=Duane1966;13768602]Both are irrelevant without the other. Works are not evidence of faith, as works can be done by someone with no faith.
Here I might disagree to a point. The works of the unregenerate are of no value before God. They may be of some value before man, and in civil matters, to be sure.
But, in conjunction with faith, works are what make faith alive.
I agree.
So we are justified by both, as James and Paul say. James says Abraham was justified by works in James 2.
He also recognizes that Abraham already had faith. As you say above, the works make the faith alive, but they are done under faith, and importantly, by grace.
By process of elimination, we can be confident that Paul does include works of charity in determining our justification.
This process of elimination would have to eliminate the countless times Paul tells us that it is grace, through faith that justifies.
The fact that Paul specifically says that works of the law do not justify, it then clearly follows that works of charity do justify.
Lest anyone can boast.
Otherwise, why just single out works of the law? He could have easily said all works, be they charitable, or of the law, do not justify. But he didn’t.
He often talks about works, without talking about the law.
Romans 5, Romans 1, as examples. But he only mentions good works as a result of faith, as in Galatians 5:6…
I would add this. James is obviously talking to people who believed they were justified by faith alone. That is why he is so clear to tell them that it is faith and works that justify. And that either one, without the other, is useless.
No. He was speaking to people who thought that works of charity were not necessary. That isn’t
sola fide. As Luther says in the quote above, thinking that since works do not justify we need not do works is to despise grace. And he is right. Christ commands that we do good works. Why? For our own justification? No. We do good works for our fellow man.
Christ’s great command in Matthew 22:
** “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38This is the great and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”**
He starts with love for God. He follows by saying we are to love our neighbors. Works are indeed required, but they follow faith.
In James 2, from the start, speaks from the prerequisite of faith. Works follow faith. Abraham’s works followed faith.
Finally, failure to do the good works He has placed for us to do is sin. Repeated, unrepented sin leads to loss of faith. This is why it is possible to lose justification.
Jon
