Justified By Faith Alone... Or Not?

Justification by "faith alone" is one of the great truths of Christianity. It's a reminder that we are saved through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone by grace alone. I believe this, preach this, and contend for this on a regular basis. But last Sunday we bumped right into James 2:24: "You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone." It stopped us in our tracks.

What's going on? Here we find the only place in the entire Bible where the words "faith" and "alone" are joined together in the same verse... and it appears to be saying the exact opposite of what we want it to say? How is this possible? Is salvation by "faith alone" the wrong message? What about Ephesians 2:8-9 or Romans 3:28?

The long answer was my sermon last weekend. The short answer is this: The problem is not with the message of the Scriptures, the real problem is with our (often) inadequate or non-biblical definition of the word "faith". Faith is never merely believing a set of facts about God, or Jesus, or the Bible. James says that even demons believe that stuff (and supposedly most Americans do too). Demons aren't atheists. They most certainly believe in God. But that's not that same as biblical faith. James is saying that biblical faith is obvious - you can see that it is real by obedience, by fruit (good works) in a believer's life. That's saving faith. The other kind is mere dead orthodoxy. Can you tell the difference between these two definitions of faith? I hope so.

The book of James: This ain't no pie eating contest!

One of my friends says that reading James is like getting into a boxing match. Another pastor calls it a dangerous book. One scholar says that James' candor and clarity are like a two-edged sword - penetrating, almost too penetrating.

For the rest of 2011 (and into 2012) we are wrestling with the teaching of James. A warning: he pulls no punches. And he covers so much ground for such a short book (only 108 verses). James body slams useless faith and challenges his readers to be "doers of the Word". He fearlessly tackles trials, worldliness, favoritism, anger, suffering, and temptations... just to mention a few.

I'm praying that we emerge out of James with only minor bruising, but with major growth as followers of Jesus. But get ready, because as Rocky Balboa says, "This ain't no pie eating contest..."