Jamin Bradley

Question: Something I struggle with understanding is in romans paul speaks about faith for salvation and then in james it talks about works… I get that good works come from us having faith but it really confuses me and makes me feel like I’m never doing enough

Answer: Great question. This has been a soapbox of mine for the last few years. The Greek word for “faith” is “pistis,” and I think we have done a bad job at translating this word into English. It is clear from James, all of Paul’s writings (including Romans), and especially Jesus that works are required to be faithful.

For many of us, “faith” means “belief.” But Matthew Bates points out in his book “Salvation by Allegiance Alone,” that “the word pistis (and related terms) has a much broader range of meaning… such as reliability, confidence, assurance, fidelity, faithfulness, commitment, and pledged loyalty.” He condenses all of these definitions down into one word: “allegiance.” We are saved by our “allegiance” to Jesus—and as James explicitly points out, works will therefore be a part of our “pistis.” We are hardly allegiant to Jesus if we don’t serve him with works.

That being said, it’s not our works that save us, for only Jesus can save us. However, the gospels show that we will be judged by our works. Bible scholar E.P. Sanders summarizes this conundrum best: “Salvation is by grace, but judgment is according to works. Works are the condition of remaining ‘in,’ but they do not earn salvation.” This is the case in both the Old and New Testaments.

That being said, I too have feared that I haven’t been good enough and that fear and shame once stifled my faith. Jesus had to free me of that religious thinking to understand my identity as an accepted and loved child of God, and that actually freed me to be even more allegiant in works, life, thinking, and everything else. Jesus has already justified his followers, so now we must continue to walk the allegiant path of “pistis.”