This topic has come up again, so I went back looking for a discussion board that I wrote on the topic from my Exegetical Studies class on the book of Romans. For the next few weeks, I will be taking a look back at this subject, and (hopefully) posting more here. This is a great opportunity to slow down, and really consider the implications of both sides of the topic. Open discussion or comments on the subject are more than welcome.
Paul's thesis for this section of Scripture is that we are seen as righteous, justified before God apart from the law. Paul builds his case for this thesis using Abraham and what takes place in Genesis 15. In the beginning of Chapter four, Paul introduces Abraham into the conversation. In this diatribe, Paul turns the table onto the Jews that he is addressing. After making the bold statement that "man is justified by faith apart from observing the law," (Romans 3:28) He then asks his audience what Abraham "discovered in this matter." (Romans 4:1) Paul then uses the passages from Genesis 15:6 and Psalm 32:1-2 to show how Abraham was seen as righteous without the law. Specifically, he was seen as righteous before he was circumcised. This righteousness came because of his belief, his faith, that God would keep His promise to give him a child and make him a great nation. Paul's conclusion is that Abraham is the spiritual father of Jews and Gentiles, and that salvation for all is available through faith alone in Jesus Christ.
The apparent contradiction between Paul and James in Romans chapters 3-4 and James chapter 2 was not something that I could easily reconcile at first glance. I know that there are many "contradictions" like this in the Bible, but when I can move out and interpret Scripture using Scripture, then I find that these passages can harmonize quite easily. When I find a hard verse, paragraph, or even chapter, I have to interpret that passage using what I know and understand from other clear passages of scripture that are on the same topic. It is clear what James says to use in chapter 2:17, "faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." Paul very clearly states that there is nothing that we can do to be seen as justified. So using that, and then reading on into James 2:18, I think we can see clearly that James was saying that our good actions will be proof of the faith that we have placed in Jesus.
Now it gets tougher, for me at least, when James starts talking about Abraham. James claims that Abraham was justified by his obedience to sacrifice Isaac (2:21). The statement that was made in Genesis 15:6 that "Abraham believed in God and it was credited to him as righteousness," was fulfilled in "what he (Abraham) did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?" (James 2:21) Verse 24 seems to take the whole subject even further in the opposite direction from Paul. "You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone." Even through all of this, James still quoted Genesis 15:6, which clearly states that Abraham was justified before his works. In James 1:17-18, James makes it clear that salvation is a gift from God, not anything that we can earn.
When James talks about works, I think that he is talking about the proof of our faith. In John MacArthur's commentary on James 2:21, he makes the statement that "James is emphasizing the vindication before others of a man's claim to salvation." I think that it is important to see that James does not say that God considered Abraham and Rahab righteous for their deeds. These deeds were demonstrations of their faith in God that could be seen as righteousness by others. This was evidence to everyone of their saving faith in God.
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