The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Faith Alone

Hiya, MikeL

Welcome to the board.

1) We must take into account that C.S. Lewis' theology was lacking in several areas and the fact that he was a member of the increasingly liberal Anglican Church of England. Secondly, Lewis was an author and not a theologian, scholar nor even trained in matters of the Bible. Thus, his credibility is less than dependable in the area of theological/biblical expertise.

2) Calvin exegeted James 2:24 the same as "we guys", because we all have studied the CONTEXT, compared Scripture with Scripture and some of us even read the original languages of the Bible.

The word "justified", like the majority of words in every language can mean different things depending upon the CONTEXT (a text out of context is nothing more than pretext) where the word is found. Paul uses "justify" in a couple of ways in the book of Romans, e.g., 3:24, 28 vs 26; man is justified and God is justified so says Paul. But the meaning of "justified" is exponentially different. In the former verses, Paul teaches that man is declared not guilty on the basis of the atoning merits of Christ imputed to him through faith. In the latter verse, God is justified in justifying believers because the just demands of the law were met according to God's own holiness.

Okay, so going back to James 2:24, the question needs to be asked, how is James using this word. Is it like Paul's usage where a believer is declared righteous on the merits of Christ in his behalf and the righteousness of Christ is thereby imputed to him? Or, is James using it another way, perhaps like Paul's second usage? Or, perhaps James has another meaning he is trying to convey. Well, #1 is automatically eliminated since it would create a contradiction between what Paul indisputably teaches in Romans and Galatians in regard to forensic justification, i.e., salvation (justification) is by grace through faith alone. And we know that James himself after hearing Paul at the Jerusalem Council was in full agreement with what Paul preached and taught. So, that makes it much easier now since one of the three possible meanings has been eliminated. The second choice would mean that a man is 'legally authorized' by works. Hmm, now the problem here is that it doesn't fit at all in the context of chapter 2. That leaves #3, another meaning of "justified" that must be found in Scripture itself. Is there anywhere that this word is used differently?

Here are a few passages where this word "justify" is used to mean "evidenced" or "proven" or "shown to be": Jer 3:11; Ezk 16:51,52; Matt 11:19; Lk 16:15 and Rom 3:4.

This usage fits perfectly so that what James is saying is, "You SEE then that a man's faith is evidenced by his works." In short, true faith will be proven to be genuine because a true believer's life is changed and bears the fruit of the Spirit of righteousness. Paul is in full agreement with this and wrote an entire chapter on this very thing in Romans 6.

The Reformers were very careful to state it in this manner, "Salvation is by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone."

In His grace,