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 words, same example. Both quote Abraham (PBUH) and Genesis 15:6 — Paul to prove faith alone, James to prove the opposite.
- 4.Luther noticed it too and called James an epistle of straw, wanting it out of the Bible.
The claim being examined
The letter of James reads like a direct reply to Paul's teaching that a person is saved by faith and not by what they do.
The Islamic position
Islam holds faith and action to be inseparable: belief held in the heart and shown in what the limbs do. That is exactly what James says.
Analysis
The two verses are not just similar in theme. In Greek they use the same two key words — the verb for "justified" and the noun for "works" — they both reach for Abraham (PBUH), they both quote Genesis 15:6, and they arrive at opposite verdicts. James Tabor reads James as the voice of the Jerusalem community pushing back against where Paul's preaching was leading people. Martin Luther's verdict is worth quoting because it comes from a Christian, not a Muslim: he could not reconcile James with Paul, and put James last among the books of the New Testament. State the standard answer fairly first — that Paul means ritual law while James means the fruit of real faith. It is a serious position and saying it fairly buys you credibility. Then ask the honest question: that requires two writers to use the identical words in different senses, without either of them mentioning 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 (PBUH) was justified by works he had something to boast about. Abraham (PBUH) believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. |
| James | 2:21-23 | Was not Abraham (PBUH) our father justified by works when he offered Isaac (PBUH)? And the scripture was fulfilled: Abraham (PBUH) believed God. |
From the Qur'an
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ
inna alladhīna āmanū waʿamilū l-ṣāliḥāti
Indeed, those who believe and do righteous deeds…
إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ لَفِى خُسْرٍ إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ
inna l-insāna lafī khus'rin illā alladhīna āmanū waʿamilū l-ṣāliḥāti
Mankind is in loss, except those who believe and do righteous deeds.
From the Bible
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 Bibleἐξ 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 Bibleἡ πίστις … νεκρά ἐστιν καθ' ἑαυτήν
Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
Read it in their Bibleνόμον 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
Islam is built upon five: the testimony of faith, establishing prayer, giving zakat, the pilgrimage and fasting Ramadan.
Sources
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