Sunday School lecture - 8/10/03
James 2:14-26
Perhaps the most misunderstood 13 verses in the New Testament, entire doctrines and belief systems have been built upon these words. When dissected and taken out of context, this passage seems to contradict the Pauline philosophy of Justification by faith alone, apart from works. Therefore, the Christian is left with two options in dealing with these verses: he can either ignore James in lieu of Paul, or he can find the common ground between them and look for the harmony in Scripture.
Luther’s solution was to ignore him. He proposed a radical surgery of the New Testament Canon. By the Grace of God, Luther did not have this authority and his proposal was rejected. There was an inherent danger in such a drastic move in that once we begin hacking up the Canon, the authority of the Scriptures is called into question and the Christian community is at liberty to pick and choose what God has preserved. Luther would have turned the Bible into a cafeteria line, allowing the believer to reject one teaching over the other. All denominations do this to some degree depending upon what perspective is taken, but the unchanging Word of God should keep us on course if we allow it to do so.
Our other alternative of seeking harmony has also led some down the wrong road. There are some who believe that James is speaking of “works salvation”, the same legalism combated by Paul in his Letter to the Galatians. This group views the Message of the Gospel and the teachings of the Apostles as a Law, as stringent and unforgiving as the Torah. The obvious counter to this is the thief on the cross next to Christ, who was saved with his hands nailed in place, completely unable to do any works short of confession nor even able to be heard by anyone but God. Most of us, however, do not have the “advantage” of dying within such a short time of our conversion.
Still others seek to redefine the intention of James and his view of Justification. They see the cited passage as referring to man’s relationship with his fellow believer. They believe that to gain salvation, we must justify ourselves to each other. The strength of this view is that we do see examples of justification before men in the New Testament. The circumcision of Timothy in Acts 16 comes to mind. Also, Paul’s instructions to Titus in Titus 2 that we not disgrace the Gospel. Matthew 5:16; 10:32-33 also support the notion of Justification before men:
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
And: 32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
Another strength to this argument is that the Book of James is unquestionably geared towards our treatment of our brother.
Clarence Larkin, a turn of the century Baptist Minister wrote in his well-respected book,
Rightly Dividing the Word, in 1920:
Quote:
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We hear a great deal about "Faith" and "Works." Some say we are saved by "Faith" alone, others make a great deal of "Works." Some say that both are necessary to salvation for the same reason that a bird cannot fly without two wings, or that you cannot make progress in a boat without two oars. One quotes Paul, who says-- "That a man is justified by FAITH, WITHOUT THE DEEDS OF THE LAW" (Ro 3:28), the other quotes James, who says-- "Ye see then how that by WORKS a man is justified, and not by faith only." Jas 2:24. But the Apostle James is not speaking of the "Doctrine of JUSTIFICATION," but of a man justifying himself before men. The illustration he uses is that of Abraham offering up his son Isaac. Abraham was a man of faith, but the only way he could make it visible to the men of his generation was by his WORKS, so God commanded him to offer up his son Isaac. Ge 22:1-2. Abraham's works had nothing to do with his salvation, but simply bore witness to his faith, for Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness. Jas 2:21-26.
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However, there is also a weakness to this argument. The only mention we see of justification before men by Christ is found in Luke 6:15 and he said this to the Pharisees:
"You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”
For me, there is a far better explanation for the second half of James 2 that brings it into focus and harmonizes the Passages of Paul. We must define the terms used by the two men and read them in the context of the writers’ intentions.
James
Works - Deeds or actions
Faith - Belief
Justification - The daily and lifelong forgiveness of the sinner by the act of Christ: vindication (free from allegation or blame)
Paul
Works - Works of the Law of Moses
Faith - Belief Belief, obedience, and loyalty to God
Justification - The initial conversion of the believer: acquittal (setting free from the charge of an offense)
Those who see a contradiction in the teachings of Paul and James will point to verses such as Romans 3:28 “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law”;
Galatians 2:16 “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified”;
and Ephesians 2:8-9 “8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
However, look at other verses in these same Books. In Romans 2:13, we see that Paul says, “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.” In Galatians 5 Paul says in verse 6, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love,” and in verse 13, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Even the well known rebuttal from Ephesians 2 is immediately followed in verse 10 by the statement, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
So as we examine the Pauline and Jamesian intentions and apply the definition of terms as they applied to both writers, the conflict disintegrates. For a true dichotomy of doctrine, James would have to claim that man is Justified by works apart from faith. He never says this. Instead he brings faith and works together a total of 10 times in thirteen verses.
The text of James 2:14-26 is broken into three distinct parts. The first is the proposition found in verses 16&17: faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
The second part of the diatribe is found in 18-25. This passage is the argument.
The final phase of the diatribe is the conclusory statement found in verse 26: For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
James may have been addressing members of the Christian community that had corrupted the teachings of Paul by divorcing action from faith. As demonstrated by the preceding verses from Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians, this was not Paul’s intention. Paul felt that the persuasion of the Indwelling Spirit would dictate good works. He never says otherwise. Otherwise, the believer is demonstrating legalism by libertinism, a threat as great as legalism by Law. Both are opposed to the Spirit.
As an example of faith without works, James sets forth a situation in which a believer in need, that is to say, a neighbor, is lacking food and clothing. Faith without action, that is to say, pure belief, would not aid that person. The literal intention of verse 16 is the Christian saying to his brother, “may God feed and clothe you” or “feed and clothe yourself through your own belief.” Obviously, this is an absurdity. We are the agents of God and it is through us that God aids our neighbor.
Verse 18 sets up a dilemma for the interpreters. The original Greek did not use punctuation so we must consider at what point the quotation ends. The KJV circumnavigates this quandary by not using quotation marks, merely a comma after the word “say.” Some versions make the remainder of the verse the quote from the hypothetical debater while others end the quote at works, where the KJV inserts a colon. The latter interpretation makes more sense to this reader.
The statement “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well,” is in reference to Deuteronomy 6:4 and was a confession called the Shema common among the Jews. James then presents the case of empty belief being displayed by demons. Surely the opposition in the spiritual realm believe in God and Christ and they respond also with action: they tremble.
From these two examples of the non-acting Christian and the demons who believe, James goes on to show two Old Testament examples of popular heroes who demonstrated faith through works: Abraham and Rahab. They stand in stark contrast to each other, Abraham being the moral man of God called because of his good character and Rahab being the immoral prostitute who found faith through a fear of God and His people.
In short, Justification is received at the initial confession of a believer, but if the confession is genuine, the fruit of the Spirit, that is the Will of God will show itself in our deeds and actions. As we all continue to sin, we are constant need of Justification, the right to come before God.
[ October 05, 2004, 08:04 AM: Message edited by: Clint Kritzer ]
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