So if I
1) Find a contradiction in the Protocanonical books
2) Show an historical inaccuracy in the Protocanonical books
3) Find false teaching in the Protocanonical books
May I throw those books out of my Bible?
Let's play this game, with the understanding that I don't actually want to take anything out of the Bible, and that I don't necessarily believe the argument I'm going to make--this is purely for the sake of making a point.
My first proposal, we get rid of the Epistle of James because it contains false teaching and contradicts the rest of the Bible,
"You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone." - James 2:24
My second proposal, we get rid of the book of Job, as it mentions mythological creatures as though they were real, namely Behemoth and Leviathan. It also says that Satan is among the angelic council.
My third proposal is that we remove the book of Genesis, because it contains two contradictory creation stories, one in Genesis chapter 1, and another in Genesis chapter 2.
As such James, Job, and Genesis are all Apocrypha and don't belong in the Bible. I'm sure we could find some others to remove if we look hard enough and apply the same criteria.
-CryptoLutheran
Your 1st proposal is based on a false teaching that James contradicts the rest of the Bible That is simply not true.
It is however true that the same words can have different meanings. And different words can have the same meanings. This is true in the Bible as well as in all other books and conversations.
It is then up to us to dig in deeper and learn that difference. Many and it seems YOU as well believe that James contradicts Pauls teaching but that just is not the case.
James was trying to get across to his churches that Loveless faith is absolutely useless; and anybody that comes along and says "We are justified by faith alone, and so you don't have to be a loving person to go to heaven" is not telling the truth.
So James' concern is that people have real saving faith, not counterfeit faith. And the difference is that the real faith produces loving behavior.
Your next proposal is Actually it is a good question. Remember that Job is a "POETIC" book. When considering poetic books like Job, it is good practise to consider the
'objective' of the text - however you're spot-on to ask the question:
"why?" are both creatures appear at all ?
(From
Why is the description of Leviathan much longer than the Behemoth's in Job?
It's worth noting that whilst the
Behemoth seems like a short section compared to the
Leviathan, it's still a longer section than the preceding animals, which are again smaller things. Poetically, there appears to be something of a progression from section to section, asking Job's wisdom and power over the world: nature, small animals, and then the biggest animals.
Looking at the structure of the texts,
Leviathan would appear to be the climax or grand finale:
"Nothing on earth is its equal." Whilst the
Behemoth (whatever its identity) is certainly impressive for a land animal, it's a small fry compared to the final candidate, and anybody who has seen both will understand the tremendous difference in scale. Yahweh is making His might known by comparison to various creatures of various sizes, and it makes sense to take such a large chunk of text comparing His might to the greatest creature, rather than the smaller ones.
And of course your 3rd proposal in false as well since your description is false.
By considering the two creation accounts individually and then reconciling them, we see that God describes the sequence of creation in
Gen 1, then clarifies its most important details, especially of the sixth day, in Gen. 2.
So then the bottom line is that there is no contradiction here, merely a common literary device of that day in which describing an event from the general to the specific.