Faith vs. Works?

(ESV)

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Paul says in (ESV)

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

James says in (ESV)

23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

The proper greek pronunciation of the tension between these two texts is huh??? What???

Here in our text for today from , we are faced with the Bible’s answer to some of the questions that I believe naturally arise from a study of Galatians.

As we have gone through the text over the past few weeks, we have railed against any notion that a person is saved by what they do, or what they wear, or what they eat, etc. The Bible calls these attempts to earn God’s love by doing these things, or an attempt to be justified before God by doing them, by the common catch all name of “works”.

And as I just read last week’s text from , we are reminded that a person is “justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified ().

So here are a few questions that I think naturally bubble up to the top of our mind when we read things like this from the New Testament.

Does the NT overthrow the OT? - Is it important anymore? Do we need to obey the law?

Did God change his mind and his plan for salvation?

Does our freedom in Christ give us liberty or license?

If Paul is abundantly clear about salvation not being from our works, then why does James write the way he does about works? Maybe the accusers were right about Paul? Maybe he does preach a different gospel??? The only place in the bible that the words faith alone show up next to each other is here in James where it says “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone (2:24).

Are the Testaments in harmony?

Is God consistent?

How can we know that we are saved?

I’ll go ahead and give away the goat. I believe that when we look at these texts in context, they not only prove that the Bible is consistent about the one way that we are saved - through faith - but this text also holds up an important dimension of our faith’s validation, namely our obedience or “works”.

(ESV)

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Recipients of grace, recipients of mercy, prove it.

In Galatians, Paul is railing against dead works.

In James, James is railing against dead faith.

James illustrates:

What good is that?

— What good is it if Christians are taught to love our neighbors if we never engage our neighbors?

— What good is it if Christians are taught to turn the other cheek if we never do?

— What good is it if Christians are taught to love sacrificially like Christ if we never do?

It won’t matter what we say or believe if we are not obedient to it. What legitimacy will our belief hold in this world?

Pay attention to the word dead here:

In Galatians, Paul is railing against dead works.

In James, James is railing against dead faith.

The pendulum can swings in two opposite directions. We want balance and precision.

It’s like a bull’s eye: Right in the center is what we are aiming for. To the left there is imprecision in one way - the way of works salvation. And to the right there is imprecision in another way - the way of dead faith that’s alone. But in the middle, there is this:

(ESV)

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

What James means by ‘work’ Paul means by ‘fruit’

18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

Can you show faith without works? (Is it a rhetorical question?)

There is both Credenda and Agenda

You have your theology right (faith alone is salvific), but even the demons know that.

What’s the difference? Obedience.

We don’t just want to have our theology correct. That’s immensely important, but we we could have committee that had it all down neatly in columns on paper, and we could all agree to it that it was correct and biblical, but if we do not act upon our faith then we aren’t biblical at all. Dead faith is useless. It’s dead.

21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Abraham was justified before the work. ( vs. )

The work justified (validated or proved) that his faith was genuine.

It was an outward expression of an inward reality.

We are saved by faith alone, but not a faith that is alone.

24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Remember earlier when James said, “ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works (v. 18).”

This is what James is getting at. If you were wrestling with this question and someone says, “well Abraham was justified by faith.” James would respond by saying, “Yeah, but look what happened afterward. His faith bore fruit. It had a radical effect.”

God does not simply justify our persons, he justifies our lives.

Your faith should sweat - it should have callouses

Come and take part in Jesus Christ.

Not only are we coming to the table because we have faith that Jesus died for our sins, but we come to the table knowing that to believe in Jesus also means taking up our crosses to follow him and be like him in obedience.

Our faith

In one way, maybe it is correct to say that we are saved by works, but not our works. All of the works that can save you are represented right here. None of them are yours. The only thing that attaches them to you is your faith alone, by the grace of God alone. But it’s also not meant to be merely looked at. We are to take and eat. We are to obey.

but we come to the table to take part in his life and death. We come to partake in his work of sweat and blood and obedience.

Faith vs. Works?

Setup:

The Text

Text Continued

Special attention to v.24

Communion