Saved by grace or works? Are James and Paul contradicting each other? Paul in Ephesians 2:8,9 says,
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.
But James 2:14-17 says,
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Some people think that the Bible is confusing when it comes to salvation because of these two scriptures. Like, are we saved by grace or by works? But it's really quite simple. The Bible makes it clear that even the best of our works are but filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). Jesus had to come and die on the Cross because our works were never good enough- In order to be worthy for heaven we would have to be perfect in thought, word, and deed; to keep the entire moral law. So it's obvious that our works couldn't save us, otherwise Jesus wouldn't have had to come. Ephesians here is saying that salvation is a gift that is given, not earned. So what is James saying here??
Well we must always read the Bible in context. If we read on to Ephesians 2:10 we see things clear up. It reads,
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (emphasis added)
You see that word "for" is the key word. We are saved FOR good works, not BY good works. For the saved person, his good works are a confirmation of his salvation, but definitely not a means to it.
What James is saying is that you may not have even been born again at all if you have no works to back it up. He goes on in verses 18-20,
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. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
So we see that James is saying that his works show that he has been saved. They are a result of it. They are the evidence that a transformation has taken place in his soul and was genuinly born again. But these good works are never the cause of his salvation. Salvation is a gift, as Ephesians 2 states, and you can't earn a gift. No, no man can boast that his salvation is because he did x,y,and z. The glory belongs to God, and God alone. We exercise faith, but faith is not a work. The fact that faith is not a work is evident in Romans 4. In this chapter we see that faith is contrasted with works. Abraham was accounted with righteousness because he believed in God's promise, not because Abraham did any kind of deed to merit him this righteousness.
In conclusion, we see that good works are a sign that one is genuinely saved. But good works are in no way a means to that salvation, for Jesus did all the work needed for saving us. (This includes baptism. Baptism is NOT necessary for salvation, which is obvious throughout scripture- thief on the cross and Cornelius and his family receiving the Holy Spirit prior to baptism to name a few.) Remember it is vital not to trust your good works to merit you heaven because that will actually forfeit the grace offered to you through Jesus and place you back under the law. For more on that read here: newday2.com/blogs/news/falling-from-grace