A conversation between James and Paul on the nature of true faith

Paul: Hello, Brother James. How are you?

James: I am great, my brother. It is always great to talk with you.

Paul: Indeed, I always leave our conversations sharpened and strengthened. Thanks for making time to meet.

James: Absolutely, my pleasure. What did you want to discuss today?

Paul: Well, I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there is some chatter that some of our brothers and sisters on earth are having difficulty harmonizing the things you and I wrote about saving faith.

James: Oh yeah, I heard about that. This difficulty seems to resurface every few years or so. I remember that a while back, Martin Luther, the great reformer, referred to my letter as an “epistle of straw” because he thought it opposed what you wrote about salvation by faith alone.

Paul: LOL! O yes, Luther. He was an intense one, wasn’t he?

James: Lol. Yes, he sure was. He got a lot of things right, but like many of our brothers and sisters on earth, he might have misunderstood what I was saying in my letter.

Paul: Precisely! That is why I thought that it might be helpful if you and I talk about saving faith so we can help our brothers and sisters see that we really agree and there is no contradiction between us. A part of me can see why a well-meaning person might pit you and me against each other. Perhaps this conversation will clarify a lot of the confusion.

James: Yes, I totally agree. I can also understand why there might be some confusion. On the one hand, I wrote, “You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone” (James 2:24). On the other hand, you wrote: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).

Paul: Yes, it sounds as if I’m saying, “faith alone is sufficient for salvation,” but you’re saying, “faith alone is notsufficient for salvation.” On the surface, it seems like you’re saying salvation is by faith + works. Some have claimed that you taught salvation by works. So, why don’t you clarify what you meant when you wrote your letter.

James: I’ll be happy to, Paul. What I really want the church to know is the nature of true, saving faith. I wholeheartedly affirm with you that no one can earn salvation. Nobody can work hard enough to merit acceptance by God. Remember that I wrote that even if a person keeps the whole law and stumbles at just one point, then they are guilty of breaking all of it (James 2:10). So, I know that nobody can merit their salvation because no one can perfectly obey the law. Salvation is simply by believing in what the Messiah has done in His death, burial, and resurrection. This is what we all believe.

However, I wrote the way I did in my letter because I was seeing a lot of people who were claiming to have faith in the Messiah and yet consistently living lives that looked nothing like His. My comments are a frontal attack against cheap grace and licentiousness. I needed to teach people what real faith looks like. My overall point is this: True faith in the Messiah will produce a progressive change in the lives of those who believe.

You see, my comments were addressed to those who think that faith is merely an intellectual exercise. I was warning those who think that faith is simply about affirming a creed or believing certain facts. I needed them to know that faith is not less than believing facts, but it is definitely so much more. If affirming facts is all there is to faith, then even demons are saved since they believe in one God and tremble (James 2:19). People must know that the faith that saves also produces tangible fruits of love. I was tired of seeing people talk about faith in a way that completely divorced it from ethics.

Paul: Hmmm, that sounds a lot like what I wrote to Titus when I said, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age…” (Titus 2:11–12). I also told Titus that “those who have trusted in God’s grace must be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good.” (Titus 3:8). In both cases, I was essentially saying that faith in the free grace of God produces a new life and godly conduct.

James: Yes, I think that you said it even clearer elsewhere. In your letter to Ephesus, right after you said that salvation is not by works, you went on to say that, “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). If I may summarize that whole segment of your letter, I’d say it like this: We are not saved by good works, but those who are saved by grace through faith will do good works. Would you say that is a fair summary of what you mean?

Paul: Absolutely! I love the way you put it. Another way I would say it is like this: Good works are not the root of salvation; they are the fruit of salvation. While no one can be made righteous by doing good things, those who are righteous and regenerated by God’s Spirit will show it by their good conduct.

James: Exactly Paul! I particularly like your choice of the word “fruit” because it helps explain that good works are the byproduct of salvation. Also, the word fruit embraces the fact that the behavioral change that believers experience is progressive. Just as fruit doesn’t grow overnight so also change in conduct is progressive.

I think that because of the sharpness of my tone in my letter some people get the sense that I am calling for perfection. But I am really saying that faith in the Messiah unites us with Him in such a way that we progressively begin to live like Him.

Where such progressive change is absent, I may have reasons to believe that such a person merely professes to have faith but does not truly possess it. This is what I mean by dead faith (James 2:17). It is not vitally united to Christ.

Paul: Yes, I am so glad that you brought up that word, “united”. As you know, none of the other apostles wrote about the believer’s union with Christ as I did. For me, faith is not just believing certain facts, it is really being united with Christ (Gal 2:19–20). The proof of this union with Christ is that His Spirit comes to live in those who believe in Him (Eph 1:13). And when the Spirit lives in a person, He begins to produce fruits of love, gentleness, peace, temperance, and Joy (Gal 5:22–25). The Spirit is the one who works in the believers to make them willing and able to live for the Messiah (Phil 2:12–13). The Spirit makes people new, writes God’s law on their hearts, and gives them the power to obey (Ezekiel 11:19, Ezekiel 36:26, Jeremiah 31:33, 2 Cor 3:3). He energizes them to live as new people.

James: You are so right! So, with all we have just said, it should be clear that you and I are not any different in our views about salvation and faith. I wrote to insist that where faith is present it will be evident in good deeds. But that is very different from saying that a person is saved by faith + deeds. The deeds I am calling for do not add to salvation, they manifest it. As surely as garlic breath proves that a person has eaten garlic so also good works prove faith in Christ.

Paul: Oh James! I just love how you use your analogies. I particularly enjoyed the way you spoke about the power of the tongue using the analogy of a horse and a ship (James 3:3–5). I sometimes wish I had a more practical take on things like you my brother.

James: Oh Paul, you are so kind. I must say that I greatly appreciate the way you systematize your thoughts in logical sentences and arguments. I guess the Lord gave us unique ways of communicating His truth. You are such a blessing.

So just to summarize what we believe about salvation: We believe that people are saved once and for all when they trust in what the Messiah did for them in His sinless life, substitutionary death, and victorious resurrection. We believe that nothing can be added to this — no offerings, service, worship, or morality can ever earn salvation.

Paul: Correct! And we also believe that those who trust in what the Messiah has done for them cannot continue to live in defiant and unrepentant sin (1 Corinthians 6:9–11, 1 John 3:9). Rather, through faith they are united with Christ — they have died to their old lives with Him and have risen with Him to a new life by His Spirit (Romans 6:1–4). Those in whom the Spirit lives will love holiness and righteousness. They will live a new life. Of course, as we have said, this new life is not about sinless perfection, but about progression in holiness (1 Thessalonians 4:1–6).

James: I couldn’t have said it any better Paul.

Just before we go let me say this: There have always been two enemies of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The first one is legalism, which says that a person can be good enough to merit their salvation. In most of your letters, this is the error you write to correct.

The second enemy of the gospel is licentiousness, which says that because people are saved by sheer grace they can go ahead and live in sin and unrighteousness. This is the kind of thinking I wrote to oppose.

The gospel is neither legalism nor license; it is the grace of God saving people through the death of Christ and transforming them through the indwelling of His Spirit.

Paul: Amen! Thank you, brother James.

James: Thank you and God bless you.