A great deal of time and effort has been spent by a great many people to reconcile the teaching of James with the teaching of Paul. On the surface, the doctrines of the two men appear to disagree.
Paul stated unequivocally: ” For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9)”
James also allowed no wiggle room when he wrote: “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? … Thus 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 without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:14, 17-18).
Some people try to find a way to explain the differences away and claim there really isn’t any difference. Others (including Martin Luther) reduce James to a lesser place in the canon of Scripture.
There’s a third solution, one that requires no complex arguments to prove that the two men were really saying the same thing. It also does not require James to be relegated to a lesser position in Scripture. The solution is simply this: Paul and James were writing to different audiences regarding different gospels.
Clear evidence for this can be found in Galatians 2:7-9: “But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles), and when James, Cephas [Peter], and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.”
The Book of James is one of a group of books traditionally called the General Epistles … It has been the cause of much controversy in the church because of the failure of many to “rightly divide” the Scriptures. If we lump all the New Testament together and fail to distinguish between God’s prophetic program for Israel and his secret program for the church, the Body of Christ, we will think there is a contradiction between the clear message of salvation by faith alone in Paul’s epistles (Romans 4:1-8) and James’ emphasis on faith plus works (James 2:14-26). Those who do not understand the Apostle Paul’s distinct message and apostleship will be confused. Failing (or refusing) to see these distinctives has cause some to wonder if the Book of James should even be in the canon of Scripture. (The reformer Martin Luther went so far as to call it “an epistle of straw.”) However, once we understand Paul’s unique apostleship and message and God’s differing plans for Israel and the Body of Christ, these problems go away, and we realize that God indeed meant exactly what He said to whom He said it. — Grace, page 2195.
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That there is a great difference between the great Pauline Epistles and the Epistle of James is seen at a glance. … The character of the Epistle of James is essentially Jewish. In the second chapter the word synagogue is used as the place of their assembly. … They were then still in the synagogue. Nothing about the Church, the body of Christ is mentioned in this epistle, nor do we find here the great doctrines of Christianity and the corresponding Christian relationship. The law is also prominent; and there are other Jewish features. … The character of the entire epistle corresponds with those to whom the epistle was originally addressed, “the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad.” It is evidently a document written at an early date during the transition period and before the great doctrinal epistles of the apostle to the Gentiles [Paul] had been produced, in which the fulness of redemption, the body of Christ, the church, and its unity and other cardinal doctrines of our faith are revealed. — Gaebelein, page 1123.
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Overwhelming evidence indicates that the author of James was … the half-brother of the Lord Jesus Himself. While James did not believe in the Lord during His earthly ministry (John 7:1-5), he came to believe after His resurrection and went on to become the leader of the Kingdom assembly in Jerusalem (Acts 15:13; 21:18; 1 Corinthians 15:7; Galatians 2:9). — Grace, page 2195.
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