James 2:13

For judgment is without mercy to him that hath showed no mercy: mercy glorieth against judgment.

This is not a harsh judgment, for the sterner side of the judgment of God was enunciated by our Lord himself (Matthew 6:14), where it is stated that "If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Nevertheless, it remains true that "mercy glorieth against judgment." The most wonderful truth revealed in all of the word of God is that mercy stands higher than the law as the guiding principle of God's relationship with men. This was symbolized in the Old Testament by the Mercy Seat which was placed above and on top of the Ark of the Covenant. See discussion of this in my Commentary on Hebrews, pp. 189-191. However, it is in the New Testament that the full impact of God's mercy comes to its glorious climax in the crucifixion of the Son of God that men through him might have eternal life.

On James 2:14-26: This paragraph is perhaps the most disputed and misunderstood passage in the New Testament; but the interpretation presented here flows out of deep convictions: (1) that here indeed we have the inspired word of God; (2) that this portion of the New Testament is as easily understood as any other; (3) that the simple answers are the true ones; (4) that there is not the slightest contradiction between Paul and James; (5) that Paul's affirmation that we are justified "by faith" and James' declaration that we are justified "by works" mean simply that we are indeed justified "by both," and that it is a sin to assert that men are justified either (a) "by faith alone," or (b) "by works alone"; (6) that all of the alleged contradiction between the sacred writers James and Paul derives not from what either of them said, but from the false allegations of theologians concerning what they meant; (7) and that Luther did not misunderstand James (as frequently urged), but that he misunderstood Paul. The interpretation advocated here is oriented in the New Testament and not to theological speculations which have so largely supplanted the sacred text.

What is the subject matter of this paragraph? Gibson's quotation from Lightfoot emphasizes the view which is advocated here, thus:

So long as our view is confined to the apostolic writings, it seems scarcely possible to resist the impression that St. James is attacking the teaching, if not of St. Paul himself, at least of those who exaggerated and perverted it.[25]

Further, it is the conviction of this writer that the paragraph should most certainly be interpreted exactly in view of the apostolic writings, and that conclusions established from this viewpoint are a thousand times more dependable than conclusions grounded in non-apostolic literature. Thus, no hesitation is felt in naming the antinomian perversion of Paul's teaching regarding justification "by faith" as the specific error James refuted in these verses. And what is that perversion? It is the proposition that men are justified "by faith only." The modern outcropping of that delusive error has its roots in the teachings of Martin Luther; and it aids understanding of it to remember that Luther clearly understood James as a contradiction of his false theory, which he mistakenly attributed to the apostle Paul, incorrectly believing that he had discovered it in Paul's writings.

Many commentators have agreed with this identification of James' subject matter. For example, "Some believe that James is attacking an antinomian perversion of Paul's teaching";[26] "James was not attacking Paul's doctrine of justification by faith but rather a perversion of it." [27] The perversion is justification "by faith only."

[25] E. C. S. Gibson, op. cit., p. 30.

[26] T. Carson, A New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1969), p. 575.

[27] Walter W. Wessel, op. cit., p. 952.