THE JUSTIFIED LIVE BY FAITH. ‘’The just shall live by faith.’’ (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11). Our opponents sound very dogmatic in castigating us for our stand against justification by faith plus works. They stubbornly close their minds to the realization that James’ doctrine of justification by works belong to an era whose demands for justification by works ceased with the commencement of justification by faith alone revealed to apostle Paul. The solemn agreement between John, Peter and James on one hand and Paul on the other hand to direct their ministries to circumcision and uncircumcision respectively have no significance to our brothers. Eventual assertion by Paul that there is neither Jew nor Gentile as all of them become sons of God by faith alone is ignored. (Galatians 3:28,26). In the above Romans and Galatians texts, the apostle to the Gentiles expressly states that the justified live by faith. ‘’The just shall live by faith’’ certainly excludes works as taught by James. It is incredible that throughout Pauline epistles he never mentions justification by faith plus works. Like wise we find it incredible that some Gentile believers use James’ epistle to justify their legalistic practices in disregard to the fact that James wrote to the Jews in dispersion. The controversy between James and Paul is better is better explained by James himself. ‘’And when they(James and the elders) heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him(Paul), Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who believe, and they are all zealous of the law(works) ………..As touching the Gentiles who believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing (works)……….’’)Acts 21:20,25). Since James absolved the Gentiles who believed from that which was a preserve of the Jews , no body has a right today to enforce upon them that which pertained to the gospel of the circumcision. It is instructive to note that during his early ministry, apostle Paul also preached the same gospel of circumcision, only to cease from doing so upon revelation and commencement of the gospel of uncircumcision. ‘’And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross ceased.’’ (Galatians 5:11). This change is confirmed by Paul’s statement to the Thessalonians and the writer of Hebrews. ‘’For from you sounded the word of the Lord not only in Machedonia and Achaia,but also in every place your FAITH TOWARD GOD is spread abroad , so that we need not to speak any thing.’’ (Thessalonians 1:8). ‘’Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go onto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of FAITH TOWARD GOD.’’(Hebrews 6:1).Whoever reads the above texts with any attention can not fail to perceive that, faith toward God was preached during the early ministry of Paul about 51AD but later on ceased to be relevant when Paul received the revelation about faith in the blood of Christ as evidenced in the Hebrews text in 68AD. It is to be noted further that James who taught justification by faith plus works, wrote his epistle in 45 AD much earlier than Paul who wrote his first epistles, Thessalonians in 51 AD. This explains why in the entire epistle of James no mention is made of the atoning blood of Christ for it had not been revealed to Paul yet. This also explains why even in Paul’s letters to Thessalonians written in 51 AD no direct mention of the blood of Christ is made, for he had not received that truth. On the contrary, apostles Peter and John who wrote their epistles about 65 AD respectively, extensively taught the propitiatory value of the blood of Christ in their writings, presumably after getting it from Paul. In view of the forgoing Bible students are admonished to consider the unfolding revelation of the body of truth given to Paul in their expository works in Acts and the epistles. Charles O.Ndege
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 11:17:57 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015