY FAITH ALONE.” [James 2:24]… Notice that Faith & Works are categorized as two INDEPENDENT & therefore separate entities implying further the need to let it WORK TOGETHER for JUSTIFICATION.

Faith does not necessarily follow Works that's why James said:

JUSTIFIED by WORKS and NOT BY FAITH ALONE.” [James 2:24]

This is the only passage in scriptures where you can find the phrase: FAITH ALONE apparently there is NOT JUSTIFIED before it. Also according to Jesus the Lamb in the book of revelation, this is how we are to be justified:

“I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before the throne while books were opened. Another book, the Book of Life, was also opened. Then the dead were judged according to the records of these books, that is, each one ACCORDING TO HIS WORKS.” [Rev. 20:12].

“..I will give each of you what your conduct deserves.” [Rev. 2:23].

Baptists & Born Agains hold that "faith alone" is the standard that God requires for us to be saved but the Bible is quiet explicit on the contrary. In order to redeem this view of justification, they usually refer to this passage for refuge:

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. [Philippians 2:12-13]

1st of all, this does not & cannot be used as an "excuse" to the reasoning that faith automatically begets good works. A protestant commentary incidentally on this matter has this to say (i.e. Barne's commentary taken from http://bible.cc/philippians/2-13.htm):

//(1) It is not God who acts for us. He leads us to "will and to do." It is not said that he wills and does for us, and it cannot be. It is man that "wills and does" - though God so influences him that he does it.

(2) he does not compel or force us against our will. He leads us to will as well as to do. The will cannot be forced; and the meaning here must be that God exerts such an influence as to make us willing to obey Him; compare Psalm 110:3.//

Now let us look Psalm 110:3 for comparison:

When you go to war, your people will serve you willingly. You are arrayed in holy garments, and your strength will be renewed each day like the morning dew.[Psalm 110:3]

Taken in context, Philippians 2:12-13 simply means that God gives us all the strength, inspiration, & MEANS to do His will not that we are safe from personally WILLING/CHOOSING (by virtue of our freedom/ & freewill) to either follow the dictates of our faith through action or not. Hence, if a person after believing or declaring his faith does not act on his faith, he will not be saved as such that the Lord himself did say that

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." [Matthew 7:21]. Cross-reference this with Luke 6:46.

So we go again to the book of James & reflect why it is important to do what our faith dictates [James 1:22].

Yet still, let the Bible speak more on this matter:

May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. [Hebrews 13:20-21]

Let us repeat...

equip you with everything good for doing his will
equip you with everything good for doing his will
equip you with everything good for doing his will
[Hebrews 13:21]