Solving Martin Luther's Paradox
Martin Luther insisted that there was no way to solve the contradiction between the following two verses:
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the Law. (Rom. 3:28)
You see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only. (James 2:24)
Martin Luther died in 1535. Since that time, many of the Evangelicals, whose doctrines are based on Martin Luther's, have tried to resolve the conflict between these two verses. Their answers are not very satisfying. Typically, the statement by Evangelicals is “We are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.” This is a wonderful word play, but it doesn't make much sense. The thing that James said must be with faith is works. For example, he wrote, “Faith without works is dead” (2:20). If a faith that is not alone is the only living faith, and that faith is not alone because it is accompanied by works, then are we not still saying that justification is by faith plus works?
Even when I had no answer, I still could not accept the standard Evangelical answer, because if a faith that is alone cannot save us, then faith apart from works cannot save us, and the verse still contradicts Romans 3:28. I began writing down every verse in the New Testament that suggests that we are saved by works. There are a lot of them, and they are not all in James' letter. Some of them are in Paul's letters, and several are in the very letters that Martin Luther used to form his doctrine of salvation by faith alone: Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians. For example, Romans 2:6-7 says that God will repay eternal life to those who pursue immortality by patiently continuing to do good. Ephesians 5:5 says that immoral, unclean, or covetous men will have “no inheritance” in the kingdom of God. Galatians 6:9 says that those who do not grow weary in doing good will reap eternal life.
Even with all these verses I could not solve the dilemma until I began to read the writings of men who were in the churches that the apostles started. For example, Polycarp was bishop of Smyrna, a church mentioned in the book of the Revelation (2:8-11), and he was appointed to that position by the apostle John. He wrote a letter to the church at Philippi in the early to mid 2nd century, and he said both that we are saved by grace apart from works (ch. 1) and that God would only raise us up if we kept his commandments (ch. 2). While he did not give enough information for me to solve the dilemma, it was obvious that he didn't consider those two statements a contradiction. He knew something I did not.
In reading through more writings from Christians in those early, apostolic churches, I did find the answer. That answer made all the verses I was struggling with fall into place, including Romans 3:28 and James 2:24.
Look at Romans 3:28 and James 2:24 above again. It is obvious that on the surface those two verses absolutely contradict. Both mention justification, and one says it is apart from works and the other says it includes works. How can those not contradict? The answer is that Paul and James meant two different things by justification, and once you realize this, it is obvious in all Paul's writings.
Paul was more of a theologian than James. James' letter is written to exhort Christians who were not living as they should to begin living in obedience to God. Paul's letter to the Romans, however, was written to Christians who didn't understand his Gospel. They could not understand why he was preaching to Gentiles, nor could they understand what he was saying about salvation and works. Therefore, Paul was very careful to explain exactly what he meant.
In explaining his Gospel, Paul clearly divided his Gospel into two steps, one tied to the death of Christ and one tied to the resurrection of Christ. Look how he divides them in Romans 5:9-10:
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Do you see the two steps? We are “now” justified by his blood, but we “shall be” saved from wrath. We “were” enemies, and we “were reconciled,” both things happening by the Son's death, but we “shall be” saved by his life. This does not happen only in these two verses. They simply state it clearly and concisely. It is a consistent pattern in all Paul's letters.
For example, in Ephesians 2:8, Paul uses a very strange grammar construct. It would best be translated as, “For by grace are you having been saved.“ In other words, you are right now, he tells the Ephesians, in a state of having been saved. How did that happen? It happened by grace through faith and apart from works. However, in Ephesians 5:5, he tells them that if they want to inherit God's kingdom in the future, then they need to avoid immorality, uncleanness, and greed. He does the same thing in Galatians. In Galatians 3:2, he asks them, “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith?” It's a rhetorical question. They received the Spirit by the hearing of faith. But that's just the beginning. After coming into grace by the hearing of faith, how does one go on? The next verse answers. “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being completed by the flesh?”
What does it mean to be completed by the Spirit? Well, even in Romans, going forward after beginning by faith means doing works. In Romans 8:13, Paul tells us, “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, then you will live.” In Galatians, it's even more clear. There he writes, “He that sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap everlasting life. Do not grow weary in doing good, for in due season you will reap if you do not lose heart.” You can see the clear tie in those verses between sowing to the Spirit and doing good works.
Therein lies our answer to Martin Luther's paradox. When Paul said justification, he was referring to the beginning of the Christian life. That happens purely by faith. We must first be saved by grace through faith and receive the Spirit of God before God can ask good works of us. It is by the Spirit that we must put to death the deeds of the body, so we must first receive the Spirit by the hearing of faith, and that faith only, apart from works. However, to progress, we must sow to the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body, and thus patiently continue to do good.
This is exactly what James is saying as well. James does not divide the Christian experience into two stages in his letter. He is addresssing Christians who already have faith, so he has no need to tell them they must begin by faith. When he says justification he is not referring to something that happened only in the past. He is referring to the whole of Christian life, including appearing at the judgment seat of Christ, where we will be judged by our works (2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Pet. 1:17). Thus, he tells us that our justification, when it includes all our walk with God and not just the beginning of it, is by faith and works, not faith only. Paul does not disagree with this. In Romans 3:28, he is simply explaining that part, and only part, of his Gospel is that we enter justification by faith only.
You can apply this thought to any of Paul's letters, and you will find him remarkably consistent. Even in Polycarp's letters, which came later and were written by a disciple of John, you see the same pattern. In chapter one, he quotes Paul and says that we are, now, saved by grace apart from works. A chapter later, he tells us that in the future we will only be raised up if we keep his commandments, an idea Paul also agrees with. Paul tells us in Philippians that he is still pursuing the resurrection of the dead by forgetting those things which lie behind and pressing forward for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Php. 3:7-14). In 1 Corinthians 9:27 he tells us that he disciplines his body so that after preaching to others he himself would not be disqualified. Clearly, when something more than Romans 3:28 is looked at, Paul and James exactly agree.
Home