Comparative Theology · Pauline Epistles & Early Church
James 2:24 answers Romans 3:28 word for word
Handle with care. State the standard Protestant harmonisation fairly before you challenge it. It buys you credibility.
In short
- 1.**Romans 3:28** — a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
- 2.**James 2:24** — a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
- 3.**Same vocabulary, same example.** Both cite Abraham; Paul uses Genesis 15:6 to prove faith alone, James uses the same verse to prove the opposite.
- 4.**Luther saw it too** and called James an epistle of straw, wanting it out of the canon.
The claim being examined
The epistle of James appears to be a direct rebuttal of Paul''s doctrine of justification by faith apart from works.
The Islamic position
Islam holds faith and action to be inseparable: iman is belief affirmed by the heart and demonstrated by the limbs. That is precisely James''s position.
Analysis
The Greek is unusually close. Paul: δικαιοῦσθαι πίστει χωρὶς ἔργων νόμου. James: ἐξ ἔργων δικαιοῦται ἄνθρωπος καὶ οὐκ ἐκ πίστεως μόνον. Both use δικαιόω, both use ἔργα, both appeal to Abraham and Genesis 15:6, and they reach contradictory verdicts. Tabor treats James as the voice of the Jerusalem community pushing back against the antinomian consequences of Paul''s preaching. Martin Luther''s judgement is worth quoting because it is a Christian one: he found James irreconcilable with Paul and ranked it last among the New Testament books. The traditional harmonisation — that Paul means works of ritual law and James means the fruit of genuine faith — is a real position and should be stated fairly, but it requires the two writers to be using identical terms in different senses without either signalling it.
Side by side
| Romans | 3:28 | A person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. |
|---|---|---|
| James | 2:24 | A person is justified by works and not by faith alone. |
| Romans | 4:2-3 | If Abraham was justified by works he had something to boast about. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. |
| James | 2:21-23 | Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac? And the scripture was fulfilled: Abraham believed God. |
From the Qur'an
Qur'an 2:277
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِ
Indeed, those who believe and do righteous deeds…
Qur'an 103:2-3
إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَٰنَ لَفِى خُسْرٍ إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِ
Mankind is in loss, except those who believe and do righteous deeds.
From the Bible
Romans 3:28
δικαιοῦσθαι πίστει ἄνθρωπον χωρὶς ἔργων νόμου
For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
Read it in their BibleJames 2:24
ἐξ ἔργων δικαιοῦται ἄνθρωπος καὶ οὐκ ἐκ πίστεως μόνον
You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
Read it in their BibleJames 2:17
ἡ πίστις … νεκρά ἐστιν καθ' ἑαυτήν
Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
Read it in their BibleJames 1:25
νόμον τέλειον τὸν τῆς ἐλευθερίας
But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it… will be blessed in what they do.
Read it in their BibleFrom the Sunnah
Sahih al-Bukhari 8 · Sahih
Islam is built upon five: the testimony of faith, establishing prayer, giving zakat, the pilgrimage and fasting Ramadan.
Sources
James D. Tabor, Paul and Jesus (2012), ch. 9 · Martin Luther, Preface to the New Testament (1522) · Ali Ataie, lectures on faith and works (Zaytuna College) · Romans 3-4; James 2; Tabor, Paul and Jesus, ch. 9
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