“You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24).
Federal Visionists love this entire passage in James 2 because it seems to teach justification by works. They love to point out that the only place in the Bible that says “faith alone” is here, where James says that justification is allegedly “not” by faith alone.
The Reformed faith has always taught that justification is by faith alone (sola fide). Now, the Bible never actually says this, but Paul comes close enough when he says, “a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law” (Romans 3:28).
Had James been aware of Paul’s writings, or even more importantly, had James known how the historic Reformed faith would have spoken of justification, James never would have written so carelessly. Then again, James has never been known as a systematic theologian. This drove Luther so nuts that he called James an epistle of “straw.”
While James is not much of a theologian, he is wonderfully practical and good to read for inspiration. However, when it comes to systematic theology, the Reformed faith has rightly looked to Paul rather than James.
