Saved by Faith Or Faith Plus Obedience? Part 2

In my previous blog, I wrote about faith and obedience. It stirred up quite the response some positive and some negative. I decided to do part two in order to further clarify my position.

The most common argument I received against the doctrine of faith alone is found in James 2:14-17.

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Now, I’ll admit, on the surface, this seems irrefutable. How can you disagree with Scripture? When we have disagreements in theology and we debate doctrine we must not fall for the trap of putting Scripture against Scripture. For example, in this topic someone points to this passage in James 2 my response cannot be, “well, in Romans 3, Pauls says we are justified by faith apart from works!

When we pull this tactic in theological discussions we are unknowingly stating that the Bible is not in perfect harmony. We cannot put Paul Vs James in this discussion and expect to have a productive conversation.

2nd Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,”

This has to be the starting point for a productive conversation, We must be willing to address each verse in the context of the entirety of Scripture and not refute a passage with another passage as if they are in disagreement. Context is important!

What is the context and theme in James’ letter? We must remember that this is a real letter written to real people. So what was James trying to address? In 5 chapters, James writes in order to encourage his readers to live consistently with what they have learned in Christ. He wants his readers to mature in their faith in Christ by living what they say they believe.

The overarching theme in the book of James can be found in the passage quoted above from James 2. If there are no good deeds or works that come as a result of your faith, then that is not real faith. We see this consistent theme throughout the book.

In chapter 1 verse 19 James says, “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

He continues in verse 22,

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”

Moving into chapter 2 James continues, 

“My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, You sit here in a good place, while you say to the poor man, You stand over there, or Sit down at my feet, have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”

So far, none of these passages are all that difficult, James is showing them the true meaning of being a Christian. If you say you are Christian it has to be more than just lip service, and this leads us to the heart of this discussion. What exactly does it mean to have faith?

Previously I made the case that we are saved by faith alone. Obedience plays no part in justification, after all, what could we as frail humans do that could impress a perfect holy God?

I won’t restate my previous points, but I will address what James says in James 2:14-18.

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?”

The first question we have to understand is the context. Is James teaching about Salvation or Sanctification? This might seem like nitpicking but it plays an important role in how we understand this passage. Notice verse 15 and 16,

“If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead.”

The argument against faith alone is this verse, but is James teaching about being born again? If the argument is that James is teaching that faith by itself cannot save us and that we must include works such as baptism, then why doesn’t James mention any of this in his entire letter? 

The whole argument from James isn’t about receiving salvation, it's about how we should act once we are saved. Will we argue that James is teaching that feeding the hungry is a salvation issue? That clothing those who are in need, that this is necessary for salvation? Of course not! James is pointing to the fact that if we are who we say we are then it will be demonstrated in how we live.

This is the consistent teaching of the New Testament and it does not contradict the doctrine of justification by faith. Our obedience doesn’t save us, but obedience is the result of a truly saved person.

Look at what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8-10, 

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Paul says that we are saved by faith alone, that no works are included in our salvation but then he says we were created for good works. This isn’t a contradiction, Paul is showing that we are justified by faith, but once we are saved we should live a life of good works, not to obtain anything, but as the fruit of our relationship with Christ. 

When we say that saving faith is faith plus obedience, we are saying that we are saved partially by what Christ did, and partially by what we have to do. This undermines the Gospel. 

Going back to James 2 let’s continue and see what James says about Abraham, a favorite illustration of the Apostle Paul.

James 2:21 “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”

It seems clear that James is refuting the idea that we are saved by faith alone. But if we look at the context we see some problems with this interpretation. First, he says Abraham was justified when he offered Isaac on the altar. Are we going to say that Abraham wasn’t justified before God until this moment? Abraham is believed to have been around 75 when God established his covenant with him. It was another 25 years before Isaac was born and Isaac was around 15 when he was offered up by Abraham. This all transpires between Genesis 15 and Genesis 22.

When we use James 2:21 to prove that we aren’t saved by faith alone, we are really saying that Abraham followed after God for over 30 years before he was justified. This isn’t a reasonable conclusion. 

Instead, when we understand context, we see that Abraham was justified completely by faith alone in Genesis 15 and his faith was perfected or completed in Genesis 22 when he obeyed the Lord. This is consistent with Paul’s teaching in Ephesians 2:8-10, it’s consistent with the entire theme of the book of James. 

Our obedience is the fruit of our relationship, not the root. Our root is our faith in what Christ did to save us. 

Romans 5:19 “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience that many will be made righteous.”