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.