Faith and works

This is the final post in the series on James 2:14-26, Faith, works, and justification or Does James really contradict Paul? And boy is it a humdinger! Let’s do this!

James 2:21  Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
22  Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
23  And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
24  Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
25  Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
26  For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? – Paul said Abraham was justified by faith: What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

James says by works: Was not Abraham our father justified by works

This is what gave Martin Luther such grief. Looks like a contradiction, right?

Actually, No, it is not. First, the events referred to. Paul is referring to Genesis 15, when Abraham was still just Abram; he was old and had no child; God promised him a son and to make of him a great nation: And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. James is referring to Genesis 22, which is 20, 30, or maybe even 40 years later!

Second, and the real bug-a-boo, is that word justified. It has to do with righteousness. Righteous is from Anglo-Saxon; justify is from Latin. English is fun like that. You could say to justify is to righteoufy, but since nobody says that we should go by the actual meaning: to justify is to declare righteous. He believed and the Lord counted it to him for righteousness; it was imputed to him, reckoned to him. Abraham was declared righteous when he believed. Who declared him righteous? God did.

James says he was also declared righteous some 30 years later. We learn from the gospel that when we are justified by faith the righteousness of God is imputed to us. How do you improve that? Are we justified on the installment plan? No. Obviously, there is a different audience. He was declared righteous by God when he believed. He was declared righteous by men when he obeyed.

And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God – Abraham was righteous. How? By faith. Abraham was the friend of God. How? By faith. How do we know? He obeyed.

Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? – Derek Prince, in his book, Faith to Live By, explains. “Once faith has come, there are three phases of development through which it must pass: confession, outworking, and testing. Faith must be confessed with the mouth; faith must be worked out in action; faith must be tested by tribulation.”

And then concerning what James says here, “Having believed God and having righteousness reckoned to him on the basis of faith alone, Abraham then went on to work out his faith in a whole series of actions. In the next seven chapters of Genesis, we find that God led Abraham step-by-step, in one act of obedience after another, gradually maturing his faith over a period of about 40 years. Finally, in Genesis 22, Abraham came to the point where he could face the supreme test of his faith. Abraham had not been ready to meet such a test in Genesis 15. It took many preparatory tests and struggles, many successive acts of obedience, to bring him to the point where he was willing to offer up Isaac. Faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected.”

Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? – Who is Rahab? She was living in Jericho when the spies came from Joshua to check out the lay of the land. Everybody in Jericho knew Israel was coming, and they all knew of God’s promises to give Israel their land. Once more Derek Prince:

“Rahab’s story vividly ties together faith, confession, and appropriate action. Rahab believed the spies’ testimony that Jericho would be destroyed. She also believed their promise to save her and her household. But that was not enough. She had to confess her faith by placing the scarlet cord in the window. But that, too, was not enough. She had to act out her faith, even at the risk of her own life, by first hiding the spies on her roof and then letting them down from her window. It was appropriate that the scarlet cord was to be placed in that very window. The cord in the window would not have saved her if she had not also used the window to save the spies. Rahab’s story illustrates three things that must never be separated from one another: faith, confession, appropriate action.”

Rahab was justified or declared righteous by God when she believed. She was justified or seen to be righteous by men by what she did.

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also – It’s not that our works vivify our faith, rather that living faith works. We have seen that these works of faith are acts of love and mercy, feeding and clothing brothers and sisters in need; acts of obedience, when we do what Jesus says because we believe in and love Him; as well as appropriate action based on our belief that Jesus is coming to judge the world and set up his kingdom.

Does James contradict Paul? No. James wrote to correct the twisted idea that had developed among some that if they said said they had faith it didn’t matter whether they walked in love and obedience. James says it does, Faith without works is no faith at all.

Nor was James correcting or complimenting Paul’s teaching, for Paul taught the same thing. To the Galatians Paul wrote

For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

And to the Ephesians
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Are we made right with God by what we do? No, for then Christ died in vain. We are justified, declared righteous or right with God, through faith in Jesus Christ. But we are shown to be right with God, declared righteous, by what we do, when we walk in love and mercy, and obedience.