Faith and works

Pastor James writes in his letter to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations (2:24), "You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone."

Paul writes in Romans 3:28, "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law."

How do we solve this apparent contradiction?

Are we saved by faith or are we saved by our works? Or both?

We are saved by faith alone. However, a sign that we have been saved is that we work in God's kingdom.

There are three differences in the two verses:

First, the emphasis is different.

Paul is talking about the root of salvation. Faith in Christ plus nothing.

James is speaking of the fruit of salvation. Each believer of Jesus Christ must bear fruit. Jesus said in John 15:4,5, "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, He will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

Secondly, the perspective is different.

Paul is looking at our salvation from God's perspective, like a fire in a fireplace.

James is looking at it from a human perspective, like smoke coming out of a chimney. To James, the world should be able to tell that a faith burns in our hearts by the works they see coming out of our lives.

Lastly, there is a difference in terms.

Both use the same word, "justified" but with two different meanings.

Paul uses the term as an act of God at salvation whereby he declares us righteous while we are living in a sinful state.

James uses it with the meaning of "validation or evidence." We show, we prove our faith by our works.

Author Tony Campolo tells how he disembarked from a plane only to discover he was scheduled to speak to a group of women at a World Day of Prayer event he had forgotten about.

He rushed over to the meeting—held at a large, wealthy church—and arrived exhausted, not knowing what to say to the women gathered for the conference. Before calling him to speak, the leader of the meeting produced a letter from a missionary in Venezuela. Campolo relates:

She read this letter from this missionary who had a hospital, and they needed $5,000 desperately to put an extension on the hospital because they couldn't handle all the patients.

She turned to me, and she said, "Reverend, would you please lead us in prayer that the Lord would provide for our sister in Venezuela?" And I said, "No!" She was taken back by that. I stood up, and I said, "I'll tell you what I will do"—and it was a good day to pull it off because I was only carrying $2.25—I pulled out my wallet, and I pulled out the two dollars and a quarter, and I slapped it down on the pulpit and I said, "That 's all the money I'm carrying. Madame Chairman, I want you to put all the cash you're carrying on the pulpit." And there were about 1,000 women in this group.

I said, "I'm going to ask each of you to do the same. No checks. Just the cash you're carrying. Bring it up. Lay it on the altar. We'll count up the money, and if we don't have enough, I will ask God to write out a check for the difference."

The woman took out $110 of unadulterated cash and put it with my $2.25. A hundred and ten dollars in cash! Why didn't I marry somebody like that? I said, "We're on our way; we've got $112.25." I said, "You're next," and I pointed to a woman on the front row. She looked around. I said, "I'm serious. Come up here and put your money on the altar." You see, I come from a black church, and you know that's the way you take up an offering, you see.

And she sheepishly came up and put her money on it, and I said, "Okay let's line up and do it one by one." And they did it! Money kept on piling up and piling up and piling up. When it was all over, we counted the cash. And we had over $7,000, instead of the five that was being required!

And I know we didn't get it all because I could see women giving me dirty looks as they walked by. And I said, "The sheer audacity of asking God for $5,000, when God has already provided more than $7,000."

There's a season for everything. There's a time to pray and then there is a time to work. Both are necessary.