Tim Staples, Catholic Speaker and Author, dives deep into James’ idea of justification and how it points back to Abraham in Genesis.
Bible Verses Mentioned:
Genesis 12:1-9
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves.” So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions which they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan, and they came to the land of Canaan. And Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanites were then in the land. And the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on, still moving toward the Negeb.
Genesis 15:6
And he believed the Lord, and he reckoned it to him as righteousness.
Genesis 22:1-2
Now after these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” And he said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.
Hebrews 11:6-8
But without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever draws near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of your own doing, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.
James 2:14-26
What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the necessities of the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But some one will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one? You do well; even the demons believe and tremble. But do you want to be shown, you foolish fellow, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and by works faith was made perfect. And the scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.
Galatians 5:6
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love.
Romans 2:6-7
For he will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but for those who are contentious and do not obey the truth, but yield to unrighteousness, wrath and fury.
Transcript:
Maybe I could offer a little clarification of the Catholic position in the sense that we agree with Protestants that the inalien grace of justification is entirely unmerited.
This becomes very clear in sacred scripture that the initial grace of salvation or justification is entirely unmerited. We cannot do anything whatsoever to merit it. But in this instance, you’re referring to James 2:23, where James refers to Genesis 15:6 as being fulfilled or completed in Abraham offering up his son Isaac on the altar. And this fits perfectly with our understanding of justification because we know that justification is not just a one-time deal, but it’s a lifelong process. So here, from a biblical perspective, Abraham first enters into a saving relationship in Genesis chapter 12, right? When he’s called by God to go out from the Ur of Chaldees.
And in fact, in Hebrews 11:8, the inspired author of Hebrews says, “By faith Abraham went out from Ur of the Chalde′ans, not knowing where he was to go.” Well, what kind of faith did he have here in Genesis chapter 12? He had a justifying faith. He had a saving faith. In fact, that’s what the whole chapter of Hebrews 11 is about because just back up two verses to Hebrews 11:6, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” That’s the kind of faith that he’s speaking of. Well, Abraham was already justified.
And in Genesis chapter 12, this is many years before Genesis 15:6 when he believes God concerning the promise of his son Isaac. Remember, in Genesis chapter 12, he’s believing God, leaving and going out from security, his wealth, and heading out toward a “he doesn’t know where” believing God. But now, in Genesis 15:6, we see the process of justification continues, right, by faith. But this is not a faith that is a one-time act where we believe: we have to actively cooperate with grace. And that’s what’s going on here in Genesis 15:6, which is quoted in Romans 4:3. The process of justification continues when Abraham believes God and it’s reckoned to him as righteousness, right? Now, we move forward many years. Isaac is now born. He’s a young man. He takes him up on Mount Moriah in Genesis chapter 22, and that’s what’s being referred to here. The fact that Abraham obeys now, and the inspired author here of Hebrews is evidently responding to some who in the first century erroneously had the idea that justification was by faith alone.
St. James is refuting that error, saying no, and he’s using the example of Abraham here in this next stage, at least what’s revealed to us. We know our entire lives are in union with God, are a process of continuing that justification, and if we are faithful unto death, we know we will attain the crown of life as Revelation 2:10 says. But now, he goes up, he takes Isaac up on Mount Moriah to offer him as a sacrifice, and that’s the context now where this is not the initial entrance into the grace of justification. That happened a long, long time ago. This is now due to works in order to continue the process, being faithful unto death, as Revelation 2:10 says. And so that’s why here you see that faith was actable. I’m going now to James 2:21. “Was not Abraham our father justified by five works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?” Why is that? Because we have to continue to be faithful unto death. That’s where works comes in. Why? In order to perfect that faith, to effectively keep that faith alive so that it will be living at the time of death. But here’s the key, my friend. Verse 21, and again, we’re in James chapter 2 talking about justification by works and not by faith alone.
“Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son upon the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed.” That becomes key. Faith was completed by works. Now, of course, if we were justified by faith alone, then faith would not be completed by works. Works would be completed, or actually, the Greek here, “perfected.” Works would be perfected by faith, not the other way around. He’s pointing out the essential nature of works, or that ongoing cooperation with grace, that is necessary for a justifying faith to be kept alive. He’s not talking about the initial entrance into a state of justice or justification or salvation, like we see in Ephesians 2:8-9. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It’s a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.” Right, so that’s talking about that initial entrance into grace, which is entirely unmerited. There’s nothing we can do to merit it whatsoever. But once we enter into that relationship, as Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, creative in Christ Jesus unto good works.” So here, we’re talking about that next phase, the good works that we must perform, and that these good works complete or perfect the faith that was communicated as a gift all the way back in Genesis chapter 12, referenced in Hebrews 11:8. But the works have to continue to be performed in order to keep that faith alive.
Now keep that in mind, because remember, in Christ Jesus, and I know I’m flipping around some verses here, but in Galatians 5:6, the Scripture says, “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth anything, but faith which works by love.” Right? It’s a faith that works by love. Now according to James, this is not just a faith that shows that you’re already justified, which we could say it certainly does that, but even more, it perfects the faith itself. And so without these works, there is no justification. And so that’s why we see James is emphasizing here against those in the first century who are erroneously teaching justification by faith alone, at least in some sense, using that language. He’s saying no. Listen again. “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?” You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was perfected by works, and the Scripture was fulfilled. All right, now when he talks about fulfilled here, he is talking about in the context of being completed, being perfected, and without this, the thing we’re talking about does not exist. You see? And the Scripture was fulfilled, which says, back to Genesis 15:6, “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.” He then says “that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.” Now I want you to skip down to verse 26 and notice how James puts a bow on his argument. He says, “For as the body apart from the Spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.” Notice the comparison here.
In order for a body to be alive, it has to have the Spirit, and he’s drawing a comparison here between faith and works to the body and the Spirit. The body is faith, the Spirit is works. Right? Without the Spirit, there isn’t even a body. What you have is death. Right? Without the Spirit, there isn’t even a body. You don’t have faith. The faith is dead. However, notice he’s talking about an ongoing relationship where works keep the faith alive.
Right? Not the initial entrance into a state of justice, but how the faith is… Oh, this is so important, brother. Please hear this. If you missed everything else, don’t miss this.
“For as the body apart from the Spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.” This presupposes that he’s talking about a living faith. Just as a body has to be living before it can die, this faith has to be a living faith before it can die from lack of works. And so, see, this is why James is talking about works as part of the process of justification that is essential for the completion of faith, the completion, the perfection of the process of justification. So radically so that just as you have a living body and you stop the works, that body is going to die and it’s not even going to be a body anymore. It’s going to be a corpse. If you have a living faith, and no matter how living that faith is, if you do not continue in good works, that faith is going to die. And there’s going to be a substantial change to that faith. It will no longer be a living, vivifying, saving faith. It will be a dead faith. And that, again, is exactly what he’s talking about throughout because, as he says, go back to verse 14, right? “What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? Right? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. And again, I have to emphasize, a living faith that dies, my friend. So can you see the relationship here between works and faith? The Protestant position of a one-time justification – and, you know, they’ll say that, “well, either you have faith or you either have a saving faith or you don’t.” That’s not what James is talking about. He’s talking about a living faith that will die because we don’t continue in good works. That’s why Paul will say, for example, in Romans 2:6-7, “God will reward each man according to his works. To him who continues in good works, his reward shall be glory in corruption and everlasting life.” Notice with St. Paul, works are essential to final salvation because it keeps the faith alive.