of your faith produces steadfastness,” which in turn will lead to perfection (1:4).
James’s understanding of Abraham’s faith was not unique. A similar argument is found in 1 Maccabees, a book (composed c. 100 BC) that narrates the Jewish revolt against Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 167 BC. Abraham, his faith and his righteousness are cited by the leader of the Maccabean revolt. On his deathbed the priest Mattathias exhorts his sons,
Now, my children, show zeal for the law, and give your lives for the covenant of our fathers. Remember the deeds of the fathers, which they did in their generations; and receive great honor and an everlasting name. Was not Abraham found faithful when tested, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness? (1 Macc 2:50–52)
According to Mattathias, Abraham was found “faithful” when he was “tested” by God’s command to offer up his son Isaac (Gen 22). Abraham’s faithfulness (i.e., his faith in God) “was reckoned to him as righteousness.” This last part of v. 52 is an unmistakable allusion to Genesis 15:6, which both James and Paul quote in their respective arguments. The argument of James, however, parallels some of the argument in 1 Maccabees 2 more closely than does Paul’s argument. In James and 1 Maccabees, the claim is made that Abraham’s faith in God was witnessed in his willingness to offer up his son. It was this faith that was reckoned to him as righteousness. The overlap in the scriptural appeal of 1 Maccabees and James helps us understand more clearly the differences in the respective arguments of James and Paul.
Both James and 1 Maccabees argue that genuine faith takes action, or, to put it the other way, action demonstrates the reality of faith. For Mattathias, true faith was demonstrated by zeal for the Law of Moses. For James, true faith was demonstrated by fulfilling the “royal law,” that is, loving one’s neighbor as one’s self (2:8–20). A faith that does not produce “works,” that is, works of mercy toward those in need, is a dead faith (James 2:24–26). In the section that follows we shall see that this teaching does not contradict Paul’s teaching about justification apart from works of the Law.
The Message of Paul: “No One Is Justified by Works of the Law”
Before examining Paul’s teaching, it will be helpful to review his relationship to James, as Paul himself describes it and as it is described by the author of the book of Acts. The evidence suggests that although Paul respected James, the brother of Jesus, there were some tensions.
In Galatians 2:9, Paul refers to James as one of the “pillars” of the Church. “Pillar” here may carry temple connotations, as when the word occurs in reference to the pillars, or upright frames, in the wilderness tabernacle (e.g., Exod 26:15–37; 27:10–17; 35:11, 17; 36:36, 38; 38:10–19; 39:33, 40; 40:18). Some scholars suspect that the early Church viewed James, Peter (or Cephas) and John as pillars of the new temple. Richard Bauckham has argued that the leaders of the Jesus movement were called pillars as part of the “early Church’s understanding of itself as the eschatological Temple,” on analogy with the Qumran community, which also saw itself as a spiritual temple.7
In Christian tradition, Peter is the rock on which Jesus will build his Church (Matt 16:18), Jesus himself is the foundation (1 Cor 3:11) or cornerstone (Eph 2:20; 1 Pet 2:4, 6–7), and Christian believers are themselves the building blocks of a living temple (1 Pet 2:5; Hermas, Visions 3; and Similitudes 9). Some of this imagery is itself based on the temple imagery found in the Old Testament Scriptures, especially in reference to the promised and awaited eschatological temple: stones and foundations (Isa 54:11), cornerstone (Isa 28:16; Ps. 118:22; both quoted in 1 Pet 2:6–7) and pillars (Prov 9:1). In post-New Testament traditions, James is himself called the “Rampart of the People” (according to Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 2.23.7), a title probably based on Isaiah 54:11–12 and likely also part of the imagery of the eschatological temple.
Being regarded as one of the “pillars” of the early Church testifies to the esteem in which James was held. The book of Acts also testifies to the esteem of James, as well as to his leadership. We see this when James directs Paul to purify himself and pay the expenses of four men who are under a Nazirite vow. Not only do we catch an important glimpse of James’s continuing leadership and authority, we may also discover how it is that James was able to reside in Jerusalem while others, like Peter and the original apostles, found it necessary to relocate.
When Paul returned to Jerusalem in 58 AD, in time for the Feast of Pentecost, he visited James and “all the elders” (Acts 21:18). Paul related to them what he had experienced in his recent travels and missionary activities, for which James and his colleagues expressed joy (21:19–20). But then James had advice for Paul on how to conduct himself (21:20–25). James told Paul that by doing what had been suggested, “all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you but that you yourself live in observance of the law” (21:24).
The author of the book of Acts has labored to show that Paul and James held to essentially the same view with respect to the crucial question of circumcision and law. Fair and careful reading of Paul’s letters suggests that the portrait in Acts is accurate, even if vague and incomplete in places. But one important point of comparison remains to be considered. Did Paul and James differ over the place of “works of law” in the life of the believer? It is time now to turn once again to the letter of James.
In his polemical and at times heated letter to the churches of Galatia, Paul emphatically gives expression to his view that no one can be justified by works of the Law:
We ourselves, who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, yet who know that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law shall no one be justified. (Gal 2:15–16)
Thus Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” So you see that it is men of faith who are the sons of Abraham. (Gal 3:6–7)
Now it is evident that no man is justified before God by the law; for “He who through faith is righteous shall live”; but the law does not rest on faith, for “He who does them shall live by them.” (Gal 3:11–12)
One hardly needs to be a theologian or Bible scholar to hear what Paul is saying in these passages: “No one is justified by works of the Law.” Paul bases his argument for the most part on the well-known passage in Genesis where Abraham, in response to God’s promise of land, seed and blessing, “believed the LORD; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness” (Gen 15:6). He also appeals to Habakkuk 2:4 (in Gal 3:11). That the law requires “works” (or “doing”) is seen in Leviticus 18:5, which Paul also quotes (in Gal 3:12).
In a less polemical tone, Paul restates his argument in his letter to the Christians in Rome. Here Paul has given careful thought to this interpretation of Scripture and how it sheds light on the question the law and justification. Paul says,
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith…For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law. (Rom 3:21–28)
For Paul, salvation cannot be earned. If righteousness before God—and therefore salvation—could be earned, then there would have been no need for the Messiah, God’s Son, to die on the cross. Rather, salvation is a gift of God, received
