Romans 3:28 and James 2:24. Do They Contradict?

The great reformer Martin Luther perhaps coined the phrase “sola-fide”, Latin for “by faith alone”. What is believed to come by faith alone? Justification is believed to come by faith alone. What is justification? Justification is a legal term. It means to be fully pardoned of guilt and considered fully good. The sinner is fully guilty before God and needs a full pardon. If the sinner is pardoned by God for all wrong doing he is considered justified. So Martin Luther, along with the reformers, taught that one is pardoned by God and viewed as perfectly good only on behalf of faith. The sinner is not justified by anything else which he might physically, mentally, or emotionally do.

As we will see below, this is not to make salvation easy and Christian living sloppy, but more correctly, for God alone to boast in salvation, and to make Christian living even possible! But first, let’s look at some differences between Catholics and Protestants.

Note, Catholics and Protestants have differing views of the process of justification. The Catholic believes justification is a life long process while the Protestant believes it is something completed in an instance. The Catholic believes justification most commonly begins with water baptism performed by a Priest and ending with Purgatory (a final purging of sins after death). The Protestant believes it is done on this side of Heaven the instance God restores the sinners heart to love Him.

Catholics believe justification comes about by a combination of faith and works. One must carry out good works in this life to have grace infused to their spiritual account. Such works require the spirit of faith, or a genuine attitude of love towards God and others, otherwise one’s works are of no avail if they are carried out with empty motives.

Protestants believe that the sinner is justified effortlessly. We are justified entirely by God’s doing, thus, apart from any effort on our part. To the Protestant, this should not exempt a Christian from doing good works but make good works possible and of genuine quality. Being justified is a prerequisite for any sinner to even have the capacity to do works pleasing to God without hidden selfish motives. Those who are not justified have not received new hearts and cannot please God. Romans 8:6-8 “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.”

There are essentially two tell tale signs of the Christian. 1. faith, and 2. our actions. God changes one’s heart and mind in order to have genuine faith, thus enabling them to no longer be hostile towards Him but love Him and know Him more. It is on the bases of having been justified, pardoned from all guilt, that God can justly grant someone a new heart so they can accept Christ to be who He claimed.

The second sign is our works. We need the Spirit, however, to be able to have works pleasing to God. No one can be given the Spirit unless they are justified. Those who have the Spirit must and will do good works, for they are now slaves to righteousness.

Romans 6:18 “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”

and,

1 John 3:9 “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.”

This does not mean the justified will never sin again, but that they will increasingly hate their sin and progressively leave it. This process is until we die. Nevertheless, the Spirit is needed even for such a process. Only the justified in Christ may receive the Spirit and do so.

We are saved by faith in order that God would be fully gracious in rescuing us, not partially gracious. It is so we can be rescued and have absolutely no room to boast. Only God reserves the right to boast in our salvation. It is precisely because of this that the Reformers also coined “soli deo gloria”, to God alone be the glory!. God saves us through faith so that He would 1. be fully gracious and therefore 2. be all glorious. How important is God’s glory to you? If God alone does all the saving, then He alone receives all the glory. Therefore, saying “saved by faith alone” is the same as saying “saved by God alone” which is the same as saying “to God alone be the glory”.

Romans 4:16 “It is by faith you have been saved, so that it may be according to grace (God’s grace)” … as opposed to us being gracious to ourselves and assisting the process.

Now let’s look at the controversy!

What does Martin Luther have to do with all this?

Catholics charge Martin Luther for having eisegeted his bible. In other words, he added to it. In particular, he added to Romans 3:28 which reads “…for we maintain that a man is justified by faith, apart from works of the law.” When Martin Luther carried out the unthinkable task of translating the Latin Vulgate into German, the common language at the time, he added the German word “allien” to this verse. Allien is German for “alone”. Luther translated Romans 3:28 this way, “…for we maintain that a man is justified by faith alone, apart from works of the law.” Luther comments on his actions and says “it was to emphasize the meaning of the verse.”

Catholic apologists use this bit of history to blame Luther for having started a “new theology” un-common to church history until the Reformation. Of course they believe this because if it were true they would have to repent for believing another gospel. But the belief that one was saved by faith alone was never embraced by the church until Luther, so it is thought. Thus, ’sola-fide’ must be an invention of Luther! Space on this thread does not permit me to delve into the history of sola-fide prior to Luther, but I will just say it is there and leave it at that for now. As far as sola-fide being Luther’s invention, however, Luther responded to the accusation for having added the word “alone” to his translation. His remarks were as follows:

“Note, then, whether Paul does not assert more vehemently that faith alone justifies than I do, although he does not use the word “alone” (sola) , which I have used. For he who says: Works do not justify, but faith justifies, certainly affirms more strongly that faith justifies than does he who says: Faith alone justifies… it is ridiculous enough to argue in this sophistical manner: Faith alone justifies; therefore the Holy Spirit does not justify. Or: The Spirit justifies; therefore not faith alone. For this is not what the dispute is about at this place. Rather the question is only about the relation of faith and works, whether anything is to be ascribed to works in justification. Since the apostle does not ascribe anything to them, he without a doubt ascribes all to faith alone.”

Luther well knows he added “allien”. He didn’t add it and keep quite like an accultist would. The important thing to note is that the doctrine of justification through faith alone or by works and faith was the most pressing issue during the time of the Reformation! Further, notice how Luther says that even if we leave out the word “alone” Paul still makes the distinction between a justification which by faith as opposed to works. Paul does not attribute anything to works for our justification but attributes all to faith.

Many Catholics misrepresent the doctrine of sola-fide and think it to be nothing other than a slippery slope to sloppy Christianity. However, once James 2 is interpreted properly, one will see that this is the very perversion of faith which James is addressing!

So here we go.

Paul and James in summary

At face value, Paul and James would seem to contradict each other. Paul says in Romans 3:28 “for we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the law” and James says in James 2:24 “You see that a man is justified by his works and not by faith alone.” (where the word “alone” is actually found in this verse!)

In summary, here is what they each are saying:

Paul is saying “we are justified by faith and not works.” (implying faith alone)

James is saying “faith that justifies is never alone.” (it will be seen through God pleasing works)

Here is the perversion of faith which James is addressing in chapter 2. Using an illustration from Mark Driscoll, let’s look at Mat 7:18. Jesus says, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” There are two types of trees, or people. Those who have faith in Christ (are justified), and can do works pleasing to God, and those who do not have faith in Christ (are not justified), and therefore have no works pleasing to God. James is addressing a third tree if you will. Those who claim to have faith in Christ (claim to be justified), yet do not have works pleasing to God. They want to say “I’m a good tree, even though I have bad fruit.” According to Jesus, there is no such tree, or person! Jesus said a good tree CANNOT bear bad fruit. Bad fruit is an indication of a bad tree, not a good tree.

What is the context of James 2?

Being said, I believe this is the context of James 2:14-24.

Verses 14-16 read “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?”

Now, starting with verse 17, “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” Notice James does not say “faith without works is partially useful, now you just need to add works and wah-lah!” No. He says it’s dead. D-E-A-D dead. If someone claims to have saving faith, yet has no good works which are pleasing to God to back it up, then they are self-deceived. Their faith is not faith.

James builds upon this argument in the next verse, 18. He says “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.” James is using sarcasm here. His point is that it’s impossible to only prove genuine faith by mere profession. He then demonstrates that faith without works isn’t convincing enough to rest assure one’s faith is genuine. He says in verse 19 “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” Thus, even proper theology is of no virtue unless faith is genuine. Namely, the monotheistic understanding of God which would have been unique to Jews is even understood by demons. But that does them no good!

Seeking to interpret James 2 accurately

With this starting point in mind, we should be able to put on the lens best needed to properly interpret the rest of the passage. Context is so important. Context, context, context! The context is that “faith that justifies is never alone”. It will say the right things, but it must also be accompanied with God pleasing works to prove its validity. Again, verse 18 says “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.”

Now verse 20 reads “You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?”

Again, James is attacking a misconception of faith. The misconception must first be properly understood. Some would argue that the Jews in which James was writing to were not adhering to their “sacraments” well enough. It is thought, “one may have proper faith, but if they lack works they will not produce the result of justification. Faith and works are the ingredients which make a justification cake.”

In the following verses we will see that the misconception is actually “all I have to do is claim to have faith and I’m saved. That’s what that Paul guy said.” But as we will see, both Paul and James would agree that someone may claim to have faith, but without works to back up this claim, the state of their faith proves to be nothing at all.

See the difference?

Now, verse 21 reads “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

After examining all of James 2:14-24, I believe you will find, as I have, that this is the most seemingly difficult verse to reconcile. After all, it says that Abraham was justified by works! I mean come on, James says it right there. End of story right?

Yet, after properly understanding all other verses surrounding this one, we would be wise to have them interpret this 21st verse, and not the other way around.

If the rest of the context proves that James is saying “Faith that saves is never alone. Works pleasing to God will reveal the validity of one’s profession of faith”, then verse 21 would be better understood that Abraham was rightfully perceived to be justified by works, not that he was intrinsically justified by them. In light of the entire context, I see this as saying “a tree is good by having good fruit”. This does not necessarily mean the tree ‘became’ good because of the good fruit, but that by way of it having ripe and pleasant tasting fruit, I know it’s a healthy tree. I see no reason this verse cannot be read this way. The challenge rests on the person who argues that this verse teaches contrary, especially given the entire context of James 2:14-24.

I will seek to prove that the rest of the passage emphatically attests to this. If so, then you’ll understand James is teaching how genuine works prove genuine faith. If I am faithful in interpreting the rest of the passage but you still want to hold on to verse 21 as disproof, then you’ll have to conclude that James contradicts James.

Moving on,

Does faith + works mean we have true justification or true faith?

verse 22 reads “You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works”

There’s 2 major things we must notice about this verse: 1. it says “faith” will be perfected, NOT “justification” will be perfected, and 2. we can physically see his faith because it is active along with his works.

(1.) If James were really saying what Catholics teach, that faith+works=justification, then James would have specifically said “justification” was completed by his (Abraham’s) works”, instead of what it does say, namely, “faith was completed by his works”. Abraham’s works brought about the sureness of his faith, which pointed to his justification. Works are NOT said to have added the final ingredient to Abraham’s faith, thus justifying him.

Abraham’s faith was made what it should be by virtue of his works. Genuine faith and God pleasing works are distinguishable yet inseparable. Genuine faith will be “perfected” or “etelaiothe” in this sense because it will not lack what it is, namely a love for God in both mind, body, and soul, and a selfless love for one’s neighbor. James is simply saying in this verse that genuine faith was what it should be. It was mature because it was seen by his works. In addition, we read in Romans 4:20-21 that Abraham never wavered in his faith. He never wavered in his belief that God would give him his son Isaac. He believed this all the way up to offering Isaac in Gen 22. Thus, Abraham proved that his faith was never dead, but awesomely placed in God’s promise.

Romans 4:20-21 “he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”

Good works can be seen

(2.) The other important thing to notice in verse 22 is that it reads “you see that faith was active along with his works”. The English words “you see” is the single Greek word “blepo”. It means to literally see or perceive something. Generally in English we use the phrase “you see” as an idiom meaning ‘therefore’. Yet, James is not saying, “therefore” or “in conclusion to all this, faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works” The text says that we can literally ‘notice’ or ‘tell’ that Abraham’s faith was active along with his works because he demonstrated it by his actions. We can physically see the works, or mentally see them by reading about them.

Again, this notion perfectly harmonizes with the overall context. James is consistent with his rhetorical point in verse 18. “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

Now verse 23 reads “and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.”

In other words, Genesis 22 proves that Abraham’s initial faith in Genesis 15 was genuine. Abraham’s actions prove that God wasn’t lying when He first called Abraham His friend. Abraham first became God’s friend in Genesis 15, and proved to be again in Genesis 22!

Finally, verse 24 is the “killer Catholic verse” which ought to make Protestants run home and cry to their mothers.

It reads “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”

I heard someone on Christian radio the other day asking about this topic and said “but James says we’re justified by works!!!”

“but, but, but…”

Time out.

What does ‘horate’ mean in verse 2:24?

James 2:24 says “You SEE that a person is justified by works…”

That’s a big difference from saying they ARE justified by works. Now in this verse, the English words ‘you see’ is the single Greek word “horate”. “Horate” is a synonym for “blepo”. James is explaining twice, by using different phrasing, how you can notice or tell if someone is justified. He is basically explaining the same concept in two different ways to drive his point home. Faith can be seen. It’s seen by works.

The typical Catholic response to this is “horate” is a command to attention. James is saying “Look you! A person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” Further, it is also true that Jesus uses “horate” more frequently than anyone. He says “horate” many times when giving warnings such as “Look!” or “Take heed!”.

However, every single time Jesus uses “horate”, He uses it in the imperative mood. For those of you who aren’t English majors, an imperative is a command. However, James does not use “horate” as an imperative, or a command to attention. This is an instance in the NT where it is used in the indicative mood, or with a passive voice. Thus, it is not most accurately translated “look you!” but rather “you notice”, “you physically see”, or “you mentally see”.

‘ὁρᾶτε’ is a verb: 2nd person present active indicative plural. Please look it up here.

Some will also object and say “but James includes the word ‘then’, or ‘toinun’ after ‘horate’. ‘Toinun” can mean “therefore”. And indeed, the older text (new at the time in 1550) Textus Receptus says “You see then that a man is justified by works and not faith alone.” It’s as though James were implying “you see then” or “you see, therefore, a man is justified by works and not faith alone.”

It’s worth noting, however, that only some translations have ‘then’ in it. Today’s common standard bible texts, the Nestle-Aland and UBS, do not have ‘then’. The Westcott and Hort texts (completed 1881) also do not say ‘then’. The Westcott and Hort bible, the ERV (English Revised Version of 1881) leaves out the word ‘then’. This was accepted as a newer, more critical text, in the 19th to mid 20 century. The even newer critical texts today are arguably Nestle-Aland and UBS. Today’s newer translations, such as the NASB (New American Standard Bible), and the NIV (New International Version), both consult Nestle-Aland and UBS and do not have ‘then’. Also, the ESV (English Standard Version), a prominent word for word bible, does not have ‘then’ in James 2:24. Even the Tischendorf (also a new text) and the Greek-Italian Interlinear texts do not have ‘then’. Therefore, a vast majority of texts (about 70%) do not have ‘then’.

Therefore, if these texts are more true to the original manuscripts than Textus Receptus, James would more accurately be saying “You physically see (or notice) that a person is justified by works and not faith alone (a mere profession of faith).”

Again, this perfectly harmonizes with what James has been saying all along, all the way back to verse 18. “Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

Has the Church abused ’solafide’? Should it consider James 2:14-24?

Being said, what is the practicality of knowing that someone is justified by way of seeing their works and not just hearing their lip service to the gospel?

Today, modern evangelicals are essentially telling the unbeliever that God has a cosmic crush on them. This causes unbelievers to view God as someone who scarily stalks them to the point that they may need to get a restraining order. We say “smile, Jesus loves you” and “if you ever need fire insurance or a big cosmic hug, Jesus is always available”. Then we mention that all they have to do is chant the sinner’s prayer mantra and they’ll conveniently be “saved”! We pervert the gospel and liken chanting the sinner’s prayer mantra to having saving faith.

The real gospel is a message that is both offensive yet beautiful. It shows us how holy God is and how un-holy we are because we fail to uphold God’s commands. We break the 7th commandment, thus are dirty perverts. We break the 9th commandment, thus are rotten deceivers. We break the 6th commandment, thus are murderers at heart. And worst of all, we break the 1st commandment and are self-righteous (we think we are good people, and secretly reserve glory for ourselves), and we break the 2nd commandment by being prideful (as we make our egos our greatest idol)!

God loves Himself so much that He upholds perfect justice which would be His eternal wrath inflicting our eternal torment. But the good-news is that if any believe and repent (as a lifestyle) they can rest assure that Christ was crushed in their place for their rebellion and hostility against God. Thereby knowing Christ forever and enjoying Him! This is the gospel that must be proclaimed and embraced by any who wish to follow Christ.

Further, following Christ means we count the cost. We must take up our crosses, join the death march (if that’s where it leads) and live as though we were Jesus’ disciples. Not in order to be justified, but because we have been justified. All of this ought to be considered when approaching James 2:14-24, not just theological debates.

Now, going back to the original question on this post “does Paul contradict James?” The answer is profoundly “No”. Again, because of Rom 3:28, 4:5 and many other passages, we can conclude that the sinner us justified 1. in the present, 2. by God alone, 3. through faith, and not works. James lays out that God’s justifying faith is never alone. Everyone should be affected by our God pleasing works! Good works will follow genuine faith like a ripple follows a rock landing in a pond.

How did Paul say we should live if we are saved through faith apart from works?

Lastly, what Paul taught in light of ’solafide’ is profoundly similar to what James taught!

Romans 3:27-31 “Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.”

and…

Romans 6:1-10 “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

(Cross reference this last sentence with 1 John 3:9: “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.”)

If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.”

Paul speaks of our holiness as something which will come about, and not something hypothetical. He does not say that they ought to live to God. No. His point is that all who were in on the death and resurrection of Christ will live for God.

Romans 6:20-22 says “When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.”

Summary 1:

Finally, here is an excerpt on this same topic that is well put: “Faith” in James means “mental assent; an intellectual belief in the existence of God.” You can see this in verses 14, 17, 19. The faith that James talks about is a faith that even the demons can have! James was the leader of the Messianic church in Jerusalem and so he uses terms in the same way the non-Messianic Jews in Jerusalem do. The Pharisees and rabbis in Jerusalem spoke of the assertion of monotheism and the mere intellectual assent to orthodox teaching as “having faith.” Does this kind of faith save people? NO! And Paul would have agreed. Intellectual faith does NOT save anyone.

The kind of “faith”, Paul talks about is “absolute trust; total dependence on God; being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:5,18,21). This is more than just intellectual faith! The difference between James’ “faith” and Paul’s use of the word is the difference between believing a parachute could save you if you jumped out of a plane (James) and actually jumping out of a plane and pulling the ripcord (Paul).

“Justified” is the other word that is being used differently. Paul is talking about being justified in God’s sight (Romans 5:1). James is talking about being justified before men (James 2:18). “Don’t tell me that you have faith, show me!” James says.

James gives the example of Abraham’s offering of Isaac (Genesis 22). He says this action by Abraham was proof before men of Abraham’s righteousness: “Was not Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?” (James 2:21). But James is quick to add that Abraham was made righteous before God some 30 years prior to this event: “Abraham believed God and his faith was credited to him as righteousness” (James 2:23; Genesis 15:6).” (http://www.new-life.net/faq200.htm)

Summary 2:

Simply put, “faith works”. That’s it! Faith works. Genuine faith works because it carries with it a love of God and others. True faith is faith that works. Does your faith work? Or is it mere profession? If so, you are highly deceived.

(cross reference this post with ‘Is Merely Wanting To Be Saved A Work Of Salvation?’, and learn how saving faith isn’t to make salvation easy, but to make God the only one who boasts in our salvation.)