M
DO JAMES AND PAUL CONTRADICT?
[If so which one is right or is both of them right?]
Do James and Paul in their basic theology contradict each other? Have you ever heard that controversy? Two thousand years they have been debating this. Most of them siding with Paul and putting James in the category as heretic.
Remember we are talking James the brother of Christ. James who in Acts 15 at the Jerusalem conference, when Paul and Barnabas and those came to meet with everyone. I mean everybody was there, all the believing Pharisees that was converted and all of the elders, the Apostles and the chief people and the whole congregation. They were all there and James was there. Who gave the final summation of what was to be done with what was discussed at that conference? Who gave the final summation? James.
Yet, Martin Luther who started ‘the’ Reformation, he is attributed to others too, but this was the primary one, what they called The Protestant Reformation. He calls James "an Epistle of straw" and the main reason being that James emphasizes ‘works,’ good works. Dr. Martin Luther, of course was by "faith ALONE."
WHO TEACHES ‘FAITH ALONE’
This faith alone… the word alone, this is something that has been interjected at the time of Martin Luther and I’m going to show you that it was him that did it. I just looked up a few, but I mean there are hundreds. So I just looked up this few.
James Dobson says, "we are justified by faith ALONE." Where did he get that word alone.
Billy Graham, "faith ALONE." Now I believe it was Billy Graham, I don’t know how many years ago when he had one of his really big or first rallies in Berlin, he was sure to emphasize that we are justified by faith ALONE. Why did he do that? Well he wanted to get in good with the Germany, because it was their great reformer Martin Luther who introduced this word alone.
Listen to this, I’m going to read this now about the same way that theologians would try to. How Billy Graham and Dobson and others would try to show you how they are right on this ‘faith ALONE.’ They might quote Paul in Galatians 2.
Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law…
Well there you go.
Paul says:
Gal 2:16 …but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. (also 17-21!!)
Now that is pretty clear, isn’t it. I mean it sounds pretty clear, doesn’t it. Will anybody be justified in the eyes of God by doing works of the law? Paul say no.
James says:
James 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works...
v. 24 Ye see then how that BY WORKS A MAN IS JUSTIFED...
Is that a contradiction? It sure sounds like one if you read it like that, doesn’t it. One place says, not by works but by faith in Christ and then not by works of the law. Then James comes along and says was not Abraham justified by works, you see then that a man if justified by works.
Okay, it’s not a contradiction. Now follow me closely. I so help me God think the worse offenders of Christian hermeneutics are the Christian theologians. They are the worst. They say that difficult Scriptures must be interpreted by simpler, more to the point Scriptures. They’ve got all these principles and context context context. Yet when they try to ensconce their heretical teaching, they break every rule in the book and they do it with impunity.
We started off with this word ‘alone.’ We are justified, saved by faith alone. Justification is by faith alone. Faith alone.
I read you two verses, one by Paul and one by James. Did you see the word ‘alone’? It’s not there. Well where in the world did it come from? I’ll show you.
MARTIN LUTHER INSERTED THE WORD ‘ALONE’
This I have is a very old translation of the Bible by Martin Luther, from back in the 1500’s. Now I’ll take you to Romans 3:28. In says in there;
Roemer 3:28 German: Luther (1545)
So halten wir es nun, daß der Mensch gerecht werde ohne des Gesetzes Werke, allein durch den Glauben.
"Allein" means alone. "Glauden" means belief or faith. That’s Martin Luther’s from the 1500’s.
Now let’s read that from the King James.
Rom 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds (or works) of the law.
Do you see the word ‘alone.’ No. No you don’t. It’s interesting that Martin Luther puts little margin notes. He puts them actually not in the margin, but he puts them right next to the verses. He has Galatians 2:16. Maybe it is just to help people see another reference.
Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ…
Now it doesn’t say ‘alone’ does it. But he uses that as a reference. But in Romans 3:28 he puts the word ‘alone.’
Biased Bible Translation
Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German. He translated Romans 3:28 as follows:
We hold that the human will be justified without the works of the law but only by faith.
[Comment: They give the King James text and show that it is not there]
Luther admits to adding the word "only" in the text but insists that his reasons for doing so are good ones. [comment: Isn’t this incredible.] Notice that he is using his doctrine of Sola Fide (faith only) to guide his translation rather than being faithful to the text. Here are his words:
I was not depending upon or following the nature of language when I inserted the word "solum" (alone) in Rom. 3 as the text itself, and St. Paul's meaning, urgently necessitated and demanded it. He is dealing with the main point of Christian doctrine in this passage - namely that we are justified by faith in Christ without any works of the Law.
I also know that in Rom. 3, the word "solum" is not present in either Greek or Latin text - the papists did not have to teach me that - it is fact! The letters s-o-l-a are not there. And these knotheads stare at them like cows at a new gate, while at the same time they do not recognize that it conveys the sense of the text[/u] - if the translation is to be clear and accurate, it belongs there.
North Forest - Jesus Christ, the light of the world
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
So why did he put ‘alone’ there?… "It belongs there." Why anybody can tell that, right, because it belongs there. Now he didn’t put it in Galatians 2:16, but guess who did? Now I will extol the virtues of the Concordance’s translation when that is deemed fair, but let me show you something. This is the reference that Martin Luther gives in his Scripture Romans 3:28, when he says ‘alone.’
Concordant Literal Version
Gal 2:16 having perceived that a man is not being justified by works of law, except alone through the faith of Christ Jesus,
That is just sheer spurious nonsense. They do show you, they always put the words from the Scripture in bold face and if they add words… and sometimes you need to add words to make it idiomatically correct, you know in reading it. They do put the word ‘alone’ in light face. But the point is, why did they put it there at all? It is not suggested and it is not in the original, so why did they put it there? Well A. E. Knoch… is that not a good German name. I think he’s got a heritage back to Martin Luther if you ask me. Where else did he come up with that? It’s not there, he just stuck it in there. Martin Luther just stuck it in there. Where did this ‘alone’ come from? It didn’t come from the Scriptures.
So although what I read you, and I didn’t read you the whole verse, I just read an excerpt from a verse from Paul and in James. I did that on purpose, so you could see how you could make it sound like it’s a absolute contradiction. You see?
So there is no Scripture that uses the phrase ‘faith alone’ or ‘only by faith’ or ‘faith only.’ Or ‘works alone’ or ‘only works.’ Neither one of those is used, you don’t find the word alone. Now you will find ‘faith alone’ one place in the Bible and it is in James. But guess what you find with that "faith alone"? You find the word "not."
James 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
THE FAITH ‘OF’ CHRIST
Now why would Dobson and Billy Graham and Martin Luther and all, why would they insert this word ‘alone’? What is there point? Why is it so important to them to pervert the Scriptures, to pervert the Word of God, to add to the Word of God, when God says, woe be to those that add to it? Why is it so important to them to do that?
[Comment from someone: Well I’ve heard you talk about, that they are trying to make it sound like it’s our faith and not Jesus Christ’s faith.] That’s one thing and you do find that some translations talk about faith ‘in’ Christ, even Rotherham. It’s plainly the faith ‘of’ Jesus Christ and he inserts the word ‘in’ (Gal. 2:16, 3:26; Php. 3:9; Col. 1:4). I know that Rotherham’s translation is pretty consistent, just like Concordant. But sometimes the human element gets in there and they just think, ‘it’s our faith in Christ.’ No it’s not, it’s the faith ‘of’ Christ. Big difference. That’s one point.
[If so which one is right or is both of them right?]
Do James and Paul in their basic theology contradict each other? Have you ever heard that controversy? Two thousand years they have been debating this. Most of them siding with Paul and putting James in the category as heretic.
Remember we are talking James the brother of Christ. James who in Acts 15 at the Jerusalem conference, when Paul and Barnabas and those came to meet with everyone. I mean everybody was there, all the believing Pharisees that was converted and all of the elders, the Apostles and the chief people and the whole congregation. They were all there and James was there. Who gave the final summation of what was to be done with what was discussed at that conference? Who gave the final summation? James.
Yet, Martin Luther who started ‘the’ Reformation, he is attributed to others too, but this was the primary one, what they called The Protestant Reformation. He calls James "an Epistle of straw" and the main reason being that James emphasizes ‘works,’ good works. Dr. Martin Luther, of course was by "faith ALONE."
WHO TEACHES ‘FAITH ALONE’
This faith alone… the word alone, this is something that has been interjected at the time of Martin Luther and I’m going to show you that it was him that did it. I just looked up a few, but I mean there are hundreds. So I just looked up this few.
James Dobson says, "we are justified by faith ALONE." Where did he get that word alone.
Billy Graham, "faith ALONE." Now I believe it was Billy Graham, I don’t know how many years ago when he had one of his really big or first rallies in Berlin, he was sure to emphasize that we are justified by faith ALONE. Why did he do that? Well he wanted to get in good with the Germany, because it was their great reformer Martin Luther who introduced this word alone.
Listen to this, I’m going to read this now about the same way that theologians would try to. How Billy Graham and Dobson and others would try to show you how they are right on this ‘faith ALONE.’ They might quote Paul in Galatians 2.
Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law…
Well there you go.
Paul says:
Gal 2:16 …but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. (also 17-21!!)
Now that is pretty clear, isn’t it. I mean it sounds pretty clear, doesn’t it. Will anybody be justified in the eyes of God by doing works of the law? Paul say no.
James says:
James 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works...
v. 24 Ye see then how that BY WORKS A MAN IS JUSTIFED...
Is that a contradiction? It sure sounds like one if you read it like that, doesn’t it. One place says, not by works but by faith in Christ and then not by works of the law. Then James comes along and says was not Abraham justified by works, you see then that a man if justified by works.
Okay, it’s not a contradiction. Now follow me closely. I so help me God think the worse offenders of Christian hermeneutics are the Christian theologians. They are the worst. They say that difficult Scriptures must be interpreted by simpler, more to the point Scriptures. They’ve got all these principles and context context context. Yet when they try to ensconce their heretical teaching, they break every rule in the book and they do it with impunity.
We started off with this word ‘alone.’ We are justified, saved by faith alone. Justification is by faith alone. Faith alone.
I read you two verses, one by Paul and one by James. Did you see the word ‘alone’? It’s not there. Well where in the world did it come from? I’ll show you.
MARTIN LUTHER INSERTED THE WORD ‘ALONE’
This I have is a very old translation of the Bible by Martin Luther, from back in the 1500’s. Now I’ll take you to Romans 3:28. In says in there;
Roemer 3:28 German: Luther (1545)
So halten wir es nun, daß der Mensch gerecht werde ohne des Gesetzes Werke, allein durch den Glauben.
"Allein" means alone. "Glauden" means belief or faith. That’s Martin Luther’s from the 1500’s.
Now let’s read that from the King James.
Rom 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds (or works) of the law.
Do you see the word ‘alone.’ No. No you don’t. It’s interesting that Martin Luther puts little margin notes. He puts them actually not in the margin, but he puts them right next to the verses. He has Galatians 2:16. Maybe it is just to help people see another reference.
Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ…
Now it doesn’t say ‘alone’ does it. But he uses that as a reference. But in Romans 3:28 he puts the word ‘alone.’
Biased Bible Translation
Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German. He translated Romans 3:28 as follows:
We hold that the human will be justified without the works of the law but only by faith.
[Comment: They give the King James text and show that it is not there]
Luther admits to adding the word "only" in the text but insists that his reasons for doing so are good ones. [comment: Isn’t this incredible.] Notice that he is using his doctrine of Sola Fide (faith only) to guide his translation rather than being faithful to the text. Here are his words:
I was not depending upon or following the nature of language when I inserted the word "solum" (alone) in Rom. 3 as the text itself, and St. Paul's meaning, urgently necessitated and demanded it. He is dealing with the main point of Christian doctrine in this passage - namely that we are justified by faith in Christ without any works of the Law.
I also know that in Rom. 3, the word "solum" is not present in either Greek or Latin text - the papists did not have to teach me that - it is fact! The letters s-o-l-a are not there. And these knotheads stare at them like cows at a new gate, while at the same time they do not recognize that it conveys the sense of the text[/u] - if the translation is to be clear and accurate, it belongs there.
North Forest - Jesus Christ, the light of the world
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
So why did he put ‘alone’ there?… "It belongs there." Why anybody can tell that, right, because it belongs there. Now he didn’t put it in Galatians 2:16, but guess who did? Now I will extol the virtues of the Concordance’s translation when that is deemed fair, but let me show you something. This is the reference that Martin Luther gives in his Scripture Romans 3:28, when he says ‘alone.’
Concordant Literal Version
Gal 2:16 having perceived that a man is not being justified by works of law, except alone through the faith of Christ Jesus,
That is just sheer spurious nonsense. They do show you, they always put the words from the Scripture in bold face and if they add words… and sometimes you need to add words to make it idiomatically correct, you know in reading it. They do put the word ‘alone’ in light face. But the point is, why did they put it there at all? It is not suggested and it is not in the original, so why did they put it there? Well A. E. Knoch… is that not a good German name. I think he’s got a heritage back to Martin Luther if you ask me. Where else did he come up with that? It’s not there, he just stuck it in there. Martin Luther just stuck it in there. Where did this ‘alone’ come from? It didn’t come from the Scriptures.
So although what I read you, and I didn’t read you the whole verse, I just read an excerpt from a verse from Paul and in James. I did that on purpose, so you could see how you could make it sound like it’s a absolute contradiction. You see?
So there is no Scripture that uses the phrase ‘faith alone’ or ‘only by faith’ or ‘faith only.’ Or ‘works alone’ or ‘only works.’ Neither one of those is used, you don’t find the word alone. Now you will find ‘faith alone’ one place in the Bible and it is in James. But guess what you find with that "faith alone"? You find the word "not."
James 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
THE FAITH ‘OF’ CHRIST
Now why would Dobson and Billy Graham and Martin Luther and all, why would they insert this word ‘alone’? What is there point? Why is it so important to them to pervert the Scriptures, to pervert the Word of God, to add to the Word of God, when God says, woe be to those that add to it? Why is it so important to them to do that?
[Comment from someone: Well I’ve heard you talk about, that they are trying to make it sound like it’s our faith and not Jesus Christ’s faith.] That’s one thing and you do find that some translations talk about faith ‘in’ Christ, even Rotherham. It’s plainly the faith ‘of’ Jesus Christ and he inserts the word ‘in’ (Gal. 2:16, 3:26; Php. 3:9; Col. 1:4). I know that Rotherham’s translation is pretty consistent, just like Concordant. But sometimes the human element gets in there and they just think, ‘it’s our faith in Christ.’ No it’s not, it’s the faith ‘of’ Christ. Big difference. That’s one point.