Faith Over Works: Understanding Justification in Christianity

Joel Beeke tackles the theological debate surrounding justification, highlighting the biblical perspective that salvation is attained through faith in Christ rather than by human works. He delves into scriptural teachings that underscore the sufficiency of Christ’s atonement and the role of faith in securing a believer’s righteousness before God, dismissing the notion that human efforts can earn salvation.

The following unedited transcript is provided by Beluga AI.

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Our scripture reading tonight is from Romans 3 and James 2. Romans 3:21-28.

²¹ But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²² even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, ²⁶ to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. ²⁷ Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. ²⁸ Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. (Romans 3:21-28, NKJV)

And then let’s turn to James 2:14-26.

¹⁴ What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? ¹⁷ Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. ¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! ²⁰ But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? ²² Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? ²³ And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. ²⁴ You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. ²⁵ Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? ²⁶ For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (James 2:14-26, NKJV)

Dear congregation, as you recall, we have been following the work of the Holy Spirit in the souls of believers, and we’ve been looking at various aspects of the order of salvation, regeneration, or first calling, then regeneration. And we looked at repentance.

But next, in order, we might look at faith or justification by faith. And yet this doctrine is one that is often contested. Justification by faith, with works or without works, is the big question. Justification itself, of course, is the doctrine that really revolutionized Europe in the 16th century. And Satan was hovering over the continent saying, Europe is mine. God intervened with justification by faith alone and said, Europe is mine. This ushered in the great reformation. This is ultimately what the reformation is all about, justification by gracious faith alone.

And the rediscovery of this doctrine is being challenged today in many circles, even reformed churches that are again trying to mix works with faith as far as the ground of justification is concerned. So today we urgently need to hear about this doctrine again and again, and that for several reasons. First of all, because it not only speaks about the gospel, but it is the gospel. And therefore, every faithful preacher would desire to preach justification by faith alone.

I should suppose till his dying day and say with John Bunyan, I want to live preaching it, and I want to die preaching it. But secondly, when correctly understood, justification by faith is the greatest antidote to heresy. Nearly every heresy that plagues the Christian church is some distortion of this doctrine. And then too, we want to consider justification by faith alone again and again, because it’s the secret to a revived church, it’s the secret to evangelism, it’s the secret to pastoral counseling.

When people hear this doctrine and come to understand who they are, and come to understand that we are saved through Christ alone, by faith alone, they can be released from spiritual bondage and find personal revival in their own souls and a desire to serve the Lord, world without end. And finally, this doctrine is so important because it’s a doctrine so abused, so misunderstood, even in Christian circles. Michael Horton, a few years ago, went to evangelical churches and took a survey, asking a question: What is justification?

And 85% of evangelicals could not say justification is the forgiveness of sins and a right to eternal life. They didn’t know what it meant. What a tragedy, not even to know it in our mind, the most staple doctrine of the Christian faith. And so how needful it is that we return to this doctrine tonight and preach it also in conjunction with James, who says clearly that we are not justified by faith alone. And every thinking Christian has at one point or another in his life had to grapple with these two texts.

Romans were justified by faith alone. James were not justified by faith alone. How can they be reconciled. Of course, they must be, because we believe in the analogy of faith, that scripture does not contradict scripture. But how do we understand these two various presentations? Well, that’s our subject for tonight.

You can see our text in Romans 3:28 and

²⁸ Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. (Romans 3:28, NKJV)

And James 2:24,

²⁴ You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. (James 2:24, NKJV)

So, our theme tonight as we look at Paul and James on this subject is justification: by faith or by faith and works. We want to look at two first: the root of justification and second, the fruit of justification. The root of justification. The fruit of justification.

I want to set before you tonight a scenario of two people, let’s say two men who want to come to our church, want to make confession of their faith, join our church, come to the Lord’s supper, and so on. And we, let’s pretend for a moment we’re all pastors, and we’re sitting down with these two gentlemen and we’re asking them, on what basis do you believe that you are a Christian? Gentleman number one stands up and says, well, I know I’m a Christian. I’ve always come faithfully to church.

I’m a pretty good husband, even a better father. I spend time with my children. I try hard to read the Bible every day; I pray every day. I participate in as many church activities as I can. And I’m a good neighbor. I’m as faithful as one can hope to be in this life. And he sits down. What would you say to him?

And then gentleman number two steps up, stands up, and he says, well, I’m a Christian. I know that because I believe in Jesus Christ alone, praise God, and everything is well with my soul.

But you as a pastor have just received a letter which you pull out of your pocket, which is from his former church, declaring that his walk of life is very poor and that though he professes faith in Jesus Christ, his life doesn’t show it. He’s a lousy father and a lousy husband and an unfaithful church member. The first man said nothing about Christ, nothing about faith. The second man said everything about Christ and everything about faith. Which man is a believer? Are they both perhaps, or perhaps neither?

Well, I want to hold you in suspense because we want to look at what Paul and James say about such things, and then we’ll come back and be able to make a more informed decision about these two men. You see, the dilemma before us is not an easy one. Are we justified by faith only, or are we justified by faith and works? James and Paul seem to be saying different things now.

Of course, we belong to the reform tradition, and we all know what happened back in the 1510s, a few years before Luther posted the theses on the church doors of Wittenberg. Luther came to understand that salvation was by justification, by faith only in his so-called tower experience. In fact, this is what he said of this dramatic experience.

I greatly longed to understand Paul’s epistle to the Romans, and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, the righteousness of God, because I took that expression to mean that righteousness whereby God is righteous and deals righteously in punishing the unrighteous. Night and day I pondered the righteousness of God until I grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby through grace and sheer mercy, he justifies us by faith only. And thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise.

And the whole of scripture took on a new meaning for me. Whereas before, the righteousness of God had filled me with hatred, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet and filled me with great love, that this passage of Paul became to me a gateway of heaven. And so Luther said, justification by faith alone became the very cornerstone doctrine by which a church either stands or falls. It’s the anchor point of every church, even until today. And as a reformed church, a protestant church, we confess that we agree with Luther.

This is the very doctrine, the very article, as Luther put it, on which the church stands or falls. Now, today, in reformed churches, there are many people in several orthodox churches who, under the name of new perspective of Paul, are essentially arguing for a faith and works basis for salvation. And they’re saying Luther didn’t get it right, and the reformed churches for centuries haven’t got it right. We are saved by faith plus persevering works. Isn’t that what James is saying? And therefore we must be misinterpreting Paul. Well, what would Luther say to that?

Luther, at least early in his ministry, didn’t like the book of James too much. He was troubled by James, too, quite frankly. He wrote these famous words: St. Paul’s epistles, especially those to Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians, and St. Peter’s first epistle. These are the books that show Christ and teach that everything that is needful and blessed to know, even though you never see or hear any other book or doctrine. Therefore, St. James’ epistle is a right strawy epistle in comparison with them, for there’s no gospel character to it.

What does Luther mean when he calls James a right strawy epistle? Well, he means that it appeared to him to be like straw. It appeared to him to be weak, of little content or little substance regarding the gospel. He was confounded by James’ description of justification. It was not denying that James was inspired or its canonicity, but he was downplaying its value to the church. He said, if you really want to understand the gospel, you’ve got to read Paul’s epistles and Peter and not James. James was of lesser value in the eyes of Luther.

Now, Luther was correct, of course, in saying that James is not a doctrinal treatise per se. That’s not James’ primary purpose to present doctrine, but it is an intensely practical book. And what Luther failed to see, at least early on in his life, we have some reason to believe he saw it more later, is that James isn’t dealing so much with justification, but really dealing with sanctification, how to live the Christian life. But that leaves us still with a question, doesn’t it? How do we reconcile? How do we harmonize Romans and James?

Paul is very clear. We are saved by faith alone, apart from works. And James says we’re saved by faith and works. How do you bring them together? Well, let’s look first at the root of justification from Romans 3. Really? That’s what Paul is talking about, the ground or the root of justification. If you open your Bibles and look with me at Romans 3, I want to show you something very important here, as many theologians have pointed out in past ages, that the prepositions in the New Testament are very important.

And we see that justification is, if you look at verse 24, by grace, by grace, and then we look at verse 22, and we see it’s by and through faith. That’s repeated in verse 25, by through faith, verse 28, verse 30. And then we see that it’s also in Jesus Christ, verse 24, verse 26, and it’s without. That is, apart from the works of the law, verse 21, verse 28.

So when you bring these four things together, you have a very clear doctrinal statement repeated by Paul in these foundational verses: that justification is by grace, through faith in Christ, without the works of the law. Now, Luther said, because it’s without the works of the law that we get righteousness.

It’s not something we do, and it’s by faith in another who’s outside of us, Jesus Christ, who is our righteousness. That our righteousness is therefore an alien righteousness, that’s a key expression of Luther and of the Protestant faith, an alien, or we would say today, a foreign righteousness, a righteousness coming to us from outside of us, received by faith alone. At the end of verse 22, Paul says, this righteousness comes to all who believe, whether they are Jew or Gentile. There is no difference.

So the words faith and the word believe are from the same root in the Greek language. It’s the famous Greek word pistus or pistuo, which affirms that justification is by faith alone. Faith alone. And then Paul goes on to tell us in verses 23 and 24 why we needed to be by faith alone, because we have all come short, we have all sinned. We have all come short of the glory of God.

²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23, NKJV)

If it is not by faith alone, we perish and we are all hell bound.

So to be justified, that is, to be made right with God, to have our sins forgiven and to have a right to eternal life, always the two sides of justification. You know that well, I hope. To be justified is for God to declare the guilty sinner to be righteous and to be accepted by God through faith, so that the moment he truly believes in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, he is received and accepted by God. And God can then be just, as Paul says here, and the justifier of him who believes in Jesus.

So justification is the forensic declaration, that is, the judicial declaration, like a judge, the judicial declaration of God who credits his son’s payment for sin and his son’s perfect obedience to the law, to the sinner’s account, so that I am reckoned as if as a believer, as if I have never sinned, and as if I have obeyed the law perfectly, as if I had paid for the punishment of every iniquity.

And so then Paul goes on to say this in verses 24 and 25,

²⁴ being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, (Romans 3:24-25, NKJV)

So the whole point here is that justification comes to the unworthy, to those sinners who have come short of the glory of God. It comes to the ungodly, and it comes as a free gift. Absolutely nothing that I do or can do accomplishes one iota of this righteousness or this justification.

All comes from grace, and all comes by faith, by believing, surrendering alone to trust in Christ alone, faith as one object, completely trusting in Jesus Christ, so that no credit ever accrues to me whatsoever. And so faith looks to Jesus, looks to him as the perfectly obedient one who loves God above all and his neighbors as himself for 33 years without ever sinning, and it looks to him as the dying one on the cross, who suffered and paid for sin and hung in the naked wrath of God to bear iniquity with no friendly eye upon him.

Rejected by heaven, rejected by earth, rejected by hell. There trotting the wine press alone as a suffering passion, Lord, in order to merit full payment for sin and to drink the cup of his father’s wrath to its bottom, bitter dregs, so that he could cry out, in the end, “It is finished,” and bring in a righteousness that is acceptable to God the Father. But he, being perfect, you see, he didn’t do that for himself.

He did that for sinners who have come short of the glory of God, and who now by grace, by the work of the Holy Spirit, working faith in us, may believe in the savior alone for salvation. So it’s from this passage especially. It’s the number one passage in the Bible that is at the center of what the reformation was all about. All the solas, the major solas, the sola grazia, by grace alone, the sola fide, by faith alone, the sola christus in Christ alone. It centers really on this passage most of all.

This is God’s way of salvation. Paul puts it this way in verse 25: to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God. Then he says it again: to declare, I say at this time his righteousness, that he may be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. So, Paul could not say it any plainer, that the death of Christ is the sole ground of our justification, and faith is its exclusive means. We are justified by gracious faith alone.

Paul is not yet done, even though he has repeated himself three or four times in these verses already. He goes on now to argue that because it’s by faith alone, it cannot be by faith and works. He sets it forth in these verses, beginning in verse 27, as an either-or situation, not as a both-and proposition. He’s saying faith and works are mutually exclusive as the ground of our justification. Look at verse 27.

²⁷ Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. (Romans 3:27, NKJV)

This whole argument, you see, is if justification is at least partially by works, then we can at least partially boast. Now, he says, there are no works to present to God that are acceptable with God. Boasting is excluded by what law of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. So he’s saying, not only do you not have any works with which to boast before God, but also your faith by which you are saved, that you don’t have any reason to boast about either, because that, too, is the gift of God.

That, too, is the work of the Holy Spirit. And faith has all its boast in the Lord Jesus Christ and its object. And so the law of faith says, because faith is not a work, but faith is something that you receive. The law of faith says, there is no ground to boast in anything in mere sinful man. And then Paul concludes in verse 28,

²⁸ Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. (Romans 3:28, NKJV)

Now, interestingly, when Luther translated the Bible into German, he added the word alone in there. He took the liberty to say, therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith alone without the deeds of the law. Because he said, that’s obviously what Paul was saying here. Although that word was a bit interpretive on Luther’s part, he’s certainly correct, isn’t he? This is what Paul was saying. There’s only one way of salvation, justification by faith alone. And then he goes on to say in verses 29 and 30, circumcision is nothing.

²⁹ Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, ³⁰ since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. (Romans 3:29-30, NKJV)

Uncircumcision is nothing. Faith in Christ alone is everything, not just for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles.

¹⁹ Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters. (1 Corinthians 7:19, NKJV)

So now everyone, everyone is saved in one way, who is truly saved, who are saved through justification by faith alone. Now, Paul then goes on in chapter four, and he brings in Abraham as an example. And he says, what did Abraham discover about justification? And in verse two, he answers, if Abraham were justified by works, he, too would have had something to glory about. But what sets of scripture, he says in verse three.

And then he appeals to the Old Testament. And notice, he quotes that foundational verse in the Old Testament. If you want to evangelize someone, you ought to always come back to this verse, Genesis 15:6, which affirms that justification has always been by faith alone.

⁶ just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness”? (Galatians 3:6, NKJV)

Just as an attorney would enter evidence into the public record of the courtroom, so Paul quotes this passage.

⁶ And he believed in the Lord , and he accounted it to him for righteousness. (Genesis 15:6, NKJV)

You see, this verse teaches us that justification is the act of God, which credits his perfect righteousness to spiritually bankrupt people who believe in Christ alone. We are all spiritually bankrupt, but Christ imputes it, his righteousness to us upon faith by faith alone.

So he goes on to say in verse four, now, to him that worketh, to him that worketh, that is, those who, those who produce human efforts of self-righteousness to try to earn salvation, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

⁴ Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. (Romans 4:4, NKJV)

In other words, if a person could work perfectly enough to receive the righteousness of God, it would not be a gift but wages earned, says Paul. And then he goes on to say in verse five,

⁵ But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, (Romans 4:5, NKJV)

He’s saying, this is the faith Abraham had, not a faith based on his works, but a faith based on Jesus Christ’s righteousness alone.

Now, you see, all of this flies in the face of what Roman Catholicism taught at the time of the reformation and still teaches today. Rome has always taught faith, and works are the ground of our justification. There’s always something you need to do in addition to what God has done for you. And that’s why in the Roman Catholic Church, you can never have assurance of faith, because the part that you have to accomplish, you can always fall away from it because you’re a weak, feeble, sinful human being.

And so the council of Trent in the 1540s and fifties said, those are anathema who teach that we can reach assurance in this life by faith alone. And so in Rome, you’ve got to do something to add to faith alone. you’ve got to produce some works, and through your works and God’s grace and your faith, believing in Jesus, the combination of these things allows you to be saved, but you’re never sure you’re saved, because part of your salvation depends on your works. Now, all of this, of course, is utterly unbiblical.

And that’s why justification by faith alone served as a canon. It was fired in the 16th century, heard a shot was heard around the world when Luther formulated this Pauline doctrine so clearly: justification by faith alone. It’s the only way we get Christ. It’s the only way we get into Christ. It’s the only way we experience Christ by faith alone, said Luther, and he was just repeating what Paul said here in Romans 3, Romans 4, Galatians, Ephesians, almost everywhere in Paul’s writings. So how do you experience that then?

Well, faith, you see, has a true knowledge of Christ, has a true agreement of who I am and who Christ is. But also, and that’s the crowning element of faith, it trusts in Christ’s righteousness alone. It falls upon Christ. It falls into the open arms of the gospel. It surrenders everything and says, I put everything into this trust that Jesus Christ alone is my salvation. When faith does that, you see, faith receives Christ. It embraces Christ in a warm, believing embrace, and it commits my total person to the total Christ.

So unlike Rome, I can say 100% of my righteousness is found in Christ alone. Now, that’s the root, that’s the grounding, that’s the foundation of my justification. And I wonder, friends, do you know this pauline doctrine? In the experience of your soul? Can you say, this is like heaven’s music to me? This is the thing by which I live, by which I’m willing to die. I stake everything for this life and for a better upon the righteousness of Christ alone. Have you got a clear understanding of it in your mind?

Have you got a clear embracement of it with your soul? And have you been sweetly bent in your will to this doctrine? And do your affections embrace it as well? Does your total being love this doctrine? My salvation is entirely in Jesus Christ alone. I believe in him. I trust in him. The prepositions that Paul uses are that we believe into Christ, and we find everything there that we need for this life and for a better. If that’s your faith, if that’s your trust, you are saved.

And you may know you are saved because your righteousness is as sure as the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And yet here we’re going to go across the bridge, that righteousness must show itself in the fruits of our lives. And it’s that fact that brings us from Paul to James. And we’ll look at that in our second thought when we look at the fruit of justification.

Now, when James 2, the half-brother of Jesus, argues for the necessity of fruit in a Christian’s life, it’s not enough to have a root system, but there must be fruit on the tree, and the fruit on the tree will reveal whether the roots are sound and true. The roots are underground. But the life of a person shows what is in his heart through the fruits that he manifests. And so the reformers explained in the 16th century, this apparent contradiction.

This faith alone saves, but faith that is alone does not save, because faith always bears fruit. And so, good works must flow out of faith to give verification to that faith, to prove its reality. You see, the Bible speaks of faith, a faith that saves, and it speaks of a faith that does not save. The Bible speaks often of a living faith, but it also speaks of a dead faith. It speaks of a true faith that connects us to Christ, and it speaks of a counterfeit faith that leaves us separated from Christ. Think of Orpah.

Think of the five false virgins. And you see, James’ whole goal is different than Paul’s. James’ whole goal is to distinguish between this true faith and this false faith, between a saving faith and a non-saving faith. In fact, that’s the whole burden of his epistle. His whole epistle is to determine who has this pure and undefiled religion, as he calls it in James 1:27. And so, he begins the section we read in chapter two, verse 14, by saying this:

¹⁴ What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? (James 2:14, NKJV)

And the whole accent here is on the word “say.” James is saying, it’s easy to say you have faith. That word just leaps off the page at it. A man says he has faith. How easy it is to say, Lord, Lord, haven’t we done this, and haven’t we done that in thy name?

How easy it is to make a confession of faith, to verbalize, “Yes, I have faith in the Lord,” but does that faith save him if it’s not accompanied by works that reveal that his faith is true? That’s the question James raises, the question of a faith that has empty words, a faith that is really a dead faith. And James goes on to explain it to us very plainly in verses 15 and 16. If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, notice the word “say” again.

One of you say unto them, “Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled,” but you don’t give them those things that are needful to the body. What does it profit?

¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? (James 2:15-16, NKJV)

Then there are empty words arising from a dead faith. James is saying, a dead faith will produce no Samaritan-type works that reach out to help brothers and sisters from the heart in their dire need. And so you can talk about faith, but if there’s no walk, there’s no real faith. If there’s a total disconnect between your profession and your walk, your profession is false.

Whatever kind of faith you have, you don’t have saving faith, says James 2:17.

¹⁷ Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:17, NKJV)

Being alone, that’s the key, you see, when faith is all alone, when faith doesn’t have love that flows out of it, when hope doesn’t flow out of it, when works don’t flow out of it, when humility doesn’t flow out of it, when other graces don’t flow out of it, that faith is dead. Dead. It’s altogether possible that sitting here tonight are people who have a dead confession. That’s tragic.

When I was in the army, I served with a young man who went out every weekend to get drunk. He was one of the most extraordinarily selfish individuals I’ve ever met in my life. And most stubborn. Everything was about him. His whole life, his whole agenda was about him. But he said to me, “I’ve got faith. I believe in Christ alone for salvation. I believe that ever since I was a boy of seven years old. I admit I’m backsliding now, but God will bring me back.” He said he was not a Christian.

His walk betrayed the illegitimacy of his faith. And so gentleman number two, who stood up and said, “I’m a Christian. I believe in Jesus,” but for whom I received that letter in my pocket from a pastor saying his whole walk of life contradicts it. And his family at his work in the church reveals, as far as man can ascertain, that gentleman number two didn’t have saving faith. He didn’t make and can’t make a real confession because he doesn’t know the Lord Jesus Christ. He never had a crossing over the line from death to life.

He had no entering through the narrow gate. There is no drinking of Christ’s blood and eating of his flesh. There is no apprehending of Christ by faith in this man’s life. He says so, but the fruits of his life show that it is not so. That’s what James is saying. Failure to grow, failure to develop, and to bear fruits of righteousness show that the roots are illegitimate and are not alive. One of the Puritans put this so well, John Preston.

He said somewhere in his writing, something like this: He said, it’s like a woman expecting a child. She’s six or seven months along; every day, she’s feeling life. There’s movement, there’s action. And he said, that’s like faith. Faith is alive. Faith is always kicking, moving, going, doing. But if she wakes up one morning, there’s no movement, and there’s no movement the next day, and the next day, and the next day, this woman begins to ask herself, is the baby alive?

And you see, my friends, if our faith is not active and works, James is saying, your faith is dead, like that dead baby in the womb. And of course, in that case, it never was alive. It was an empty profession. So James is belaboring this difference, you see, between what a person says and claims but is not, and another person who claims to be a Christian and in fact is who will show you by his faith and his works, what a difference between those two people.

Of course, gentleman number two is going to stand up and argue. He’s going to say, “But I believe. I believe there’s one God. I believe the doctrines are well.” James says in verse 19, “you do well.” But let me tell you something, even the devils believe.

¹⁹ You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! (James 2:19, ESV)

The devils are orthodox theologians. The devils cross their theological t’s and dot their theological I’s. The devils know what is truth, but the devils don’t show it, and don’t live it, and don’t repent before God, and don’t believe in Christ alone for salvation.

You do well to believe what you believe, but in fact, James says the devils might even do more than you. He’s almost sarcastic here, and he’s blunt. The devils believe and tremble. And you, gentlemen number two, don’t even tremble before God. You see, there are right-believing people who have non-saving faith and don’t tremble by the word of God. The devils have the truth in their mind; the devils have the truth in their emotions. Even they tremble.

But the devils don’t have the truth in the persuasion to surrender all to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to live unto him, and to die unto him, and to find their life in him. True faith will show itself by surrender, by the exercise of the will, in submission to the Lord Jesus Christ. So James is speaking out against a full head, with an empty heart. He’s speaking out against an empty profession, as John records that there were people who believed in the Lord Jesus in John 2:23-25, yet did not commit themselves to Jesus. And we read that Jesus didn’t commit himself to them because he knew all men, and he knew what was in man.

²³ Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. ²⁴ But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, ²⁵ and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. (John 2:23-25, NKJV)

You see, Jesus saw their belief, and Jesus did not believe in their belief. Jesus saw that they were saying things, but not doing things. But then James goes on in verse 21, and he says something that just stuns us. Was not Abraham our father, justified by works? Are we really reading right, James?

It’s one thing to say we need to have works that flow out of our faith, but some of Abraham, our father, justified by works when he had offered up Isaac, his son, upon the altar.

²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? (James 2:21, NKJV)

Now that surely contradicts what Paul is saying. How can we be justified by faith and be justified by works? How do we untangle this knot? There are two things you need to observe here, very important things. First, notice this reference is to Genesis 22, when Abraham offered up Isaac.

When Paul refers to Abraham, says he was justified by faith, he’s referring to Genesis 15. Now, there’s a difference here. Genesis 15 is when Abraham was exercising faith and was justified. Genesis 15 is when God transferred Abraham’s righteousness, as it were, or God’s righteousness rather, to Abraham, to his morally bankrupt account. But in Genesis 22, we are talking 30 years later, and his call to offer up Isaac was a call to sanctification, not to justification. You see, in Genesis 22, Abraham has been long saved.

And that being justified by works here means that Abraham’s works were giving validation to his faith. Abraham’s works were justifying his faith. They were saying his faith is true. Abraham’s works were the fruits that revealed the roots were right. That’s what’s happening here. So, as one old divine put it, Abraham’s works were justifying his justification. Justifying, validating, declaring he is indeed justified, because you can see it in his sanctified lifestyle. The fruits are showing it. The root has produced the fruit. So it’s true.

So in Genesis 15, he’s justified by faith, but now his faith is being justified by works. And you see, the point is this. It’s a very important point. That’s the second thing, is that God always, with every believer, tests his own faith through works, through various afflictions and trials and challenges. No, we’re not all called to go offer up our son, but we are all called to face trials in life. And it’s through trials in life that we give evidence, whether we believe in God, in Christ alone, for our righteousness, yes or no.

And so our sanctification must give evidence of our justification. So James then concludes in verse 22,

²² Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? (James 2:22, NKJV)

See, that is what real faith is. Faith is just not standing alone. But faith produces works. Real faith is a living faith. It’s a living child, as it were, within us. Today, we could better translate that. By works, our faith is matured, it is perfected, it grows, it is strengthened.

So God brings trials in our lives, challenges in our lives, to strengthen our faith, to bring it to maturity and ripeness, so that the fruit matures and grows ripe on the tree. That is rooted in justification by faith alone. This doesn’t mean that our faith is absolutely perfect or will ever be until glory, but it does mean that it will be in the process of being perfected. God will use this trial and that trial and another trial to develop and to grow and to mature his people. And so James is asking another question.

Paul is asking, are you justified by faith alone? Is all your trust in Christ alone for your state, for eternity? But James is asking, how are you handling the trials of life? You know, he begins that way, too. In verses three and four, where maturity says, through manifold temptations, trials are the trials of your life, revealing that you’re going to God with them, that you’re handling them maturely, spiritually. Do they reveal the fruits of faith, fruits of love and hope and humility? And even if those fruits are very small, can you see something of them?

Or are you living all together as an unconverted person that doesn’t have faith? So as soon as trial comes, you become just like an unconverted person. That’s James’s question. If faith never works, if faith is never active, if you have no faith moving within you and showing itself outside of you, your faith is dead, and what profit do you have? And so then James sums up this whole argument and says in verse 24,

²⁴ You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. (James 2:24, NKJV)

But actually, you can see in the verse before it that he’s saying the same thing as Paul. He goes back actually to chapter 15. There, he says, the scripture was fulfilled, James 2:23, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God, but he must live it out.

²³ And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. (James 2:23, NKJV)

Hence the conclusion in verse 24. So James is saying this, let me say it as simply as I can: Sinners are justified by faith alone, but true faith will never be alone. It will always have good works. Following good works will never lead anyone into the kingdom of God. But once we are in the kingdom of God, good works will always be done, because you can’t be a Christian and not manifest fruit from the roots. Fruit bearing is the way by which we will know we are Christians and others are Christians. Jesus said, by their fruits, ye shall know them.

²⁰ Therefore by their fruits you will know them. (Matthew 7:20, NKJV)

So gentleman number two, who didn’t manifest fruits, is not making a sound confession of faith. But neither is gentleman number one, because gentleman number one doesn’t have the roots in Jesus. He’s relying on the externals. He’s just saying, well, I do this good. I do that good. I do the other thing good. He’s not speaking like a child of God who lives out of Jesus Christ alone. And we need to say to gentleman number one, you are a Pharisee, and we do him a favor by telling him that. In love, you don’t have the righteousness of Christ as the underpinning of your life. you’re still trying to hope for the best on what you do, and you will go to hell with that, my friend.

But gentlemen number two, you’re an antinomian. you’re trying to live without the law, and you’re going to go to hell with that as well. Neither one of you are Christians, so you can say you have faith, but you don’t show up by your works. You don’t have faith. And you can have a misguided faith and think that outward works are faith when you have no faith.

A true Christian is someone who is saved as an ungodly person, puts all his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation, and then by the grace of God, that is manifest in the fruit of his life. So, I need to ask you that as I close tonight. Are we men and women, and teenagers, and boys and girls of faith? Are we justified by faith alone? And do our lives reveal it? Can your wife see it on you, husband? Can your husband see it on you, wives? Can your parents see it in your life?

Children, can you see it in your parents lives? Can you see it in your friends? What is your life? Is God really number one? Or is it a life of idolatry, as you heard this morning? Is there a passion in your life to live out of obedience to God, to live a lifestyle of thanksgiving, even though you fall and stumble far too often? No, I don’t ask you if you’re perfect, but is your faith being perfected? Is it being matured? Are you increasingly thinking more of Jesus and less of yourself and longing to glorify him?

Do you have a dead faith? You find an increasing love for the things of this world, and you’re going through the motions with your religion, my friend. Even if you can say a small yes to the fact that you are producing fruit by the grace of God, there is reason to be encouraged, because true faith that bears even small fruit, if it’s true fruit, reveals a great God behind that faith, who saves even small fruit, is living faith. And your roots then reveal that you are not dead, but alive and genuine.

But if, on the other hand, there is this dichotomy in your life, you come to church on Sunday, you hear the word of God, but you go right back out into the world and you live as the world, inseparable from the world. You imbibe the entertainment of the world. You drink in the world’s philosophy and go right on your way with one hand in the world grasping the world, one hand in the Bible grasping the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s not a living faith. You can know. You can know the difference.

You can know the difference. So, Paul and James are speaking with one voice, but they’re speaking from different angles about justification. Paul is exposing those who say they are saved because they perform the laws, rituals, and the good people outwardly. He is exposing the Pharisees, burrowing down to examine the roots of our justification, and what do we trust? But James is exposing the hypocrite who claims to have the right roots, but his fruits are artificial, fake, not genuine. You see, if we are true Christians, the root of justification must produce the fruit of justification.

So here you have it, all in one summary sentence: We are justified meritoriously by the blood of Jesus Christ. We are justified instrumentally, that is, the means by which we are justified, by faith alone in these merits of Christ. But we are justified as Christians practically by our good works, not before God because He can see our heart, but before men, we reveal that we have been truly justified by faith alone. May God help us to apply these things and to live these things in His presence and in the presence of one another. Amen.