Bible Boxing is Bad - Explaining the "Faith Without Works" problem

Bible Brian
17 minutes ago
6 min read

Irenaeus once wrote "We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith." (1). This statement reminds us of a pure and simple truth: The word of God, and in particular the Gospel, supersedes all things. It supersedes all tradition. It supersedes all creeds. It supersedes even our own ability to understand it. It supersedes all these things to the extent where the Apostle Paul, guided by the Lord Himself (2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:19-21), wrote "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed." (Galatians 1:8-9, emphasis mine).

Follow the logic here. If "we", or an angel from Heaven, preach any other gospel. Who is "we"? When a person uses the word "we", they are extremely unlikely to consider themselves to be some kind of exception. Of course, as he goes on to say "if anyone", rendering this point rather obsolete, but by "we", Paul is explicitly saying that not even he, or his fellow Apostles, have any kind of a right to preach any other gospel.

All of these facts combined mean that all Scripture must logically be both clear, and consistent, with regard to the Gospel. If Paul preaches one Gospel, Peter will not preach another. If Peter preaches one Gospel, John will not preach another. If John preaches one Gospel, Matthew will not preach another. And so on and so forth.

But if you were to listen to people today, one would assume James is an exception to the rule. See, Scripture is abundantly clear on the role of works in the Gospel. It is made especially clear in Ephesians 2:8-10, where we read "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (Emphasis added).

But many are in opposition to this simple formula. And I am not speaking about Apostles, or angels from Heaven. I am speaking about average people, just like you and me. Average men and women of all different ages, all different colors, all different educational backgrounds, and and all professions. In spite of the beautiful truth we have just read, that we are saved by grace, through faith, not of works, the stranger on the bus may well believe that salvation requires quite a bit of working for. Why? Because "faith without works is dead."

This response is almost guaranteed. If anyone believes in a false, works-based Gospel, there is an almost 100% chance they will tell you "faith without works is dead". And they can even prove it. Just as I cited Scripture above, the heretic can cite one specific Scripture that proves their assertion: Faith without works is dead. This is the major theme, and twice explicit statement, of James 2.

In the absence of any other Scripture, this actually makes sense. One might reasonably believe works are required for salvation if James 2 is the only chapter in the Bible. Similarly, if it is the only chapter one knows, one might easily get the false impression that works are, indeed, required for salvation.

In a twisted way, this can actually be flipped, If James 2 was removed from Scripture, or if it is a chapter one is not especially familiar with, the works-based interpretation is significantly harder to sustain. If, for example, one is intimately familiar with Romans 4, one would know "But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness," (Romans 4:5, emphasis added).

So basically, on the one hand, you have a Bible verse which supposedly indicates works are essential for salvation. On the other hand, you have a Bible verse which indicates faith is sufficient to the one who does not work. We have a few options here. We could say that James simply went rogue, consider him accursed, and discard his epistle as Scripture. But there are other, less dramatic, and less problematic solutions. When two Scriptures appear to be in conflict, we can reasonably assume we are interpreting at least one of them incorrectly. And when this conflict appears to revolve around one particular verse, it is more fair to assume we are interpreting the one verse wrong than that we are interpreting the rest wrong.

Ultimately, it all comes down to one simple word: "Context". Context is the key to interpreting anything and everything. Context is all the relevant surrounding facts which determine the meaning of a given text. This can, and does include the broader context of other Scriptures. If all other Scriptures show that works are not necessary for salvation, then we know conclusively that James 2 cannot mean that they are. But there is also the more local context. That is, there are facts within James 2 which also determine the meaning of our key phrase "faith without works is dead".

When we look at the local context, we see that James is actually talking about consistency, not about salvation. Let's read James 2:14-26, the passage in which we find that famous phrase:

"What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

Sometimes, when exegeting Scripture, I confess to feeling a little redundant. It is my belief that James 2 is very clear, and would be more so, were it not for the existence of the debate over its meaning. Can you not see, as I have already stated, that this passage is about consistency? "What does it profit if someone says he has faith, but does not have works"? "Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works"! The theme, as it repeated throughout the book of James, is consistency.

See, the great irony of this debate is that no one seriously believes that works are entirely irrelevant. I certainly don't. Do you? If we believe, as Scripture says, that we are saved by grace, through faith, not of works, and that to he who does not work, but believes, his faith is counted as righteousness, we do the good works anyway. Why? Well because just as salvation is not about works, works are not about salvation!

An easy question to ask those who believe works-based gospels is if you believed salvation was by grace, through faith, not of works, would you still work? If the answer is "yes", the objection "faith without works is dead" is, itself, dead. Why? Because it acknowledges the true context. If you have faith, you will have works. But if they say "no", that actually reveals a heart problem only Jesus can fix. And this, ironically, is further highlighted by those who do have faith, and works, but do not believe their works contribute to the salvation they receive through faith.

When a debate comes down to Scripture vs. Scripture, someone is doing something wrong. When a debate comes down to one Scripture vs. many Scriptures, it becomes fairly obvious who that is. In this case, it is the preachers of false gospels, who claim James 2 as proof that salvation without works is impossible, when in reality, James merely believed faith without works is inconceivable. We do not do good works to get saved, we do them because we are saved. It has been that simple since the day Abraham believed God, and his faith, not his works, was accounted to him for righteousness.