THE difficulty in this case is not to be solved in dreams about different kinds of faith. Writers may speculate upon different kinds of faith till doomsday, and neither extricate themselves from the difficulty, nor their readers. James and Paul were speaking of precisely the same kind of faith; but Paul’s “deeds of the law” are not the same as James’ “works;” or no man can avoid a contradiction. Paul and James are both speaking of the faith that justifies man, but neither of them are speaking of faith alone. Paul and James were speaking of the faith of Christ, by which the heart is purified, “without the deeds of the law” of Moses, and both would have agreed any time, that by the deeds of the law of Moses, no man could be justified in the sight of God. But the deeds of the law of Moses and the deeds of the gospel—the “good works which God has ordained that we should walk in them”—as mentioned by Paul—Eph. ii. 10—and the works of James, are not the same by any means. Paul was arguing against opposing Jews, who contended that men could be justified by the works or deeds of the law of Moses, and maintained in opposition to them, that, by the deeds of their law, no man could be justified in the sight of God; but man is now; justified by the faith of Christ, that works by love and purifies the heart—through the deeds of the gospel—the good works of the gospel—not the deeds of law, but the works of faith, like the works of Abraham, of which James speaks.
Neither Paul nor James believed that justification was by faith alone. Neither of them believed, or taught, that justification was by the deeds of the law of Moses. Neither of them believed that a man could be justified by faith, without the works of the gospel. Justification is by faith, not in the law of Moses, but in Christ; not alone, but, as Paul has it, in the “good works (of the gospel) which God hath ordained that we should walk in them;” or, as James has it, in the case of Abraham, his faith, wrought with his works, and through the divine appointment of both his faith and his works, the Lord justifies those who come to him. It is neither faith nor works, either of law or gospel, that justifies the sinner. It is God that justifies; but he only justifies those who come in a proper spirit, to his appointments.