The SAB displays confusion over this subject, e.g.:
"James 2:14, 17, 20, 24-26
'Can faith save him?'
Is Salvation by faith alone?
'Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.'
What must you do to be saved?"
However, there is no real contradiction here.
Faith versus works
We are saved by grace through faith alone. No-one (other than God) knows our true heart even we ourselves wonder about it. Works must accompany faith if we or anyone else is to believe that this saving faith is there. Many are those of us who think that Jesus knows us, only to be one day called workers of unrighteousness, and to find their eternity bereft of Him. That is why the reality check of James, uncomfortable as it may seem, is a great gift. It does not necessarily contradict, it compliments.
James 2: 14, 24 What good is faith proclaimed if it produces no works? Can that kind of faith save anyone? [This is not necessarily real faith. It is only words and is referred to suspiciously as that kind of faith] We are justified by works and not only by faith. [In context we are therefore talking about that wordy, unproven faith. Works is needed to see whether this is a faith of the mouth or a faith of the soul and the heart.]
Therefore this is preceded by James 1:18,21 Sinners are saved by God who implants His Word and grows it in us. [This is a divine work and not established nor constructed by man and his good works, only evidenced by it.]
Compare with the letters of Paul, frequently called upon as being in contradiction with James:
Eph 2:8,9 We are saved by grace alone. [An intentionally shallow study or a study that shies away from finding the truth, will depict this as conflicting with James 2. However, in the above context it is the truth. Is it also followed by the reminder that invisible faith needs to be tested by its works?]
Therefore Eph 2: 10 continues with saying that we are created for good works, and that His workmanship must be reflected therein if we walk with Him.
Similarly, Titus 3:5 proclaims that we are saved not by works but by grace.
Therefore Titus 2: 11,12 We must live sensibly, righteously and godly in this world.
The writers therefore teach a truth which will be attacked from two angles. Either by trying to save ourselves, which denies the depth of our fall and the grace and omnipotence of God, or by reducing faith to a wordy lie that does not bring us back into Gods plan. But, even more startlingly apparent, the writers only offer this teaching to those who are truly searching. Only for those who knock, will the door be opened. Heaven apparently will not contain hearts that do not search in themselves until they realize the depth of the fall and the height of God. This apparently is more of a characteristic of goodness than is the propensity to try and do what we think could be perceived as good, but for unknown purposes.
Obviously God knows about the extent of the corruption of this world. Only self-sacrificing searching for God cannot be fabricated to the extent that we ourselves are fooled by that fabrication, and God does not ignore the fall of man to sin, though He almost anxiously waits to forgive it.
Why not just put everybody in heaven with no Bible, no faith, no works required? That is exactly what He did, with the choice presented in the allegorical form of the Tree of Life. We are already past that, we are talking about the second phase.
Shouldn't we have been given a choice? Now that is the real debate, the real contradiction. I wouldn't say that I have all the answers for that. Maybe that was His decision.
"James 2:14, 17, 20, 24-26
'Can faith save him?'
Is Salvation by faith alone?
'Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.'
What must you do to be saved?"
However, there is no real contradiction here.
Faith versus works
We are saved by grace through faith alone. No-one (other than God) knows our true heart even we ourselves wonder about it. Works must accompany faith if we or anyone else is to believe that this saving faith is there. Many are those of us who think that Jesus knows us, only to be one day called workers of unrighteousness, and to find their eternity bereft of Him. That is why the reality check of James, uncomfortable as it may seem, is a great gift. It does not necessarily contradict, it compliments.
James 2: 14, 24 What good is faith proclaimed if it produces no works? Can that kind of faith save anyone? [This is not necessarily real faith. It is only words and is referred to suspiciously as that kind of faith] We are justified by works and not only by faith. [In context we are therefore talking about that wordy, unproven faith. Works is needed to see whether this is a faith of the mouth or a faith of the soul and the heart.]
Therefore this is preceded by James 1:18,21 Sinners are saved by God who implants His Word and grows it in us. [This is a divine work and not established nor constructed by man and his good works, only evidenced by it.]
Compare with the letters of Paul, frequently called upon as being in contradiction with James:
Eph 2:8,9 We are saved by grace alone. [An intentionally shallow study or a study that shies away from finding the truth, will depict this as conflicting with James 2. However, in the above context it is the truth. Is it also followed by the reminder that invisible faith needs to be tested by its works?]
Therefore Eph 2: 10 continues with saying that we are created for good works, and that His workmanship must be reflected therein if we walk with Him.
Similarly, Titus 3:5 proclaims that we are saved not by works but by grace.
Therefore Titus 2: 11,12 We must live sensibly, righteously and godly in this world.
The writers therefore teach a truth which will be attacked from two angles. Either by trying to save ourselves, which denies the depth of our fall and the grace and omnipotence of God, or by reducing faith to a wordy lie that does not bring us back into Gods plan. But, even more startlingly apparent, the writers only offer this teaching to those who are truly searching. Only for those who knock, will the door be opened. Heaven apparently will not contain hearts that do not search in themselves until they realize the depth of the fall and the height of God. This apparently is more of a characteristic of goodness than is the propensity to try and do what we think could be perceived as good, but for unknown purposes.
Obviously God knows about the extent of the corruption of this world. Only self-sacrificing searching for God cannot be fabricated to the extent that we ourselves are fooled by that fabrication, and God does not ignore the fall of man to sin, though He almost anxiously waits to forgive it.
Why not just put everybody in heaven with no Bible, no faith, no works required? That is exactly what He did, with the choice presented in the allegorical form of the Tree of Life. We are already past that, we are talking about the second phase.
Shouldn't we have been given a choice? Now that is the real debate, the real contradiction. I wouldn't say that I have all the answers for that. Maybe that was His decision.
