Does Apostle Paul and James Believe Two Different Gospels? Are They Contradicting Each Other?
Eventually every believer is confronted with an apparent contradiction in the writing of James and Apostle Paul. In Apostle Paul’s writings he is clear that works have nothing to do with salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 3:20-28) and then we read James 2 and some verses seem to state that faith without works is dead (James 2:17) and that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only (James 2:24). So which is it?
One thing I have learned in my Bible studying is that when I see a contradiction, I am wrong in my interpretation because the Bible does not contradict itself. It usually means that I need to watch the context of the writing more closely to see the truth. Context is everything when studying the Bible. By the way, I NEVER think I have all the answers (I am a constant learner too) but I know this, there is no contradiction between the Gospel Paul taught and the Gospel James taught. How do I know this? Because I was faced with this issue between James and Paul and I had to get to the bottom of it and settle my belief regarding this as with every other time I found what I at first thought was a contradiction. So I started to watch every word and verse in James closer.
WHO WAS JAMES?
James was the half-brother of Jesus Christ. During Christ’s ministry on earth, James actually doubted that Jesus was the Messiah, after all to him Jesus was his brother. Would you think your brother is God? After Christ died and rose from the dead, James could not deny the facts, and so believed in Jesus for eternal life. He soon became one of the elders in the rapidly growing Jerusalem church, and when we come to Acts 15, we read that he even presided over the Jerusalem council.
WHO WAS JAMES ADDRESSING HIS WRITINGS TOO?
Verse 1 says it was written to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. Who is this? Jews. And there are two kinds of Jews; believing born again eternally saved Jews and unbelieving unsaved Jews. Which kind is this letter written to? Look at verse 2 where we read, ‘MY BRETHREN‘. Skip down to verse 16. ‘Do not be deceived, MY BELOVED BRETHREN.’ Verse 19. ‘So then, MY BELOVED BRETHREN‘. So who are his beloved brethren? Are his brethren just other Jews or believing Jews?
We read in James 2:1,
“MY BRETHREN, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.”
So we know now by the context of James that he is addressing JEWISH BELIEVERS IN CHRIST. In fact, you can go through the rest of this letter and discover that quite clearly, James is writing to Jewish believers.
Remember that the epistle (letter) of James was not written in chapters and these were only added to the Bible for our reference. Even so, he also starts James 2 addressing them as ‘Brethren’, therefore he is not writing to believers about how to be saved from their sins nor about how to be justified before God.
WHAT IS THE REASON FOR JAMES’ LETTER?
The Jewish believers James is writing to were being persecuted by their fellow non believing Jews (we also see this in the book of Hebrews as well). They had tremendous pressure to go back to the Jewish faith under the Law of Moses. It could not have been easy for them! They had trouble getting along with one another. They had trouble knowing how much of the Old Testament law they still had to keep, if any of it. These are new believers in the early Jewish church. These new believers are learning the faith just as new believers do today, wondering how our good deeds and good works of the Law should play out in our life after we believe on Christ and are born again in the Spirit in salvation by faith.
James is writing about how we should live AFTER we are saved. Works do not save us. Paul makes that very clear in Romans, Ephesians, Galatians etc. We are not to boast of our good deeds nor good works of the Law as what saves us.
“For by GRACE are ye saved THOROUGH FAITH; and that NOT of yourselves: it is the GIFT of God: NOT OF WORKS, lest any man should BOAST.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV)
“Now to him that worketh is the reward NOT reckoned of grace, but OF DEBT. But to him that worketh NOT, but BELIEVETH ON HIM (Jesus) that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for RIGHTEOUSNESS.” (Romans 4:4-5 KJV)
“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” (Galatians 2:16 KJV)
Paul is very clear on this right? Let’s go back to James now and the context.
James 2:3 is another verse of importance to see the context here.
“And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:” (James 2:3 KJV)
In proper context James is chastising for ignoring the needs of the poor and instead being respecters of important people and the rich.
James goes on to write,
“If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it PROFIT? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” (James 2:15-17 KJV)
The word PROFIT is interesting for context and needs to be understood. Salvation is a GIFT not a reward (Eph. 2:8-9). In Strongs Concordance we see the Greek word ‘ophelos‘, meaning “to heap up, i.e. accumulate or benefit”. To profit means a reward earned.
The word DEAD in this verse in Strongs Concordance in the Greek is ‘nekros’ and used as a metaphor has a meaning of ‘being spiritually dead, destitute of a life that recognizes and is devoted to God, because given up to trespasses and sins, inactive as respects doing right destitute of force or power, inactive, inoperative.’
“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” (James 2:26 KJV)
James uses a strong analogy here to make the point. A persons dead body is pretty much useless to help anyone in need or do anything useful. It is there, lifeless and useless to do anything. If believers are just living in constant sin and being carnal by living constantly in the flesh instead of walking by the spirit, they have become useless. Their faith is dead. Yes, they are still saved because our behaviour nor our works have anything to do with our justification in salvation. But they are not of much use in this life are they? How many go to church on a strict religious basis, never missing, and yet leave that church building and ignore helping those they see in need? How many church goers treat the person well dressed better then the one wearing ripped jeans, judging them in an unrighteous way? Are such not hypocrites? Are they even born again and saved? Well, that depends on how they think they are saved and it is NOT by their good works nor good deeds (Matthew 7:15-23, Eph. 2:8-9). Yet, there are many Christians that are saved by faith in the finished work of Christ that He accomplished on that cross, who are not living out there faith in love toward others. As Paul instructed we are to “work out our salvation” (Philippians 2:12) and we should be “renewing our mind” (Romans 12) and “Walking in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16) and not the flesh.
An inactive loving faith is dead; that is it helps no one and is useless. James says, What does it PROFIT? That is, how will that help the person? How will that help a believer if they are not living out there faith as well? James is talking about a believer either using his faith in love or not using his faith in love. This is not about Salvation nor justification before God but our good works and living by faith in love towards others after Salvation. Again, remember that James is addressing the brethren, who are already saved believers.
We should not claim to be Christian yet treat the rich and important in society any better than those who are poor and in need. That is not using our faith in the right way. It also makes us look like hypocrites and can ruin our witness to others (Eph. 4:29, Matthew 5:16, 1 Peter 2:12). Our faith should be active in an outward love for others and not be based on bias toward people. Jesus Himself said we should love our enemies. That is how extreme we should use our faith in love.
James is talking about the fact that as believers who have been saved by such a high cost to Christ that we should be living in a manner that our faith is a faith of love towards others, especially those in need. We should not be judging people in an unrighteous manner. Even Jesus said the same in Matthew 7 to ‘judge not lest you be judged’.
A living faith showing others the love of God through us. James is writing about our walk after being saved. We should have the right attitude and motives to help those in need. A living faith from a heart of thankfulness to God for what He has done for us. And without living our faith IN LOVE our faith becomes DEAD, as in useless, to help anyone.
Paul puts it this way,
“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so WALK YE IN HIM: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 2:6-7 KJV)
As believers we should have a THANKFUL heart because as Paul also taught us that “…God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Roman 5:8 KJV)
In thanksgiving, seeing and receiving God’s love in our need to be forgiven, we should also pour out such love for others. God is no respecter of persons, rich or poor. As believers, we should live our lives by faith in love, showing others the love of Christ through our lives.
Read Corinthians, a model of a church gone very wrong, yet still Paul addresses them as Brethren; believers. Our justification with God is not by works but Grace through faith in the only atonement for sin, Jesus Christ crucified.
Yet how we live after Salvation is a testament of our faith. Let our testament be that of a loving faith towards every person, without respect for how rich or important in society they deem to be. We should be doing good works in love for others. It matters for others who you could have helped. It matters for showing the love of God through us. It matters for our witness to others when sharing the Gospel. It matters because it affects the entire world with the Gospel unto Salvation through the grace of God.
God is no respecter of persons, neither should we be when it comes to showing the love of God through us with a thankful heart for what God has already done for us.
JAMES KNEW ABOUT THE BEMA JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST FOR BELIEVERS
Apostle Paul clearly taught that believers will one day, at the Rapture, receive our eternal resurrected bodies free from the sin nature we now have to fight against. But we will also, as believers, find ourselves at the Bema Judgment Seat of Christ and will give an account of how we lived after Salvation. This judgment seat is not the Great White Throne Judgment of unbelievers in Revelation 20 as that will happen a 1000 years after Christ’s return to Earth. It is for Church Age Believer’s alone and will happen just after the Pre-Tribulation Rapture event.
This judgment will not be about losing Salvation because of our sins. Those at this event are already in Heaven. In fact, the word sin is not even mentioned regarding this event. Our sins have already been PAID IN FULL by Christ on that cross. But there will be judgments made based on our good works; whether done in love with Godly motives, or done with self righteous motives. Rewards will be given and taken away because of how we lived.
“If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:14-15 KJV)
James is talking about a judgment that will fall on eternally saved born again BELIEVERS. It became clear to me that James had knowledge that born again believers, though eternally saved, will face the Judgment Seat of Christ. How can I think this? Because James wrote this,
“MY BRETHREN, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the GREATER CONDEMNATION.” (James 3:1 KJV)
This is not condemnation in hell. James is not instructing them they will have greater condemnation in hell. What kind of pep talk would that be? He did not write they would be condemned neither. He is clearly showing a greater judgment about how they are living as born again believers. So James is talking about what does it PROFIT and then states a judgment for not living outwardly in love and thankfulness. James is talking about losing rewards at the Bema Judgment Seat of Christ for believers which is a judgment of not salvation but of rewards and loss of rewards.
The English translated word in the Greek for masters is in Strongs Concordance, “didáskalos, from G1321; an instructor (genitive case or specially):—doctor, master, teacher.”
He is stating that born again believers teaching will face greater judgment.
A Quick Overview Summary…
- To summarize by James own writing in context, James is writing to “my brethren”, saved Jewish believers.
- He emphasizes ‘what does it PROFIT’. Something earned and not received as a gift.
- James is showing he has knowledge of the Judgment Seat of Christ that believers will face one day as well.
Conclusion By Context…
Therefore, by context of his own writing, James is talking about the Bema Judgment Seat of believers where Christ will judge believers. This is the judgment he is talking about and not condemnation nor loss of salvation. He is writing about losing rewards in judgment and not losing salvation.
Seeing these contexts within the writing of James and also the truth of the Gospel of Grace that Apostle Paul taught, is when a light bulb went off for me and I started to see the truth about what James is writing about and it is not salvation by works. It is about evidence of our salvation by works after being saved and not losing our reward while helping others in love as Christ loved us.
WHAT ABOUT ABRAHAM IN THE BOOK OF JAMES ?
“But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Wasnot Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac hisson upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and byworks was faith made perfect? “ (James 2:20-22 KJV)
Here again, if we were to stop reading James 2 at this verse it seems like the meaning is that it is the works that save. That is not what James is conveying. He is again writing and instructing about the faith that is head knowledge only. He is bringing up Abraham who is known as ‘the Father of our faith’ right? If we continue to the very next verse we see,
“And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and
it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the
Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by
faith only.” (James 2:23-24 KJV)
Abraham was not justified and saved by the act of the works. It was his FAITH in what God had previously PROMISED HIM that pushed him forward to do the works that God commanded. But God worked on Abraham’s faith for a LONG time before God tested his faith in telling him to sacrifice his only son. Abraham learned what the true God was like and what God’s character is. God never changes and He is a good God, amen? A perfectly righteous God. A perfectly JUST God! God had made a promise that “…for in Isaac your seed shall be called” (Genesis 21:12). Long before this when God called Abraham to leave for a new
land God made promises to Abraham and by his works we can see the evidence that he believed them in the proper saving faith,
“Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and
from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew
thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and
make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them
that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all
families of the earth be blessed.” ( Genesis 12:1-3 KJV)
How are all the families of the Earth today blessed because of these promises of God to Abraham and the faith that Abraham had to do what God told him to do? God is promising Abraham that through his seed and blood line he would make a nation which we know today as the nation of Israel. And how do we know that Israel has blessed all the families of the earth? Because of the one that came out of the bloodline of Israel, Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah and the Savior of the world. It is because of Jesus Christ that the world is blessed.
In Genesis we see what Abraham says when he decides on going to the place God told him to go to Sacrifice his son Issac,
“And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I
and the lad will go yonder and worship, AND COME AGAIN TO YOU. ” (Genesis 22:5 KJV)
What stands out in this verse? It is some VERY important words ‘I and the lad‘, in essence ‘WE’. You see God had taught Abraham who He really is. Abraham had complete trust in God to always be good and do the just thing. Over the years, he learned that God is faithful and can be trusted. He did have a son as promised by God, even though his wife Sarah was in her older years and baron. It was not as Abraham expected the promise to be fulfilled by God, but it was fulfilled. It increased his faith in God.
Abraham tells his young helpers that ‘we will come back to you ’ . He did not say ‘I will come back to you’. Abraham is showing his faith! That is his complete faith that God would never allow him to actually murder his son unrighteously. And even if he did, he knew that God would have to raise him from the dead because God had already promised Abraham that it is through Issac’s bloodline, ‘I will make you a great nation’. Later we see Issac asking his father Abraham,
“And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.” (Genesis 22:7-8 KJV)
Again we see Abraham exercising his full faith and assurance that God would provide a Lamb in place of his son for the sacrifice. Abraham knew this must be a test of his faith and trust in God. God has never shown himself to be like this. He moved forward with full faith and trust in God and knowing the attributes of God. He believed the character of God and His trustworthiness so much that he would have killed Issac. This is why he is known as the Father of our Faith.
WAS IT WORKS THAT SAVED ABRAHAM? OR FAITH IN GOD?
Abraham was justified by belief in God alone. Not by his works. In fact, if you look at some of Abraham’s ‘works’ you will quickly find out he was as flawed as us sinners today! Read what Abraham did to his wife in Genesis 20. Oh my! He was a sinner just like us all, even after he believed God for righteousness. And even in this great wrong doing, it was Pharaoh who was innocent in what happened that God punished and Abraham who caused the problem, was rewarded. Why? Because Abraham was saved by his belief on God and favoured but Pharaoh was an unbeliever. All because of God’s grace! Have a read of what happened in Genesis 20 and see for yourself. It seems God uses sinners we would not expect to be the very ones He uses in their weakness to show His strength. I mean, look at the Apostle Paul who was the greatest persecutor of Christians until he met Jesus on that road to Damascus and became the writer of what we have today, 2/3 of the New Testament.
Abraham was far from a perfect guy full of good works. But he certainly had faith in God’s promises! It was his faith and the works of carrying out what God said to do was the evidence of his true faith in God’s promises. This is what James is talking about. It is that evidence should exist in those that have saving faith. But not that the evidence is what saves you. Just as Apostle Paul wrote, we should be walking by the spirit, not the flesh (Gal. 5:16). And we also see that James is using the same exact Scriptures as Paul did in Romans 4 where Paul writes,
“What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; BUT NOT BEFORE GOD .
For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.” (Romans 4:1-7 KJV)
Paul continues,
“For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” (Romans 4:13 KJV)
If James is teaching a contrary Gospel why is he using the same example Scripture as Paul? It is because James and Paul are teaching the very same Gospel. Paul also talks about works after Salvation many times in his letters.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we SHOULD walk in them.“ (Ephesians 2:8-10 KJV)
At first glance, it can seem like Paul is contradicting himself. First he says Salvation is NOT OF WORKS. Then he says ‘God prepared works for us to do beforehand’. But which came first? The GIFT! Salvation is a GIFT for all who believe in Christ and have accepted his pardon for our sins. But in verse 10, Paul is saying that we are now created in Christ and we SHOULD be doing good works. This verse 10 is what James is writing about to the early Jewish believers.
James said,
“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. ” (James 2:26 KJV)
Now we start to see the real context of what James is teaching. A truly saved person has accepted Christ and the Holy Spirit dwells in every true believer. Such a believer can be a carnal Christian, living in the flesh and sinful ways OR a believer can be walking in the spirit and living as we should in good works, as Jesus did. If you are living carnally, your faith is dead ; that is, it has become useless to God and you will have to deal with consequences and loss of rewards at the Bema Seat of Christ. Believers should be abiding in Christ and His words which will help in the renewing of your mind to God’s view and which leads to good works in love for others (John 15, Eph. 2:10). We should be seeking God in the word and we should be doing unto others what we would have others do unto us, in love. That is a faith that is alive and working!
A Faith, That Works.
I hope this helps anyone struggling with the book of James. God bless.