Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

“smaller than life,” and so far from being heralded as the crowning piece of
God’s saving activity appear tucked away, whether consciously or not, in a
neat little corner seemingly as a virtual Reformation embarrassment? Pulpits
should equally ring out with the dual message of “justified by deeds” (James)
and “justified by faith” (Paul). Since both phrases are fully “God-breathed”
and therefore “coins of the realm,” both should be in full circulation as legitimate,
in fact, necessary tender.
That this requires careful definition and painstaking demarcation is royally
conceded, but the benefit would be incalculable. It is about time that
James in this crucial area is no longer treated as an orphan. In fact, in as much
James in the temporal sense is primus inter pares among the NT authors and
in the doctrinal sense lays the foundation for them, his message should be
shouted from the rooftops first and foremost, and then shown that all other
NT authors make the support of his cause their Number 1 priority! Regrettably,
this is not the case.
James’ teaching is legal tender, all right. No one this day and age denies
its right to exist. Quite the contrary! But compared to Paul its circulation resembles
that of a US$2 bill versus a US$1 bill. US$2 notes are rather rare,
US$1 notes quite copious. As soon as we recognize that Scripture’s preoccupation
with sanctification outdistances that of justification by far, the anomaly
of this situation is immediately clear. Christ’s Church must take the biblical
model seriously, in fact, more seriously than it presently does, and circulate
James’ doctrine of sanctification as a US$1 bill, and not fall into the fateful
error of making it virtually disappear as a US$2 bill, without, of course, taking
anything away from the precious, and often beleaguered, biblical
(Pauline) doctrine of justification as a US$1 bill in its own rights as well. 252
The upshot of it all is rather ironic. It appears that Luther, however much
he is “thumbed down” officially from an exegetical and theological perspective,
still unofficially seems to rule the roost in a rather embarrassing way
from an intuitional and applicatory perspective (So also Cranfield, 182). It
may well be that Paul, with his continuing barrage of imperatives unto godliness
in each one of his letters would turn over in his grave, if he were informed
that his doctrine of “justification by faith” had become an implicit and
252 According to US Today, August 12, 2005, 7D, “The Two Dollar Bill has largely been
locked away in dark U.S. Federal Reserve vaults, rarely distributed by banks and almost never
seen in circulation. It is extremely rare to actually find one in your pocket these days.” It
seems that James’ “Doctrine of Justification by Deeds” is suffering a similar fate, as it languishes
in the vaults of the Church, is not often proclaimed from its pulpits, and is hardly a
household word among its parishioners.
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