Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

mai). In other words, James wishes to ascertain that his message is unfailingly
and permanently “registered.” “God said it! Did you get it (Zodhiates, II, 33;
Phillips, 87-88)?” Faith is worthless and futile unless accompanied by works!
That these works are not the ones championed by the Jews who do the
works of darkness in the footsteps of their father, the devil, (John 8:41),
stands to reason (See Zodhiates, II, 39). Ironically these very demonic
“works” eventually caused James’ death! That they are neither the works of
self-righteousness, condemned by Paul as tantamount to manure (“excrement;”
see Phil. 3:8) stands to reason as well. The James of the Epistle and
the James of the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15) are one and the same. Incidentally,
the term empty-headed, “full of windy presumptions and boasting professions”
(Manton, 243) is “particularly effective here because of the way the
term is used to mean ‘without result/profit’ in passages like Acts 4:25; 1 Cor.
15:10, 58; 1 Thess. 2:1; and 2 Cor. 6:1” (Johnson, 241). 254
Before we turn to the two paradigms that undergird James’ thesis, Abraham
and Rahab, let us give a summary of the biblical doctrine of justification.
This will be helpful in the assessment of the relationship between James and
Paul. It is well known, of course, that they are alleged to be at loggerheads by
some. James states in this section, “A man is justified by works, and not by
faith only” (Jam. 2:24). Paul, on the other hand, holds that “a man is justified
by faith without the works of the law” (Rom. 3:28). On the surface, it seems
that they could not contradict each other more! However, as has already been
argued in more than a preliminary fashion, nothing could be farther from the
truth. The exegesis of the present section will underscore this. But before I
turn to this, first a systematic summary of the biblical doctrine of justification
as backdrop!
Topical Focus # 12: Justification
Regrettably Church history has witnessed heaps of twisting and short-circuiting misunderstanding
of the doctrine of justification by faith. This is nearly inevitable, unless
it is placed in the framework of God’s total new-covenantal saving activity. As I have
already mentioned, this Gospel activity is threefold. It is based on the threefold promise
of God to his covenant people, the promise of Jesus’ heart in regeneration, of Jesus’
righteousness in justification and of Jesus’ holiness in sanctification. These three
promises may neither be separated, nor confused, or the twisting, short-circuiting and
misunderstanding are unavoidable. But they must be distinguished. The objective of
254 Manton, 243, holds that in Matthew 5:22 Christ forbids this kind of terminology only in
the context of anger, with reference to Matthew 23:17; Luke 24:25; and Galatians 3:1, insisting
on “a difference between necessary corrections and contemptuous speech or reproof.”
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