If a person is not just, they are not righteous; right with God.
Even if a person was just in the past, doesn’t mean they are always just, because people fall away or become lost through sin or transgression and need to repent and return to God.
“
What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. Luke 15:4-7
- Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’
- I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
While the sheep was numbered among the hundred, before he became lost he was just, as the 99 who did not wander away and become lost.
Once the lost sheep repented and returned to the Lord he was again, in right standing with Him.
Notice while the sheep was lost, he was considered a sinner; someone who is separated from Christ.
For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; Hebrews 7:26
So, here is the issue. You're pitting James against Paul. The NT is replete with statements that we are not declared righteous by our works. Adding a single work to justification is to put one outside of Christ by making his atoning work insufficient.
Gen 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”
Gen 15:2 But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
Gen 15:3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.”
Gen 15:4 And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.”
Gen 15:5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Gen 15:6
And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. (ESV)
Jas 2:17
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Jas 2:18 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.
Jas 2:19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
Jas 2:20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person,
that faith apart from works is useless?
Jas 2:21 Was not Abraham our father
justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?
Jas 2:22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works;
Jas 2:23 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.
Jas 2:24 You see that a person is
justified by works and not by faith alone. (ESV)
First, the context in which James states that Abraham was "justified by works" is "faith by itself, it it does not have works, is dead," and "I will show you my faith by my works." Second, note that James also quotes the OT where it says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness," which was long before "he offered his son Isaac on the altar." His willingness to offer Isaac on the altar
was evidence of the faith and subsequent righteousness counted to him from years earlier, around 25 years prior even to Isaac's conception.
Now, notice where Paul uses the very same passage about Abraham, but unequivocally states that Abraham was
not justified by works:
Rom 4:1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?
Rom 4:2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
Rom 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? “
Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
Rom 4:4 Now
to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.
Rom 4:5 And
to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
Rom 4:6 just as David also speaks of
the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
...
Rom 4:9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that
faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.
Rom 4:10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.
...
Rom 4:13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law
but through the righteousness of faith.
Rom 4:14 For
if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.
Rom 4:15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
Rom 4:16
That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
...
Rom 4:20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,
Rom 4:21
fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
Rom 4:22
That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”
Rom 4:23 But the words “it was counted to him”
were not written for his sake alone,
Rom 4:24
but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,
Rom 4:25
who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
Rom 5:1
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Rom 5:2
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (ESV)
There can be no work, ever, that is a part of the reason that we are declared righteous, otherwise it isn't a free gift and it isn't by faith. So, using the very same passage as James, Paul
appears to be contradicting him. However, the context of James shows us that he is talking about works that
are evidence of one's faith--"I will show you my faith by my works"--of having been declared righteous, not the
basis of one's justification. That is, works show (justify before others) that one already has saving faith. No one has ever been declared righteous by doing works.
Tit 3:4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,
Tit 3:5
he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
Tit 3:6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
Tit 3:7
so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (ESV)
That is the consistent message throughout the NT--justification is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. It's a work of God from start to finish and good works are evidence of already having been justified.
