Doctrine for Every Denomination
When comparing voices of the New Testament, it is all too tempting to think anachronistically, and focus on debates that have mainly only arisen as recent as the Reformation, in the past four centuries. For instance, are works essential for salvation, or is it only faith that matters?[1] Can one lose salvation, or is it eternally secured once it’s acquired?[2] My guess is that the ancients would have often found no such contradictions, although, yes, they too had their own debates. Perhaps more ancient are the debates about whether God had already chosen who was to be saved, and whether what we do has anything to do with the matter.[3]
But I’d like to focus on one interesting debate for a moment where I believe modern scholarship was at least initially swayed by Protestant interpretation, but which has lately somewhat recanted.[4] And that debate is the seeming disagreement between the writings of Paul in especially Galatians 3, and the book of James. Paul says that righteousness was counted to Abraham because he believed God, and it’s faith that makes us sons of Abraham. He makes the point again in Romans 4. Paul argues vehemently that it is not works that save us, but faith.
James 2, on the other hand, seems to be using the same wording to argue the opposite point. He is quite adamant that faith without works is a dead and unprofitable faith. Even the demons believe. To those who would say that they have faith without works, James argues that living faith is seen by works. He then uses precisely the same example, Abraham, to prove his point. Abraham’s faith was seen by his obedience.
Some have argued that James is speaking against a more extreme form of Paulinism, such as perhaps was extrapolated from passages such as Ephesians 2:4-9. Even in Paul’s own writings, he argues against and recognizes the danger of those who would take his teachings to an extreme, as those who would say that if we are saved by grace, then we can sin that grace may abound.[5] Modern secular scholars now recognize that Paul and James are potentially using two different definitions of works and even of faith. For instance, Paul speaks of works of the law not saving anyone, whereas James speaks of works of righteousness, such as helping the poor, not works of the law of Moses specifically; similarly, Paul speaks of broader meaning of the word faith, which involves putting one’s trust in God; but James’ comparison with demons believing in God suggests that he is speaking of mere intellectual assent to the fact of God’s existence.
Interestingly, the so called “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11 seems to combine and harmonize these ideas of James and Paul. It speaks of characters of the Hebrew Bible as showing a deep faith, a trust in God, which they demonstrated by acts of obedience and total submission to God in every case. The author even uses some of the same examples, such as Abraham and Rahab, and adds more.
There are of course myriad other examples where denominations throughout history have differed over their favorite prooftexts that seem to contradict those of others. But perhaps one of the biggest debates have raged over what became of the law of Moses, the topic to which we now turn. To read that, check out my book here.
[1] Compare Matthew 7:21, Romans 2:6, 13, and James 2:24 to John 3:16, Romans 3:27, Ephesians 2:8, 9, and Galatians 2:16.
[2] Compare Galatians 5:4, Hebrews 10:26, 27 to John 10:28-29, Ephesians 4:30, John 3:15-16, Romans 8:38-39.
[3] Compare Acts 22:16, Romans 10:13-15 to Ephesians 1:3-6, 11, Romans 8:29-30, 9:9-13, 15-19, 22-23 Acts 13:48, 1 Corinthians 2:7. Some of the earliest language that suggests that our fate is determined, as some of the New Testament occasionally seems to follow, is found in 1 Enoch.
[4] E.g., see New Testament History and Literature, by Dale Martin, ch. 18.
[5] E.g., Romans 6:2