Romans 3:27-31 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? No: but by the law of faith.… One of the most fruitful sources of discussion and strife among Christians has been the selection of particular passages of Scripture and building doctrines upon them, without at all considering what other passages of Scripture may have to say on the same subject. Truth is many-sided. Two views, which appear contradictory, may both be right. There may be an element of truth in both; and they may both be different sides of the same truth. The statements of Paul and James on the subject of justification are an instance of this. They appear at first sight contradictory, but they are in reality two sides of the same great truth. This great truth is justification by Jesus Christ. One side of this truth is found in the words of St. Paul, "A man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law" (ver. 28); that is to say, faith in Jesus Christ is sufficient to justify a man in God's sight. That is very true, says James, but let us be sure that we have a real faith. There is no real faith except works go along with it. Thus James brings out his side of the truth: "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." It is the exaggeration of this latter truth that mainly divides the Roman Catholic Church from the Protestant Church as a whole. This exaggeration was the immediate origin of the Reformation. Instead of teaching men to put their faith in Christ, the Church of Rome taught them to place their confidence in their own good works. By the performance of certain penances and mortifications merit was laid up for them in heaven. By the payment of certain sums of money absolution was obtained for past sins. Clearly this was very far from being the teaching of Scripture. Then Martin Luther arose, and, in words that soon rang throughout all Europe, proclaimed the doctrine of justification by faith. It was time that a check should be placed on the progress of error; that men should be taught to rest their hopes of salvation no longer on a priest, on works of merit, or on sums of money, but on the Lord Jesus Christ. On the other hand, the doctrine of justification by faith has been so much insisted on that there has sometimes been a neglect of good works. This error has not been committed by any Protestant Church as a whole, in its formal teaching at any rate, for all the reformed Churches have insisted on the necessity of good works and a holy life as the evidence and fruit of true faith. But there has been sometimes an undue attention to beliefs combined with an undue neglect of practice. It is a well-known fact that very often the persons who are most dogmatic in their assertion of certain doctrines, and most fierce in their denunciation of those who differ from them, are among the most irreligious and most godless persons in their parish. With them the belief is everything; the practice is nothing. But this is not Christianity. To believe certain doctrines is not true faith. If the life is not changed, it matters little what we believe. When a man says that he believes in Christ, meaning that he believes certain doctrines about him, and is confident that therefore he is justified and safe for ever, while at the same time he lives in the practice of sin, that man's justification is very doubtful. It is important to keep before us the twofold meaning and influence of the doctrine of justification. I. THE TEACHING OF ST. PAUL. "A man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law." We are to remember that Paul, in this Epistle, was writing to a Church largely composed of Christians of a Jewish origin. In the Christian Church at Rome there was, consequently, a considerable tendency to magnify the importance of good works - a tendency which was fostered by Judaizing teachers. It is easy to see, from many expressions in the Epistle, that Paul has Jewish Christians largely in his mind. He speaks, for instance, of "Abraham our father;" he deals with positions which were peculiarly Jewish - as, for instance, the necessity of circumcision, and the exclusion of the Gentiles from the Church of God. "Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles?" (ver. 29). It was natural, therefore, for the apostle to lay special emphasis on the necessity for faith in Christ. He wants to show that something more than good works was needed for justification. Abraham, it is true, was a good man; but the works he did would not have saved him, were it not for the faith that he exhibited. "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." We cannot be justified by our own deeds, says Paul, because our best deeds come far short of the standard of righteousness which the Law lays down. Our own deeds are powerless to justify us. We need the righteousness of Christ. If we take hold of that righteousness believingly, and trust in it, we are justified. We are justified by faith, is the clear teaching of the apostle. But does he therefore do away with good works? Certainly not. Most forcibly he himself repudiates such an idea. "Do we then make void the Law through faith?" he asks (ver. 31). "God forbid: yea, we establish the Law." That is to say, the necessity for good works, for holy life, is still as great as ever. So, also, in the sixth chapter he protests against the idea that any one who professed faith in Christ should continue in sin. If we are made free from the guilt of sin, because we have believed on Christ, then we have become the servants of righteousness (Romans 6:18). In the eighth chapter he brings out even more fully the duty of holy life. We are not to rest content in the assurance that there is no condemnation to us. There must be active life. The spirit is life because' of righteousness, and through the Spirit we must mortify the deeds of the body. Hence we see that, by the faith which leads to justification, the apostle plainly means only such faith as directly results in good works. True justification implies sanctification. II. THE TEACHING OF ST. JAMES. "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." From what we have seen of Paul's teaching, it is clear that this statement, which at first sight appeared to contradict it, is really in harmony with it. The teaching of James is, in fact, the complement of the teaching of Paul. What St. Paul brings out in the sixth and eighth chapters of Romans, namely, the necessity of good works as the evidence and fruit of faith, that is the purport of the whole Epistle of St. James. James, noticing the inconsistency which prevailed in his time, and which still prevails in the Christian Church, between the profession of many Christians and their daily conduct, especially in regard to others, in very clear and forcible language calls attention to the necessary connection of faith with practice. A faith which does not influence practice is useless. It is dead. Such faith cannot save a man. It may be said that Abraham was justified by faith. That is true. But was his faith a mere belief in a particular doctrine, such as the mere belief in the existence of a God? No. Even the devils believe that; but it brings them no confidence, but rather fear. Something more than that is necessary, if we are to be sure that we have true faith, and that we are therefore justified. We must act. And so Abraham's faith was a faith that included action. He offered Isaac his son upon the altar. Thus by works was faith made perfect. In this sense it is evident that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only (James 2:14-26). To sum up: Paul shows the uselessness of works without faith; James shows the uselessness of faith without works. Both are agreed that Christ alone can deliver us from the condemnation which our sins deserve. Both are agreed that he who is truly conscious of this salvation will strive against sin; that he who believes that Christ can save him from the guilt of sin must believe also that Christ can save him from its power in his heart. Both are equally strong in insisting upon the uselessness of profession without practice. The two sides of this great truth both need to be strongly emphasized in our own day. On the one hand, the necessity for a living, personal faith in Jesus Christ alone, needs to be emphasized in opposition to the substitution of forms and ceremonies for the gospel. And, on the other hand, the necessity for a life of practical godliness needs to be emphasized where there is so much of barren profession - orthodox belief, but fruitless and sometimes careless life. - C.H.I. Parallel Verses KJV: Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. |
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