Paul and James: Restoring the Wanderer

What action is to be taken concerning believers who, as James puts it, wander from the truth? Though James and Paul each approach the matter in different ways, they both indicate unequivocally similar actions. The wanderer (per James), the man caught in transgression (per Paul) should be turned around (James) or restored (Paul).

James 5:19-20

My brothers, if someone from among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him around, know that whoever turns around a sinner from the wandering of his ways will save his soul from death and will cover plenty sins.

James addresses his “brothers.” The “tribes of the diaspora” remain James’ readership (1:1). It is in their assembly (or synagogue) that events take place which James addresses (2:2). These are people for whom Jesus is Lord (2:1), those whom God has intended as heirs of his kingdom (2:5), who would receive the promised crown of life (1:12). If one of these Christian believers, i.e., someone from “among you” (5:19), wanders from the truth, then action must be taken so as to save his soul from death. This action will result in covering a lot of sins.

We note that by James’ accounting, a Christian who sins may be considered a “sinner,” despite previously having received Christ as Lord, having been birthed by the word of truth, and having enjoyed being a first fruit of God’s creation (1:18). In some significant manner this Christian sinner stands in danger of losing his soul in death, from which death salvation needs to take place.

James does not explicitly indicate the nature of wandering “from the truth” or of the sins in question. The immediate context implies sins that should be confessed to secure forgiveness (5:15) and healing (5:16). These sins may include breaking one’s word (5:12), cheating people out of money (5:4), criticizing others (5:9).

“Wandering from the truth” in a larger Jacobean context implies holding goofy notions about God’s character. James’ theology warns of deceptions such as: doubt that God gives generously to all askers and without scolding (1:5-8), God causes temptation (1:13), any good thing has a source other than God (1:16), God’s righteousness works like human anger (1:19), God is unreliable (1:17). Wandering from the truth (“this is not the faith of Christ”) includes discrimination against believers for their low social status (2:1), speaking against human beings (3:9; 4:11-12; 5:9) in envy and ambition (3:14), exaltation of oneself before God (4:7-10), mindlessness concerning God’s will (4:15-17). Wandering implies disregard for the Lord appearing soon (5:7-9). In short, wandering denies the truth that God is very compassionate and merciful (5:11).

That larger context would include sin as falling short of true religion by not holding one’s tongue, by not attending to the needs of the disenfranchised, by not keeping morally straight (1:26-27). And so forth.

James does not indicate who should be turning around the wanderer, other than that it is someone “from among you.” Perhaps he has in mind the elders of the church whom he had just mentioned (5:14) within the context of prayer for healing and forgiveness of sins (5:15); whom he further seems to connect with confession of sins (5:16a). In any case, James assures that whoever these persons are, they are just like Elijah whose prayers were remarkably effective (5:17-18), and likewise their prayers would be as effective (5:16b).

James advocates, consequently, in favor of turning around an errant Christian as a worthy endeavor. Indeed, whoever turns around that sinner saves that soul from death.

Galatians 6:1

Brothers, and if a man is caught in some transgression, you, the spiritual ones, should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, looking to yourself lest also you be tempted.

Paul gives clear directive concerning one caught in a transgression. He directs the “spiritual ones” to restore that person. He connects this restoration action with fulfilling the “law of Christ” (6:2).

Paul, as does James, addresses the “brothers.” They comprise the membership of the churches of Galatia (1:2), they receive grace and peace from God and the Lord Jesus Christ (1:3), they are those for whose sins Christ gave himself so as to deliver them from the present evil age (1:4).

Paul does not say explicitly what type of “man” the transgressor may be, but implied in the injunction to “restore” we reasonably understand the transgressor to be a Christian. Paul uses the more inclusive generic term for “man” (anthropos) than the exclusive term for a male (andros*), so the transgressor could refer easily to either gender of human beings. The Christians of Galatia were both Jew and gentile, but it seems the vastly greater number to be gentile, since it is the uncircumsion (gentiles) who form the focus of Paul’s mission (2:9) and they bear the greater burden for Paul’s perplexity (4:20).

The transgressor has left a former status whatever it was, a status that needs now to be restored. Paul does not here indicate the outcome of the unrestored individual, nor what advantage the restored one might enjoy.

Nor does Paul indicate the nature of the transgression. He simply writes “some transgression” or, perhaps, “any transgression.” More critical than the transgression itself is being “caught” in the thing. The notion seems not so much that a person has been discovered flagrantly in the act, but that the transgression has the quality of trapping the person in its rut, from which rut the Christian despairs of release.

Context from the immediately preceding paragraphs would indicate the transgression to relate to works of the flesh listed there, among which are sexual immorality or drunkenness or ambition or envy (5:19-26). Or, it may refer to a Christian’s wholesale neglect to walk by the Spirit. A larger Galatian context would have transgressions to include leaving God to follow “another gospel, which is not another gospel” (1:6-7); receiving circumcision among males (2:3); observing various holy days (4:10); generally, seeking to keep the law as a means for justification (5:4).

Could the transgression refer to someone teaching against faith and grace in favor of law-keeping, which teaching Paul finds so offensive to the truth of the gospel? It seems that such anti-gospel teaching is of a different category of wrongdoing than the rest. While Paul trusts the Galatian churches to return to right thinking (5:10a), he is as persuaded that whoever perpetrates the anti-gospel teaching will bear judgment for it (5:10b), indeed, remains accursed (1:8-9).

The persons charged with restoring, namely, the “spiritual ones,” are not explicitly identified beyond that phrase. In light of the context, we understand these spiritual persons are those who, having been made alive by the Spirit, now also walk by the Spirit (5:25). They show the fruit of the Spirit in their lives (5:22-23), and do not fulfill the desires of the flesh (5:16). Humbly aware of their own weakness to temptation, they restore in gentleness, and not out of conceit (5:26), attentive that they themselves do not fall (6:2).

These spiritual ones fulfill the law of Christ by helping to bear the burden of the transgressor in his restoration. The law of Christ reasonably would be to “love one’s neighbor as oneself,” mentioned earlier in the letter (5:14), which law would be exemplified in helping the brother or sister return to a way of life consistent with the Spirit’s guidance (5:16, 18).

So, Paul and James both describe the work of Christ’s disciples to include restoration or turning around brothers who have wandered off from the way of the Lord. As Paul has it, spiritual brothers should restore the brother caught in some transgression.

*genitive form of aner, man (i.e., male human being)

Paul and James: Discrimination and Christ's Faith

Both Paul and James speak strongly to the matter of discrimination, believers against believers. Though from different contexts, they both indicate that discrimination is a fundamental violation of the faith. They agree that the fact of discrimination, or more to the point, exhibiting favoritism for certain believers against other believers, fails to satisfy the faith of Jesus. James says, "In discrimination, you do not have the faith of our Lord Jesus of glory" (Jas. 2:1), Paul says that when believers separate themselves from other believers they "are not in step with the truth of the gospel." Gal. 2:14.

At the heart of Paul's letter to the Galatian churches we find him advancing this truth of the gospel: Persons are justified through faith of Jesus, not through circumcision and adherence to the law. As Paul attends to gentile believers pressed by Jewish believers to be circumcised, he notes that to receive circumcision (as means for justification) with all it implies is the same as to enter into slavery and to abandon the truth of the gospel. Gal. 2:4-5. Whoever, indeed, receives circumcision or the law, as a means for justification, is severed from Christ! Gal. 5:4. So, we read that all persons in Christ are a new creation, circumcised or not. Gal. 6:15. Being in Christ is all that counts, and make no mistake, his cross does stand as an offense against justification found in circumcision and law-keeping. Gal. 5:11. And Paul will not soft-peddle the truth of gospel to satisfy social norms.

When believers favor one believer over another as more important, they oppose God's character: God shows no partiality. Gal. 2:6. Despite this truth, Paul indicates that none other than Peter (Cephas), Barnabas, and other Jewish Christians in Antioch withdrew fellowship from the gentile Christians because the gentiles had not been circumcised. He condemned such withdrawal of fellowship as hypocrisy (v. 13).

In Gal. 5:7, Paul mentions "obedience to the truth." The truth of which he speaks is stated variously in the letter, but at this juncture he speaks that "we wait eagerly for the hope of justification (or righteousness), through the Spirit by faith" (v. 5). Now, how does one obey such a proposition? In part, one "obeys" a proposition by believing the proposition as true. In greater part, one obeys a proposition by engaging conduct consistent with the proposition's implications. In this case, uncircumcised gentiles and circumcised Jews, believers all in Christ, must live in fellowship with each other, serving each other in love (v. 13). To do otherwise is to devour one another (v. 15).

Here is Paul's call to conduct:
Love your neighbor as yourself. Gal. 5:14. Whatever the former religious and cultural backgrounds, all believers must serve one another in love (v. 13). To do otherwise is to violate the fulfilling word of the whole law (v. 14a).

James likewise addresses the challenge of discrimination (or partiality) among believers. In his concern, discrimination relates with believers' response to people of privilege (gold rings on fingers, splendid clothing) compared to their response to social pariahs: the poor (ragged, dirty clothes). Jas. 2:1-4. He condemns such discrimination indicating that it has no part in the faith of Christ (v. 1), that it dishonors heirs of the kingdom of God (vv. 5-6), that discrimination demonstrates evil motives (v. 4) . He later notes that such evil motives are demonic, not godly. Jas. 3:15-17.

James affirms that when believers show partiality against the poor, they oppose God's election. It is God's choosing that the poor be rich in faith and that they be heirs of his kingdom. Jas. 2:5. [Curiously, it is almost as though James indicates two groups of persons as heirs of the kingdom: (a) those who love God steadfastly under trial (1:12), and (b) the poor who are rich in faith.]

In his discussion against partiality, James notes that failure to observe the law in any point is to become transgressor of it all. 2:10. A believer cannot show partiality and simultaneously live righteously (v. 9). James links discrimination with a lack of mercy, and warns that God's "judgment is merciless to those who have shown no mercy" (v. 13). By discriminating in favor of privileged people, believers support those who oppress them, who drag them into court, and who blaspheme God's good name (vv. 6-7).

James discusses the difference between a wisdom from below (earthly, soulish, demonic) and the wisdom from above, that is, from God. Among the attributes of godly wisdom are these two: no prejudice and no hypocrisy. Jas. 3:17. Where earthly "wisdom" is rife with envy and ambition (v. 16), wisdom from above is impartial and sincere, it is unbiased and unhypocritical. To engage in partiality evidences, consequently, attitudes of the world, and not of God. To be friend of the world, indeed, is to stand an enemy of God. Jas. 4:3.

Here is James' call to conduct:
Love your neighbor as yourself. Jas. 2:8. To do otherwise is sin, that is, to discriminate against believers is wholesale transgression of the law (v.10).

Both Paul and James, within their respective contexts, condemn discrimination among believers and they advance the Levitical injunction to love one's neighbor as oneself. Despite the differences between James and Paul in their rationales, they clearly, deliberately, and unmistakably present a common behavior for believers, namely, to love fellow believers indiscriminately. James calls love for others the "royal law," Paul calls it the "one word" that fulfills the whole law.

Loving one's neighbor as oneself, together with loving God first, is indeed "the law and the prophets," as Jesus their Lord taught.

Paul and James: Calls to Action

Paul and James offer answers to conjoined questions, "By what means does a sinner become righteous?" and, "What shall we then do?"

"Justification" is the word given for the means or process by which a person, specifically a sinner, is rendered righteous before God. Both Paul and James make use of the word, or of words related to it (justify, justified, righteous), in answer to the first question. Bible students have noted their apparently almost diametrically opposed viewpoints of justification, namely, that Paul insists on faith apart from works of law, and that James insists on works that demonstrate a living faith.

For example, Paul will say, "We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith of Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith of Christ and not by works of the law, for by works of the law no one will be justified." Gal. 2:16. And James, contrarily, will say, "You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone." Jas. 2:24. Paul and James each make appeals to the life of Abraham as evidence of their respective teachings, Paul to show that Abraham's faith justified him (Gal. 3:6), and James to show that Abraham's works justified him (Jas. 2:21). Indeed, each of them references the very same passage in Genesis (15:6) to advance their respective thoughts!

Attempts to resolve, or even to reconcile, these two ideas, justification by faith and justification by works, have generated considerable thought and controversy over the centuries.

(1) Some seek to merge both ideas such that justification takes an amount of faith and an amount of works, both; that is, we must work to the best that we can, but where our work is not adequate to the task, then we must have faith to make up the difference, as it were.
(2) Others find resolution in the idea that Paul and James, though using the same words (faith, justification, works, etc.), respectively address different stages of spiritual growth or standing before God; namely, Paul speaks of pre-conversion faith and James speaks of post-conversion responsive work. So speaking colloquially, from Paul we learn that "we get saved by faith," and from James we learn that "once saved, we work hard to show what kind of faith we have."
(3) Deferring to Paul, some relegate James to relative obscurity, almost as a biblical curiosity to be read seldom and certainly cautiously. One writer famously called it an "epistle of straw."
(4) Deferring to James, some think that he provides a corrective to Paul, or more to the point, a necessary corrective to the excesses engendered by certain of Paul's readers and followers. In this view, James brings a healthy realism to what a vibrant, living faith does in a human being, thus eliminating excuses for ungodliness or moral laziness in a believer's life.

Each of these attempts to resolve the two notions has its advocates and detractors, and none has entirely satisfactory solutions. So, (5) there are those who conclude there is an effectively permanent, standing tension between the two views, and that we (namely, the church) must proceed somehow without their reconciliation.

In the examinations ahead of Paul's letter to the Galatian churches and of James' encyclical to the twelve tribes of the diaspora, I wish to focus attention on their respective calls to action, on their answers to the second question above. Whatever their conclusions regarding justification, both Paul and James call for clear, unequivocal action. The reasons for the actions they prescribe, i.e., their theories of action, may be distinct, but a curious thing happens in the two letters. We readers discover a convergence of the two apostles in their call to common behaviors. However it is that we may be justified, in answer to the question, "What shall we then do?" they come to remarkably similar places, as we shall see.

To be sure, they may couch that behavior or action in differing contexts, but the behaviors themselves, whether of actions proscribed or actions prescribed, have much in common. And, perhaps, by starting our examination of these two letters from their common end points, namely, from their calls to behavior, we may also glean suggestions for something of a common theory of action, a common means of justification before a just and merciful God.

Paul and James: Backgrounds (Paul)

Paul wrote the letter to the Galatians (Gal. 1:1); very few students of the Bible, if any, contest this authorship. Galatia was a region east of the Roman Empire's province of Asia, in what is now part of modern Turkey. Paul, as an apostle (or envoy) of Christ, with an entourage including a fellow apostle, Barnabas, preached throughout Galatia during his "first" missionary travel. Acts 13-14. Paul and his group went to the cities of Perga, Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Attalia (cities belonging to provinces or districts associated with Galatia including Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia). Paul would visit these cities again in the time to come, some of them several times in his "second" and "third" missions. Acts 16:1-6; 18:23. These travels eventually led him as far as Rome, and perhaps even to his desired destination, Spain (for which travel there is no evidence). Acts 28:16ff.; cf. Rom. 15:23-24.

"Paul" was his gentile (Roman) name; his heritage name was Saul. By his admission, he was Jewish, from the tribe of Benjamin, raised to follow Jewish customs and law as practiced among Jews in the Roman colony of Tarsus, one of the great cities of the Empire, in Cilicia. Philp. 3:5. His advanced studies took place under Gamaliel's school in Jerusalem, where he become exceedingly active among the sect of the Pharisees. Acts 22:3; 23:6; cf. Gal. 1:14. As a young man (Acts 7:58), his commitment to the Jewish law and to his cultural customs led him to persecute violently fellow Jews, men and women, who had come to believe Jesus was the Messiah, that is, that God had anointed or appointed Jesus as his unique son, raising him from the dead. Acts 8:3; 9:2. Paul intended to destroy the community of such believers altogether. Acts 26:10-11; Gal. 1:13.

While on mission from the priestly authorities in Jerusalem to imprison believers, he had a vision of a living Jesus. Acts 9:3ff.; 26:10ff. He received new instructions for his life's work, namely, to advance belief in Jesus as the Messiah, not only as savior and lord of his cultural and religious compatriots, but also of all nations, of the gentiles. This was God's special revelation to him. Acts 9:15; 17:21; 26:15-18; Rom. 1:5; Gal. 1:12, 15-16. He became a believer, and committed the rest of his life as a servant of Christ (Greek term for messiah) to pursue the goal of advancing the message that Jesus is Lord and Christ, that God would judge the world through Jesus, evidenced by raising him from the dead. Acts 17:31; Rom. 1:4; 2:16; 2 Tim. 4:1. Acts indicates that he continued preaching and teaching through his internment in Rome. Acts 28:31. Nothing more is known of him with any certainty, late tradition speaks of a martyrdom in Rome.

So, Paul was a Jew who believed that Jesus is the Christ, was committed to preaching that truth and its implications (the gospel, or good news) for living lives accountable to God. Appointed by Christ to proclaim the gospel, he traveled extensively, whether supported financially by others or by his own tent-making trade. 1 Cor. 9:14-15; Phlp. 4:15-16; Acts 18:3. He often wrote letters to the communities where he had previously preached to encourage disheartened believers, to correct mistaken notions, and to call for right living empowered by God's Spirit. His letter to the Galatians has a view to all three of these purposes.

Paul and James: Backgrounds (James)

The author, James, of the letter by the same name, is positively known only by what might be inferred from the letter itself. He calls Jesus "Lord," he has facility with the Hebrew scriptures, he is at ease giving far-reaching instructions. He has a deep sense of social responsibility and of the need for personal morality, he has an abiding concern for personal action borne of a living faith in God. He has strong conviction of specific characteristics of God, notably, God's goodness, faithfulness, justice, mercy, and immanence.

If the author of James is to be identified with a James known elsewhere in the New Testament, there are several candidates from which to choose.

One James, son of Zebedee, was an earliest disciple of Jesus. Matthew 4:21. Jesus nicknamed him, with his brother John, Son of Thunder. Mark 3:17. Together with John and with Simon Peter, James was one of the three closest of Jesus' disciples during his earthly ministry. Luke 9:28. Chosen by Jesus as one of the twelve apostles, he was also the first of the Twelve killed on account of his belief in Jesus as the Messiah. Acts 12:2.

Three other men of the same name include another disciple and apostle, James, son of Alphaeus. Mark 3:18. Another is the father of the apostle, Judas (not Iscariot). Acts 1:13. Yet another is James the younger, brother to Joseph and Salome, whose mother Mary (not Jesus' mother), intended to assist at Jesus' embalming. Mark 16:1.

The last James I note here is a brother to Jesus in his earthly family. Mark 6:3. He is also brother to Joseph, Simon, Judas (presumed author of the New Testament letter of Jude), and to unnamed sisters. We infer he is a son to Joseph and Mary, along with the rest of the siblings. Following his resurrection, Jesus visits privately with a James, thought to be this brother. 1 Corinthians 15:7. When Peter is miraculously released from prison, he makes sure that James be apprised of the matter. Acts 12:17. He is also thought to be the same James, leader in the Jerusalem church who presides over the church council in Jerusalem. Acts 15:13. This James, though not one of the Twelve, is implied to be an apostle, too. Galatians 1:19. Nothing more is known certainly of his life or death, though ancient tradition speaks of him as a martyr in Jerusalem.

On at least three occasions, perhaps four, Paul visits in Jerusalem with this James, whom he identifies as the Lord's brother. First, at the beginning of his ministry among the Gentiles, Paul visits with Peter (to whom he refers as Cephas, Aramaic term for Peter) for two weeks, and with James, too. Galatians 1:19. Second, after he had been on mission with Barnabas and Titus, he meets with James, Peter, and John, "reputed to pillars in the church," to confirm with them the gospel message. Galatians 2:9. Then (third?), if this is distinct from the event in Gal. 2:9, Paul and Barnabas meet in council with the Jerusalem congregation, at which James presides. Acts 15. Third (fourth?), toward the end of his ministry, Paul brings a financial offering from the Gentile churches to the Jewish churches in Jerusalem and Judea; he wants James and the elders there to recognize the work that God has been doing in the mission. Acts 21:18.

In his Galatian letter, Paul says that on the one hand, James completely approved of the gospel Paul preached among the Gentiles; James agrees that Gentiles are not to be circumcised. Yet, Paul also charges that men from James to Paul's Antioch mission intended to advance circumcision among the Gentiles converted to Christ. Galatians 2:12. (We note that Paul does not say explicitly that James sent them for that purpose, though it would be easy to assume so.)

For several reasons, not least of which is ancient historical tradition, I take the author of the letter as James, Jesus' brother, apostle and leader in the Jerusalem church. The author's qualities noted above can reasonably be attributed to this James' life.

James is convicted that God has designated Jesus, the man he grew up with as a younger brother, to be the Lord of glory, the Christ. Twice he refers to Jesus as Lord and as Christ (Jas. 1:1; 2:1), while he refers to himself as a servant or slave of Jesus. But not only is Jesus his Lord (1:1), Jesus is our Lord (2:1). And with that commonality among believers, James writes to us all scattered about the cosmos.

Paul and James: Judgement Day Comes

Judgment Day stands as the culminating event of human destiny. Judgment is destined: the outcome is not.

God is ready, scripture points out, to judge the living and the dead. 1 Peter 5:4. Axiomatic of his justice, God will call all humans to account for their respective lives. He will be vindicated on that Day, as each person agrees with God's judgment as true and right, when he renders to each one justly according to his or her deeds. Romans 3:4-6.

To that end, scripture assures that it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes Judgment Day. Hebrews 9:27. Scripture emphasizes the Day's comprehensiveness to say all the dead, great and small, will stand before God's throne; the sea will give up the dead who are in it, and Death and Hades will give up the dead in them, and all will be judged, each one of them according to what they have done. Revelation 20:12-13. Further, scripture asserts that we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he or she has done in the body, whether good or evil. 2 Corinthians 5:10.

The outcome of Judgment is a big deal. Scripture clearly states that for those acquitted, it means eternal life, glory, honor, and peace. Romans 2:6-10. For those not acquitted, there will be trouble, distress, and in the end, immutable death. Romans 6:21.

Judgment is destined: people's individual outcomes are not. Consequently, people have a high interest in the standards against which that judgment is to be made. Indeed, scripture speaks of individuals' consciences bearing them witness in their conflicting thoughts, accusing or excusing them respectively on that Day when God judges people's secrets. Romans 2:15.

Two big ideas relate to the Judgment: justification and salvation. Justification is the process or means leading to excuse or acquittal of charges against a person. Salvation is the process or means taken to rescue an accused person from sure despair and death.

In pursuit of the standards by which judgment is made, I plan to explore two New Testament writings, James' letter to the twelve tribes in the Diaspora, and Paul's letter to the churches of Galatia. These writings are usually thought to be fairly contemporaneous with each other, though distinct in their discussions. The writings are also noted as providing considerable tension between the notions of justification by faith apart from works of law (Paul), and justification by works that demonstrate a living faith (James).

Judgment Day comes. That formidable event forms the backdrop for the discussions ahead.

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Note: In the discussions ahead, any number of Bible translations may be used, including original work. No indicators are given concerning the sources; readers are encouraged to use their own preferred versions for deeper consideration. Also, when reference is made to Paul's writing, one should assume the Galatian letter unless clearly indicated otherwise.