James's "Faith Without Works"

[StephenDiscipleofYHWH]

You do say some good things, but I'm a little confused by your post. Maybe it's just too long.

What part is confusing brother(or sister)? If you tell me what was confusing I will do my best to explain what I meant in a more concise manner.

 

[ralliann]

All scripture is in agreement.
If a man says he has faith but does not the work of God then he is not of Christ. For we are the workmanship of God created unto good works. We love our neighbor and the Lord not in word, but in deed and truth.
James 2:
14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
Abraham was justified by his works when he offered up Abraham on the Altar, showing in deed and truth that he was righteous. But it was not by works alone, it was by his faith that he obeyed the command of God. Serving the Lord in both mind and body. By Faith Abraham was justified, as well as by works. Now we also by faith obey and do the works of God we were created to do.
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.

. His faith and works being wrought together were made perfect.
11 And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.




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2. Paul states that we are not justified by the works of the Law of Moses, instead he states that we are justified by the Law of Faith put into place by Christ.
Romans 3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. 27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

James spoke of works of law of faith, Paul spoke of works of the law of Moses.

 

[StephenDiscipleofYHWH]

James spoke of works of law of faith, Paul spoke of works of the law of Moses.

Paul also spoke of the Works of the Law of Faith. That is why he states we were created unto Good works, and that we are to keep the commands given by the Apostles and Christ.

 

[Danthemailman]

James spoke of works of law of faith, Paul spoke of works of the law of Moses.

In James 2:15-16, the example of a "work" that James gives is: "If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?"

To give a brother or sister these things needed for the body would certainly be a "work of faith/good work" yet to neglect such a brother or sister and not give them the things needed for the body is to break the second great commandment "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39) as found written in the law of Moses (Leviticus 19:18).

In Matthew 22:37-40, we read: Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. *When it comes to the moral aspect of the law of Moses, we cannot dissect "works of faith/good works" from these two great commandments which are found in the law of Moses (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18).

 

[ralliann]

In James 2:15-16, the example of a "work" that James gives is: "If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?"

To give a brother or sister these things needed for the body would certainly be a "work of faith/good work" yet to neglect such a brother or sister and not give them the things needed for the body is to break the second great commandment "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39) as found written in the law of Moses (Leviticus 19:18).

In Matthew 22:37-40, we read: Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. *When it comes to the moral aspect of the law of Moses, we cannot dissect "works of faith/good works" from these two great commandments which are found in the law of Moses (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18).

My post never intended to dissect moral law from the law of Moses. Moses law was additional to law which was prior. Gen 26:5 speaks of the law of faith Abraham had.
We also see the nation of Israel being warned not to commit sin which the nations did before them.
Same standard as which existed prior....
Lev 18:27 (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled
28 That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.

Paul speaks of Moses law as "whole law".

 

[Butch5]

Galatians 1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

There is only one gospel.

Galatians 2:4 And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: 5 To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. 6 But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man's person for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me: 7 But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter; 8 (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles 9 And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. 10 Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.

Since there is only one gospel and Paul confirmed he was given the right hand of fellowship with James, then we need to take that phrase "faith without works" in context and may you find James heeding Galatians 2:10 in James 2:1-26 about remembering the poor.

James starts off pointing out an abuse of the poor by how they are treated in church service. You can click on this scriptural reference of James 2:1-13 to see that rebuke towards the church abuse of the poor.

Then in James 2:14-25 You will see that James is talking about another abuse of the poor when after church service, the church would verbalize their faith in God's Providence to the poor as if by saying so, God will provide for them without the church meeting any of their immediate needs that were starving and naked from the bounty collected at church service.

It is the church's verbalized faith in God's Providence that will not profit the poor nor save the poor from starvation and the elements. In the eyes of the poor, the church's faith in God's Providence is dead, seeing how the church is not willing to lead by example.

So James was not talking about faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. James was talking about the church's abuse of the poor by verbalizing faith in God's Providence without leading by example, because they wanted to get our of helping the poor after church service.

We can see this is the kind of faith James was talking about in reference here.

James 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? 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.

That reference to Abraham and Isaac is about faith in God providing for His servants. See here.

Genesis 22:7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. 9 And they came to the place which God had told him of;.....

11 And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

The name of the place is God provides for His servant and that is the faith James was talking about in referring to Abraham and Isaac.

No one can apply James's "faith without works" to faith in Jesus Christ because salvation is without works. Paul explains this;

Romans 3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. 27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Paul even referred to Abraham for why he was considered righteous by believing God.

Romans 4:1What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? 2 For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. 3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. 4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

There is no way James would offer the right hand of fellowship with Paul or for Paul to even accept if they were speaking 2 different gospel.

So there can be no taking James's "faith without works" or "faith without works is dead" to be applied towards faith in Jesus Christ for salvation when James was specifically talking about the abuse of the poor that the church was doing in verbalizing faith in His Providence to the poor just to get out of helping the poor after church service.

Scripture cannot go against scripture; and there is only one gospel. Do discern that.

The problem is that you have it backwards. I assume to fit you belief in Martin Luther's doctrine of faith alone. You left out the part where James asks, 'can that faith save'?

The problem is that since the Reformation Martin Luther's doctrine has been taught to many Christians, but it's simply wrong. Once Christians learn this they then struggle with James' argument and try to come up with all kinds of explanations as to how James doesn't mean what he plainly said. I see this all the time with Church doctrines that are not Biblical. They'll take a few passages to teach these doctrines and then Christians struggle with passages that oppose the doctrine and are forced to either ignore them or pretend they say something that they don't. If we reject Martin Luther's doctrine of faith alone James and Paul reconcile easily as Paul was arguing that a person isn't justified by the works of the Mosaic and James was arguing that a man is justified by works. Paul alludes to this also in Romans 2 where he says, those who continue in well doing are seeking eternal life. In order to received eternal life on must be justified. If works played no role in obtaining eternal life, then doing them wouldn't be seeking eternal life.