Do James and Paul differ on the concept of justification by faith alone? James uses the story of Abraham to illustrate that Abraham was justified by works, while Paul uses the same story to argue that Abraham was justified by faith alone. So, which is it?
James 2:21-24 (WEB) Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected. 23 So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness,”Genesis 15:6 and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith.
Romans 4:1-5 (WEB) What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”Genesis 15:6 4 Now to him who works, the reward is not counted as grace, but as something owed. 5 But to him who doesn’t work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.
Truth does not contradict itself; something that is true is not simultaneously untrue. Since we consider the Bible to be the infallible word of truth, the very words of God, we should strive to find an understanding between these conflicting messages to resolve any cognitive dissonance. Fortunately, there is a satisfactory solution.
Why God Tested Abraham
People have widely misunderstood why God tested Abraham by asking him to offer Isaac. We have assumed that God was testing Abraham’s devotion—whether Abraham would love God even more than his son.
Genesis 22:1-2 (WEB) After these things, God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”
He said, “Here I am.”
2 He said, “Now take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of.”
However, God wasn’t testing Abraham’s devotion but his faith. A few chapters before, God had made a covenant with Abraham that Sarah would have a son named Isaac, and through him, Abraham would have many descendants.
Genesis 17:15-21 (WEB) God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah. 16 I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her.”
17 Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?” 18 Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”
19 God said, “No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.”
A few years before this promise, God had promised Abraham a son of his own flesh but didn’t mention that the child would come through Sarah. When Abraham heard this promise, he believed God, and God considered him righteous.
Genesis 15:4-6 (WEB) Behold, Yahweh’s word came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but he who will come out of your own body will be your heir.” 5 Yahweh brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So your offspring will be.” 6 He believed in Yahweh, who credited it to him for righteousness.
But later, when God specifically promised a son through Sarah, both Abraham and Sarah did not respond in faith as Abraham did previously when God promised an heir without mentioning Sarah.
Genesis 18:10-15 (WEB) He said, “I will certainly return to you at about this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.”
Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. 12 Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
13 Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Will I really bear a child when I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes around, and Sarah will have a son.”
15 Then Sarah denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh,” for she was afraid.
He said, “No, but you did laugh.”
When God establishes a covenant or utters an oath, He consistently honors His word (Jeremiah 34:18; Deuteronomy 23:21-23; Leviticus 5:4-5; Numbers 23:19; 30:1-2; Deuteronomy 23:21-23; Joshua 9:3-21; Judges 11:30-31,34-35; 2 Samuel 21:1-2; Psalm 15:1-2,4; 24:4; Hebrews 6:17-18). However, when God makes a promise, an implicit contract of faith is involved. The fulfillment of the promise occurs when we respond in faith and trust that God will uphold His word.
Hebrews 6:9-15 (WEB) But, beloved, we are persuaded of better things for you, and things that accompany salvation, even though we speak like this. 10 For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the saints, and still do serve them. 11 We desire that each one of you may show the same diligence to the fullness of hope even to the end, 12 that you won’t be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and perseverance inherited the promises. 13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.”Genesis 22:17 15 Thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
Hebrews makes it clear that God was testing Abraham’s faith, not his devotion. He was testing whether Abraham would believe that God would keep His covenant even if Abraham killed Isaac. Abraham knew he would not lose Isaac because he knew God could not break His promises. If he killed Isaac, God would simply raise him from the dead.
Hebrews 11:17-19 (BSB) By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac on the altar. He who had received the promises was ready to offer his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and in a sense, he did receive Isaac back from death.
Hebrews 11:11 (WEB) By faith, even Sarah herself received power to conceive, and she bore a child when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised.
Abraham was not a perfect person but lied on two occasions about Sarah being his sister because he feared for his life (Genesis 12:10-20; 20:1-3). He didn’t qualify for God’s blessings on the basis of his law-keeping, devotion, or behavior, but on the basis of his unwavering confidence that God would keep his oath.
Romans 4:13-16,18-22 (WEB) For the promise to Abraham and to his offspring that he should be heir of the world wasn’t through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of no effect. 15 For the law produces wrath, for where there is no law, neither is there disobedience. 16 For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace, to the end that the promise may be sure to all the offspring, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all…
18 Besides hope, Abraham in hope believed, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So will your offspring be.”Genesis 15:5 19 Without being weakened in faith, he didn’t consider his own body, already having been worn out, (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 Yet, looking to the promise of God, he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was also able to perform. 22 Therefore it also was “credited to him for righteousness.”Genesis 15:6
God was testing whether Abraham’s faith would waver in unbelief when God asked him to offer Isaac. With this understanding, one can reconcile James and Paul.
Justification According to James
James isn’t saying that Abraham’s good behavior earned him God’s blessings, but that his faith was proven to be genuine because his actions proved he really believed God would keep His promise. What James means is that when you truly believe something, your actions will reflect that, and if your actions don’t line up with your beliefs, it’s fair to assume you don’t really believe what you say you do. James does not contradict justification by faith alone; he merely concludes that if we believe we are forgiven by faith, then that would naturally inspire us to forgive others.
James 2:14-26 (WEB) What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? 15 And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, 16 and one of you tells them, “Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;” yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself. 18 Yes, a man will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
19 You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead? 21 Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected. 23 So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness,”Genesis 15:6 and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith. 25 In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works, in that she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.
Rahab the prostitute was also justified by works, but not the works of the law, but by the works that proved her faith.
The Takeaway
The lesson one should take away from this narrative in scripture is that God will always keep His covenants and oaths toward us, and we should respond in faith to receive them. We don’t have to be perfect or sinless; we simply need to have genuine faith. God wants us to have confidence that even if we fail him and are imperfect people, we can trust that God alone is perfect and will uphold his oath.
If you are concerned you don’t have genuine faith, you can be like the father who asked Jesus to help him overcome his unbelief. Jesus forgave his doubts, performed the miracle, and then said only a mustard seed of faith was necessary to move mountains (Mark 9:17-29; Matthew 17:17-20).