the following email was sent to me a couple of weeks ago by Patrick Navas, author of Divine Truth or Human Tradition? and recent guest on Truth Matters, in which he discussed the issue of justification by faith alone. I thought his way of harmonizing Paul and James was helpful.
Hello Everyone,
Recently I had an email discussion with an evangelical friend on the subject of the doctrine of “justification by faith alone.” Can you read my short response to him and offer some feedback from your perspective?
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This is the original question to my friend:
I’ve always wondered, since the language/formula “justification by faith alone” is not found in Scripture, yet the following language/formula is:
“You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” (James 2:24, ESV)
…why do Protestants place so much emphasis on the doctrine/language of “faith alone” when the language does not appear in the Bible and the disciple James appears to say the oppossite?–actually, in terms of language, he explicitly does state the opposite.
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In my latest email, I wrote:
Thank you for the feedback as it relates to your understanding of the Protestant doctrine of “justification by faith alone.” As far as James’ reference to “justification by works” meaning “justification before men (and not God),” I’ll honestly have to ponder that one more and read the verse in context again, to see if your interpretation makes sense to me.
I have always reconciled James 2:24 and the Pauline statements about “faith” and “works” in Romans 4:5 and other texts in the following way:
Notice that in Romans 3:28 (the discussion leading up to the statement in Rom 4:5) Paul says, “For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (emphasis added, compare Galatians 2:16; 3:2, 5).
What I mean is, as far as I understand things, when Paul emphasizes the principle of justification by “faith” and not by “works,” it seems to me that he specifically has the “works” of the Mosaic “law” in mind, perhaps even in other instances when he does not qualify the word “works” as “works of the law.” In fact, Paul’s whole discussion about Abraham’s justification before God has to do with the fact that the law was given hundreds of years after Abraham’s time, in order to prove that the works of the law are not what brings about a man’s justification before God (Rom. 3). Since Abraham obeyed God’s voice in faith (completely independent of the ‘works’ of the Mosaic law which came later), he was declared righteous in God’ sight and became God’s friend as a result. This sets the pattern for all those who will be declared righteous in God’s sight, namely, those who, like Abraham, lived by “faith.”
However, when James says, “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone,” he is not contradicting Paul because he does not mean “justified by works [of the law]” but “justified by works [that spring from genuine faith].” In other words, James agrees with Paul that men are justified by “faith.” But our “faith” must be a living faith that expresses itself through obedience and love (Galatians 5:6), as in the case Abraham, the “father of all those having faith” (Romans 4:11). As James points out in reference to him: “You see that faith was active along with [Abraham’s] works, and faith was completed by his works” (James 2:22)—but, again, completed not by “works of the law” but by the “works” or “deeds” that are the inevitable expression of true “faith.”
By understanding things this way, it does not mean I am advocating a “works-based salvation,” as if I thought that I could somehow “earn” my way into God’s favor—realizing, of course, how unworthy and sinful I am before God. But, in terms of my own approach to Christianity generally speaking, I choose to refrain from promoting official “doctrinal statements,” “mantras” (‘faith alone’) or “catch phrases” that aren’t present in Scripture in the Scripture’s own language.
What I mean is, you could say that, as a rule of mine, I limit my official “doctrines” to the ones that are already official formulated in Scripture. For example, “For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law” perfectly captures my view of faith and law. Yet I would also officially say, with James, that “faith without works is dead.” …
I hope this makes sense.
Best wishes,
Patrick Navas