JAMES 2:21<\/b><\/p>\n
Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?<\/i><\/p>\n
(James 2:21)<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Paul says that Abraham was justified by faith, but James seems to be saying that Abraham was justified by works. James 2:24 says, \u201cYou see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.\u201d How are we to understand this apparent contradiction?<\/p>\n
Justification by Works<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
James argues straightforwardly that Abraham was justified by works. When was Abraham justified by works? When he offered Isaac on the altar. To understand this, we need to bear in mind that James is using the term justification<\/i> in a different sense, with a different nuance, than Paul does.<\/p>\n
Paul deals with the issue of how a sinner is reconciled to a just and holy God. He uses the term justification<\/i> in its supreme theological sense. James, however, is asking how a person is justified before men, not before God. His question is: How do we know that a person has authentic faith?<\/p>\n
Justification Before Men<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Jesus said, \u201cBy their fruit you will recognize them\u201d (Matthew 7:16). James labors in the second chapter of his epistle to show that a person\u2019s true faith is shown outwardly by acts of obedience or works of righteousness. He says, \u201cShow me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do\u201d (James 2:18). Now, does God need to see your works to know if you have faith or not? Of course not. James is speaking of man\u2019s sight.<\/p>\n
Paul says that in God\u2019s sight, Abraham was justified by faith (Genesis 15). When God saw Abraham\u2019s faith, He declared him righteous in His sight. However, James says that in man\u2019s sight the most telling proof that Abraham was a justified man is that he was willing to obey God even to the point of offering up his only son on the altar.<\/p>\n
CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n
In order to underscore the necessity of good works flowing from faith, Paul writes in Ephesians 2:10, \u201cWe are God\u2019s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.\u201d Through eternity God has ordained us unto specific good works. Are you fulfilling God\u2019s expectations in your life as you daily seek to express your faith?<\/p>\n
For further study: Exodus 24:1\u20138; Luke 6:20\u201349<\/i><\/p>\n
wednesday<\/p>\n
may<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JAMES 2:21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? (James 2:21). Paul says that Abraham was justified by faith, but James seems to be saying that Abraham was justified by works. James 2:24 says, \u201cYou see that a person is justified by … Continue reading “WHEN WAS ABRAHAM JUSTIFIED?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10914\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}