Galatians 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Here we must define yet another word in order to explain the issues of dead works. That word is justification. It is a bookkeeping word. It means to take you out of the red, debt, and put your account in the black, a gain on your account.

James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

Another way of looking at this is to say the accounting debt of a liar and a mass murderer are the same amount of red ink. No amount of good works can ever move your account out of the red into the black.

Romans 8:3-4 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

If anyone teaches you that your eternal salvation is tied to any religious exercise that is a dead work, and will not secure your salvation. Only the sacrifice of Christ on the cross saves your soul. Placing your faith in Christ’s sacrifice and accepting Him into your heart is the only justification needed to remove your debt.

Hebrews 6:1 (AMPC) Therefore let us go on and get past the elementary stage in the teachings and doctrine of Christ (the Messiah), advancing steadily toward the completeness and perfection that belong to spiritual maturity. Let us not again be laying the foundation of repentance and abandonment of dead works (dead formalism) and of the faith [by which you turned] to God,

If you are in elementary school you know it. In Christ what is the elementary teachings? The writer of Hebrews hints at what is taught in elementary school but only nothing of what might be next. In this opening verse we only see three issues listed. Those are repentance, dead works, and faith. I feel this is a good place to start as these words are identified but I know that there are other important kingdom words that need to be learned. A proper understanding of them will allow you to grow in Christ and move on to higher education.

Repentance is often associated with regret, an emotional consequence of sin. If allowed to be defined purely as regret, what prevents you from repeating that sin? If you define repentance as turning away from sin and returning to God, how do you feel when you sin again? As a youthful Christian you will find that just because you are walking with God, the body does not stop being flesh? If it were otherwise you would never be tempted again and we have read that we will suffer temptations.

James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

1 Peter 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

Think of repentance as giving up the direction of your life in self-will with no consideration for the will of God. Seeking God’s will is a long journey through a new land, one that is not your home. We are sojourners in this life seeking to get home to God. On this journey we will encounter all that this world, Satan, and workers of evil can throw at you.