Did PAUL’S MESSAGE Contradict Jesus & James’ Gospel?

Published: 14th February 2024

Here’s the argument in question:

The book of James declares works, the keeping of the commandments, as part of the process of justification. From James’ point of view, salvation is by faith plus works. This contradicts Paul’s salvation by grace through faith and not of works.

Actually, there is no contradiction.

Let me offer plain evidence from the Holy Scriptures…

**Genuine Faith Naturally Produces Good Works**

Consider what Paul went on to say in Ephesians 2:

8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:8-10

Also notice what Paul prayed for regarding Gentile believers (not to mention the smattering of Hebraic believers in their midst):

9For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

Colossians 1:9-10

These verses show that genuine faith naturally produces good works and the corresponding fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) whereas dead, useless faith does not. The latter was James’ point in his epistle:

14What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

18But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

20You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

James 2:14-24

James is simply saying that genuine salvation faith produces the corresponding deeds and he illustrates this through the example of Abraham from Genesis 22. Bear in mind that Abraham is our “father of faith” (Romans 4:17). God made one nation through the loins of Abraham, Israel, but many nations through the faith of Abraham, which is one global spiritual nation regardless of sectarian tag, i.e. the Church of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:9), which consists of both believing Jews and Gentiles.

Paul and James’ statements about salvation faith and works are relevant to the saying: Don’t put the cart before the horse. In short, don’t put works before faith. You see, works do not save the believer, but genuine faith naturally produces works and the corresponding fruit of the spirit. Faith that doesn’t do this is obviously dead, useless ‘faith’ — mere mental assent.

**Believers Uphold the Moral Law by Walking in the Spirit**

Here’s the linking argument of those who say Paul taught a separate gospel:

Many statements in the New Testament by Christ, James and John stress the keeping of the commandments, such as John 14:15, 1 John 2:3-4 and Revelation 14:12. However, Paul taught salvation by grace through faith and not of works. He taught that “no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin” (Romans 3:20).

This suggests Paul did not teach believers that they are obligated to fulfill the moral Law, yet this is a lie, a false doctrine. It is true Paul emphasized that believers are not under the Mosaic Law (Galatians 5:18; Romans 6:14; Romans 7:6), but he said we are obligated to fulfill the moral Law, as observed here:

Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

Romans 3:31

This corresponds to what Paul openly preached to both Jews and Gentiles:

I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

Acts 20:21

“First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God [in faith] and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.”

Acts 26:20

True faith involves repentance; that is, changing one’s mind accordingly, which naturally has a positive effect on one’s actions and lifestyle. Repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin and this explains why they’re the first two doctrines of the six basic doctrines of biblical Christianity (Hebrews 6:1-2). Christ taught the same thing in Mark 1:15.

But how do believers “uphold the law”? Here’s how:

in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8:4

The “righteous requirements of the law” refers to the moral Law. Believers are responsible to fulfill the moral Law, but this cannot be accomplished by the flesh, as sufficiently proven in the Old Testament; it can only be done by living according to the spirit. This means to live out of your reborn spirit that was “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24). Thus Paul taught: “So I say, walk by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). The primary fruit of the spirit is love (Galatians 5:22-23; Colossians 3:14).

Speaking of which…

Understanding the Law of Christ, aka the Law of Love

Paul stressed how New Covenant believers are not under the Mosaic law, but under the law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:19-21 & Galatians 6:2). This is the law of love, which the Lord said had three applications in Matthew 22:37-40:

LOVE GOD
LOVE PEOPLE
As you LOVE YOURSELF

Paul explained this law as such: “whoever loves others has fulfilled the Law” (Romans 13:8), which includes tough love when appropriate (Proverbs 27:5). This is how we “Keep God’s commands,” as the apostle plainly taught (1 Corinthians 7:19). Meanwhile James referred to this law of love—the law of Christ—as “the royal law” in Scripture (James 2:8).

All of this plainly shows that Paul advocated fulfilling the moral commandments of Old Testament Law. He simply taught the proper, effective New Covenant way of doing it.

“Wrongdoers Will Not Inherit the Kingdom of God”

For further proof that Paul didn’t support some vague faith that is nothing more than mental assent and otherwise useless, notice what he plainly taught the believers at Corinth:

7The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? 8Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. 9Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

1 Corinthians 6:7-11

Paul was talking to believers here and says that those who impenitently transgress the moral Law with no concern of penitence—that is, as a lifestyle—will not inherit the kingdom of God, which means they can kiss eternal salvation goodbye. He even adds “Do not be deceived”!

All believers miss it now then on their earthly journey of sanctification (1 John 1:8), but that’s different from living in sin as a lifestyle with no care of penitence. It’s necessary for every believer to “keep with repentance” (Matthew 3:8 & Luke 3:8), which enables the LORD to regularly “forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

The Reasoning Behind this False Doctrine

I’m trying to grasp what the people who make such arguments (in red above) are trying to say. Are they saying that Gentile believers should only take heed to Paul’s epistles and skip out on the rest of the New Testament, at least as far as practice goes? Completely ignore what Christ, James and John said, not to mention Peter? Even if this were true, it’s proven above that Paul clearly taught believers to uphold the “righteous requirements of the law” by walking according to the spirit and not the flesh. He plainly stressed “whoever loves others has fulfilled the Law.” Obviously Paul was very concerned about believers fulfilling the moral commandments of the Mosaic Law but, again, he taught the effective way of doing it, the superior New Covenant way, which is, walking in the spirit.

The likely reason for this curious doctrine is that these people have loved ones who only mentally assent to faith in Christ, but are otherwise walking in the flesh as a day-to-day lifestyle. Another possibility is that they themselves are stubbornly living in the flesh (at least in regards to a pet sin) with no concern of penitence. I’m just guessing.

Proof That Paul Didn’t Preach a Separate Gospel

Whatever the case, the idea that Paul preached a different gospel from the one Christ, James, Peter and John preached is a grossly false doctrine. It’s only true that Paul acclimated the message in order to reach the Gentiles whereas James, Peter and John concentrated on reaching Hebrews. Observe:

…they [Church leaders in Jerusalem] recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised [Gentiles] just as Peter had been to the circumcised [Hebrews]. ⁸For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles. ⁹James, Cephas and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised.

Galatians 2:7-9

Notice that nothing is said about Paul preaching a separate gospel; he merely adjusted the same message of redemption through Christ in order to reach the Gentiles.

There was some crossover, of course. For instance, the Jerusalem church had a number of Gentile congregants while Gentile assemblies, like Antioch, had a smattering of Jewish believers (Acts 11:19-26; Galatians 2:13). In other words, it’s not like James, Peter and John only ministered to Jews; or that Paul only ministered to Gentiles. In Paul’s own words: “I have declared to both Jews and Greeks [Gentiles] that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.” (Acts 20:21).

Similarly, notice what Paul himself says in this passage:

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

Paul ministered to both Jews and Gentiles the same gospel. He merely adjusted the message accordingly.

‘So, Why Does Paul Refer to the Gospel of Christ as “My Gospel”?’

Let’s look at the three occasions in question:

Romans 2:16: “This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel”
Romans 16:25: “Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past,”
2 Timothy 2:8: “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel,”

‘Gospel’ literally means “good message” or “good news,” and Paul was specifically referring to the good news of redemption through Christ. Peter preached the same message (Acts 10:34-48; 15:11; 1 Peter 1:18-19); and so did James and John. Consider what Peter said in reference to the leaders of the Jerusalem church:

“…We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we [Hebrews] are saved, just as they are [Gentiles].”

Acts 15:11

You see? Both believing Hebrews and believing Gentiles are saved through the same grace of our Lord!

Paul called this message his gospel simply because he was a member of the body of Christ, the worldwide Church. The gospel of Christ was Paul’s message (gospel) just like it was James’ gospel and John’s gospel. It’s also my message and the message of every genuine member of the body of Christ.

Lastly, consider this…

If Paul preached a different gospel to the Gentiles, as opposed to that of Christ, James, Peter and John, he would’ve had to say something somewhere in his epistles to the effect of:

What I am teaching is to the Gentile believers only, not the Jewish believers in your midst. As a Hebrew of Hebrews, I and the Jewish believers amongst you follow the gospel of Jesus, James, Peter and John, but you Gentiles follow a different message, the gospel of Paul, which—again—I myself can’t follow because I am a Hebrew.

Do you see how absurd it gets if we accept this false doctrine?

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