James 2:24

Ye see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith.

The KJV is better in this verse, having "not by faith only," since James' efforts in the whole paragraph are directed against supposing that salvation is "by faith only." The meaning is allegedly the same. "In the Greek, the adverb `only' comes last, emphatically."[53]

By works a man is justified ... The weight of this is seen in the extension to include all men who shall ever be saved. "A man" has the function of moving James' teaching away from Abraham as an illustration of it and making it inclusive of all men forever. Ward of course makes the works James mentioned "the evidence of justification,"[54] whereas James in this verse has reference to the "means of justification." We appreciate the candor of E. C. S. Gibson who left James 2:24 altogether out of his interpretation. This verse so dramatically and effectively refutes Solifidianism that it is actually amazing that any of its adherents would bother to comment on it.

What screams of outrage would arise if one dared to amend James' statement here to read, "By works only is a man justified"! And yet, that is exactly what men have done to the teachings of Paul in their false allegations that he taught "justification by faith only." There is just as much Scriptural authority for one of these propositions as there is for the other, namely, none at all.

There is another grave error which should also be refuted, namely, that the acceptance of what James here said makes such an acceptance tantamount to a man's thinking he can "earn salvation," or that humble recipients of God's word in this passage are guilty of making themselves "their own saviour," or that faithful working Christians think they are placing God in debt to them. How ridiculous is such nonsense! Even when Abraham met the test of offering his son Isaac upon the altar, he was still a sinner, the unworthy recipient of the grace of Almighty God; and so it is with all who ever were or ever shall be saved. Roberts summed up this verse as follows: "It was because Abraham had done this that the blessings followed. So works justify, not in themselves alone, but still they justify."[55]

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

[54] Ronald A. Ward, op. cit., p. 1229.

[55] J. W. Roberts, op. cit., p. 97.