Does James contradict Pauls teaching of justification by faith?
The author of the short letter that bears his name is believed to be the oldest half-brother of Jesus. After some years of disbelief (John 7:2-5), James too accepted the truth that Jesus was the Savior, and James became a leader in the early church (Acts 12:17; 15:13), and he is even mentioned favorably by Paul (Gal. 1:19; 2:9). So why does it seem to some people that James (whose letter was written before Romans) and Paul don’t agree on this most basic issue of salvation? The problem arises if we take what James said out of the broader context of the point he was trying to make. James wrote: What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? (James 2:14). James then gave a practical example of responding to a person who needs food and clothes. It is worthless, he argued, to utter a word of blessing and not give food or clothing. He continued: Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “Y
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- Paul in his "Good Morning America" interview mentioned something about telling James he would have to listen to him if James were in his "masters class". Is Paul teaching a class somewhere?
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