Linkowski:
Here ya go, sandusky, the three occasions for Abraham - they bring it up each time. In James - it states…that the scripture might be fulfilled which saith…Abraham believed God and it was counted to Him for righteousness.
In 2:21, James says that Abraham was justified in Gen 22:12 when God says, “Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld your son, your only son from Me.”
But, there is more to it than that in the text.
At the beginning of the verse, James asks, “Was not our Father Abraham [already]
justified by works WHEN he offered up Isaac on the altar?”
Note
works is
plural. IOW, Abraham was
already justified
when he offered up Isaac on the altar; Abraham was not justified, again, further, or anymore by offering up Isaac on the altar.
So then, it is not the one deed of Abraham offering up Isaac on the altar that justifies him, but it is a
LIFETIME of obedience that Abraham brings with him to the offering of Isaac that
shows he was already justified.
Abraham was unequivocally declared righteous, or justified, Gen 15:6, when it is said of him that,
”Abraham believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”
James does say that Abraham was justified in Jas 2:21; however, that “justification” is said to be a
fulfillment of Gen 15:6.
IOW, v23 states that, the offering of Isaac
showed that God’s declaration, in Gen 15:6, was accurate; namely,
Abraham was righteous.
To deny that, is to ignore the use of the visual verbs James employs, ie.,
show me…I’ll show you…you see…you see.
OTOH, Paul’s use of that passage, Gen 15:6, and the term justified, is concerned with the question, “How can a man become right before God?”
Paul says in Rom 4:1ff, “what then has Abraham found?” Is it justification by works?
No; Paul says, if Abraham has found justification before God by works, then, “he has [found] something to boast about, but not before God.”
So what is it that Abraham has found that justified him before God?
“Abraham
believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Faith is what Abraham found, and, that is what justified him before God—Faith, a gift, and not something to boast about; not works because if by works Abraham could boast (cf Eph 2:8ff).
Notice also, Abraham was not
made righteous, but that
righteousness was credited TO him [credited, Gk., *logidzomai, a legal term].
IOW, faith did not bring about an inward change in Abraham; faith brought about a change in Abraham’s standing, or status before God. Because of Abraham’s faith, God’s righteousness [Gk *dikaiosūnā], was credited
logidzomia] to Abraham. That is the great exchange of the cross, in which the penalty for the sinner’s sin is laid on Christ, and Christ’s righteousness is then imputed to the sinner through faith (2 Cor 5:21).
Paul confirms that Abraham’s change of status is an actual acquittal of the guilt of his sin before God when he says,
”Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account (Rom 4:7-7; cf Ps 32:2).” [Account, Gk *logidzomai, a legal term, same as Rom 4:3].
Paul also says that on the basis of faith, a man is blessed by God’s acquittal because his
”lawless deeds have been forgiven,” and his
”sins have been covered (cf Ps 32:1).”
The inward change in the sinner is wrought
prior to faith, because the sinner is dead, spiritually, and must be brought to life (Eph 2:1ff; Col 2:13ff); a dead sinner cannot do much of anything good, let alone believe, which is surely good; therefore, regeneration is needed first, and it is wholly an act of God (Jn 1:13; cf Jas 1:18; 1 Pet 1:3; Jn 3:3-8). We did not choose to be made physically alive, and we did not choose to be born—it is something that
happened to us; similarly, the analogies of scripture state that the sinner is passive in regeneration as well—it happens
to him (cf Eze 36:26-27).
At the time of justification, one is sanctified as well, in the strict sense of being
set apart— that inward change continues throughout life, and that is
practical sanctification—the progressive movement away from sin, to holiness.
As stated elsewhere, all of that is a sticking point in the difference between biblical justification, and Catholic justification.
To complete what I have to say on this subject, neither Jesus, nor Paul, nor James, nor any of the other NT writers expects that a person will get to heaven without works, although
some will (cf 1 Cor 3); but neither do they anywhere state that one gets to heaven on the basis of works, but, only
by grace,
through faith (cf Jn 5:24; Rom 1:17; Eph 2:8ff; Titus 3:5; et al).
