J. C. O”Hair
If you desire real profit and a genuine blessing in this Bible study, be sure to read all of the Scriptures mentioned above.
In Romans 4:4 and 5 Paul states positively that good works contribute nothing whatever to a believer’s righteousness or justification. Justification by faith is to him that worketh not. In Ephesians 2:10 Paul shows the place for good works, following salvation without works.
Note the plain statements in Romans 3:28 and Romans 3:24, that because of the perfect redemptive work of the perfect Christ, the believing sinner is justified without the deeds of the law, even (dorian) without a cause, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 2:16).
In James 2:24 and 21 we read: “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.” “Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac, his son upon the altar?”
At first Paul and James seem to teach contradictory doctrine. We know that James addressed the twelve tribes of Israel (James 1:1), that James was the Lord’s messenger to Israel (Galatians 2:9), that James caused Paul to shave his head and become a Jew in Jerusalem, that James caused Peter to refuse to eat with Gentile Christians, (Acts 21:18 and 23 to 27 - Galatians 2:11 to 13). We know what James said in Acts 15:19; that God, during the “Acts” period had one order for believing Jews and another for believing Gentiles. (Acts 21:25). But we must find in other Scriptures the explanation for this seeming contradiction.
We have heard that Martin Luther and others could not reconcile Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians with the truth in the Epistle of James, and so they doubted whether II Timothy 3:16 could apply to the Epistle of James. The Epistle of James is not only an inspired Epistle, but one with much valuable and practical teaching. James, addressed to “the twelve tribes”, like Matthew, Mark and Luke, and the first chapters of Acts, must be interpreted and applied in the light of Paul’s “grace” messages to members of the Body of Christ. (Ephesians 3:1 to 8).
Some explain James 2:17 to 26 to mean that man is justified by faith before God, and that man is justified by works before men. It is true that the believer should prove the reality of Christ and Christianity by good works, but certainly the Christian need do nothing to prove to God that he has been saved. God knows. (II Timothy 2:19).
Justified before men is not the explanation of James 2:17 to 26. Paul wrote of the covenant of promise, the gospel which God preached to Abram. (Read Galatians 3:8 Galatians 3:16 to 19). Paul wrote that Abraham was justified by faith, without works, in uncircumcision. (Romans 4:1 to 11) (Compare Genesis 15:6 - Genesis 17:24 and Genesis 22:16).
In Hebrews 6:17 to 20 we learn that God confirmed His covenant with an oath, And that the covenant and the oath are called “the two immutable things”. In Galatians 3:8 we learn that God preached the gospel to Abram (24 years before he became circumcised Abraham) at the time God gave Abram the covenant of promise. (Galatians 3:16 to 18). Abram believed God and that belief was counted to Abram for righteousness about forty years before God confirmed the covenant with an oath at the time Isaac was on the altar and Abraham was justified by works. Abram was just as righteous before He offered Isaac as thereafter. Paul referred to the covenant - James referred to the oath.
Jesus Is The One True God
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Posted by Cecil and Connie Spivey
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