Faith, Works, or Grace?

And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. –James 1:23-24

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. –Ephesians 2:8-10

When we read the two Scriptures, they seem at first to contradict themselves. One seems to say that our works justify us, while another seems to say that it is all about grace. So, is it a contradiction, or is there something else?

One thing we have to remember is that James and Paul (the author of Ephesians) were writing to two different audiences. James was writing to Jewish Christians, while Paul was writing to a church with many Gentile believers. Paul was emphasizing that in coming to faith in Christ, we do nothing to earn that salvation—it is a free gift that we accept by faith. However, that faith fuels good works within us (Ephesians 2:10).

We must understand that James was writing to exhort people to live out their faith in a meaningful way. They had grown up in the faith, and had seen it made complete through Jesus Christ. James wanted them to understand that this newfound faith was a free gift—but that it was a gift that bears fruit when we truly have faith.

There are obviously more issues than this that we could look at with this text, but the common denominator rests in the fact that our faith propels us to do good works—not so that we might earn our salvation, but so that we might live it out.