Is righteousness a prerequisite for salvation?
score:4
The answer is NO. The reason we need salvation in the first place is because we can't be righteous; by nature we are law-breakers (Romans 3:10f). The only God way we can be righteous is if God gives it to us. Salvation involves us being 'justified' (i.e. we are declared to be "not guilty") before God thus making us righteous (Romans 1:16, 3:20-26). We receive this righteousness by faith, just as it always was from the beginning with Abraham (Romans 4:2).
What about James 2:24? It is not a contradiction. Note James' wisdom-like teaching, not unlike Proverbs, which deals with everyday life with its complexities and paradoxes - very different from the precision of Paul's treatise. James is not dealing specifically with a theology of salvation as Paul was. Rather he wants to emphasise that faith is not a licence to sin (see lonesomeday's answer) which Paul himself also deals with in Romans 6.
I just wanted to emphasise that salvation is wholly God's work, and that there is nothing in us or in what we do that will change that.
PS. The reason Luther rejected the book of James was because he wanted to protect this doctrine of salvation and over-reacted. However, he firmly believed in obedience to God as a Christian, and didn't see that salvation should be a reason not to.
Upvote:2
Quite the opposite. It is unrighteousness is the only prerequisite for salvation.
Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Luke 5:31-32)
The point that James makes is that "faith without works is dead." A faith that prompts no actions is not genuine faith. Saying you love your children when you take no action to provide, protect, teach or enjoy them is not genuine love.
A genuine faith will always prompt actions, just as a genuine love will do the same. Salvation has the effect of giving us a new heart that will prompt new actions. If there is no difference in a life after salvation, then it is likely that no new heart was received and the faith was not genuine.
Upvote:4
Yes. Righteousness is absolutely a prerequisite for salvation. However, no one is righteous (Romans 3:10).
No one, that is, except Jesus. And He offers to give us His righteousness in exchange for our sins:
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Upvote:6
You say "a person would be considered righteous by their deeds and not just their faith". I'm not sure this is a necessary reading of the Biblical passage. You quote 2.24: I think verse 18 is more useful for interpreting James' account of the relationship between faith and works:
But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith.
It isn't that faith and works are separately required – prerequisites, if you like – for salvation. It's much more that James sees them as inseperable. You can't go round saying "I have faith, so ignore what I do: I've saved." What you do, for James, demonstrates your faith. If you have faith, you will do good works. If you have faith in Jesus Christ, that faith will transform you and it will transform the way you act. A genuine faith is shown by the fact that the person does good works. A faith that isn't seen in works is, as far as James is concerned, dead:
For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.
Or, as Martin Luther would have it (despite his well known views on the Book of James...):
Faith cannot help doing good works constantly.
An Introduction to St. Paul's Letter to the Romans (1522)
James is reacting against a tendency – which has come up time and time again in Christianity – to ignore how Christians act because in Christ all sin is forgiven, or because salvation is predestined. The tendency – commonly known as antinomianism (ἀντί against + νόμος law) – has been seen as heretical pretty much by all Christian groups throughout history.
I don't think James is undermining the significance of faith, but he is saying that it doesn't exist in a moral vacuum where it has no effects in a Christian's behaviour.
More post
- 📝 Can people pray with those from other denominations?
- 📝 Does the priest ask for reasons to prevent a marriage during a Catholic wedding?
- 📝 According to Calvinists, how do Job's works correspond to his salvation?
- 📝 What is the Christian definition of "The Messiah"?
- 📝 Am I still Catholic?
- 📝 Is it biblical to burn the heretics?
- 📝 Can a Christian have clinical depression?
- 📝 When Jehovah's Witnesses resume door-to-door work 1 September 2022, will their message be any different in view of world events?
- 📝 Who tells us that the whole Bible is inspired?
- 📝 If you do not believe the Holy Spirit is a person, then what is it? What do Bible verses that reference the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God mean?
- 📝 Protestants, why do some Christians suffer so much more than others?
- 📝 How is rosary different from chanting Mantra?
- 📝 What does it mean of 1 Corinthians 2:8
- 📝 Quote like "Anyone can endure an insult but it takes a saint to pass through praise unharmed"
- 📝 How does Catholic sacramental theology explain the efficacy of the sacraments conducted by a priest who is in the state of mortal sin?
- 📝 A gull and a crow attacked the peace doves released by the Pope. What is Christian interpretation?
- 📝 Why is Jesus portrayed as a white man in western civilization?
- 📝 Do Christian Scientists believe that COVID-19 really is a virus?
- 📝 Is it a sacrilege to take communion in hand?
- 📝 Does the Bible provide an age of consent?
- 📝 Do both officiant and recorder need holy orders to perform a Catholic baptism?
- 📝 What did the carnivores/predators eat on the Ark?
- 📝 How do classic Trinitarians answer the implications of Revelation 1:1?
- 📝 Why do some Christains feel the obligation to remove their hats during prayer?
- 📝 How do Cessationists explain extreme manifestations of shaking and trembling observed in religious settings?
- 📝 Do Biblical Unitarians believe in Creatio Ex-nihilo (creation out of nothing)?
- 📝 What is the very least a Catholic needs to believe about Genesis 2 and 3?
- 📝 On what grounds was Arius refuted at the First Council of Nicaea?
- 📝 Who is the best prophet in Christianity? and is he the best human being in the eyes of God?
- 📝 What does Jesus mean by "this generation" and "all these things" in Mark 13:30
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Biblical basis for baptism as a prerequisite for salvation
- 📝 Is righteousness a prerequisite for salvation?
- 📝 Is the "sinner's prayer" important for salvation and why?
- 📝 Are there Old Testament Scriptures that mention salvation for the Gentiles?
- 📝 How does the Arminian view of salvation account for God's sovereignty?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for salvation by faith alone (sola fide)?
- 📝 How is the view of guaranteed salvation for infants justified?
- 📝 Is there a name for the belief that some individuals would always freely reject salvation no matter the world in which they are created?
- 📝 What is the scriptural basis for the idea that salvation can still be obtained after death?
- 📝 How do non-universalists account for these passages talking about the salvation of all?
- 📝 Were there provisions for salvation for non-Hebrews in the OT?
- 📝 Salvation for Protestants who knowingly reject Catholicism?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for the doctrine that salvation can be lost?
- 📝 If God desires salvation for all, how come many people died without hearing the gospel?
- 📝 Expectation of salvation for the poorly catechized
- 📝 What is Thomas Aquinas' perspective on salvation for baptized heretics who believe in the Trinity?
- 📝 Will there be a second chance for salvation after the Rapture?
- 📝 In Roman Catholicism, what is the right way of praying for the salvation of departed souls?
- 📝 If there were no punishment for sin would salvation be necessary?
- 📝 How much are we personally responsible for the salvation of someone else?
- 📝 How do Protestantism and the LDS Church differ as to what is required for a believer to attain salvation and eternal life?
- 📝 Do Lutherans believe that the sacraments are necessary for salvation (similar to Catholics), and if so, how do they reconcile this with Sola Fide?
- 📝 What are the arguments of those who believe that the prerequisite stated here by John is yet not sufficient for being born of God?
- 📝 Apologist for keeping salvation
- 📝 Is there a need for Christians to believe in Christianity at all, if they don't believe in Resurrection and Salvation through Christ alone?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for the imputation of Christ's righteousness to believers?
- 📝 Christian denominations that believe in salvation for non-Christians
- 📝 Are (or were) sacraments necessary for salvation in the Catholic religion?
- 📝 How is the atonement sufficient for salvation according to Calvinists?
- 📝 Is belief in the suspension or replacement of any of the previous covenants necessary for salvation today?