Editing Epistle of James (section)

== Doctrine ==

=== Justification ===
{{Main|Justification (theology)|Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification|Sola fide}}
The epistle contains the following famous passage concerning [[Salvation in Christianity|salvation]] and justification:

{{blockquote|What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 
And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.|source=''Epistle of James'' 2:14-26<ref>{{bibleverse|James|2:14–26|ESV}}</ref>}}

This passage has been contrasted with the teachings of Paul the Apostle on justification. Some scholars even believe that the passage is a response to Paul.<ref>{{cite book |first=Scot |last=McKnight |title=The Letter of James |publisher=William B. Eerdmans |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |series=The New International Commentary on the New Testament |isbn=978-0-8028-2627-5 |year=2011 |pages=259–263}}</ref> One issue in the debate is the meaning of the Greek word {{lang|grc|δικαιόω}} (''dikaiόō''), 'render righteous or such as he ought to be'),<ref>{{cite web|title=Dikaioo|url=http://www.studylight.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=1344|work=Greek Lexicon|access-date=16 May 2012}}</ref> with some among the participants taking the view that James is responding to a misunderstanding of Paul.<ref name="Martin 2009">Martin, D. 2009. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRWj6j2Dswc New Testament History & Literature: 18. Arguing with Paul]. Yale University.</ref>

[[Roman Catholicism]] and [[Eastern Orthodoxy]] have historically argued that the passage disproves simplistic versions of the doctrine of justification by faith alone ({{lang|la|[[sola fide]]}}).<ref>{{cite book|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church|chapter-url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_P66.HTM|chapter=The Theological Virtues: 1815|quote=The gift of faith remains in one who has not sinned against it. But 'faith apart from works is dead':[James 2:26] when it is deprived of hope and love, faith does not fully unite the believer to Christ and does not make him a living member of his Body.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Schaff|first=Philip|title=Creeds of Christendom|year=1877|publisher=Harper & Brothers|chapter-url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds1.v.vii.html|chapter=The Synod of Jerusalem and the Confession of Dositheus, A.D. 1672: Article XIII|quote=Man is justified, not by faith alone, but also by works.}}</ref>

The early Protestants resolved the apparent conflict between James and Paul regarding faith and works in alternate ways from the Catholics and Orthodox.<ref>{{cite book|last=Calvin|first=John|title=Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles|chapter-url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom45.vi.iii.vii.html|chapter=James 2:20–26|quote=When, therefore, the Sophists set up James against Paul, they go astray through the ambiguous meaning of a term.}}</ref> One modern American Protestant explanation pre-supposes that James taught {{lang|la|sola fide}}:

{{blockquote|Paul was dealing with one kind of error while James was dealing with a different error. The errorists Paul was dealing with were people who said that works of the law were needed to be added to faith in order to help earn God's favor. Paul countered this error by pointing out that salvation was by faith alone apart from deeds of the law (Galatians 2:16; Romans 3:21–22). Paul also taught that saving faith is not dead but alive, showing thanks to God in deeds of love (Galatians 5:6 ['...since in Christ Jesus it is not being circumcised or being uncircumcised that can effect anything – only faith working through love.']). James was dealing with errorists who said that if they had faith they didn't need to show love by a life of faith (James 2:14–17). James countered this error by teaching that faith is alive, showing itself to be so by deeds of love (James 2:18,26). James and Paul both teach that salvation is by faith alone and also that faith is never alone but shows itself to be alive by deeds of love that express a believer's thanks to God for the free gift of salvation by faith in Jesus.|source=''Faith and Works'', Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod<ref name=WELS>{{cite web |url=http://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=19&cuItem_itemID=6343 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220114120/http://arkiv.lbk.cc/faq/site.pl%401518cutopic_topicid19cuitem_itemid6343.htm |archive-date=20 December 2013 |work=WELS Topical Q&A |title=Faith and Works |publisher=[[Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod]] |access-date=30 Sep 2015 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>}}

According to [[Ben Witherington III]], differences exist between the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Apostle]] Paul and James, but both used the [[law of Moses]], the [[Jesus in Christianity#Teachings, parables and miracles|teachings of Jesus]] and other Jewish and non-Jewish sources, and "Paul was not anti-law any more than James was a [[Legalism (theology)|legalist]]".<ref name="BWIII 2004 Brother">[https://books.google.com/books?id=NnDSKgmm4gEC&q=james%20was%20a%20legalist&pg=PP1 Shanks, Hershel and Witherington III, Ben. (2004). ''The Brother of Jesus: The Dramatic Story & Meaning of the First Archaeological Link to Jesus & His Family''.] HarperSanFrancisco, CA. Retrieved September 18, 2019. {{ISBN|978-0060581176}}.</ref>{{rp|157–158}} A more recent article suggests that the current confusion regarding the Epistle of James about faith and works resulted from [[Augustine of Hippo]]'s anti-[[Donatism|Donatist]] polemic in the early fifth century.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wilson |first1=Kenneth |title=Reading James 2:18–20 with Anti-Donatist Eyes: Untangling Augustine's Exegetical Legacy |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |date=2020 |volume=139 |issue=2 |pages=389–410}}</ref> This approach reconciles the views of Paul and James on faith and works.{{explain|date=January 2024}}<!-- That would appear to resolve a huge schism-causing controversy; this begs for an explanation, or to be dropped. -->

=== Anointing of the sick ===
The epistle is also the chief biblical text for the [[anointing of the sick]]. James wrote:

{{blockquote|Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.|source=''Epistle of James'' 5:14,15<ref>{{bibleverse|James|5:14–15}}</ref>}}

[[G. A. Wells]] suggested that the passage was evidence of late authorship of the epistle, on the grounds that the healing of the sick being done through an official body of [[presbyter]]s ([[elder (Christianity)|elders]]) indicated a considerable development of ecclesiastical organisation "whereas in Paul's day to heal and work miracles pertained to believers indiscriminately (I Corinthians, XII:9)."<ref name="Wells1971">{{cite book|last=Wells|first=George Albert|title=The Jesus of Early Christians|year=1971|publisher=Pemberton|location=London|isbn=0301710147|page=[https://archive.org/details/jesusofearlych00well/page/152 152]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/jesusofearlych00well/page/152}}</ref>

=== Works, deeds and care for the poor ===
James and the [[M Source]] material in Matthew are unique in the canon in their stand against the rejection of works and deeds.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hagner|first=Donald A. |date=2007 |title= Paul as a Jewish Believer in Skarsaune and Reidar Hvalvik, eds., Jewish Believers in Jesus: The Early Centuries|location= Peabody, Massachusetts|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |pages= 96–120|isbn=978-0-664-25018-8}}</ref> According to Sanders, traditional Christian theology wrongly divested the term "works" of its ethical grounding, part of the effort to characterize Judaism as legalistic.<ref>{{cite book |last= Sanders|first= P. |date=1977 |title= Paul and Palestinian Judaism|url= https://isbnsearch.org/isbn/9781506438146|publisher= Fortress Press|page= 236|isbn=1506438148}}</ref> However, for James and for all Jews, faith is alive only through Torah observance.{{dubious|date=May 2024}} In other words, belief demonstrates itself through practice and manifestation. For James, claims about belief are empty, unless they are alive in action, works and deeds.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hartin |first1= Patrick J. |date=2015 |title= The Letter of James: Faith Leads to Action|journal=Word & World |volume= 35|issue= 3|pages= 229}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.|source=''Epistle of James'' 1:22–25<ref>{{bibleverse|James|1:22–25|NIV}}</ref>}}

{{blockquote|Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. |source=''Epistle of James'' 1:27<ref>{{bibleverse|James|1:27|NIV}}</ref>}}

{{blockquote|Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.|source=''Epistle of James'' 2:12–13<ref>{{bibleverse|James|2:12–13|NIV}}</ref>}}

The epistle emphasizes the importance of acts of charity or works to go along with having the Christian faith by means the following three verses in chapter 2:

{{blockquote|What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but hath not works? Shall faith be able to save him?|James 2:14}}

{{blockquote|But some man will say: Thou hast faith, and I have works. Shew me thy faith without works; and I will shew thee, by works, my faith.|James 2:18}}

{{blockquote|But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?|James 2:20<ref>{{Cite web |title=Catholic Epistle of St. James the Apostle {{!}} EWTN |url=https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/catholic-epistle-of-st-james-the-apostle-12348 |access-date=2023-04-29 |website=EWTN Global Catholic Television Network |language=en}}</ref>}}

=== Torah observance ===
James is unique in the canon by its explicit and wholehearted support of Torah observance ([[Mosaic law|the Law]]). According to Bibliowicz, not only is this text a unique view into the milieu of the Jewish founders – its inclusion in the canon signals that as canonization began (fourth century onward) Torah observance among believers in Jesus was still authoritative.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bibliowicz |first=Abel M. |date=2019 |title= Jewish-Christian Relations – The First Centuries (Mascarat, 2019)
|url= https://www.academia.edu/29628872 |location= Washington|publisher= Mascarat|pages= 70–73|isbn=978-1513616483}}</ref> According to modern scholarship James, Q, Matthew, the Didache, and the pseudo-Clementine literature reflect a similar ethos, ethical perspective, and stand on, or assume, Torah observance. James call to Torah observance (James 1:22-27) ensures salvation (James 2:12–13, 14–26).<ref>{{cite book |last=Bauckham|first=Richard|date=2007 |title= James and the Jerusalem Community in Skarsaune and Reidar Hvalvik, eds., Jewish Believers in Jesus: The Early Centuries|location= Peabody, Massachusetts|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |pages= 64–95|isbn=978-0-664-25018-8}}</ref> Hartin is supportive of the focus on Torah observance and concludes that these texts support faith through action and sees them as reflecting the milieu of the Jewish followers of Jesus.<ref>{{cite book |last= Hartin|first=Patrick J. |date=2008 |title=Law and Ethics in Matthew's Antitheses and James's Letter van de Sandt, Huub and Zangenberg, eds. Introduction in Matthew, James and the Didache |location= Atlanta, Georgia |publisher= SBL|page= 315,365|isbn=978-1589833586}}</ref> Hub van de Sandt sees Matthew's and James' Torah observance reflected in a similar use of the Jewish Two Ways theme which is detectable in the Didache too (Didache 3:1–6). McKnight thinks that Torah observance is at the heart of James's ethics.<ref>{{cite book |last= McKnight |first= Scot|date=2011 |title=The Letter of James in New International Commentary on the New Testament |location= Grand Rapids, Michigan|publisher=Eerdmans |pages= 34–6|isbn=978-0802826275}}</ref> A strong message against those advocating the rejection of Torah observance characterizes, and emanates from, this tradition: "Some have attempted while I am still alive, to transform my words by certain various interpretations, in order to teach the dissolution of the law; as though I myself were of such a mind, but did not freely proclaim it, which God forbid! For such a thing were to act in opposition to the law of God which was spoken by Moses, and was borne witness to by our Lord in respect of its eternal continuance; for thus he spoke: 'The heavens and the earth shall pass away, but one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law.{{' "}}<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|5:18|NRSV}}</ref>

James seem to propose a more radical and demanding interpretation of the law than mainstream Judaism. According to Painter, there is nothing in James to suggest any relaxation of the demands of the law.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Chilton B. and Evans C. A. Eds. |date= 2005|title= James and the Gentiles in The Missions of James, Peter, and Paul: Tensions in Early Christianity|journal= Supplements to Novum Testamentum|issue= 115|pages= 222 }}</ref> "No doubt James takes for granted his readers' observance of the whole law, while focusing his attention on its moral demands."<ref>{{cite book |last=Bauckham  |first=Richard |date= 2001|title= James and Jesus in The brother of Jesus in James the Just and his mission, eds. Chilton Bruce and Neusner Jacob |location= Louisville, Kentuckt |publisher= Westminster John Knox Press |page= 1105|isbn=0664222994}}</ref>

===Latter Day Saint history===
{{Blockquote|If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.|
{{bibleverse|James|1:5|NKJV}} NKJV}}

James 1:5 has particular importance in the [[Latter Day Saint movement|Latter Day Saint tradition]]. [[Joseph Smith]] claims that the reading and contemplation of this verse inspired him to ask God for wisdom, leading to his [[First Vision]], and thus what his followers consider to be the [[Restoration (Latter Day Saints)|Restoration]]—the creation of the LDS church.<ref>{{cite book |title=''[[Pearl of Great Price (Mormonism)|The Pearl of Great Price]]'' |publisher=[[Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] |access-date=24 June 2019 |chapter=Joseph Smith—History 1|chapter-url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1.12-13?lang=eng}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Flint |first1=B. C. |title=The Book of Mormon (From ''What about the Book of Mormon?'') |url=http://www.churchofchrist-tl.org/mormon.html |publisher=[[Church of Christ (Temple Lot)]] |access-date=20 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080420182348/http://www.churchofchrist-tl.org/mormon.html#how |archive-date=20 April 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=James 1:5–6 |journal=[[Liahona (magazine)|Liahona]] |date=January 2017 |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2017/01/youth/james-1-5-6?lang=eng |access-date=22 June 2019 |publisher=[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Community of Christ Lessons— Children |url=https://www.cofchrist.org/common/cms/resources/Documents/Lectionary%20Lessons/CHILDREN-Lessons-YearB-Dec2017-Feb2018..pdf |publisher=[[Community of Christ]] |pages=7–8 |access-date=22 June 2019 |date=3 December 2017 |archive-date=2 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191202174038/https://www.cofchrist.org/common/cms/resources/Documents/Lectionary%20Lessons/CHILDREN-Lessons-YearB-Dec2017-Feb2018..pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>