Are We Saved By Faith or Works? Exploring the Conundrum of James and Paul

Nearly everyone can quote John 3:16. The idea that “whoever believes will have eternal life” is very appealing. But was Jesus saying that the only requirement for salvation is intellectual ascent to the fact that he is the Son of God?

Scripture tells us that demons recognized Jesus as the son of God all throughout his ministry on earth. James tells us that demons “believe (that God is one) and shudder” (2:19). In other words, demons recognize that Jesus is God, yet they are definitely not saved; thus, there must be more to believing in Jesus than simply acknowledging who he is.

Does that mean we must earn our salvation by doing good works? Absolutely not!

The Apostle Paul reminded the believers in Ephesus that they had been saved “by grace through faith…it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.“ [1] Where, then, do good works come into play?

Turning to a story from the Old Testament may help us answer this question. In Genesis 22, we find that God instructed Abraham to take his only son, Isaac, to a mountain and offer him as a sacrifice to the Lord. Abraham obeyed, but before he was able to complete the sacrifice, God rewarded his obedience by providing a lamb to take Isaac's place. 

This event foreshadowed not only the coming of the Messiah but also the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham. Years before, God had promised Abraham that through his offspring, “all nations on earth will be blessed.”[2] That offspring was Jesus, who served as the perfect sacrificial lamb for all people.

Yet even before Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection, Abraham “believed the Lord,” who reckoned Abraham as righteous because of his faith.[3] Abraham believed God without having all the facts of how his promise would be fulfilled, and he was willing to trust in the Lord amidst a situation where obedience might have meant great personal loss.

James asks, “Was not our father Abraham justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?”[4] This verse is often misunderstood due to the varied, nuanced meaning of the term “justified.”

In the Bible, the word “justified” can have several slightly different meanings, two of which are very important to our conversation. One is “to be declared or made righteous in the sight of God.” [5] This is the one that is most often used in the NT. The other is “to demonstrate to be morally right, prove to be right."[6] Do you see the difference?

The Bible states in several different places that Abraham was made right with God through his faith. If James agrees that Abraham was made righteous by believing, which he surely does, he must have intended the other definition of justified, “to demonstrate to be morally right, prove to be right.”

Under normal circumstances, it would have been morally wrong for Abraham to tie up his son and place him on a sacrificial altar. Still, he was justified in doing so because he did it in response to God’s directive. Hence, Abraham’s faith was demonstrated by his obedience to God.

Some people claim that Paul and James contradict each other on this matter, but that claim is false. Paul talks about the means of salvation, which is faith, while James refers to the evidence of salvation, which is works. The two concepts are complimentary, not contradictory. Whenever our faith causes us to remain obedient to God, our actions will align with God’s will, and we will be proven to have been in the right.

Good works cannot save you, but they do say something about the quality of your faith.

Once we have trusted Jesus Christ for salvation, doing the good works he has prepared for us will prove to a watching world that our faith is genuine. James gives an excellent example of this, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and you say to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them [anything], what good is that? So also faith without works is dead.”[7]

Jesus made it clear that salvation can be obtained only through faith in him when he said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”[8] However, he also said, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”[9]

No amount of good deeds you or I could do would ever be enough to earn salvation; Christ accomplished that work on the cross. Conversely, once we accept salvation as a free gift, we must demonstrate our faith by doing the work he has given us to do.

[1] Ephesians 2:8-9

[2] Genesis 22:18

[3] Genesis 15:6

[4] James 2:21

[5] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 249.

[6] Ibid.

[7] James 2:15-17

[8] John 14:6

[9] Matthew 15:6

[1] See Acts 2.

Are We Saved By Faith or Works? Exploring the Conundrum of James and Paul