Words mean things. The statement appears simple enough. But anyone who has translated across languages, struggled to find the right words to express their thoughts, or groaned at a “dad joke” knows that things are more complicated than they seem. Various factors influence how words mean things, including the topic at hand, associated words and connotations, or changes in meaning and use over time, just to name a few. Misunderstanding one or more of these factors often leads to miscommunication.
Additionally, words not only mean something, but one word can mean things. Words, idioms, and phrases often have a variety of meanings based on connotation and context. Aside from intentional double entendre, we usually deduce a word’s meaning within its context instinctually, especially in our native language. When a server asks what dressing we want on our salad, for example, we know that it does not mean the same thing as a dressing room in a store or dressing a turkey. The word “dressing” does not mean the same thing in each context.
Words mean things. And how they mean things depends on context. This is even more important as we seek to be serious students of Holy Scripture. God, in his mercy, has chosen to accommodate his eternal word into real, human language so that he might communicate with us in ways that we can see, hear, speak, read, and understand. Thanks be to God! But this also means that there is the possibility of misunderstanding on our part, especially when we assume one meaning of a word or phrase over another apart from context.
While I cannot speak to all the important questions on this topic, a contextual study of key words can be helpful for addressing the perennial question of Paul and James on Abraham and justification, focusing on Galatians 3:1–14 and James 2:14–26.[i] On the surface, the interpretive problem is apparent enough. Paul argues that Abraham demonstrates justification by faith apart from works (Gal 2:15–16; 3:7–10) while James argues that Abraham is proof that we are justified by works and not by faith alone (Jas 2:20–21, 24). A closer look into the context of the key terms “to justify” and “faith/to believe” in these letters can aid our interpretation and keep us from potential misunderstanding.
Throughout the New Testament, the term “to justify” (δικαιόω) does not have one, single meaning. There are four especially relevant entries in the Louw-Nida (LN) lexicon for this term.[ii] In the semantic domain of association or relationships, the verb can mean “to restore to a right relationship.”[iii] In the semantic domain of discipline, the verb can mean “to obey righteous commands” or “to act rightly by.”[iv] In the semantic domain of forensic procedure, it can also mean “to acquit” or “to remove guilt.”[v] And, finally, “to justify” can have the sense of “to show to be right” or “to prove to be right” in the semantic domain of ethical qualities and behavior.[vi]
In the same way, the verb “to believe” (πιστεύω) and the related noun “faith” (πίστις) do not have one, single meaning in the New Testament. It can mean “to believe something to be true” or “to regard as true” in one semantic domain, largely dealing with personal or intellectual assent.[vii] It can mean “to have confidence in” within the trust semantic domain,[viii] “to believe in Jesus” or “to be Christian” in another about Christian faith,[ix] or “to entrust to” in the semantic domain of help and care.[x]
Like the word “dressing” in the opening example, we cannot assume that “to justify” and “to believe” automatically mean the same thing across contexts, even if one meaning is the most common or predominant usage.
In Galatians 3:1–14, Paul generally uses justification as both a relational and forensic term. It is linked with God’s promise (Gal 3:14), the gospel (Gal 3:8), faith (Gal 3:6–9, 12, 14), redemption from the curse of the Torah (Gal 3:13), becoming sons of Abraham (Gal 3:7), and the indwelling and work of God’s Spirit (Gal 3:2, 5, 14). In this way, the term “to justify” generally indicates God’s salvation for Paul.
This also aligns with how Paul uses the terms “to believe” or “faith” in this passage. Faith is connected with listening to the gospel (Gal 3:2, 5), receiving God’s promise and Spirit (Gal 3:14), being Abraham’s sons (Gal 3:7, 10), and is contrasted with human action and work as a basis for receiving the Spirit (Gal 3:2, 5, 14), God’s blessings in Christ (Gal 3:8–9, 14), and even God working miracles among them (Gal 3:5). Faith, in this passage and often throughout Paul’s letters, indicates saving faith, a relational dependence and trust on God and his promises, worked through the Spirit by the gospel of Jesus.
Paul, then, refers to the character of Abraham in this passage for a variety of reasons, but one of them is to demonstrate how justification by faith for the gentiles is nothing new. Genesis 15:6 shows how Abraham’s faith—that is, trust in God’s character and promise—was the basis on which God accounted Abraham as righteous in his sight. For all Christians, just as for Abraham, redemption from the curse, forgiveness from sin (rf. Gal 3:21–22), and our status as God’s righteous children depends on faith in God’s promise and trusting the gospel.
James, however, not only addresses a different situation altogether,[xi] but context indicates that in 2:14–26 he uses the same words in a different sense. In James, “faith” can mean the whole of Christian teaching and life (Jas 2:1) or trust and certainty in God (Jas 1:3, 6; 5:15), similar to how Paul often uses the term. But in 2:14–26 the context indicates that James is using the term differently. Faith is linked with being saved and receiving forgiveness in James 5:15 yet cannot save in James 2:14. Faith asks and receives God’s blessings and gifts in James 1:6 yet is useless apart from works and completed by works in James 2:20, 22. But the most important clue lies in James 2:19, where he writes that the demons believe that God is one. In this verse, the term “to believe” cannot indicate relational trust and saving faith. Rather, James uses the terms “to believe” and “faith” in the more general sense of personal assent, namely, “to affirm as true.” The argument for this passage lies between what someone confirms and confesses to be true and the behavior and actions that correspond to that confession.
Likewise, context indicates that James differs from Paul in the meaning of the verb “to justify.” All three appearances include the phrase “justified by works” (Jas 2:21, 24, 25) in explicit contrast to “by faith alone” (Jas 2:24). Righteousness elsewhere in the letter is linked with human behavior (Jas 1:29; 3:13–18), the innocent not resisting suffering by evil men (Jas 5:6), and the character of a person in prayer (Jas 5:16). Within this context, it seems far more likely that James uses the term “to justify” not in the forensic sense, but in an ethical, behavioral one, namely, “to act rightly by” or “to prove to be right.”[xii] This fits well together with his use of “to believe” within the larger argument of the passage as well, in that James is concerned with consistency of behavior and actions with one’s confession.
James then pairs Genesis 15:6 with Genesis 22, in which Abraham’s later behavior with Isaac fulfills the earlier passage about Abraham affirming God’s promise to be true. For James, Abraham is serving as an example of consistency in confession and conduct. For all Christians, just as for Abraham, we demonstrate our confession to be true not only in affirming it verbally, but also in our conduct and our witness that aligns with who Jesus is and what he has done for us. Words mean things. When we assume the meaning of a word without considering its context, we run the risk of misreading and misinterpreting the author. In the case of Paul and James on justification and faith, while there are many other literary, historical, and theological aspects of these texts to consider, a close examination of the key terms “to justify” and “to believe/to have faith” in Galatians 3 and James 2 within their context shows that Paul and James are not using the terms with the same meaning. Superimposing Paul’s usage of those terms over James without considering the context can cause us to misread James’s argument and unfairly pit him against Paul, and vice versa. As students of Holy Scripture, we always ought to pay careful attention to the specific words and contexts that God chose in order to communicate his truth and his love in Christ for us, even when it means that our assumptions need to be shaped, changed, or corrected by the text itself. And all the while we pray for the Spirit to give us understanding, peace, and an ever-increasing desire to know Jesus and his kingdom more and more.
[i] James 2:14–26 in connection with Paul and justification by faith, for example, is discussed helpfully in the Apology to the Augsburg Confession. The Apology discusses differences in historical situation and audience, the broader theology at work, principles of scriptural interpretation, and even discusses different meanings and senses to the term “justification” between Paul and James. Readers are invited especially to consider Ap. IV, 244–252A, 304A–305A (Kolb-Wengert, 157-159, 164-165). All references to the Book of Concord are drawn from Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, eds., The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Fortress, 2000).
[ii] Johannes P. Louw and Eugene A. Nida, eds. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains. 2nd ed. 2 vols. (United Bible Societies, 1989).
[iii] LN §34.46.
[iv] LN §36.22.
[v] LN §56.34.
[vi] LN §88.16. These entries also do not include another common use in extra-biblical Greek, namely, where the verb often means “to punish” or “to mete out justice.” For further discussion on this point, see James B. Prothro, “The Strange Case of Δικαιόω in the Septuagint and Paul: The Oddity and Origins of Paul’s Talk of ‘Justification,’” Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 107, no. 1 (2016): 48–69.
[vii] LN §31.35, §31.43.
[viii] LN §31.85. In the explanation to the first commandment in the Large Catechism, Luther describes faith primarily in this sense, that faith is a relationship of complete trust, dependance, and confidence in God and his promises (LC, Ten Commandments, 2–3, 5–6 [Kolb-Wengert, 386–387]).
[ix] LN §31.102.
[x] LN §35.50.
[xi] Here the difference in audience between Galatians and James matters for our reading as well. In Galatians, Paul is addressing believers who are doubting their salvation in Christ and are being tempted to see works of the Torah as necessary for their status as Christians. James, on the other hand, is speaking to Christians who are struggling with living according to their confession and, at least from the letter itself, do not appear to be worried about their status as Christians. Furthermore, James already addresses them as “brothers” or “brothers and sisters” frequently in the letter (Jas 1:2, 19; 2:1, 14; 3:10; 4:11; 5:7, 9, 10, 12, 19) and even calls Abraham “our father” together with the recipients (Jas 2:21). This change in audience and situation is also noted in Ap. IV, 246 (Kolb-Wengert, 158).
[xii] The ethical sense (“to prove to be right”) and the behavioral sense (“to act rightly by”) are quite common in extra-biblical Greek but also found frequently elsewhere in the New Testament itself, especially in the Gospels (e.g., Mt 6:1; 11:19; Lk 7:29; 10:29).
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