Question. From what I
understand, it is believed by some that faith is an active process of
works through which you are saved by grace. The reason for this belief
is James 2:20-24:
But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is
dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered
Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together
with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture
was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to
him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God. You see
then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
...meaning (if I am correct) that in order to have true [or "perfect"]
faith you must have works or deeds by striving to live a sin free life.
That, in a sense, faith and works are symbiotic to each other.
But, in Romans 4:2-5 it says...
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about,
but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed
God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." Now to him who
works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who
does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith
is accounted for righteousness...
However [passages such as] Romans 3:28...Romans 11:6...Galatians 2:16;
3:5-6...Ephesians 2:8-9...Philippians 3:9...[would seem to say] faith
and works are clearly separate from each other.
I know well enough that God does not contradict Himself. So logically
that must mean "dead faith" must have a separate meaning. Do you have
any thoughts on this?
It is my understanding that as much as he may try, there is nothing any
man can do to be saved. The more a person attempts to adhere to the law
the more he will be found guilty, as is the purpose of the law. It is to
show us how helpless we are without Him and our faith in Him. Am I
confused in my understanding?
Answer. I agree that the key to understanding
Scriptural teaching is found in an important insight which you
mentioned: I know well enough that God does not contradict Himself.
Furthermore, since all of Scripture is "God-breathed" (theopneustos, 2
Ti. 3:16), we must not imagine that James and Paul, both of whom are
inspired by the Spirit, are somehow teaching at odds with one another.
If we pit Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, and Philippians (written by
Paul) against James, we are sure to wind up confused.
Therefore, our understanding of the relationship
between faith and works must take into account all
that is taught.
Having said that, I must be quick to point out that this is an area that
has occupied faithful theological minds for centuries—for there is a
great treasury of riches associated with the subject. However, I do
think that the relationship between faith and works is something that
can sometimes be made more complicated than needed and that it is
something that God intends believers to understand without needing a
degree in theology.
As your question implies, the overwhelming number
of passages in Scripture which deal with this topic come down on the
side of emphasizing faith and denying a contribution of works.
Why is this so? I believe Paul's statement in the fourth chapter of
Romans helps us to understand why: "Now to him who works, the wages are
not counted as grace but as debt" (Romans 4:2-5). Thus, if works is
allowed as an ingredient in the process leading to salvation then
salvation is no longer uniquely of God's grace and a component of the
worthiness or capability of the one being saved enters into the mix.
This fatally taints what I believe the Scriptures teach: that the
process of salvation is monergistic, solely the result of God's work on
our behalf. (Thus, the Scriptures are chock full of passages which
describe believers as "called," "chosen," and "elect.")
Since the tendency of man is toward self-esteem,
pride and a mistaken notion of independent ability, the Scriptures focus
on hammering home the truth that all who believe are utterly and
completely dependent on the sovereign actions of God on their behalf.
We need this constant reminder else we tend to elevate our own
contribution to the work of God.
The book of James is intensely pastoral in concern. James is concerned
that believers understand what it means to truly walk as a Christian.
This becomes especially evident in the closing verses of the first
chapter where James warns against self-deception in relation to how a
Christian should live:
Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and
receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your
souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving
yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is
like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes
himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But
he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is
not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed
in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does
not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is
useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this:
to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself
unspotted from the world. (Jas. 1:21-27)
Thus, James' focus as he begins the second chapter
is the practical application of Christian belief as it manifests in the
life of the believer—what some have called, "shoe-leather Christianity."
Thus, he is concerned to demonstrate, as reformers such as John Calvin
put it: "faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is not alone."
This understands salvation as a birth whereby the Holy Spirit
permanently takes up residence within the life of the believer. When the
believer is "born again" (or "born from above") there is a new and holy
spiritual Agent at work within that person. Thus, the birth is the
beginning point of a process—the process of sanctification. The depth
and speed of this process varies greatly from believer-to-believer.
James, then, is concerned that people understand
that a mark of true belief is the inevitable change caused by the
reality of the very Spirit of God having taken up residence within a
true believer. This results in an outworking of the purposes of
God within the life of the individual resulting in practical actions:
What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does
not have works? Can faith save him? 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? Thus also faith by itself, if
it does not have works, is dead. (Jas. 2:14-17)
Although there are numerous interpretations of
this passage, I'm one who takes it in its simplest sense. I believe
James is talking about the attributes of saving faith—the same faith
that Paul has in view in passages which underscore that salvation is by
grace through faith alone. James is warning that a mere outward
profession of faith which lacks any indication of the inward reality of
the work of the Spirit may not be saving faith at all. Thus, James is in
agreement with Paul's warning to the church at Corinth:
Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.
Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed
you are disqualified. (2 Cor. 13:5)
Notice that Paul connects being in the faith with the internal reality
of Jesus Christ being resident, through His Holy Spirit, within the true
believer.
As James continues in the second chapter, he brings up the example of
Abraham as an illustration of the spiritual reality of being born again.
But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is
dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered
Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together
with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture
was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to
him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God. You see
then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. (Jas.
2:20-24)
Several points are important to consider when meditating upon this
passage:
When does James indicate Abraham was justified?
When "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness." James indicates that Abraham was justified by
faith no later than Genesis 15:6. This is when God makes a formal
covenant with Abraham based upon earlier promises in Genesis 12.
When did Abraham's "work" of offering up Isaac take place? In Genesis 22, some 7 chapters and many years later. (Steinmann dates Genesis 15 prior to 2081 and the birth of Isaac at 2066 B.C. If we assume Isaac was only a young teen at the time of his offering, then that would infer more than two decades between when Scripture records Abraham as having been justified and his offering of Isaac. [1])
What does James mean when he says that Abraham's faith was made perfect? The word for "perfect" in James is from the verb teleioo, which emphasizes maturity, completion, purpose or even genuineness. Thus, James is indicating that Abraham's offering of Isaac was a demonstration of the maturity and genuineness of his faith—a faith which was real many years before this "work."
When we consider these points, it seems evident that James is simply
saying that Abraham's real (saving faith) from years earlier came about
solely through faith, but the reality of his faith—its
genuineness—eventually led to an action which would have been impossible
otherwise: offering the life of his only son. This is completely
compatible with a similar teaching by the writer of Hebrews:
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had
received the promises offered up his only begotten son. (Hebrews 11:17)
Notice that the work which James refers to as indicating the maturing or
genuineness of Abraham's faith from years before is spoken of in Hebrews
as being energized, if you will, "by faith." In other words, faith was
the engine and the action was the result, the outer manifestation, of
the saving faith which was already at work within the life of Abraham
from years before.
Although salvation is not a work, the reality of
the Holy Spirit taking up residence within the newly born believer has
spiritual ramifications which eventually and ultimately lead to changes
in ones behaviour—although this can take time, as the example of
the Church at Corinth reveals. I believe James is not at odds with Paul,
but simply warning his readers that a profession of being a Christian
without the inward reality of the spiritual birth is "dead" because it
would amount to a "stillborn believer." However, a stillborn believer is
a Biblical contradiction in terms since that which God brings to life is
living! Yet, like all newborns, the rate and evidence of growth may vary
greatly between individuals.
So I would not refer to faith and works as being
symbiotic. Rather, I would state that faith precedes works and is the
cause of those works. Thus, the works which follow do not
contribute to the earlier faith which is the basis and energizer of the
works. As James maintains, where works are completely lacking—especially
over a lengthy period—then it is only natural to wonder whether the
birth actually took place? I take James to be saying that spiritual
works follow naturally from spiritual faith and in cases where there are
no works whatsoever—no manifest desire to please God and an ongoing lack
of concern over sinful behaviour—then faith itself is suspect and may be
dead.
In thinking about the relationship of faith and
works, we want to take care not to confuse the instantaneous new birth,
by faith, with the ongoing process of growth in spiritual maturity and
related works which manifest with time.
___________
[1] Andrew E. Steinmann, From Abraham to Paul (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing, 2011). p. 72