One principle of biblical interpretation which strengthens our faith is HARMONIZATION. Harmonization is the process of reconciling the different principles and statements taught in the Bible when they seem to appear at odds with one another.
For example, you often hear a tricky syllogism such as this: “Jesus was a friend to people who were outcasts and sinners. Paul is the only author in the New Testament to specifically condemn homosexuality. Therefore, we can say that Jesus approved of homosexuality, while Paul did not.” This argument is presumptuous. It does not do justice to the full teaching of Jesus or Paul on marriage. People will often fall for this kind of argument without doing the challenging work to try and harmonize, or reconcile, the teaching of Jesus and the teaching of Paul. Simply put, the only sexual relationship approved of by God in Scripture is that of one-woman, one-man marriage, which is taught by both Jesus and Paul.
In pastor Gary Lee’s message from July 28th on the book of James chapter two, one difficulty centers around how to harmonize the teaching of James with the teaching of Paul. Paul says that we are saved by faith alone. James says that faith without works is dead in Christ. Pastor’s Gary’s point is that this discrepancy can be confusing until we realize that each author is approaching the same terminology from a different point of view. To begin with, we realize that James and Paul are both using three key terms: faith, justified, and works. So how can we harmonize Paul and James, and how does that harmonization help us with assurance of salvation?
When Paul speaks of justification, or being ‘justified before God’, he is speaking in legal terms. To be justified before a judge is to be declared innocent, and to be counted as righteous. As we read in Romans 3:23-25, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” Jesus is the propitiation who absorbed God’s wrath so that sinners can be declared righteous in God’s sight. In Romans chapter three through five, Paul is building the case that everyone is guilty before God and each person can only be justified, that is, declared righteous, through faith in Christ.
Secondly For Paul, the works he is referring to are “works of the law,” which are religious observances according to the Law of Moses. Paul’s point in Romans 3-5 is that no amount of these works can save a person: “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20 ESV) In Romans chapter 12, Paul expounds on another kind of works, that is, “good works” which God expects his people to do after salvation, since they have a transformed heart and mind. But his point in Romans 3 is to show that no amount of work is enough to save a person.
Third,when Paul speaks of faith, he is speaking of the belief and trust that a person has in Jesus Christ for their salvation. Faith is the means of our justification. That is, we receive justification through faith in Christ. Christ has already accomplished what we need to be saved, but we receive Christ by faith. The picture Paul is drawing in Romans chapter 3-5 is of a person coming to the end of his or her own efforts and fully trusting Jesus to save him or her.
We can harmonize the teaching of James and Paul by realizing that James is using the same terminology. However, his goal is not to bring someone to salvation, his goal is to urge Christians to evaluate themselves regarding their good works. James uses the terms justified, faith, and works as they apply to a person’s experience after salvation, not before salvation.
For example, James uses the term “faith” or “believe” in the sense of someone who agrees to an idea but who is not following God: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” (James 2:14 ESV) Notice the emphatic pronoun “that” in the verse. James is saying, “Can this kind of faith (an inactive faith) save a person?” He goes on to say that even demons believe there is one God. Demons agree, in the sense of having a basic “faith,” but they are not saved.
Secondly, James uses the terms “works” to imply “good works” a person does which demonstrate his or her faith and blesses others. In James 2:25, Rahab is commended for her work of protecting the messengers of Israel when they came to spy out the land. James has already asked the church to care for orphans and widows (1:27); this would be an example of “works” which follow a person’s salvation.
Lastly, James uses the term “justified” in the sense of proving one’s faith, which is demonstrating his or her belief in Christ. In James 2:18, “But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
The teaching of James and the teaching of Paul are harmonized when we see that they are using similar terminology, but each author approaches the subject with different purposes. By reconciling these accounts, we also learn that faith and work are important components of assurance of salvation. Neither concept is meant to give complete assurance on its own of a person’s salvation. Faith serves as an internal assurance of salvation, (in conjunction with the Holy Spirit) while works serves as an external assurance of salvation. Jesus told people that they could come to him and find rest. Jesus did not teach that a certain amount of works would save a person. However, Jesus did say that those branches which are “in Him” will bear fruit. Faith and works are both mentioned in Ephesians 2:8-10: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”