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NASB | James 2:24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | James 2:24 You see that a man (believer) is justified by works and not by faith alone [that is, by acts of obedience a born-again believer reveals his faith]. |
Bible Question: James 2:14-24 is discussing the relationship between faith and works. James concludes in v24 saying: "You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only". Does not everywhere else in the NT say that we are justified by faith, not by works? "Not by works of righteousness we have done..." Titus 3:5, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works..."? What could James be saying here? Is he saying that "dead faith" and "said faith" do not save, but that only real faith can save you, that is if there is root there will be fruit? And then may we conclude that the root supports the fruit and not the other way around so that we may conclude that we are still saved by grace rather than works so that we don't have Scripture contradicting itself? |
Bible Answer: Hi tortois, I have posted this before and it might help clear up the verses in James. I believe the Lord taught me a good illustration with regards to faith and works one day when I had poison ivy. It seems strange but it gets the point across with the analogy. The illustration is that FAITH is to poison ivy, as WORKS are to scratching. Example, If you have true faith in Jesus Christ, it will manifest it's self outwardly. Just like the one who has poison ivy, they are going to scratch, they can't help themselves, it’s the nature of the dumb stuff. It’s the poison ivy working in one’s system. If you have poison ivy on you, you just can’t help it, you’re going to scratch; I’m speaking from experience! Now let say that a person DOESN"T have poison ivy, they could scratch till they look lobster red, yet all of that useless scratching isn’t going to give them poison ivy. They have to come in contact with the vine to get it. The vine in this illustration would be Jesus and faith in him. People can go through all the motions and do all the things that a true believer dose and make all of the proper noises but they are still not under the influence of the one who causes the works to come out of the believer in the first place; they are pseudo believers and there will come a day when the Lord will say unto them I never knew you. The verse that says faith with out works is dead functions because of the following. When one has true faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation indwells them. The works or the fruit is actually the functioning of the Holy Spirit working in the believer’s life. Have a great day, CDBJ |