PAUL AND JAMES EECONCILED. 399
fled or accepted with God. Abraham was not then first justified ; he was not then said to be justified ; — he was declared to be justified, and that by and upon his works : which contains the whole of what the apostle intends to prove.
There is, therefore, no appearance of the least contradiction be- tween this apostle and Paul, who professedly asserts that Abraham was not justified before God by works; for James only declares that by the works which he performed after he was justified he was ma- nifested and declared so to be. And that this was the whole of his design he manifests in the next verse, where he declares what he had proved by this instance, verse 22, " Seest thou how faith -wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?" Two things he enforcetli as proved unto the conviction of him with whom he had to do : — 1. That true faith will operate by works; so did Abraham's, — it was effective in obedience. 2. That it was made perfect by works; that is, evidenced so to be, — for rsXnog, rsXsioufj^ai, doth nowhere in the Scripture signify the intei'nal, formal perfecting of any thing, but only the external complement or perfection of it, or the manifestation of it. It was complete as unto its proper effect, when he was first jus- tified; and it was now manifested so to be. See Matt. v. 48; Col. iv. 12 ; 2 Cor. xii. 9. " This," saith the apostle, " I have proved in the instance of Abraham, — namely, that it is works of obedience alone that can evince a man to be justified, or to have that faith whereby he may be so." He adds, in the confirmation of what he had afiirmed, verse 23, " And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called The friend of God."
Two things the apostle affirms herein: — 1. That the Scripture mentioned was fulfilled. It was so in that justification by works which he ascribes unto Abraham. But how this Scripture was herein fulfilled, either as unto the time wherein it was spoken, or as unto the thing itself, any otherwise but as that which is therein asserted was evidenced and declared, no man can explain. What the Scripture affirmed so long before of Abraham was then evidenced to be most true, by the works which his faith produced ; and so that Scripture was accomplished. For otherwise, supposing the distinction made between faith and works by himself, and the opposition that he puts between them, adding thereunto the sense given of this place by the apostle Paul, with the direct importance of the words, and nothing- can be more contradictory unto his design (namely, if he intended to prove our justification before God by works) than the quotation of this testimony. Wherefore, this Scripture was [not], nor can be, otherwise fulfilled by Abraham's justification by works, but only that by and upon them he was manifested so to be. 2. He adds, that
400 ON JUSTIFICATION.
hereon he was called " The friend of God." So he is, Isa. xli. 8 ; as also, 2 Chron. xx. 7. This is of the same importance with his being jus- tified by works : for he was not thus called merely as a justified person, but as one who had received singular privileges from God, and an- swered them by a holy walking before him. Wherefore, his being called " The friend of God," was God's approbation of his faith and obedience; which is the justification by works that the apostle asserts. Hereon he makes a double conclusion (for the instance of Rahab being of the same nature, and spoken unto before, I shall not insist again upon it): — 1. As unto his present argument, verse 24. 2. As unto the whole of his design, verse 26. The first is, " That by works a man is justified, and not by faith only;" — "Ye see then, you whom I design to convince of the vanity of that imagination, that you are justified by a dead faith, a breathless carcase of faith, a mere assent unto the truth of the gospel, and profession of it, consistent with all manner of impiety, and wholly destitute of good fruits : you may see what faith it is that is required unto justification and salvation. For Abraham was declared to be righteous, to be justified, on that faith which wrought hi/ works, and not at all by such a faith as you pre- tend unto." A man is justified hy works, as Abraham was when he had offered up his son to God; that is, what he really was by faith long before, as the Scrij)ture testifieth, was then and thereby evi- denced and declared. And, therefore, let no man suppose that by the faith which they boasted of, any one is or can be justified, seeing that whereon Abraham w\as declared to be so, was that which evidenced itself by its fruits. 2. He lays down that great conclusion, which he had evinced by his wLole disputation, and which at first he designed to confirm, verse 26, " For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." A breathless carcase and an un- working faith are alike, as unto all the ends of natural or spiritual life. This was that which the apostle designed from the beginning to convince vain and barren professors of; which, accordingly, he hath given sufficient reason and testimony for.