A Conflict in Views?

As we consider these two positions, there are those who even say that the New Testament writers (Paul and James) are in conflict with one another over this doctrine. For when Paul says in Romans chapter 4, 'God credits righteousness apart from works (verse 6),' James writes, 'was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the alter? (James 2 : 21).'

But if we are going to reconcile the writings of both Paul and James, we must first take into consideration the spiritual concerns that each author is addressing in their respective New Testament letters.

For example, when Paul is discoursing on the doctrine of justification and says, "However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness (Romans 4:5)" -he is addressing the error of relying on our own efforts and abilities to keep the commands and laws of God in order to be saved. His emphasis is that God has provided perfect righteousness through faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

James on the other hand is speaking out against those who have a 'lip service only' doctrine and argues that a genuine faith in Jesus Christ cannot help but to  produce the fruit of good works in the life of the believer. He even says in James chapter 2 and verse 14, "What use  is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that  faith save him?"

Therefore, rather than these two authors being in conflict with one another, we see they are actually in complete agreement. The different emphasis, though, can be attributed to the fact that each is contending against a different enemy. For when Paul is arguing against the heresy that "works are a necessity for the attaining of righteousness" -the James is arguing that "good works, nevertheless, will be a result of the believer's true or genuine faith in Christ."

The use of the word "Justify"

But undoubtedly the greatest objection raised by those in the Churches of Christ ( regarding the doctrine of justification by faith alone ) is James' use of the word justify- "Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the alter?". Since their understanding of justify is "to make righteous," how then can anyone suggest that we are made righteous simply by having faith in Jesus Christ, when James clearly says that Abraham was justified by what he did?

Here, evangelical Christianity would question their definition of the word justification.

For rather than justification meaning "to make righteous," they would argue that justification is a legal term meaning "to declare or to show righteous"

Such a definition may at first seem to be of little consequence, that is, until we consider the ramifications.

For example, Luke 7:29 tells us that "the tax collectors justified God". Clearly this cannot mean that the tax collectors made God righteous- He already was. But they did 'declare or show' God's way was right by being baptized by John.

In this way, James 2:21 is understood as, "Was not Abraham our father 'declared or shown to be righteous' by works when he offered Isaac his son on the alter?" After all, Abraham did not actually sacrifice his son upon the alter. How then could he have been "made righteous" by what he did?

R. C. Sproul also comments on James 2:21 in his book Faith Alone:

The debate over justification often suffers from a crass caricature (distortion) by which the Reformed position is characterized as "justification by faith" and the Roman Catholic position is characterized as "justification by works." Popular sentiment tends to conclude that Rome is not  concerned with faith and that the Reformers were not concerned about works.

John Gerstner used two formulas depicted (below) to distinguish between the two views. The three terms, faith, works, and justification are present in both formulas. The difference in the order of these terms in the two equations, however, points to the radical difference between the two positions.

_____________________Faith and Works                                                          

           Roman Catholic View                    Faith + Works                   Justification

           Reformed View                             Faith                   Justification + Works
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In the Roman Catholic formula works are a necessary precondition for justification. In the Reformed ( evangelical ) view works are a necessary fruit of justification.

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"(We) are reminded of Jesus' figurative use of justify: "Wisdom is justified by her children." Jesus is obviously not saying that wisdom is reconciled to God by having babies. He is saying that wisdom is made manifest, or demonstrated to be true wisdom, from the fruit that it yields. Perhaps this is what James means when he speaks of Abraham as "justified" by his works. James says this in the context of showing or demonstrating true faith by the fruit of works."

"Faith plus Works" or "Works of Faith"?

If someone were to suggest to those in the traditional Churches of Christ that "we are saved by faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ" -the overwhelming response would be that evangelical Christianity is teaching a doctrine of "easy believe-ism." After all, the demons "believe" and of course this is not to their advantage to know or to believe this whatsoever.

However, if those in the Churches of Christ were to suggest that "we are saved by Christ's work on the cross through our own cooperation and obedience to the command requirements given to us in New Testament"  -then those in evangelical Christianity would contend that the Church of Christ is teaching a doctrine of justification by works. For indeed the Churches of Christ believe that we are saved by our positive response to the moral and religious command requirements given to us in the New Testament, commands like repentance, confession, being "water" baptized and continuing to live a moral and godly life.

R. C. Sproul in his book Faith Alone, writes the following regarding the merit- grace debate between the Roman Catholic Church and Reformation (Evangelical) Theology.

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Notice, both James and Paul quote the very same passage found in Genesis chapter 15 "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." But when Paul tells us how a man is made righteous through faith and trust in Jesus Christ, James is dealing with another problem; he is making it clear that just a mere profession of faith does not result in salvation. For true faith always produces the fruit of good works.

Again, the central issue separating the traditional Churches of Christ and evangelical Christianity is the proper role of works; are works a necessary precondition for justification, or are they simply a fruit or result of salvation?

To be sure, evangelical Christianity is not saying that the dynamics of the Christian faith is without works, but rather that our justification is and can only be by faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ. Martin Luther once said, "We are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone." His point being that works and obedience are the evidence of a life that has already been changed by the Lord Jesus Christ.

But even if God has provided perfect righteousness to us as a gift by faith and trust in Jesus Christ, what about Christian ordinances like water baptism?

Doesn't the Bible tell us that "baptism now saves you"?