Fine blog readers, I’m reading what appears to be a contradiction in the New Testament. Are these statements conflicting?
- “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.”
-Paul, in his letter to Ephesus
- “Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by what I do. A person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.”
-James, in his letter to the scattered 12 tribes of Israel
Interesting, both Paul and James evoke Abraham as examples of “saved/justified by grace/works”:
Paul invokes Avraham avinu,
“What shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."”
And James uses Abraham as an example too!
“Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 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.”
In Christianity today, we almost exclusively hear Paul’s “saved by grace alone” rhetoric. I’ve heard Paul’s words preached to me so many times, I’ll no doubt soon have the ability to recite his letters from memory, backwards! 
So how do we interpret Paul and James?
One possible interpretation is James is saying works must coincide with faith. However, that doesn’t seem to jive with Paul very well. Paul seems to suggest faith alone saves a person, and works have nothing to do with it.
How do you fine blog readers interpret these Scriptures?