An example is the word law, which James mentioned in our last passage (1:25) and again here. You can easily detect themes when you notice certain words used repeatedly. In fact, he is already told us that the poor should take pride in their high position and the rich in their humiliation (1:10), and he has admonished us to care for the widows and orphans in their distress (1:27). This is not the only time James brings up the issue of material wealth. It seems his audience tended to show favor to the rich compared to the poor. This Biblical verse says the life of the saints is one where they not only have faith in Jesus but also keep God's laws (Revelation 14:12).In the passage we will review today, James will warn us about favoritism. Psalm 119 extols the virtue of those who obey God's law, who keep his testimonies, who walk in his ways and who not only seek God will all their heart but also diligently keep his precepts (Psalm 119:1 - 4)!Ī New Testament verse that refutes Martin Luther's teachings that you only need faith and that once you have it, works will follow, is in the book of Revelation. It was by and through faith, according to Hebrews, that Abel, Abraham and others obeyed God (verses 4, 8). What comes immediately to mind is the correlation of Psalm 119 to Hebrews 11 that teaches we must put faith together with works (actions).
The Lutheran rebuttal is that faith must be the sole foundation of a believer and that after it fully exists then good works will flow from it. Those who oppose this concept state that it lessens the responsibility before God that believers have to produce good works. This has led to an often quote phrase regarding Luther and Lutheranism that it believes in "faith alone" as the means to be saved. What is known as works or obedience to God, to them, does not play a leading role in the salvation of the individual. Luther (and Lutherans) believe that the only correct way to respond to God's plan of salvation, unlike what the book of James (and others) state, is to simply trust in his perfect love. You see, then, that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only (James 2:14, 17 - 18, 20 - 22, 24, HBFV). Do you not see that faith was working together with his works, and by works his faith was perfected?. But someone is going to say, "You have faith, and I have works." My answer is: You prove your faith to me through your works, and I will prove my faith to you through my works.īut are you willing to understand, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works. In the same way also, faith, if it does not have works, is dead, by itself. My brethren, what good does it do, if anyone says that he has faith, and does not have works? Is faith able to save him?. Some of the key parts from verses 14 to 26 which Martin Luther disagreed with are the following. Luther, according to the Holman Bible Dictionary, Disciple's Study Bible and other references, had the greatest difficulty with what James wrote about faith and works in the second chapter of his book.