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Gal. 3:6, but in view of the whole argument this surely cannot mean that in his case faith itself
as a work took the place of the righteousness of God in Christ. The apostle does not leave it
doubtful that, strictly speaking, only the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, is the ground of
our justification. But faith is so thoroughly receptive in the appropriation of the merits of Christ,
that it can be put figuratively for the merits of Christ which it receives. “Faith” then is
equivalent to the contents of faith, that is, to the merits or the righteousness of Christ.
It is often said, however, that the teachings of James conflict with those of Paul on this point,
and clearly support the doctrine of justification by works in Jas. 2:14-26. Various attempts have
been made to harmonize the two. Some proceed on the assumption that both Paul and James
speak of the justification of the sinner, but that James stresses the fact that a faith which does
not manifest itself in good works is no true faith, and therefore is not a faith that justifies. This
is undoubtedly true. The difference between the representations of Paul and James is
unquestionably due partly to the nature of the adversaries with which they had to deal. Paul
had to contend with legalists who sought to base their justification, at least in part, on the
works of the law. James, on the other hand, joined issue with Antinomians, who claimed to
have faith, but whose faith was merely an intellectual assent to the truth (2:19), and who
denied the necessity of good works. Therefore he stresses the fact that faith without works is a
dead faith, and consequently not at all a faith that justifies. The faith that justifies is a faith that
is fruitful in good works. But it may be objected that this does not explain the whole difficulty,
since James explicitly says in verse 24 that a man is justified by works and not only by faith, and
illustrates this by the example of Abraham, who was “justified by works in that he offered up
Isaac” (verse 21). “Thou seest,” says he in verse 24, “that faith wrought with his works, and by
works was faith made perfect.” It is quite evident, however, that in this case the writer is not
speaking of the justification of the sinner, for Abraham the sinner was justified long before he
offered up Isaac (cf. Gen. 15), but of a further justification of the believing Abraham. True faith
will manifest itself in good works, and these works will testify before men of the righteousness
(that is, the righteousness of life) of him that possesses such a faith. The justification of the just
by works confirms the justification by faith. If James actually meant to say in this section of his
letter that Abraham and Rahab were justified with the justificatio peccatoris, on the basis of
their good works, he would not only be in conflict with Paul, but would also be self-
contradictory, for he explicitly says that Abraham was justified by faith.
b. Theological terms to express the relation of faith to justification. There are especially three
terms that come into consideration here.
(1) Instrumental cause.
This name was very generally used at first, but afterwards met with
considerable opposition. The question was raised, whether it was God’s instrument or man’s.