Are we saved by faith or by works? Or is it a combination of the two? Do you start by placing your faith in Jesus and then have to produce works to be saved?
In Rom 3:28, Paul tells us that we are justified by faith quite apart from the works of the law. Yet James states that we are justified by works and not by faith alone (Jam 2:24).
Is this a contradiction?
Note that in verse 23 James also quotes from Gen 15:6 which clearly states that Abraham was accredited righteousness solely on the basis of his faith. So James actually agrees with Paul.
Paul is saying that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves apart from our faith through God’s grace (Gal 3:6, 11).
Meanwhile James emphasizes that our faith isn’t just an intellectual exercise of believing. He says that a genuine personal trust in Christ will produce evidence in works. The examples of Abraham and Rahab show that because their faith was genuine, they also produced works. But it wasn’t the works which saved them. Works are a natural extension of genuine faith.
So there is no contradiction.
Further reading
What is the biblical understanding of faith vs. works?
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