Works

Salvation    (Luke 18:18-30)

When the rich young ruler came to Jesus he asked the question, “What must I DO to inherit eternal life?” Jesus responded by listing the commandments. But why? Jesus knew that this man had not kept the commandments and that he could not keep the commandments. The point our Lord was making is that the sinner himself needed to understand that he could not be justified by the works of the law. So how is it that people are saved? If this man and the Pharisees could not be saved through their strict adherence to the law then how can anyone be saved?

Faith Alone?    (Romans 3:19-31)

I am sure that my readership is probably mostly believers. As a matter of fact, I write this blog for the purpose of encouraging our church members. With that said I hope you are saying, “Brother Eddie, people are saved by faith in Jesus alone.” Which is absolutely correct! However, when we say “alone” what do we mean? What we mean is apart from the “works” of the law. Paul is clear that the law was given to reveal the righteousness of God and the sinfulness of all humanity including both Jews and Gentiles. This means that when we say that we are saved by faith alone we are referring specifically to faith apart from our own ability to keep the law. 

But God is righteous and just, so the law is not incidental but rather a reflection of His character. As such, He cannot and will not overlook the demands of His own character (law) in those He has created to bear the divine image. This means that someone must actually keep the law not to abolish it but to fulfill it so that there now exists a transferable and imputable righteousness for those who have faith. This is what Jesus has done! He has fulfilled the law so that everyone trusting in Him can be justified by His amazing grace.

Justified by Works    (James 2:14-26)

But someone will say, “James tells us that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” It is true that the Bible does say that. So what do we conclude? Is there an inconsistency between Paul and James on this essential question of justification? I would propose that if this is a genuine contradiction then Christianity cannot be true. But of course, I believe and know that Christianity is true and justification is real so how do we explain this seeming contradiction?

The issue comes down to the works that James is referring to in this passage. Both Paul and James are talking about faith and justification but the difference is that they are not using the word “works” in the same way. Above, I argued clearly that Paul was talking about works of the law being the basis for one's justification. Paul was informing us that we cannot be just justified by the works of the law because we cannot keep it perfectly; only genuine faith in Jesus can be the basis for our justification.

However, James is not talking about works of the law and he is not talking about these works as the basis for our justification. So what kind of works is James talking about? James is talking about works of faith. These works are the fruit that comes from saving faith. His point is simple: if you do not have the works that are the inevitable fruit of genuine faith then you do not have genuine faith which is the only kind of faith that saves anyone. 

So people can only be justified by faith alone, in Christ alone, apart from the works of the law. But that genuine faith will produce the works of faith which are the fruit of real salvation.

---