Does James contradict Paul? Is it faith or works?
No. Paul and James answer two different questions. Paul asks how a person is declared righteous before God, and answers: by faith alone. James asks how we can tell a faith is real, and answers: by the works that genuine faith produces. Far from contradicting, they complete each other: real saving faith always works.
This question arose from studying How can I be saved?.
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What the Scripture says
They are answering different questions
Paul is fighting self-righteousness, the idea that we can earn our place with God. His question: 'How is a sinner declared righteous before God?' James is fighting empty profession, the idea that agreeing with the facts is enough. His question: 'What does a real faith look like?' The Bible answers both, because we need both.
We maintain therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, and one of you tells them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled”; and yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.
Paul: justification is by faith, apart from works
'By grace you have been saved through faith… not of works, that no one would boast.' To the one who does not work but believes, 'his faith is accounted for righteousness.' A person is not justified by works of the law but 'through faith in Jesus Christ.' This is the ground of salvation.
for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast.
Now to him who works, the reward is not counted as grace, but as something owed. But to him who doesn’t work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.
yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law.
James: real faith cannot be a dead faith
'What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him?' Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead: 'as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.' James is not teaching that works save; he is exposing a bare 'faith' that never produces fruit.
What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him?
Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.
For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.
They both use Abraham: two sides of the same faith
Paul points to Abraham 'believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.' James points to the same man when he offered Isaac: 'faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected;' One shows the ground (faith received); the other shows the fruit (faith perfected through obedience).
What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God. You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith.
They agree: grace creates good works
Paul himself says we are 'created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them,' and that what matters is 'faith working through love.' So the resolution is not 'faith or works' but 'faith alone, and authentic faith never remains alone.' The faith that saves is the faith that works.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.
who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.
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What does the new life look like day to day?→“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.”How do I know the Spirit's witness from my own feelings?→“The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God;”Does God use our failures for our good?→“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive.”Where does temptation come from?→“Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, produces death.”What is the new heart that God promised?→“I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, and do them.”What does it mean to be a child of God?→“But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name:”What does it mean to be sealed with the Holy Spirit?→“in whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation—in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is a pledge of our inheritance, to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory.”Can God's grace really cover my worst sins?→“The saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”How do I share my faith with others?→“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear:”What is the difference between testing and temptation?→“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”What is sanctification, and how does it happen?→“For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality,”What is the difference between assurance and presumption?→“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”How do trials make us more like Christ?→“Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering works perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope: and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”Why should I keep enduring, if I can't lose my salvation?→“I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”Who can forgive sins?→“But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—”What does the Bible mean by being 'holy'?→““Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘You shall be holy; for I, Yahweh your God, am holy.”What if I keep repeating the same sin?→“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”How does God actually change me?→“I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.”How does being a child of God change how I live?→“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him.”What role does prayer play in sharing the gospel?→“praying together for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds; that I may reveal it as I ought to speak.”Explore further
What does it mean to be justified?→The Gospel trail“We maintain therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.”Hold onto these
Verses to meditate on
for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.
But to him who doesn’t work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.
Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.
For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.
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