Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

II. PRINCIPLES OF HOLINESS IN THE BIBLICAL
FRAMEWORK
(2:1-26)
Introduction
In Chapter 2 James does not suddenly shift gears to deal with a number of unrelated
topics in a disjointed way. Nothing could be further from the truth.
First of all, under the umbrella of the overarching theme of “Practical
Godliness” he focuses the attention of his readers upon two fundamental
principles, upon the law of God as the full-orbed and all-encompassing substance
of practical godliness, and upon faith as the powerful dynamic, the
awesome driving force behind practical godliness. The former should not
come as a surprise in the light of James 2:25, neither the latter in the light of
James 1:6. He extrapolates on two earlier mentioned themes as two buds and
presents them in their full bloom. Let me make some introductory remarks
about both in order to show, where James is coming from, and where he is
heading. First then James’ purpose in his focus upon the law! He apparently
has not exhausted this subject in the previous section.
The law clearly cannot make a person holy. God “tried” to do just that
with the law on Mount Sinai, and he “failed.” Of course, he “tried” and
“failed” methodologically in order to demonstrate once and for all that “to
try” is by definition “to fail.” Paul’s pointed statement to the effect that the
law was designed to “stir” up sin (Rom. 7:8-11; Gal. 3:19) leaves no doubt
about this. Especially this methodological, and therefore pedagogical, “failure”
accentuates the indispensable nature of the full, triadic, Gospel. Just as
“Mt. Sinai” demonstrates that there is no such thing as a “good will” in regeneration
(John 1:12-13), nor of “good works” in justification (Rom 4:1-8),
so it also demonstrates that there is no such thing as “good efforts” in sanctification.
The law does not only prove to be the taskmaster/tutor unto Christ as
the sole origin of regeneration (Deut. 31:26-27; Rom. 6:6). Neither does the
law merely prove to be the taskmaster/tutor unto Christ as the sole ground of
justification (Gal. 4:24). It also proves to be the taskmaster/tutor unto Christ
as the sole source of sanctification (Rom. 7:4-6).
By the same token the law certainly can and does tell us what holiness is,
contrary to the anti-nomian and non-nomian positions, outlined in the context
of James 1:25. Nevertheless, however much the law exposes sin in, and spells
death for, rebels (Deut. 30:14-20), in and by itself it spells holiness and life
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