Saving Faith by August Rasmussen

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 23, 1875

Saving Faith.

By August Rasmussen

“AND He said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” Luke 7: 50. Many claim that this was a wicked woman, and that she was saved by faith only. Let us see. In verses 37-38 of the same chapter, we read: “And, behold, a woman in the city which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.” In this work, and in sorrowing for her sins, she showed her faith, and Jesus said, “Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.”

Many Christians in our time boast much of faith, but they have no works. They have never stood at the feet of Jesus; they have never washed, kissed, or anointed them; they have never wept bitterly for their sins as did this woman; they have never understood the deep work of repentance brought to view in her history.

Faith and works are closely connected, like the two paddle-wheels in a steamer, and both are indispensable in the plan of salvation. The apostle James speaks as follows: “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? . . . Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? . . . Likewise also was not the harlot Rahab justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” May a saving faith be connected with works everywhere.

AUGUST RASMUSSEN.