John 6:29 "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. Yes it is God's work that we believe, but if this was all there was to life in Christ, no more would have needed to be written.
Believing is not works Barny, yes it is of faith, but it is not works, works is something that is done. When Abraham did not believe he commited fornication, that is works. When Abraham did believe he offered up his son Issac, that is works, which is a followed up from faith. Works is an action promoted by faith, unbelief is also promotes and action which is the act of sin.
Yes Barny, I did say we are still to live a Godly life, and a Godly life is a life of love which is also imparted to us through faith. And if I sin it is not of love for sin is lust not love. Sin is of the flesh, love is of the Spirit to follow the Spirit I will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Your so dead set in your belief and believe that you have all of the truth that you fall into the Laodicean warning where it says "I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing" I will let you finish the warning on your own. God has given us a warning, we should heed the warning. I understand how you interpret this scripture and you are only partially correct. When we say that we have the imputed righteousness and that is all we need we become luke warm and in need of nothing. Faith performs that which is good and exceptable to the Lord.
If Cain had loved his brother Abel, he would not have killed him, so love would have saved him from the horrible sin, and also saved the life of Abel. If we love our neighbor we will not lust after his wife, and if we loved our neighbors wife, we would not lust after her. All of this is of the world which we are to overcome through faith. God does impart love and love is sanctification. We are made righteous through love. It's not a cover up Barny it is a reality we are to become lovely, and love in itself, without any help from me, will keep the law.
I realize that I can only give information, the information given to me through God's word and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the true teacher and only He can teach, but if we grieve Him away, He cannot teach us and we fall into willful ignorance which is rebellion.
Ahh...just noticed you added some more points to your post.
It's concerning that you say that believing in Jesus is not works, in spite of John 6:29 saying that it is our works.
In fact our works of believing in Jesus is consistent with the gospel message, John 3:16.
The works of believing in Jesus is also consistent with all the following:
It's the will of God, John 6:40.
It's his commandment, 1John 3:23
It's how we overcome the world, 1John 5:5
It's how we are born of God, 1John 5:1
It's how we are made righteous, Rom 4:5
And it's unbelief in Jesus that is the sin the world is convicted of, John 16:9.
So we see that believing in Jesus is good works that are done by believers. It's an action that shows our faith. Which means it's an action that does not mix grace with works of the law.
And how do we live "godly" as you spoke of?
We believe in Jesus.
Lets define godliness to confirm this.
1Tim 3:16
without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:God was manifested in the flesh,
Justified in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Preached among the Gentiles,
Believed on in the world,
Received up in glory.
1Tim 4:8
godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
And that promise of life is in Jesus Christ. Believing in him.
So we see believers are godly, and that without the deeds of the law.