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Why need we be justified before men?
Maybe to show that we have have been justified by God as a result of placing genuine faith in Jesus.
James is not saying our works make us righteous.
He is not saying that works will save us.
He is saying that works are evidence of the genuine salvation offered through Jesus.
James is contrasting 2 types of faith.
True faith that saves and a false that is dead.
True saving faith will show up, obedience and works.
To be justified or to justify doesn't just mean to be declared righteous.
It also means
g1344. δικαιόω dikaioō; to show, exhibit, evince, one to be righteous, such as he is and wishes himself to be considered.
All James is doing is pointing out, clarifying what Jesus said.
John 15:5
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
John 13:34-35
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 10:27
27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
What is the issue James is addressing?
Favouritism.
James 2:1-17
Chapter 2
Beware of Personal Favoritism
1 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.
2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes,
3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,”
4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?
6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?
7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well;
9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.
13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Faith Without Works Is Dead
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?
1
5 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Jesus said to the sheep
Matthew 25:35-36
35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
So when we do that, do what Jesus asks us to do it justifies us before men.
g1344. δικαιόω dikaioō;
to show, exhibit, evince, one to be righteous, such as he is and wishes himself to be considered.
If we do as Jesus had commanded us to, we show it and exhibit it, this shows we have true saving faith that has justified us.