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HOW CAN A MAN BE JUSTIFIED?
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11
James 2:24

Romans 3:26-28

 

“…a man is justified by faith

without the deeds of the law.”

 

HOW CAN A MAN BE JUSTIFIED?
 
James argues in James 2:24, “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.” But is he talking about how a sinner can be forgiven and be declared righteous as if he had no sin? If it is, then he contradicts what David wrote in Psalm 143:1-2. So who is right?
 
By works a man is justified: Certainly, the Bible tells us that it is by faith alone, yet it is not a cold, abstract, inoperative faith. James is right because he uses the word “justified” (dikaioo), which means to vindicate, prove, or show to be correct. The Lord Jesus uses this same word in Luke 10:29: “But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?” So what James says is very accurate: good works are proof of a man’s righteousness. Good works are evidence of the faith that wrought genuine salvation. Thus, a phoney faith is powerless and dead. In other words, no man will be justified who has not a faith that will produce good works.
 
By faith alone a man is justified: Faith alone that saves and produces good works justifies a sinner. No amount of good works can earn a man merit to declare himself righteous before the thrice-holy God. The ground of justification is faith, given through the grace of God, and that only, nothing else! Thus man is justified and saved not by any good works (Rom 11:5-6).
 
James, therefore, does not contradict the rest of Scripture. He says “that by works a man is justified” (James 2:24) because a faith that results in genuine salvation will have works as a necessary proof. He never denies that a man is justified purely by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, together with Paul, James says that nothing but a holy life can show that a man is a genuine Christian and is accepted by God. Likewise, nothing more than a God-given faith justifies a man, declaring him wholly righteous in the eyes of God.
 
THOUGHT: Do my good works justify (i.e. vindicate) me?
PRAYER: Father, I thank Thee that Thou art the Author of the perfectly infallible and inerrant Scriptures.

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