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No.8.
Righteousness, or Faith made Perfect.
pp. 135 - 140
We have considered the meaning of righteousness, and have seen the way in which it
is related to law, faith and grace in the Scriptures. We now turn our attention to the
testimony of two apostles to the doctrine of Justification. First we will examine the
teaching of James, who wrote:
"Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only" (James 2: 24).
Is the testimony of James a contradiction of the teaching of Paul? Some say that it is
and sweep it aside. "No", says others, "James was not ministering the gospel of Grace:
his readers were the Circumcision; they were justified by works"! This is equally
disastrous, for the Scriptures have declared that `by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be
justified in His sight'. The key to the problem is found in two facts:
(1) Justification by faith, as taught in Romans, finds its basic Scripture in Gen. 15:
Justification by works, as taught in James, finds its basic Scripture in Gen. 22:
Between these two passages Abraham has been exhorted to `walk before God and be
perfect', and in Gen. 22:, in the offering of Isaac, his faith was tried and found true.
(2) The second fact is found in James 2: 22:
"Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?"
("Perfect" is a key word of James.)
JUSTIFICATION AS TAUGHT BY PAUL:
Genesis 15: 6 and Romans 4: 4 - 25.
(1) The Negative--How Abraham WAS NOT justified.
(a) Not by works (Rom. 4: 4-8).
(b) Not by circumcision (Rom. 4: 9-12).
(c) Not by law (Rom. 4: 13-16).
(2) The Positive--How Abraham WAS justified.
(a) Faith, related to resurrection power (Rom. 4: 17).
(b) Faith, facing human inability (Rom. 4: 19).
(c) Faith, related to promise and the Word (Rom. 4: 17, 18, 20).
(3) The Personal--How may I be justified?
(a) Not "for his sake alone". The analogy of Scripture (Rom. 4: 23).
(b) If we believe (Rom. 4: 24).
(c) Raised again because of our justification (Rom. 4: 25).
JUSTIFICATION AS TAUGHT BY JAMES:
(1)
His basis is Gen. 22: Abraham's existing faith was tried and proved to be genuine
by the "work of faith". "Now I know" (Gen. 22: 12).
(2)
"Perfect" is in the Greek teleioo. This word is cognate with telos, which means `end',
in the sense of `goal' (Rom. 6: 21; I Cor. 15: 24; I Tim. 1: 5; James 5: 11).