Why do Romans 3:28 and James 2:24 contridict each other?

Question

I know the Bible does not contridict itself so what is God telling us?

Answer 1

Does your Bible have notes that explain the verses? Sometimes these notes are helpful explaining the verse. I use the Oxford Study Edition of The New English Bible and the Notes explain that the James verse is cautioning about thinking one way and acting another. Saying to yourself that the poor deserve your help and then refusing to help when you are sure that you can help the poor shows that your deed and your faith contradict each other. The Romans verse warns not to confuse faith with following the law. If we tell ourselves that there is a formula or set of laws that will lead us to salvation, we are kidding ourselves. Salvation was given as a gift, there is nothing we can do to earn it, but having been given it we should want to act in a loving and grateful manner. Believing that salvation can be earned by following a series of steps, leads us to the sin of pride.

But in either circumstance the real thing to remember is that even when we make mistakes, we need to try to learn from our mistakes and then try our best not to make the same mistake next time. Christ forgave us already for all our mistakes and out of awe for that kind of love, we should try to make as few mistakes as we can. And forgive others when they make mistakes.

Answer 2

Taken straight out of context yes those two scriptures contradict each other. If you read from verse 2:14 in James you will see that it actually describes Romans 3:28 in even more detail.

Romans 3:28 says Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.If you read the whole chapter, you will notice that he is talking about the law of God (10 commandments) and our inability to keep them therefore showing us our need for the sacrifice of the Father His Son Jesus the propitiation of our sins......He paid the price He was the scapegoat ......made us right with God so that we may appear spotless to God our Father and stand boldly......oops I got carried away.
James is telling how when you have faith there is an outcome a "fruit " so to speak called works. The faith and the works go hand in hand.
God help me if I added or left out anything. I hope this helps.
email me if you want. I wont send you to any web sites.

Answer 3

Excellent question. In Romans, it is saying that man is justified by his faith, and not by doing bad by breaking the law. In James, it is saying he is justified by the good thing, acts of kindness that Jesus would've exhibited, and not just faith. It is saying that the Law, broken or kept, has nothing to do with salvation. But indeed acting as Christ did and would does AFTER you have accepted Christ. That's the big difference. A good christian will bear good fruits, or do good things. I hope this cleared it up a bit. Oh, and don't let the closed minded atheists steer you away from the truth. You know whats going on, and there is a reason every word you see in the bible is there. If you don't understand it, it is great that you are asking questions. God bless you, and may your faith grow day to day.

Answer 4

Consider who each writer was writing to.

Romans was written by Paul to the believers in Rome. They were composed of Gentiles and Jews. The Jews had been expelled from Rome which left the Gentiles to lead the church. When the Jews were allowed to return, they brought back many of their old traditions. There was conflict over who should lead the church as both groups felt they were in many ways better able than the other. Paul tells them that they are not saved by works but by faith.

James on the other hand stayed in Jerusalem. He saw that the Christians had zeal when they first accepted Christ, but later they were not as devout. They were not always caring for each other as they should. This is what Christ had told them about in the parable of the seeds. So James tells them that if they have a true faith, then they should also have works. Strong faith leads to good works. Good works lead to stronger faith. All of this should be motivated by our love for Christ.
So they do not contradict each other. They merely describe the Christian lifestyle from different perspectives. They address what each audience was lacking most.

Answer 5

Romans was written to the new believer, and what Paul was getting at was that your works do not get you in to Heaven. It is by Grace through your faith because people would brag about how good they think they are. And believe me many do brag about it.

What James was writting to is th mature believer, someone who is in the faith. He states that you can say that you have faith, so what? He said that I will show you my faith by my deeds. In other words your deeds are what prove your faith, if your faith is real then you don't need to say a word, your actions will speak louder than any words you could ever say.

They don't really contridict because they are written to people in different levels of their faith and the understanding of what they claim to believe.

I truly love both books but James is the one I like them most. James is a double fisted, in your face Christian. He tells it like it is and if you don't like it your wrong. See he was Jesus' younger brother, he grew up with Jesus and didn't come to the faith untill after Jesus rose from the grave. He knew Jesus better than all the desiples, he spent his whole life with him.

Answer 6

In the early days of the "church," when a variety of people were taking leadership of various groups of proto-Christians, there were several different ideas about how they should act. In addition to legitimate "disciples" (and their disciples) of the historical Y'shua, there were others who would send similar writings in their names. There are numerous references in some of the letters to alert the readers not to give credence to such false letters.

Likely, one of the authors thought one way (justified by faith, not by Law) while the other thought another (justified not by faith alone). When the Council of Nice looked over the vast amounts of writings, trying to decide which works would be canonized in the official doctrine of early Christianity, they apparently decided that both were legitimate.

The fact that these works do contradict each other speaks only to the opinions of the two authors. The stance of individual religions may depend upon which of the two works that their upper leaders look to as "more" divinely inspired.

Answer 7

The two things are actually about different topics.

God wants us to understand first that, without Jesus, we would be in big trouble. He is trying to tell people that Heaven is not gained by following details. Our salvation comes from Jesus, period. Because Heaven is not something that we earn...to be achieved. It is something we are granted as a gift when we accept Jesus. But if you follow to the end, to verse 31, it says to not throw away the law. Still try to follow it as best as you can, to show God that you care, and to be an example for other Christians.

James is talking about charity! About loving people by helping them. He is just trying to say that a Christian person should demonstrate that they are a Christian by spreading Christ's love. A true Christian wouldn't let someone they saw suffer and still feel good about themselves. Especially because Christians are supposed to influence non-Christians by their lives. When an atheist or someone from another religion sees a selfish Christian, are they going to be convinced that we are following the true religion? No. That is why it is so important to follow the Christian principles of love.

Answer 8

Very good point.....Paul was preaching against people continuing to uphold the Jewish law for righteousness; he was trying to stress that righteousness is by faith in Christ and James was clarifying that if you really have faith, then your actions will prove it......

And by the way, here is a good contradiction in the Bible....In the Gospels with the account of the thieves that were crucified with Christ...Mark chapter 15 talks about both thieves reviling Christ and Luke chapter 23 talks about only one thief reviling him and the other thief defending him.

Answer 9

These scriptures speak of faith vs. works. James speaks of works coming out of faith. If you read James 2:22, you will see that the last part says, "and as a result of the works, faith was perfected." Verse 23 says, "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness". Abraham followed up on that faith by offering his son Isaac on the altar knowing that God would raise him from the dead (that part is in Hebrews.)

The Old Testament teaches that without faith it is impossible to please God. In other words, our good works need to be done because of our faith that tells us we are doing God's will.

Faith comes first, the works follow, the faith is made perfect. "Faith without works is dead".

Answering this question is a good demonstration of faith and works. The work would be me doing the research and taking the time to type in the answer. But I do this because I have faith that God wants to touch your life and that the answer that you are seeking is in his Word. Keep on seeking, my friend. God is faithful.

Answer 10

These passages do not contradict each other. Romans emphasizes that faith is not religious deeds without a born again heart. James stresses that faith is not a born-again heart without deeds. Neither would agree to the validity of an empty creedal faith. Faith creates works, works perfects faith.
From The Spirit Filled Bible Notes

Our works show the genuiness of what we profess to believe.

What that means in essence is faith does not need to do religious acts to prove it is real but if we have faith it should stir us up to want to do good things.