James 2:18

Yea, a man will say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I by my works shall show thee my faith.

These words, together with the argumentative form of the verses that follow, imply that a well-known subject of controversy is being dealt with.[32]

Thou hast faith ... I have works ... As Tasker noted, "The pronouns do not refer to James and the objector, but are the equivalent of `one' and `another,' and are merely a more picturesque way of indicating two imaginary persons."[33] What James is really saying is that some people do in fact claim to be saved "by faith only," while others are diligent to maintain good works which alone are the proof of faith.

Show me thy faith apart from works ... This is an impossibility, of course; and here is the reason why James introduced this entire discussion by the remark, "If a man say." The grounding of justification upon anything so unprovable as "faith only" has the inherent flaw of being predicated upon something which is not only undemonstrable to others, but which also is incapable of being certainly known by the claimant. Of all the ephemeral, uncertain, untrustworthy and utterly fallible assurances of salvation ever advocated, that of the trust/faith of sinners has to be declared the most unreliable of all. A faith without works, unproved by any act of obedience, cannot ever be known certainly to exist by anyone supposing that he has such faith. This phenomenal uncertainty accounts for the necessity of constant stress of the false doctrine from the pulpits of those communions misled by it.

On this verse, Roberts pointed out that:

There is a semantic sense in which some would argue that real faith must act, and that unless faith acts, it is not genuine. This is probably not James' point.[34]

The notion that "real faith must act" cannot be true, as proved by statements in John 12:42. See full comments in my Commentary on John, pp. 305-307.

Our Lord spoke of justification (Luke 18:14), and of being justified by words (Matthew 12:37), and of faith saving (Luke 7:50).[35]

Despite the truth of the above, no one ever accused Jesus of teaching that salvation is by "faith only," or of contradicting himself when he said one shall be justified by "his words." However, Ward turned to the thief on the cross for confirmation of the "faith only" concept, thus: "The penitent thief had no time left for works; and faith had no time in which to die."[36] Ward overlooked the most remarkable "works" of the thief in that he confessed Jesus Christ as Lord under the most unfavorable circumstances and prayed for his remembrance in the kingdom. Certainly, this was something more than faith only.

Punchard said, "The bearing of this verse is commonly misunderstood. The words are those of scorn."[37] The scorn was of course directed against first-century Solifidianism.

[32] W. E. Oesterley, op. cit., p. 445.

[33] R. V. G. Tasker, op. cit., p. 66.

[34] J. W. Roberts, op. cit., p. 89.

[35] T. Carson, op. cit., p. 576.

[36] Ronald A. Ward, op. cit., p. 1228.

[37] E. G. Punchard, op. cit., p. 367.