Revisiting James and Paul on Justification

Last updated on: August 28, 2017 at 5:17 am by Michael F. Bird

Revisiting James and Paul on Justification 2017-08-25T19:23:24-04:00 Michael F. Bird

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Jas 2.14-26, with the contention that ‘faith without deeds is dead’ and using the stories of Abraham and Rahab to show that ‘a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone,’ has often been regarded as James’s denunciation of Paul’s doctrine of justification by faith.[1] Furthermore, this apparent inner-canonical tension between James and Paul has in turn led to an allergy towards the epistle of James in some ecclesial traditions which have been shaped principally by Pauline thought. Protestants in particular have ordinarily clung to the doctrine of sola fide, justification by faith alone, based largely if not exclusively on their reading of Paul. And yet, the only place where the words ‘faith alone’ occur in the New Testament is in Jas 2.24 where James explicitly denies that faith alone justifies. This would seemingly make James not merely an opponent of Paul, but of the entire Protestant Reformation too. This is precisely why Luther was so adverse to the letter and why many counter-reformation Catholic apologetics appealed to James with great frequency and earnestness.[2]

It helps if we remember that sixteenth and seventeenth century debates about whether justification is by the imputation of merit or by the infusion of charity are simply not what James or Paul are talking about. In addition, the Jacobean account of justification does not necessarily render the Protestant doctrine of sola fide as exegetically invalid; it only requires that the doctrine involve careful articulation in order to avoid accusations of promoting ethical laxity.[3] With those caveats in mind, I submit that it is possible to bring James and Paul together on justification once we situate them in their respective context.

For a start, James is not shirt-fronting Paul and Paul might actually be receptive to the concerns that James raises. James appears to be offering, almost as an aside, a clarifying response to Pauline teaching, not composing an anti-Pauline tract.[4] As proof of that at no point does James demand that converting Gentiles undergo circumcision and adopt the Torah, nor does he insist that Jewish Christians must separate from Gentile Christians for the sake of ritual purity – Paul’s trigger points for unleashing polemical fury (see Gal 2.11-14; 5.12; 6.12-14; Phil 3.2-3)! According to Acts, while James affirmed Paul’s ministry and message, he had concerns about those who were taking Paul’s teaching in a possibly antinomian direction and rumours that Paul was actively leading Jews away from obeying Torah (see Acts 21.20-21)! What James offers here is not so much a denunciation as a qualification to Paul’s teaching, so that final justification is never independent of moral transformation? Added to that, Paul was very much aware that his instruction on God justifying ungodly-Gentile-sinners by faith apart from works of Torah got him accused of promoting ethical laxity, and he actively refuted the notion that his gospel licensed immoral behaviour (see Rom 3.8, 6.1-2). I can imagine Paul reading Jas 2.14-24 and replying, ‘I hear ya bro, but I got this, let me read Romans 6 and Galatians 5 to you.’

Furthermore, the apparent discrepancy between James and Paul dissipates when we observe what they are each arguing for and against. They are using the same language, but they have different referents in mind, and they address difference concerns.

James and Paul on ‘Faith’ and ‘Works’ Subject Paul James Faith Trust in God’s redeeming action in Jesus and allegiance to Jesus as Messiah and Lord. Such faith justifies. Mere assent to the existence of God which does not lead to upright conduct. Such faith does not justify. Works Connected with the Jewish way of life codified in the Torah, a kind of ‘doing’ that leads to ‘boasting’ in ethnicity and effort. Such works do not save.

Loving expression of faith in action. Such works are required for salvation.

Paul is against those who demand that Gentiles become Jewish proselytes as a condition of being a follower of Jesus. James is against those who teach salvation by mere assent without commitment to actually following the words of Jesus. James and Paul can be brought together when we remember that James’s statement that ‘faith without deeds is dead’ can be correlated with Paul’s remark that ‘the only thing that counts is faith working through love.’[5] In addition, James’s reference to the ‘word of truth’ and the ‘implanted word, which can save you’ is very similar to Paul’s ‘message of truth, the gospel of your salvation’ and his statement about how faith comes from ‘hearing the message and the message is the word of Christ.’[6] These two towering apostles agree on this: the word of truth brings salvation and transformation.

That said, James and Paul do materially disagree on the significance of Gen 15.6. Paul employs the passage to prove that Abraham was justified prior to his circumcision, while James opts for a standard Jewish approach that read Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac in Genesis 22 as the reason he had righteousness credited to him proleptically in Gen 15.6.[7] Alas, there is diversity in the New Testament!

In the end, we do best to imagine James – much like he did for Peter at the Jerusalem Council – as standing in the breach between Paul and his Jewish/Jewish Christian critics, censuring extremes, assuaging concerns, and looking for common ground.

[1] Jas 2.24, 26.

[2] See Johnson 1995, 140-43.

[3] See Reasoner 2005, 25; Vanhoozer 2016, 71-107.

[4] Despite the persistence of efforts to read James as an anti-Pauline writing (e.g. Hengel 1987), Johnson (1995, 111) rightly points out that it is unfair to take 12 of James’s 108 verses as the key to its purpose and aims. The letter is so much more than a repudiation or even a qualification to Pauline teaching.

[5] Jas 2.26; Gal 5.6.

[6] Jas 1.18, 21; Eph 1.13; Rom 10.17.

[7] See Gal 3.6-18 and Rom 4.1-25 versus Jas 2.21-23 and 1 Macc 2.52.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

August 25, 2017

Wonderful New Book on the Contextualization of the Gospel

Next Post

September 1, 2017 Who Are the Opponents in the Epistle of Jude?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Bible Lands Blogosphere Book Review Calvinism Colleges & Universities Ecclesiology Emerging Adulthood Evangelicalism Foreign Affairs Gospel of John Greco-Roman World Humor Just War N. T. Wright Old Testament Resurrection Terrorism Theological Education Travel Uncategorized Writing

Select a Month September 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the patriarch whose faith led to the near-sacrifice of his son?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Abraham Isaac Joseph Jacob

Books by This Author Books by Mike Bird

See All Titles »