FAITH:
AND WORKS; SALVATION: BY FAITH ALONE

The effort to be forgiven by works is one that can never be completed because no one knows or can know how much is enough to cancel out the offense; so the seeker must go on year after year paying on his moral debt, here a little, there a little, knowing that he sometimes adds to his bill much more than he pays. The task of keeping books on such a transaction can never end, and the seeker can only hope that when the last entry is made he may be ahead and the account fully paid.

This is quite the popular belief, this forgiveness by self-effort, but it is natural heresy and can at last only betray those who depend upon it.

Romans 3:28; Ephesians 2:8–10; Titus 3:4–7

That Incredible Christian, 118.