James

Are believers justified by faith alone, or by faith and works together? 

Does the New Testament present two conflicting answers?  “A man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law,” says Paul.  Yet in the Epistle of James, we read, “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead…. A man is justified by works, and not by faith only.”

James has presented a problem for many through the centuries – including the great German Reformer Martin Luther, who wondered whether its teachings contradicted Paul’s.  But far from undermining the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith, James’ instructions for the life of the Church lead believers back again and again to the promises of God fulfilled in Jesus Christ and to His sustaining grace in the midst of continuing trials and temptations.

This book explores how James follows in the tradition of Jewish Wisdom Literature to encourage believers, then and now, to live that life of faith under pressure.  With clear-eyed realism he describes the highs and lows, the weaknesses and challenges every Christian faces in this world: trials and tribulations; prosperity and poverty; temptations to anger and the perils of the uncontrolled tongue.  Through a stark series of “two paths” couplets, James points us toward the godly way of righteousness and wisdom and warns against the way of unrighteousness and folly.  Most of all, he urges us to take God’s “royal law” as the framework for our lives: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.