you keep twisting the word to make it mean what you want it to mean...James is not questioning what the man says ...he is questioning what the man does...
It truly amazes me to see how everything that I explained to you in post #541 and #543 just went right over your head!
James is questioning what the man says/claims, yet does not back up his claim by what he does (James 2:14).
[SUP]20 [/SUP]But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
James is not teaching that we are saved by works, as you believe. His concern is to
show the reality of the faith
professed by the individual (James 2:18) and
demonstrate that the faith
claimed (James 2:14) by the individual is
genuine.
[SUP]21 [/SUP]Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Notice closely that James does not say that Abraham's work of offering up Isaac resulted in God's accounting Abraham as righteous. No! The accounting of Abraham's faith as righteousness was made in Genesis 15:6, many years before his work of offering up Isaac recorded in Genesis 22. The work of Abraham did not have some kind of intrinsic merit to save his soul, but it
proved or manifested the genuineness of his faith. This is the sense in which Abraham was justified by works.
[SUP]22[/SUP]Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
Made perfect or completed by works means bring to maturity, carry to the end, to complete like love in 1 John 4:18. It doesn't mean he was finally saved based on his works. When Abraham performed the good work in Genesis 22; he fulfilled the expectations created by the pronouncement of his faith in Genesis 15:6.
[SUP]23 [/SUP]And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
The scripture was fulfilled in vindicating or demonstrating that Abraham believed God and was accounted as righteous. Abraham was accounted as righteous because of his faith (Genesis 15:6) long before he offered up Isaac on the alter and demonstrated the reality of his faith in Genesis 22.
[SUP]24 [/SUP]Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
James is not using the word "justified" here to mean "accounted as righteous" but is "shown to be righteous." James is discussing the
proof of faith (says-claims to have faith but has no works/I will show you my faith by my works), not the initial act of being accounted as righteous with God (Romans 4:2-3). Works bear out the justification that already came by faith.
In the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, the Greek word for justified "dikaioo" #1344 is:
1. to render righteous or such he ought to be
2. to show, exhibit, evince, one to be righteous, such as he is and wishes himself to be considered
3. to declare, pronounce, one to be just, righteous, or such as he ought to be
God is said to have been
justified by those who were baptized by John the Baptist (Luke 7:29). This act pronounced or declared God to be righteous. It did not make him righteous. The basis or ground for the pronouncement was the fact that God IS righteous. Notice that the NIV reads, "acknowledged that God's way was right.." The ESV reads, "they declared God just.." This is the sense in which God was justified,
"shown to be righteous". Once again, James is not using the word "justified" to mean "accounted as righteous" but is "shown to be righteous." James is discussing the
proof of faith (says-claims to have faith but has no works/I will show you my faith by my works), not the initial act of being accounted as righteous with God (Romans 4:2-3).
Matthew 11:19 "The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners!' Yet wisdom is
justified/vindicated/shown to be right by her deeds."
you want to say faith produces and dead faith does not produce that is doctrine of man...
Matthew 7:17 - In the same way, every
good tree
produces good fruit, but a
bad tree
produces bad fruit. That is not a doctrine of man. Something that is dead does not produce good works. It takes a living faith to produce good works (Ephesians 2:5-10).
scripture does not teach that...It is you who have to do the work of faith....
Works flow out of faith. Works are the fruit, by product and demonstrative evidence of our faith. Not a dead faith, but a living faith, made alive together with Christ by grace we have been saved through faith, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. You continue to read these passages of scripture through the lens of works salvation. You need a new set of bifocals.