I think we’re all familiar with the infamous faith vs. works debate. It’s one of the most important topics in Christianity because it questions our salvation. What is my stance on this issue? If I wanted to quote one verse from the Bible that would best summarize my stance, it would be Romans 3:28 where Paul says, “For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the Law.” Opponents to my view are quick to quote James 2:17 and say to me: “But James says that faith without works is dead!” I always find this reaction to be amusing, because they seem to suggest that James contradicts Paul! But of course, we can’t have contradictions in the scriptures, right? So there must be an explanation for what seems to be a contradiction. Let’s dive into the book of James and see what the possible explanations are.
Perhaps the most favorite explanation for James 2:17 is that James is talking about justification before man in this context, rather than justification before God. If we consider the broader context of this chapter, we see that in James 2:10, an indirect statement shows that the only way to be justified by works before God is if one holds the whole Law. Therefore, it’s clear that James is on the same page with Paul, that all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. Furthermore, the possibility of James talking about justification before man, rather than justification before God, seems to become more evident in verse 18. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. This is obviously how humans operate. They can’t see your faith because faith can’t be seen. We as humans can only judge someone by their deeds whereas God can judge them by faith because unlike us, God can see their hearts and read their minds. This explanation makes perfect sense when we consider what Paul says in Romans 4:2 about Abraham not having anything to boast before God.
The other popular explanation is that James is talking about a genuine faith which produces good deeds vs. a bogus one which is dead. James tells us in verse 19 that even demons believe that there is one God and shudder. I have written an article in which I try to explain what kind of faith God requires from us in order to save us. In my article, I explain the different definitions and applications of the word “faith” that are in our Bible. One of them is in fact in James 2 and it’s “belief that” rather than “belief in”. I explain how “belief that” is a matter of knowledge, whereas “belief in” is a matter of trust. The kind of faith that God requires from us is a matter of trust; as Romans 4:5 says, the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. This explanation seems to make a better sense of what James is telling us.
Having said that, I would be very careful not to let this explanation lead to a backward works-based salvation in which the believer will derive his/her assurance of salvation from his/her works. That should not happen because we will never be good enough and we will always fall short, and deriving our assurance from our works is definitely another gospel. It might be noteworthy that James in chapter two is talking about specific works that were only asked from Abraham and Rahab, whereas Paul is talking about the works of the Law. As a result, a third explanation might be that God tests everyone’s faith differently in order to find out whether they truly trust Him or not, the same way He tested Abraham and Rahab. One might ask, doesn’t God know our hearts and can’t He read our minds? Then why would He need to test our faith? Maybe the common theistic understanding of omniscience is logically fallacious and therefore wrong, or maybe He tests us in order to justify us before men, and show them the difference between a genuine faith and a bogus one!
To recap, the Gospel is very clear that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone apart from works of the Law. Paul tells us in Philippians 3:3 that it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by His Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh. Then Paul explains how he has reasons for putting confidence in the flesh. In verse 4, he says that if someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, he has more! He then gives his reasons but claims that whatever were gains to him, he now considers loss for the sake of Christ. Continuing from verse 8, he says that, “What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ; the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.” Galatians is another very interesting book which cuts to the very core of this issue and weeds out a lot of false teachings surrounding this important issue.
Why Do I Believe In Jesus? 