Greatest doctrinal clash in the Bible

Following Paul’s conversion by the blinding light on the road to Damascus, he went into seclusion for 17 years. Then he went to Jerusalem where he met James, the brother of Jesus. At the time, James was the bishop of the Christian church. This is when the big dispute erupted. Paul preached salvation by faith alone while James believed that faith must be accompanied with good works. This battle was still raging in the 16th century, which prompted the Protestant Reformation. This resulted in the schism between the Protestant and Catholic churches. Protestants believed that salvation comes through faith (as Paul preached) while Catholics believed that salvation comes through faith fortified by good works (as James preached).

Salvation through faith alone can be found throughout the Pauline epistles. In Ephesians 2:8, Paul wrote: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” James advanced a strong counterargument in James 2:14-26 saying that faith without works is not true faith.

James provided this example to justify his position: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

James offered two other examples: “Was not Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?” Was not also Rahab the prostitute (listed in honor roll of faithful in Hebrews 11) justified by works “when she received the Israelite observers at Jericho and permitted them to escape capture?”

James clarified his position when he said that “faith without works is dead” because the lack of good works reveals an unchanged life and a spiritually dead heart. A prime example would be the individual who walks the aisle, accepts Christ in faith, joins the church and is baptized, yet remains in the old life of immorality. Is it not true that anyone who accepts Christ as Savior becomes a ‘new creature’ who doesn’t return to his/her former life of sin and debauchery?

Some Bible commentators attempt to explain away the doctrinal differences between Paul and James through circular reasoning, yet in doing so, they twist themselves into theological pretzels. For your edification, the relevant Bible passages are: Acts, chapter 9; Galatians, chapters 1:11-24, 2:1-16 and 3:1-23; and James, chapter 2:14-26.

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