One surprising thing to me about Bible study and reading is how many verses are "missed" or misunderstood. OR - we can talk about "timing" being misunderstood. Let's talk about one situation - involved in timing. This was a big part in my pilgrimage. It started with the age-old argument (really - would I EVER argue?) about James and Paul and their "doctrine" on salvation by faith. James was always allowed to be more authoritative in my religious circle for some reason in that argument. That is - UNTIL one time I was asked to take the opposite side in a debate. Plus - my friends on the other side checked out all the Library books (commentaries) on James. Well, I think I won the debate (and so did nearly everyone else) but I wasn't happy with the reasoning I had to use in which I got the book of James thrown out of the Bible. (Desperate times call for desperate measures!) So - I began to think about WHY this subject is such a quandary. I nearly always had a great respect for the Truth of Scripture and its inspiration (with that one lapse to win a debate!) and always have wished to take it as it is - and use its message to be a reality in life.
I was listening to someone expound the concept of faith/obedience in reference to "salvation/redemption" and realized he was talking about a different subject. I didn't know why at the time, but I just KNEW he was talking about something he didn't realize was not redemption at all. Maybe I could leave James in the Bible after all! Conclusions - James is talking about "sanctification" not "redemption". We translate the word as "save" - but did the context DEMAND that? NO - in fact I just had a strange "aha" moment and said to myself - "James is a Hebrew of Hebrews talking to Hebrews. He said so in chapter one, SPECIFICALLY. In fact it is in the FIRST VERSE - "To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion"
Well - there's something I overlooked for many years - who the book was written to - oh, I knew who - I just didn't realize what that ONE verse meant. It meant James was talking to Hebrew thinkers. So what? Well - I remembered what Jesus said one time, "The one who saves his life will lose it - and the one who loses it will save it" and I then KNEW what both Jesus AND Jews thought in one focus in this discussion. James is teaching about FINDING LIFE. AND - you cannot find life by claiming to believe - for a Jew, life is what is LIVED OUT - one shows what they believe by how they LIVE. That has NOTHING almost to do with redemption - but with finding meaning in our Christian lives. Paul, in most places, at least those which seem to be in opposition with James, deals with REDEMPTION as a primary focus. AND - he underlines the fact that redemption is "not of ourselves, not OF WORKS" Ephesians 2:8-9. But, Paul follows that with a verse about works in the continuing LIFE of a CHRISTIAN - "we are HIS workmanship, created in Christ for good works" verse 10. However, Paul is writing to Gentiles as the Apostle to the Gentiles - and isn't using a Hebrew focus about life - even though he spells it out pretty clearly when it certainly does NOT deal with redemption that we, in fact DO WORK. Look it up - it comes up multiple times - but not referring to redemption - only to Christian life.
BUT - if a person was just reading James, he might get the idea that works have something to do with Salvation. True - especially if we OVERLOOK the people to whom it was written and what they understood James to be writing.
WORKS and LAW - two big words over which Christians just stumble and thrash around - injuring each other and themselves. I don't expect to end the argument - we don't "let go" of our arguments in Christendom - we generally choose up sides and kill or maim - or at least start a new group AND - we have had a pretty solid example from even early centuries. Find the heretic and banish him forever - ah, there's a great way to solve things. Make people CHOOSE who is "sound in the faith" - and brand everyone else as "heretics". (Fill in your favorite word in this context - liberal, radical, of the devil or satanic, legalistic, in error, or whatever the latest buzz-word happens to be.)
Did you note that at NO TIME did the discussion actually FOCUS on Jesus? No - the focus is on US - and that is a primary problem. Paul's focus of works, at least one MAJOR one is - "God is AT WORK IN YOU, to will and to work" Philippians 2:13. (Another of those verses that just jumped up and hit me over the head and totally cleaned out my ears - and rerouted my life.) Why not allow that context to be a MAJOR part of any discussion about life and works from now on - it is what God is doing when HE is allowed to run us. (By the way - that is harmonious with Ephesians 2:10 and the works WE DO when we are HIS workmanship - at least in my translation.) Works are what God does - and HE runs me now.
Let's tackle that "law" concept - next - It won't be the "last word" on that subject either - but I'm simply sharing my pilgrimage - so, more to come
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2 comments:
You may be onto something when you suggest that the key to understanding James is the historical context; i.e. that he addressed his letter to Jews. Your contention that James is about sanctification not redemption has stirred me to do some study on the relationship between the two terms. However, I do think that James 2: 14-26 can be harmonized with the writings of Paul without appealing to the historical context and without drawing a distinction between sanctification and salvation. The primary difference between James and Paul seems a matter of emphasis. I still think that James is referring to salvation, but I’m keeping an open mind. After some more study, I’ll get back to you on this issue.
An aside: The passage in James 2 about works is written in a diatribe style; he is arguing against a hypothetical person who appears to be arguing that faith without works is sufficient for salvation. Does this necessarily mean that this notion had spread to Jewish Christians? It’s difficult (perhaps impossible) to tell. I find it strange, however, that they, of all people, would not recognize the importance of works. So it’s possible that James was simply warning his fellow Jews that this heresy was making the rounds of the Christian community and that they ought to guard themselves against it
Verner, I indicated in a previous comment that I would do some work on the meaning of sanctification. So here is what I’ve come up with.
In the past, some members of our tradition have promoted the view – also my former view -- that sanctification is an event not a process. This appears to comport with 1 Cor. 6:11: “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ . . . .” Paul speaks as though his fellow Christians were already sanctified and he connects that with their being washed and justified. However, other passages seem to point clearly to sanctification as a process that begins with justification and leads eventually to a state of holiness (perfection), which may not be fully realized until we inherit eternal life. Christians are easily confused by this; as a consequence many come down on one side of this apparent contradiction: i.e. scripture asserts that sanctification is a finished work. I’ve concluded that sanctification as a finished work (being set aside for a specific purpose) and sanctification leading to maturity or perfection are both scriptural concepts.
If the following extracts from James didn’t persuade me otherwise, I could easily share your view that James 2 is about sanctification..
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can his faith save him?
You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
And in the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by a different route?
To me, it seems inescapable that James is talking about justification not sanctification.
I do, however, find your perspective appealing in a number of ways. First, in James 1: 4, the writer does talk about sanctification: “…endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.” Although the immediate context does not address the subject of works, later in the chapter, James speaks of the need to be both hearers and doers of the word. Second, your analysis easily resolves the difficulty of trying to explain how James and Paul complement rather than contradict one another. Third -- and I wish I could think of a less awkward way to put this -- it removes the problem of trying to come to grips with how many works are necessary before Christians can assure themselves that their faith is real and that they do, in fact, have eternal life. Let me approach it with a question or two. Is there a quota or a threshold a person must meet? How many souls do we need to win, how many prisoners to visit, how many hungry to feed, how many of the sick to care for. God knows if our faith is genuine, but do we? Is this really a problem? Why not just trust God? But many Christians don’t: they worry about their eternal destiny, suffer spiritually because of it, and face death with a sense of foreboding.
I don’t recall ever hearing a sermon or attending a Bible class that address the subject of sanctification. Perhaps it’s just my poor memory, but I suspect something else, namely that sanctification has been, formerly at least, neglected in churches of Christ.
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