CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH
In this regular feature Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call. Here is this week’s question: Dear Dave and TA, I told a Catholic friend that we are saved by faith alone and not by works, and sometime later he said his priest told him that if I would check my Bible the one and only time it says, faith alone or faith only, it says we are not justified by faith only. I found the verse in James 2:24, which states: “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.” It seems the priest was right. What am I missing here?
Tom:
Well, as a former Catholic, Dave, we never got into these things. But now, because the Roman Catholic church is, you know, wanting to argue Bible, which it never did before, wants to argue with evangelicals. It does make a point here. It seems on the surface that they’ve got us by all rights here, on the surface.
Dave:
Well Tom, there are no contradictions in the Bible.
Tom:
If there are, Dave, we are wasting our time here.
Dave:
Right, and James is not contradicting Paul. Let’s read what Paul said in Romans Chapter 4 verse 5: “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” You know, Ephesians Chapter 2, verses 8,9,10: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Now, we have too many statements in the Bible promising salvation that Jesus said: He that hears my word and believeth on him that sent me. John 5:24---hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but has passed from death unto life. John 3:16, you know, Whosoever believeth has everlasting life. So, we have dozens of scriptures that tell us that salvation is by faith.
Tom:
And we can start with Abraham. He was justified by faith, we are told by the scriptures.
Dave:
Right, so we just read that. And Paul, in referring to Abraham, says, To him that worketh not---he’s using Abraham as an example here---but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Okay, so the Bible is very clear, over and over hundreds of times, we are not justified by works. In fact Paul has just argued it in Chapter 3. Paul says, By the deeds of the law no flesh can be justified in his sight. Okay, and that’s common sense, Tom.
Tom:
So then, James must be getting at something here, what is he getting at?
Dave:
Well, he says earlier, Verse 14, James writes: “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them. Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needed to the body: what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.” Now here it says in Verse 24: “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.” Well, he’s not saying you are justified by works without faith, is he?
Tom:
No.
Dave:
But he says, not by faith only. That’s why you have only here. So, you’re not going to be justified by works, it takes faith. All James is saying is---I think he’s expressing this from the human standpoint. If I look at someone who claims to be a Christian, and they don’t show the works, they don’t show the evidence---that’s the only evidence that I can look at, I don’t know their heart.
Tom:
But certainly God does.
Dave:
God knows the heart, right.
Tom:
And that’s why you quoted Romans---it says, but not before God, because God knows the heart. Abraham was justified, what? fifty or thirty years, I can’t remember how many years, before he took Isaac to the mount in obedience to God to slay Isaac, so obviously he was justified prior to that.
Dave:
Tom, let me just quote one more verse: Therefore, being justified by God, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ has nothing to do with my works, and of course it’s only logical. We’ve used the illustration, probably a dozen times on this radio program, Tom, but let’s do it again. You stand before the judge and you say: Judge, yes, I know I was speeding the other day but I’ve driven more times within the speed limit than I have exceeding it, wouldn’t my good deeds outweigh my bad? It won’t work! So works cannot possibly outweigh sin, cannot possibly purge sin. Or you say, Well, if you let me off this time I will never, ever, ever break the law again. The judge says, If you never break the law again you are only doing what the law requires. You don’t get extra credit for that. So, it is impossible in fact for a person to be justified by works. Once you have sinned and broken the law you can never ever make up for it by keeping the law in the future. So, it’s not talking about salvation here, it’s talking about being justified before men, as Paul says. You are not justified before God, but he is justified before men because all we can see is their works. We are demonstrating, as he says, show me your faith without your works, I’ll show you my faith by my works. You cannot show faith to another human being without works.
Tom:
Dave, you know, Catholics have a misunderstanding because they say, Okay, it it’s just by faith and then you don’t do anything. You just read Ephesians 2:10---we’ve been saved unto good works. You go to Titus, works and works, there are plenty of works to do, but they are byproducts which we do in thankfulness to God. We have been saved by faith but we’re thankful to God for what he has done for us, and we have plenty of works to do, and it’s not by might nor by power but it’s by his Spirit. That’s the life that a Christian has, it’s a byproduct of being saved by what Jesus did, and only he could do, nothing we can do.
Dave:
We do works, not to get saved but because we are saved. Salvation is all about not what we do but what Jesus has done, that’s clear. So, that’s not what he’s talking about here, he’s talking about how can somebody else recognize that you are a believer.
If you have a question for Dave and Tom to respond to in a future Contending for the Faith, please stay with us. We’ll have our contact information at the end of the program. You are listening to Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Now our final segment.
