Do you prefer James' faith without works is dead or Paul's faith alone is enough?

Question

you don't actually have to do anything message?

14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%202;&version=31;

20You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[d]? 21Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,"[e] and he was called God's friend. 24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%202;&version=31;

bless, troy, adore,

There are so many contradictions in the Bible. Your attempts to defend this one are weak. Martin Luther, founder of the Protestant movements, did believe they were in contradiction and supported the words of Paul over James.

Answer 1

Both are right, they are just emphasizing different things. James never says we are saved by grace, he only says that our salvation is shown through our deeds. If we claim to be a Christian but do nothing, never pray, never read the Bible, never go to church, never strive for righteousness, keep falling into sin... then our faith means nothing because it was never put into use. Paul just emphasizes the fact that we could not be saved by our deeds, because if we could then Christ died for no reason.

Answer 2

James 2:14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16 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?
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

It would help if you used the bible and not a perversion of it. The two statements don't contradict one another. James is not contradicting Paul. He isn't saying that you are saved by faith and works. He is saying that if you have works then it shows that you have the faith which alone can save you. It's a matter of perspective. If you aren't truly born again then you see loop holes in the doctrine of salvation and stay in an unrepentant state. If you are born again you know that the love of God is manifested in your life by good works.

Answer 3

The final area of your fact is real. James and Paul weren't the acceptable of acquaintances because of the fact James strongly believed that Christ replaced into purely for the Jews and Gentiles should not be openly welcomed into the Church. Paul replaced into the acceptable opposite of that. besides the undeniable fact that there is not any contradiction between the two appropriate to faith vs works. Paul replaced into emphasizing which you will no longer "artwork" your thank you to heaven, you elect redemption by using Christ. James emphasised which you will no longer purely say, "i'm a Christian so i will pass to heaven", we additionally could desire to locate sanctification, or in different phrases, to do stable issues. Paul emphasised an identical ingredient for the era of his writings. He reported it as being a "slave to righteousness" and he could additionally constantly describe himself as a "slave to Christ". you may desire to probably point out any letter by using Paul and that i will assure you he talks approximately doing stable works.

Answer 4

I know a lot of people think that Paul and James are in contradiction to each other- but really they are not. Paul emphasizes faith alone to show that there is NOTHING that we can do to earn our salvation. James is emphasizing once saved we will want to do good works to glorify God.

Answer 5

This confuses so many people. My husband is the sunday school teacher at church, and just went over this.

Faith alone is enough to be saved. You must have faith in God, and through His grace are ye saved.

That being said, if you say you have faith, but have NOTHING to show for it, then it is dead, and you never did have faith. Works come after faith, but are not needed for salvation. If you are truley saved, you will want to serve God.

Answer 6

I believe they go together because you have to consider the context of the letter that Paul wrote, and James. It is like taking 2 of your love letters written to 2 different people and comparing them as the same. so if you really are seeking truth, it will become apparant. But be careful when you try to abuse THE WORD OF GOD.

Answer 7

A lot of people misinterpret Paul's Ephesians 2:8,9 and forget to read 2:10 where Paul directly states that Christians were "created .... for good works."
This 2:8,9 is generally the foundation stone of misinterpretation, and it simply comes from lack of knowledge and lack of understanding of Paul's writings.
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These people thus twist the teaching of Paul. Because Paul was talking about works of the Law covenant.
This is emphasized repeated by Paul throughout his writings as in Gal 2:16
"knowing as we do that a man is declared righteous, not due to works of law but only through faith toward Christ Jesus, that we may be declared righteous due to faith toward Christ and not due to works of law, because due to works of law no flesh will be declared righteous."
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Christians not under the Law Covenant but under the Law of Faith.

There is a thorough discussion about these subjects in the following links:
http://bythebible.page.tl/Works-%26-Faith.htm
http://bythebible.page.tl/Christians-Under-Law-Covenant-f-.htm
http://bythebible.page.tl/Christian-Good-Works.htm

Even Jesus himself stated this:
Matthew 7:24 24 "Therefore everyone that hears these sayings of mine and does them will be likened to a discreet man, who built his house upon the rock-mass.

Matthew 12:50 50 For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother."

Matthew 3:8 8 So then produce fruit that befits repentance;. . .

Matthew 3:10 10 Already the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree, then, that does not produce fine fruit is to be cut down and thrown into the fire.

Answer 8

Paul taught faith without works. James taught the same thing, works is the product of faith. I prefer both, they say the same thing. Paul and James weren't arguing face to face on the subject, they were standing back to back teaching the same thing.

Answer 9

I think what Paul mean in faith alone is enough is: faith can motivate us to do the will of God and to be pleasing to Him.
Remember what Paul has said:
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. - PHIL. 2:12

Answer 10

I don't believe that these two messages contradict one another at all. PEOPLE misinterpret them...as they do other scriptures. Stop and think: Paul was saying that there is nothing we can do to earn the gift of salvation...it has to come from God. But salvation DOES entail "doing something".

You can mentally acknowledge Jesus Christ but never actually repent of your sins. You can believe that Jesus is the son of God and never give him your life. NOW...if someone DOES believe, but he never repents and never obeys, will his belief save him? Of course not.

Being saved means being saved FROM our sins (not being saved IN our sins).