Explanation of James' Words on Good Works

 

Note : It is advisable to read this page first: Salvation: by works or by grace?

 

James, the brother of the Lord, wrote:

"Abraham, our father, was he not justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith worked together with his works, and that by works his faith was fulfilled; and so the Scripture was fulfilled which says: And Abraham believed God, and this was counted on him as righteousness; and he was called a friend of God. You see that man is justified by works, and not by faith alone " (James 2 : 21-24).

Explanation of James' words on the value of good works

First of all, who was James writing to? To believers (verse 2: 1), to people who had already believed in Jesus' sacrifice, and who were therefore justified and saved by faith. Note that James did not say at all that salvation is achieved by works or that sinful man is forgiven or receives eternal life by virtue of his good works; to attribute this meaning to his words would mean that James had subverted the Gospel because he forced the Gentiles to Judaize. Indeed:

"Man is not justified by the works of the law but is justified only by faith in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 2:16).

Why then did James say "by works and not by faith alone"? Because some of those believers he was writing to, despite having faith in Jesus, refused to do good works, thinking that their faith would be enough. So, instead of living a life of sincere faith, they just said they believed, and at the same time instead of doing good they lived in sin (see James 4: 1-4).
Refusing to do good works, to live in sin, and at the same time to say to "have faith", to be Christians, leads our neighbor to blame the Lord on our account: "Because of you the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles "(Romans 2:24).

This is why James rebuked them, saying, "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but has no works? Can faith save him?" (James 2:14), and also: "But do you want, o vain man, to know that faith without works has no value?" (James 2:20). If someone says he has faith, that is, he believed in Jesus, but that faith does not bear fruit, does not produce works, his faith has no value (v. 2:17).

It is the same as in the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:34 and following. Those who had sincere faith in Jesus' work and were renewed in the new birth spent their lives in the love of the Lord and their neighbor. The many who instead "say" they believe but have a dead faith, a faith that does not lead them to love their neighbor and does not lead them to honor the Lord, are driven out of the presence of the Lord.

At this point we complete the picture by also reading the other apostolic teachings.

In 2 Timothy 1: 9 it is written: "He has saved us and has given us a holy calling, not because of our works, but according to his purpose and the grace that has been given to us in Christ Jesus from eternity" .

In Romans 3:20 and Galatians 3:no one will be justified by works.

Galatians 2:16 says that "Man is not justified by the works of the law but is justified only by faith in Christ Jesus."

Ephesians 2: 8-10 is even clearer:

"For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith ; and this does not come from you; it is the gift of God. It is not by virtue of works that no one may boast; in fact we are his work, having been created in Christ Jesus to do the good works, which God has previously prepared for us to practice. "

Thus, the Bible clearly states that:

• one can only be saved by grace, through faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross;
• salvation is absolutely not by works;
• as a consequence of salvation, we must bear as fruit the good works that God himself has prepared for us to practice them;
• our salvation must be based solely on Jesus' sacrifice for each of us, without our personal merits; the apostle well expressed the idea of ​​salvation that every believer must have: "to be found in him not with my own righteousness, deriving from the law, but with that which is had through faith in Christ: the righteousness that comes from God , based on faith " , Philippians 3: 9).

In fact, although good works are a spontaneous thing for a Christian, we must not make the mistake of relying to some extent on the observance of works for our salvation, otherwise as far as we are concerned Christ has died in vain:

"If righteousness were obtained by the law, then Christ would have died in vain.
That alone I want to know from you: Have you received the Spirit by the works of the law or by the preaching of faith? Are you so foolish? After you started with it. Spirit, do you now want to achieve perfection with the flesh? " (Galatians 2: 21-3: 2)

In summary, if we say we believe and then live as before, according to the flesh, without bearing fruit to the Lord, the reality of our faith is in doubt; the sinner who accepts Jesus as his savior is saved and receives a new life and a new nature: "born again". All his priorities change immediately, his desires are turned to the Lord, his heart is yearning to let others know God's love for them ... true faith produces all this. "What counts is faith working through love" (Galatians 5: 6).

True faith impels us to work, guided by the love of the Lord. Dead faith, on the other hand, is the faith of many who say they believe in God, but live their lives as if God did not exist.

 

Explanation of the example of James regarding the works of Abraham

edited by G. Butindaro

James used the example of Abraham to explain how the patriarch was justified by his works and not by his faith alone. Now, to avoid misunderstandings let us begin by saying that Abraham, according to what the Scripture says, when he believed the promise made to him by God, his faith was counted towards righteousness according to what it is written: "And he believed in the Lord, who counted this as righteousness "(Gen. 15: 6), then he received the forgiveness of his sins by his faith, by grace. He did no meritorious work or good work to obtain righteousness, because he too was justified by God through faith. In fact, Paul says that "if Abraham was justified by works, he would have something to boast about; but before God he has nothing to boast about" (Rom. 4: 2) because the Scripture says that he believed in God and this faith of his was counted for justice. So, Abraham had faith in God, but the patriarch proved that he had faith in God both when he believed with his heart in the promise that God had made to him and when he offered his son Isaac on the altar as God had commanded him to do. You know, in fact, that several years after Abraham had believed, God put Abraham to the test by ordering him to go to a mountain and offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering. And Abraham obeyed God, believing that God would raise him from the dead to fulfill his promise concerning him (cf. Heb. 11: 17-19). Then he believed that he would get his son back by a resurrection, and that he would not lose him because God had to keep the promises made to him. And for this faith of his he pleased God in fact when he was about to make the sacrifice, the angel of God said to him: "Do not put your hand on the boy, and do not do him any harm; for now I know that you fear God" (Gen. 22:12) and he also swore to him by himself that he would bless him and multiply his offspring like the stars of heaven. James says that Abraham was justified by works when he offered his son and this is true because Abraham through that work he did showed that he feared God and firmly believed in his promise. Therefore we can say that Abraham demonstrated with facts the faith that he had in God; and for this he was called a friend of God. Like Abraham, we who have believed will be called friends of Christ if we do what he commands us to do according to what is written: "You are my friends if you do the things I command you" (John 15:14); but if we say we believe in Christ Jesus and then refuse to observe his words, how can we show that we believe in him and claim to be called friends of Christ and of God? We would put ourselves on the same level as many people in the world who say they are Christians, say they believe in Jesus, but being unable to do any good work, they show that they don't believe in him. Just as Abraham's faith was made fulfilled by his works, so also our faith will be made fulfilled by our good works. The apostle Peter explains this concept in his second epistle in this way: " why after having believed does one feel the need to do good works? Yes, we are sure of having been forgiven by the Lord, yes, we are sure of being children of God, of having eternal life; but despite this a great desire has arisen in us to work hard to make our election secure, because we feel that by just saying to believe without doing anything for the benefit of the saints to the glory of God, we would not make our election firm. And then it must always be kept in mind that good works push our neighbor, who sees us do them, to glorify God, in fact Jesus said: "So let your light shine in the presence of men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who he is in the heavens "(Matt. 5:16); and therefore they constitute a way to honor God and his doctrine.

To conclude we say this: faith needs good works to be accomplished, but this does not mean that faith is not sufficient to be justified because Scripture states that "man is not justified by the works of the law but is only justified through faith in Christ Jesus "(Gal. 2:16). Far be it from us, therefore, to do as the Galatian believers did who, after starting with the Spirit, wanted to reach perfection with the flesh, after accepting Christ they renounced it because they wanted to be justified by the law (cf. Gal. 5: 4), which angered and worried Paul who admonished them severely and told them that he was again in labor for them until Christ was formed in them (cf. Gal. 4:19). Brothers, take care of yourselves, and always keep in mind that trying to want to be justified by works is an offense against Christ because his expiatory work is annulled. Be zealous in good works but do not think that they can add anything to the merits of Christ as unfortunately Roman Catholics do.