I see where faith produces works

NC asks:

How can works be necessary for salvation if salvation produces works?

Show me where Scripture says that salvation produces works. I see where faith produces works:
James 2:14

King James Version (KJV)
¹⁴ What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

I believe you to be absolutely correct. If any kind of work other than the work of Christ on the cross was necessary then the work of Jesus was not sufficient, as more is needed than His sacrifice.

Christ seems to think that a great deal of work is necessary in addition to His sacrifice:
Matthew 25:31-46

King James Version (KJV)
³¹ When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
³² And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
³³ And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
³⁴ Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
³⁵ For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
³⁶ Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
³⁷ Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
³⁸ When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
³⁹ Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
⁴⁰ And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
⁴¹ Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
⁴² For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
⁴³ I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
⁴⁴ Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
⁴⁵ Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
⁴⁶ And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Note that this judgment takes place on the day of Judgment in the after life. Long after Christ has died and risen to the right hand of the Father. And at that point, He will decide who is saved or not, according to the works they have done on this earth.

I always use the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians to help on this topic too. Love is produced by the spirit. Jesus said, "If you love me, obey my commandments." If man could be obedient and do works in and of Himself without the redemptive sanctification process that is mentioned in the fruit of the spirit, then man can take the glory for the works.

If that were true, then Abraham would have been justified and saved when he first heard the voice of God, in Gen 12:

Genesis 12:1-4

King James Version (KJV)
1 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
² And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
³ And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
⁴ So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

Note that St. Paul says that Abraham (i.e. Abram) acted by faith at this early time in the process of his justification:

Hebrews 11:8

King James Version (KJV)
⁸ By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

If faith alone were the criteria for justification, then Abraham would not have been justified decades later, in Gen 15:6. Or again in Gen 22:18.

Therefore, one is justified and ultimately saved by faith and works:
James 2:24

King James Version (KJV)
²⁴ Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

This sheds some new light on the verse that you quoted, "lest any man should boast." It's all for God glory, not mine.
That is true. But how do you glorify God and disobey His word?

Philippians 2:11-13

King James Version (KJV)
¹¹ And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
¹² Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
¹³ For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

God does the work in our hearts which results in the works of our bodies, He then gets the glory and not me.

Absolutely! But that's an argument for faith and works. Not for faith alone.
Galatians 5:6
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

This is the same thing that is written in the rest of Ephesians 2:8-10 which you have quoted. Those works were created for believers to do.

Read it again. We were created for good works. From the moment we were conceived in our mother's womb, we were created to step into the good works which God established from the beginning, the Ten Commandments.

We are predestined upon our faith in Jesus to do good works as we are conformed to His likeness as the verses state.

All of us are born in the image of the Son of God. That is why He came in the flesh, the firstfruit of the dead.

So if God created the works for us to do,

The Ten Commandments.

[quoteHe changed our hearts and minds to be willing to do them and gave us the ability to do them, what credit can we then take? It's all for His glory.[/QUOTE]Amen! But not by faith alone. Faith alone is dead. It is by faith working in love that we are justified unto the Glory of God. As the Scripture says:
Hebrews 5:8-10

King James Version (KJV)
⁸ Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
⁹ And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
¹⁰ Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.

Sincerely,

De Maria