Many Roman Catholic friends will pit James against Paul in order to counter the Reformation view that the Bible is perspicuous (clear in what it teaches), because James and Paul obviously contradict each other (R.R. Reno calls it a paradox). They also often use James to counter the Reformation view that salvation comes by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. They are happy to point out that "faith without works is dead" (James 2) in order to stress salvation as a joint venture between God and man.
To that, Protestants and Reformed-types will often counter that we are saved through faith alone, but faith is never alone. And I would argue that this retort gets much closer at the point that James is trying to make.
Unlike Paul in Romans, James is not attempting to describe how a man is saved. Rather, he is attempting to describe the life of faith. Just because he uses the term "justification" doesn't mean that he's using it in the same way as Paul.
For Paul, justification refers what God does to save man: Justification is an act of God's free grace, by which He pardons all of our sins and accepts us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone (Westminster Shorter Catechism 33).
But God can also be justified. When Paul describes the sin and rebellion of mankind, he says that as a result, God is "justified when He judges" (Rom. 3, quoting Ps. 14 and Ps. 84). In this case, justification refers to being vindicated, or proven correct. This is the type of justification to which James refers--the works by which faith is vindicated, or proven correct or authentic.
He also speaks of two types of faith: true faith and demon faith ("even the demons believe and shudder"--James 2). Throughout the book, these two different types of faith are described and contrasted.
For example, in chapter 1, true faith is shown to pray for wisdom amidst trials in order to see God's larger providence and promises; Demon faith is blown and tossed by the wind--lip service is shown to provide no sure footing in times of distress.
Demon faith imputes evil to God's character and blames Him for temptation in times of trial; True faith recognizes that it is the fallen human heart that latches on to sin and Satan and gives birth to death. God doesn't give birth to sin; rather, He gives birth to new believers through the Word of truth.
In constantly describing the life of faith and setting in contrast to demon faith, James (by God's inspiration) seeks to convict our hearts in the ways in which they live out of sync with the Gospel (i.e., when we are not doers of the law, we are forgetting who we are in Christ, which is communicated to us through the Word implanted within us).
He also seeks to comfort us. Even as he rebukes us for favoritism--a characteristic of demon faith--he calls us "beloved brothers" (James 2), showing that these poor performances and entangling sins do not threaten our salvation, but rather call us back to the One who birthed us by the Word of Truth and does not change like the shifting shadows (James 1). And because God does not change, we are not consumed (Malachi 3).
But recognizing that every bit of Scripture testifies to Jesus Christ (Luke 24), we can draw greater comfort from James than even the assurance of our faith. For James is saturated with the law, which is the "perfect rule of righteousness" (James 1) that structures the Christian life. And the law necessarily drives us to the foot of cross, as Christ was "born under the law" in order to perfectly fulfill it and save those "under the law" (Gal. 4:4).
Thus, the yoke of the law imposed by James was carried by Christ to the cross. And because Christ perfectly kept the law, including that set forth in James, we go forth in freedom to joyfully (yet still sinfully) do the same.
So do not fret as you read James, realizing that your tongue will never be perfectly tamed this side of Heaven. This will not separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:28). It will remind you that Christ was perfectly silent when needed (as a lamb before it's shearers--Is. 53, and was perfectly outspoken when needed. He never spoke a word out of turn.
James shows us not what we can do to merit salvation, but helps set the joyful course before us because Christ merited our salvation for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment