The Faith of Paul, the Works of James, and the Love of John

Paul, James, and John the Elder were all important members of the early Christian community. In addition to the stories narrated about him in Acts, scholars agree that 7 of the 13 New Testament epistles attributed to Paul were genuinely written by him. The others that bear his name, even if not written by him directly, were influenced by his theology and reputation. Some modern scholars make the bold, yet convincing claim, that Christianity as we know it today is as much or more a matter of Paul’s work than of the earthly ministry of Jesus. What began as a particular movement within Judaism, turned into a global phenomenon as Paul’s encounter with the risen Christ compelled him to open the door to gentiles joining the Jesus movement.

James was the brother of Jesus. Whether that means he was the son of Mary and Joseph as most Protestants claim or that he was the child of Joseph by a previous marriage as some Catholics claim, James would have been raised in the same household as Jesus. Though James wasn’t a close part of his early ministry, and according to John’s Gospel didn’t even believe in Jesus until later (John 7:5), he eventually became the leader of the church in Jerusalem. While scholars debate whether or not James actually wrote the epistle with his name, the practical wisdom and ethical code present are exactly what we would expect from the leader of a Jewish movement focusing on following the moral teachings of Jesus.

John the Elder certainly wrote the letters of 2 and 3 John and could have written 1 John as well. While there are similarities in style and theology between these epistles and the Gospel according to John that doesn’t necessarily mean they were all written by the same author. It is likely that they all came from the same community. While Paul represents one way of Christian thinking and James another, John the Elder represents another early Christian theology. We can think about the many different denominations we have today. We are all rooted in Christ but we emphasize things differently and talk about things in different ways.

However, sometimes the authors are so far apart from one another in how they talk about things that they apparently disagree outright. In Romans 3:28, Paul argues that Christians are justified by faith apart from works of the law. In James 2:17, James says “faith without works is dead.” At first glance, this looks difficult to reconcile. For Paul, faith is necessary but works are not. For James, works are necessary. However, there have been numerous proposed solutions to this apparent problem. The simplest and perhaps most traditional is that James is simply clarifying that we are known by our fruits (Matthew 7:20). Faith is what saves us, but if you really have faith, it will always result in good works on behalf of one’s neighbor. Therefore, faith is really what saves, but we can tell that faith isn’t real if it doesn’t result in good works.

There is another way to reconcile these things that is a little more complicated, and it focuses on the specific details of what these words mean to these authors. For Paul, faith is more than believing God exists, it is a matter of trusting God, having a personal relationship with God. Meanwhile, James seems to use faith more as accepting an intellectual proposition. They don’t mean the same thing when they are talking about faith. Similarly, when Paul talks about works, he is talking about the matters of the Mosaic Law that make Jews distinct from gentiles. Paul is arguing that a gentile doesn’t need to become a Jew to be saved. Rather, we are saved because God saves us by grace through faith. Meanwhile, James is talking about actions of care for the poor around us. This isn’t a matter of distinguishing Jews from gentiles or a matter of who can be included in the Jesus movement or not, but rather a matter of reaching out to people with caring compassion.

Looking at James 2:15-16 and 1 John 3:17 together, we see an interesting parallel. For James, this is a matter of the works we are called to do, but for John, this is simply a matter of love, but the outcome is exactly the same. This may seem like a small point, but if we read these verses together as a dialogue between James and John it can be quite liberating.

Sometimes we worry about how much work we are really expected to do. If it is true that faith without works is dead, then are we doing enough work to show that our faith is really alive? What does that work look like? Maybe I’m not praying enough to really be a Christian. Maybe I should feel more guilty about sleeping in and missing church. Maybe I should be angrier about injustice. Maybe I should volunteer more at church and in the community. I need to go on a mission trip and help people in foreign countries who are suffering. The list could go on indefinitely. We could be so filled with anxiety over whether or not we are doing enough that we would never feel secure in our faith. How do we know when we have done enough works to prove our faith a living thing?

Perhaps it would be better to read works, not as a laundry list of necessary Christian activities, but rather as the practical manifestation of love. If we genuinely love others, we will work on their behalf, even if all we can do is pray, that prayer will come from the heart. However, when we love someone and they ask for help, we will be quick to be with them, not simply out of obligation, but because we want to be with them. We need not develop a list of all the people we need to help, but rather of all the people we need to love, the works will follow.

I think this would be a point of agreement for Paul, James, and John. Rooted in Christ, they all proclaimed a message of love for our neighbors. When theological issues divided, or at least seem to have divided them, love bound them together, gathered by the Holy Spirit into the one body of Christ. The same is true for us today. All Christians around the world are called by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel. Though the theological divides between us are wide, sometimes so wide we cannot imagine any ways that they could be reconciled, by faith we can trust God to open our hearts to love one another and all the world in need.