{"id":1707,"date":"2014-11-22T18:21:47","date_gmt":"2014-11-22T18:21:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/?p=1707"},"modified":"2014-11-22T18:21:47","modified_gmt":"2014-11-22T18:21:47","slug":"whos-right-st-paul-or-st-james-the-formula-of-concord-on-faith-and-its-fruit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/whos-right-st-paul-or-st-james-the-formula-of-concord-on-faith-and-its-fruit\/","title":{"rendered":""Who's right, St. Paul or St. James?" The Formula of Concord on faith and its fruit."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Desktop2\"<\/a>
Kretzmann says that James the Less wrote the Epistle. If he\u2019s wrong\u2026oh, well.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

When people try to undermine justification sola fide<\/em> as it is taught in Romans with James chapter 2, all of the explanation you need can be found in the Formula of Concord, Article III.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The question answered by James 2:20 is not \u201cHow is a man justified?\u201d but rather \u201cHow do you see that a man is justified?\u201d And the answer is: the same way you see that a tree is good. If someone is a Christian, you will see the effects (good works), and thus be able to induce the cause (faith). And relax! This recognition is a gospel thing, not a law thing\u2014like predestination.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, if you simply see someone\u2019s good works, you cannot for that reason alone conclude that he is a Christian. Why not? Because without the confession of faith in Christ, \u201cgood works\u201d are not the fruit of faith, but of the opinio legis<\/i>, flowing from either fear or Pharisaism.<\/p>\n

With that said, it is always a genuinely uplifting experience to suspect that someone is a Christian because of their kindness (cf. Galatians 5:22-23), and then learn that your suspicion was correct. Dostoevsky talks about the \u201cphysiognomy\u201d of a man revealing something of his soul. It\u2019s certainly not a science, nor is it really even an art; i.e., there\u2019s no way to get from \u201cI was delighted to learn that my co-worker is indeed a Christian, as I suspected!\u201d to \u201cI\u2019m a certified fruit inspector.\u201d<\/a> No; rather, it is an unlooked-for blessing when you recognize a brother or sister in Christ whom you had never met before. It\u2019s a mystery, a bit of je ne sais quoi<\/em>. But when it does happen, it certainly does warm the heart.<\/p>\n

+ \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0+ \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 +<\/span><\/p>\n

Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Art. III: \u201cOf The Righteousness of Faith before God\u201d, 42-43<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

42] Many disputations also are usefully and well explained by means of this true distinction, of which the Apology treats in reference to the passage James 2:20. For when we speak of faith, how it justifies, the doctrine of St. Paul is that faith alone, without works, justifies (Romans 3:28), inasmuch as it applies and appropriates to us the merit of Christ, as has been said. But if the question is, wherein and whereby a Christian can perceive and distinguish, either in himself or in others, a true living faith from a feigned and dead faith, (since many idle, secure Christians imagine for themselves a delusion in place of faith, while they nevertheless have no true faith), the Apology gives this answer: James calls that dead faith where good works and fruits of the Spirit of every kind do not follow.<\/strong> And to this effect the Latin edition of the Apology says:<\/span><\/p>\n

Iacobus recte negat, nos tali fide iustificari, quae est sine operibus, hoc est, quae mortua est.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That is: \u201cSt. James teaches correctly when he denies that we are justified by such a faith as is without works, which is dead faith.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

43] But James speaks, as the Apology says, concerning the works of those who have already been<\/span><\/p>\n

justified through Christ, reconciled with God, and obtained forgiveness of sins through Christ. But if the question is, whereby and whence faith has this, and what appertains to this that it justifies and saves, it is false and incorrect to say:<\/span><\/p>\n

Fidem non posse iustificare sine operibus; vel fidem, quatenus caritatem, qua formatur, coniunctam habet, iustificare; vel fidei, ut iustificet, necessariam esse praesentiam bonorum operum; vel bona opera esse causam sine qua non, quae per particulas exclusivas ex articulo iustificationis non excludantur.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That is: That faith cannot justify without works; or that faith justifies or makes righteous, inasmuch as it has love with it, for the sake of which love this is ascribed to faith [it has love with it, by which it is formed]; or that the presence of works with faith is necessary if otherwise man is to be justified thereby before God; or that the presence of good works in the article of justification, or for justification, is needful, so that good works are a cause without which man cannot be justified, and that they are not excluded from the article of justification by the particulae exclusivae: absque operibus<\/em> etc., that is, when St. Paul says: \u201cwithout works.\u201d For faith makes righteous only inasmuch as and because, as a means and instrument, it lays hold of, and accepts, the grace of God and the merit of Christ in the promise of the Gospel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

+SDG+<\/p>\n

Did you like what you read here?<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Would you consider\u00a0supporting me<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

with my ongoing seminary expenses?<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Please click here to take a look at my<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

seminary fund donations page. Thank you!<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When people try to undermine justification sola fide as it is taught in Romans with James chapter 2, all of the explanation you need can be found in the Formula of Concord, Article III. The question answered by James 2:20 is not \u201cHow is a man justified?\u201d but rather \u201cHow do you see that a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,30],"tags":[111,143,218,225,227],"class_list":["post-1707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-posts","category-theology-proper","tag-formula-of-concord","tag-justification","tag-sanctification","tag-st-james","tag-st-paul"],"yoast_head":"\n"Who's right, St. Paul or St. James?" The Formula of Concord on faith and its fruit.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When people try to undermine justification sola fide as it is taught in Romans with James chapter 2, all of the explanation you need can be found in the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/whos-right-st-paul-or-st-james-the-formula-of-concord-on-faith-and-its-fruit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Who's right, St. Paul or St. James?" The Formula of Concord on faith and its fruit.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When people try to undermine justification sola fide as it is taught in Romans with James chapter 2, all of the explanation you need can be found in the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/whos-right-st-paul-or-st-james-the-formula-of-concord-on-faith-and-its-fruit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Just and Sinner\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-22T18:21:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/files\/2014\/11\/Desktop2-300x187.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"trentdemarest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"trentdemarest\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/whos-right-st-paul-or-st-james-the-formula-of-concord-on-faith-and-its-fruit\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/whos-right-st-paul-or-st-james-the-formula-of-concord-on-faith-and-its-fruit\/\",\"name\":\""Who's right, St. Paul or St. James?" The Formula of Concord on faith and its fruit.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-22T18:21:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-11-22T18:21:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/#\/schema\/person\/8eed9563e96234ec03b8af5c442a5418\"},\"description\":\"When people try to undermine justification sola fide as it is taught in Romans with James chapter 2, all of the explanation you need can be found in the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/whos-right-st-paul-or-st-james-the-formula-of-concord-on-faith-and-its-fruit\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/whos-right-st-paul-or-st-james-the-formula-of-concord-on-faith-and-its-fruit\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/whos-right-st-paul-or-st-james-the-formula-of-concord-on-faith-and-its-fruit\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\""Who's right, St. Paul or St. James?" The Formula of Concord on faith and its fruit.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/\",\"name\":\"Just and Sinner\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/#\/schema\/person\/8eed9563e96234ec03b8af5c442a5418\",\"name\":\"trentdemarest\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0aeb27dae98dae89da084f0433eeef28?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0aeb27dae98dae89da084f0433eeef28?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"trentdemarest\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/author\/trentdemarest\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":""Who's right, St. Paul or St. James?" The Formula of Concord on faith and its fruit.","description":"When people try to undermine justification sola fide as it is taught in Romans with James chapter 2, all of the explanation you need can be found in the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/whos-right-st-paul-or-st-james-the-formula-of-concord-on-faith-and-its-fruit\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":""Who's right, St. Paul or St. James?" The Formula of Concord on faith and its fruit.","og_description":"When people try to undermine justification sola fide as it is taught in Romans with James chapter 2, all of the explanation you need can be found in the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/whos-right-st-paul-or-st-james-the-formula-of-concord-on-faith-and-its-fruit\/","og_site_name":"Just and Sinner","article_published_time":"2014-11-22T18:21:47+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/files\/2014\/11\/Desktop2-300x187.jpg"}],"author":"trentdemarest","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"trentdemarest","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/whos-right-st-paul-or-st-james-the-formula-of-concord-on-faith-and-its-fruit\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/whos-right-st-paul-or-st-james-the-formula-of-concord-on-faith-and-its-fruit\/","name":""Who's right, St. Paul or St. James?" The Formula of Concord on faith and its fruit.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-11-22T18:21:47+00:00","dateModified":"2014-11-22T18:21:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/#\/schema\/person\/8eed9563e96234ec03b8af5c442a5418"},"description":"When people try to undermine justification sola fide as it is taught in Romans with James chapter 2, all of the explanation you need can be found in the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/whos-right-st-paul-or-st-james-the-formula-of-concord-on-faith-and-its-fruit\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/whos-right-st-paul-or-st-james-the-formula-of-concord-on-faith-and-its-fruit\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/whos-right-st-paul-or-st-james-the-formula-of-concord-on-faith-and-its-fruit\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":""Who's right, St. Paul or St. James?" The Formula of Concord on faith and its fruit."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/","name":"Just and Sinner","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/#\/schema\/person\/8eed9563e96234ec03b8af5c442a5418","name":"trentdemarest","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0aeb27dae98dae89da084f0433eeef28?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0aeb27dae98dae89da084f0433eeef28?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"trentdemarest"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/author\/trentdemarest\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1707\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/justandsinner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}