SALVATION AND THE WORKS OF FAITH
[p. 345] SALVATION AND THE WORKS OF FAITH
Titus 3: 4 - 7; Matthew 24: 13; James 2: 14 - 26
The proposal is to look at salvation as it is presented in Titus, and to look at the passage in Matthew, which says, “But he that has endured to the end, he shall be saved”; that is to say, the need of salvation is stressed in these verses, and then in the well known chapter in James, what is stressed is the works of faith — the doctrine of justification by faith is among the best known, and attested to in the scriptures; at the same time the doctrine of salvation by works is also attested to, in other words, works are needed. It is said in the last verse of the chapter, “For as the body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead”. It is hoped that it would be helpful to have our minds run over these scriptures together and see how plain on the one hand Titus is, and other passages, but especially in Ephesians and Romans, and then while stress should be laid on endurance of salvation, the passage read from Titus is very full and varied, especially in the verses we have mentioned — “But when the kindness and love to man of our Saviour God appeared, not on the principle of works which have been done in righteousness which we had done, but according to his own mercy he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, which he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour”, notice the word Saviour both as to God and to the Lord. And then “having been justified by his grace”, that is three great terms are introduced here — the love of God, and the mercy of God, and the grace of God. These are outstanding words or terms, and introduced because of salvation, that by which we are saved. The three terms are noticeable, and then as over against these and others like them, in Ephesians [p. 346] particularly, you have the question of endurance in Matthew and the question of works in James.
GVD Would it be right to say that there is God’s side in this subject and also our side?
JT That is right. It is an important remark to make to start with. The first thing is salvation is of God, and then our side, that is the subjective, as it is called, involving the Spirit. It is also important, outstandingly so, and I think perhaps largely omitted if not ignored, in dealing with salvation.
EH Is salvation viewed in this chapter as initial?
JT Just so, read it over again. It is a beautiful phrase, “But when the kindness and love to man of our Saviour God appeared” — that surely is initial, and then it is strengthened in the matter of terms by the negative — “not on the principle of works which have been done in righteousness which we had done, but according to his own mercy he saved us” — mercy as well as loving-kindness and then the word “grace” in verse 7, “Having been justified by his grace” and then “the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, which he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour”; so that what has been remarked is clearly right: it is initial. It proceeds from God immediately, but yet we cannot but see that without works and without endurance we can hardly have Christianity.
TD There is great activity right through, is there not?
JT Just so. It began with those that heard Peter preach, although he preached beautifully through the whole gospel the repenting ones said to him and the other apostles, what shall we do?
TD I only had in mind the early church in Acts, where it says they continued in the apostles’ doctrine, the breaking of bread and prayers. There was a great deal [p. 347] of activity.
JT That is a good way of putting it, because as we remarked, the preaching as such was finished. Repentance had taken place, and they began to ask, “What shall we do, brethren?” They did not ask what God had done, because evidently Peter had made that very plain, but it was right for them to ask what they should do. Peter would not turn it aside at all. He said, “Repent, and be baptised, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” Acts 2: 38.
SM The word “poured out” is very beautiful here, is it not? How free the salvation is. Does that correspond with Ephesians where it speaks of God “who is rich in mercy”?
JT The word “poured out” would be a suggestion of great liberality on the part of God, not sparing. David said, “Take not the spirit of thy holiness from me” Psalm 51: 11, as if he felt it could happen and would not appear in the liberal way which we see here. And so in Romans, it is said that the Spirit sheds forth the love of God in our hearts, showing the liberal sense in which the Holy Spirit is here, and how He takes care of us. Indeed, if we are to consult John, we shall see that the word is Comforter — the word is really “Paraclete” — which means one by us to take care of our affairs — all that pointing to the liberal conditions in regard to the means of salvation.
FHL In Exodus 33, God seems to link His glory with it. “I will make all my goodness pass before thy face ... and I will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy” verse 19.
JT That is a statement covering what we are speaking of. It looked on to Christianity, because the law made nothing perfect. Even the matter of salvation was not perfectly presented. It awaited the [p. 348] redemptive work of Christ and the coming in of the Spirit, so that we should see the working out of it.
CAM Referring to the expression “kindness and love to man of our Saviour God” there is a love that comes from God that perhaps we might call the love of purpose. Would it be right to say that the feelings here are the feelings that God would have consequent on the intrusion of sin and all that we needed to be saved from.
JT As if God would feel for you. As we know, the word is philanthropy as if God is capable of that in this matter. It is hardly found anywhere else, but God is capable of philanthropy in this matter of salvation, and it implies what feelings He has in regard to man, as needing a Saviour.
AR It says in verse 4, it “appeared”. When did it appear?
JT Well, I suppose it appeared in Christ. That was the general position. It awaited the incoming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was marked off from the outset as the One who should do things, foreshadowed in a man like Noah, and now He is here, and Paul is taking account of the matter and I should think it would allude to the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ as made known in public, because He did not appear until He was baptised. After He is baptised He goes into the wilderness for forty days and is tempted and then He returns in the power of the Spirit and is seen in Galilee, and at Nazareth He announces in power and grace that the Spirit of Jehovah is upon Him and has anointed Him to preach. I believe there it is properly seen. They are all affected by it, at least to a point. They marvelled at the words of grace that were coming out of His mouth. They did not stop; they were flowing out.
Rem Zacchaeus introduced the thought of alms to the Lord. He says, “the half of my goods I give to the poor”. The Lord said, “Today salvation is come to this house”. Luke 19: 9. Would the works of God be done by Christ there?
JT Quite so; so that we have the son of Abraham, and he announces to him that salvation today is come to this house. Salvation had come; it was there; and yet it had to be worked out through redemption. It is essential to heaven but the general thought was there.
TNW Would what the Lord Jesus said in Luke 4 have a wider bearing than just Israel? Would that have man in view?
JT I would think so; Luke has man in view.
ANW Does all this side of God come in by proclamation whereas the matter of our side is a matter of ministry. I was noticing the verse after the one read in Titus. “The word is faithful, and I desire that thou insist strenuously on these things, that they who have believed God may take care to pay diligent attention to good works”. Does that come as a matter of ministry and teaching?
JT It does. We should be stirred up about that side. We have it in Ephesians very suggestively, “For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has before prepared that we should walk in them”. But Luke, as has been alluded to, is that side which would fit into what we are saying now. I mean the Lord’s own word to Simon in chapter 7. I believe that is why the thing is come to light. Luke opens up the truth in that way as coming to light. So, “I have somewhat to say to thee”, the Lord said, and he said, “Say on”. He was the sort of man the Lord could use, although apparently not converted; but still he was the sort of man the Lord could use for the point in question. He put the matter to him. “There were two debtors of a certain creditor: one owed five hundred denarii and the other fifty; but as they had [p. 350] nothing to pay, he forgave both of them their debt”. And then the Lord raised the question of love. He says, “Which of them therefore will love him most? And Simon answering said, I suppose he to whom he forgave the most. And he said to him, Thou hast rightly judged”. And then He turns to the woman, as if the bearing was there in a very striking way. The kindness and love of God was there. He turns to the woman and He said, “Thy faith has saved thee; go in peace”. The thing now is to keep to the divine side of the matter according to what time we have and make way for the obvious necessity of works.
Rem “All things which Jesus began both to do and to teach”.
JT It would be a question of teaching; what the Lord did in His life down here; what He taught, and what He did. It is more the idea of persons who are serving that is in mind in the opening of the Acts, because Acts is to bring out what the apostles did. They were servants, and therefore the point was what they said should be heard. They persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles. The question of doing is from God’s side according to the Acts; the Acts is full of it, and it is really what comes in here first; what God has done and one might select certain passages from Peter, for instance, in his address at Caesarea, and from Paul in his preaching at Antioch. I am only referring to certain samples of preaching which should be taken as models, and then see how they lead up to the other side, that is, the obvious necessity for works if we are to have Christianity. If it were a question of persons being justified and going to heaven, then we perhaps could omit works, but the scripture does not omit works. The idea is they should be here on earth as the testimony to the power of God involved [p. 351] in salvation.
JAP Is the early part of Romans, chapters 1 - 7, God’s side?
JT Quite so. Chapter 8 makes the way for the Spirit’s work. The Spirit is alluded to in chapter 5 but the subjective position in man is taken up properly in chapter 8. The Spirit is mentioned thirteen times in the early part of the chapter, and that is what we have in mind to stress. Room should be made for the Spirit if we talk about being saved.
TEH “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”, it says. Why the fear and trembling?
JT Quite so; the thing is there; the thing that God has effected is there.
TEH I wondered as to the necessity for fear and trembling.
JT When Philip preached there was great joy in that city; there is no word about fearing and trembling; but I am sure in Paul’s ministry it is laid down; it is needed. It is a solemn matter to have to do with God. One who was a great servant said just before he died, it is a solemn thing to have to meet God. It is a very important thing. We should not treat it lightly. We have to meet with God in all His holiness, if the Lord takes us.
GVD There are many people who feel that they can add something to the Lord’s work on the cross. If it is a matter of our being saved to go to heaven nothing can be added to that perfect work. It is done from God’s side.
JT It is a question of what can be done by the Spirit, because He has part in that too. It is a question of working out that too in our souls; what the Spirit accomplishes in view of salvation.
APT Peter says, “He that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him”. That is in Acts 10. Had he reached a result there yet in prayer? How far had Peter got on with the [p. 352] centurion?
JT I think I can understand that Peter would go further than what we have; that is to say, the matter of what God does — it is salvation. I can understand that Peter would say more than that to Cornelius, because Cornelius had already established a testimony or memorial in heaven himself, and he would expect to learn something about that, and so the angel tells him that his prayers had been heard and that they had come up as a memorial. He was already a subject of the work of God, and he would expect more, I would think, and Peter gave him more than the ordinary bare terms of the gospel that Romans presents.
JS He was a God-fearing man, was he not?
JT He was; just imagine that he should be regarded as having a memorial in heaven, and yet he had not got the Spirit. That is a matter to be questioned. Do we understand that?
RHS Is this matter worked out collectively, too? The Lord says to Ephesus, “I know thy works ... and thine endurance”.
JT Do you mean that it works out from the subjective side?
RHS In relation to all of us in a locality.
JT Christianity was in the mind of God in purpose. It was not simply that persons should be forgiven and go to heaven, but that we should be down here in the testimony. The earth is to have a testimony, and that hinges not only on the redemptive work of Christ but on the Spirit, because the Lord says, “For if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you” John 16: 7. As if it were an absolute necessity as to the whole plan. And that is the thing for me to follow now, as to the plan involving the Spirit and the Lord’s going to heaven in order that He should come. You may say, He was here before; but He was [p. 353] not in the sense of gift. John says, by the Spirit, “for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified” chapter 7: 39, showing how careful God is as to these thoughts — that it must be worked out and followed; that we should not balk things — leave some things out and take them as if they are not of any consequence, because God is particular as to what He says, and so they must be followed through.
AP Is the confession of Jesus as Lord a good work?
JT It is part of what is obligatory on the believer, certainly. It is enjoined: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from among the dead, thou shalt be saved”, Romans 10: 9, showing that confession and believing with the heart are essentials to salvation.
DP From what Philip conveyed to the eunuch, did he see the necessity for salvation?
JT Well, look at the facts. Philip had gone to the desert, by direction from the angel, and obviously it was that he might meet the eunuch, and he was reading the scriptures in the prophet Isaiah. He had been to Jerusalem. Why did he not meet the brethren at Jerusalem? Was there any remissness in him? Apparently he did not meet them, and if he were genuinely affected, I would say, he should have met them, because they were there in large numbers, like many who have missed their opportunities, and yet God is unfailing and affords them other opportunities, and that was the case with the eunuch. Evidently God prepared this man as he prepared the fish that swallowed Jonah. He prepared him; God prepared Philip. That was one of the matters he prepared him for, and so he accosted the eunuch. These are important remarks, because they show what God’s grace is in the matter of salvation. The Spirit said,
“Approach and join this chariot” Acts 8: 29. And he went and joined it, and the eunuch invited him up, and Philip said, “Dost thou then know what thou are reading of?” Well, now I would say to any one that is concerned about his soul to tax his understanding, because God has given man understanding enough to make him qualified to listen to God, and God does not address cows or sheep in that sense. They have not the mind for it, but man has, and therefore Philip refers at first to understanding. “Dost thou then know what thou art reading of?” and he says, “How should I then be able unless some one guide me?” We cannot deny that, but still he appealed to his understanding, and so in Romans 10 to which allusion has been made, the matter is referred to. “The word is near thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart”. The thing is there. Man is capable of it, but man is capable at the very outset of being helped by God’s voice.
SF Would you say something about the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit?
JT That is, one feels, a necessity. It is a remarkable phrase that is used in Matthew. The word “regeneration” is used in Matthew’s gospel as introducing the millennial day, but Paul alludes to it here as belonging to Christianity, the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit, which would show that the subjective side comes in early.
AI Would the washing of regeneration be bound up in what was said to Paul before he received the Holy Spirit?
JT Well, I do not know. The word that the brother in Damascus used to Paul was “Arise and get baptised, and have thy sins washed away, calling on his name”, Acts 22: 16. That must come very near to the washing of regeneration, and baptism [p. 355] alludes to it. It is the thing as accepted and understood, because the mind enters into these matters, just as it does at the Lord’s supper. Why should I not be baptised, immersed? Well, the Spirit of God makes it plain that that is the mode that God has ordered, and God will support it, and in order to be ready for the Spirit, we need to be washed. The washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit, I would say, is very closely allied to new birth, on the one hand, and baptism, on the other.
FSC Walking in newness of life, is that seen here? “We have been buried therefore with him by baptism unto death, in order that, even as Christ has been raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life”.
JT It is linked up with baptism but although these are cardinal truths and initial truths, yet they are not very much known. That is the feeling one has and therefore our Christianity is more or less shallow, and the washing of regeneration, I believe, is linked on the one hand with new birth, the actual power of God operating by the Spirit in the soul, and then on the other hand the public matter of confession involved in baptism.
AR New birth is an internal matter. Washing of regeneration is an external matter.
JT It is. Therefore new birth is a necessity before anyone will accept the idea of washing. And so the Lord immediately after the first inquiry as to new birth in John 3, then refers to washing. The second reference is that one does not enter into the kingdom without washing.
FNW Do you mean the remark of the Lord, “Except anyone be born of water and of Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”?
JT Quite so. God is alluded to. The second [p. 356] reference to water is the one. Baptism is closely allied to the new birth. The first reference is the actual work of the Spirit in bringing in new birth and then the water allied with it as a necessity for cleansing, because the need for purity is so essential if we are to come into salvation.
ABP Is there a link with Acts 2? In answer to the question, What shall we do? Peter tells the men to repent and be baptised and they would receive the Holy Spirit. But then later it says, “And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation”, verse 40. I wondered if the reference to the perverse generation in relation to baptism carries with it the thought of washing of regeneration.
JT I suppose it would. I thought of that too, as to the Jewish conditions; the conditions into which new birth is introduced. The defiling conditions that were there had to be met and I believe that is what Ananias meant when he said to Paul “Why lingerest thou”? You should know that this is a necessity — and yet he was just barely converted, but he says, “Arise and get baptised, and have thy sins washed away, calling on his name”.
APT It says, “Why lingerest thou?” Does it link on with Titus 3: 3? “For we were once ourselves also without intelligence, disobedient, wandering in error, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy”. Is there a change of state or condition that one is recognized in an external way.
JT It is a corrupt condition among the Jews. It is a parallel with the corrupt conditions among the Gentiles although with the Jews it was deeper. The claim on God would make them pretentious in that way and hence the great need for a new birth to take them out of the whole condition that the law had brought them into.
CAM Would this word ‘regeneration’ be connected with the baptismal idea? As we think of the Jews it helps us, does it not? Paul as in prison seems to represent both.
JT Do you mean he represents the Jews?
CAM Of course he represents this present dispensation in such a special way, but he also included what they will do.
JT And therefore Matthew would fit because it is the introduction of the coming dispensation. The regeneration is necessary; indeed it is a Jewish name for the introduction of the millennium, but Paul brings everything in in Christianity. He would say, They have not anything that we have not got; we have everything.
CAM That is a very interesting thing, because these are the only two places in the scriptures where that word is used.
APT The greater includes the lesser in that way. Are you inferring that this dispensation is the greatest?
JT It is the greatest of all. There is nothing left out of it.
AR It is a question of getting into the kingdom now. This idea of washing is the way to get into it, I suppose.
JT The Lord challenges Nicodemus about it. “Thou art the teacher of Israel?” He gives him credit of being the teacher; not an ordinary Pharisee but a leading man, and he says, You do not know these things! The Lord is saying, I am here to tell you everything.
DP Is this dark background as seen in verses 1 - 3 in Titus to bring out that God has moved? If we see a change now in anyone, can we say something has been effected there? Is it right to say that that change is of God when we see it brought about? The [p. 358] change is not in the public condition or in the environment. The change seems to be now in men.
JT It is in men. God is not, however, taking up this clay to make a believer of it, as He did when He took up Adam. He is taking up a man, an actual man, woman or child to make something out of him. That is important to bear in mind. Man is such that God can use him for the carrying out of His thoughts. And, therefore, the change must necessitate what the man is; the kind of being he is. God has prepared all this beforehand, and that man is intended to be used for this great purpose. Therefore, we have no angels being used for conversions. We have men only, and that is what is in mind here.
AR Is that why you get so much about teaching in John’s gospel?
JT Quite so. The Lord is called Rabbi immediately by the persons who come to Him. The first are the two that followed Jesus from John the Baptist. They call Him Rabbi, which meant He was a Teacher and the last person, you might say, in the gospel in chapter 20 — (chapter 21 is really an appendix) — is Mary Magdalene, and she says more than Rabbi. She says, Rabboni, and all this reminds us of the necessity of learning; or else we shall be just shallow and no testimony to any great extent at all, whereas the divine intent is that man should be not only here on earth — he belongs on the earth — but, whereas when Christ came to earth and went to heaven, then man goes to heaven. But God has put man on the earth and he is to be a testimony on the earth and that testimony requires that he has a mind. He can be appealed to. As Philip said, “Dost thou then know what thou art reading of?”
CAM That is very interesting that God is not taking up a piece of clay, and He is not taking on angels in this regard. It would surely speak to us in a [p. 359] sobering way that there are capabilities in us, mental capabilities, and capabilities of answering to such feelings in God’s heart.
JT It is very remarkable and really wonderful for us to ponder, as you think of the immensity of living beings that there are from the very lowest up to the highest before you come to man, the various forms of life that are contemplated in Genesis 1 until you come to man. Therefore, God would say, it is nothing at all if I do not get man, “Let us make man in our image”. Nothing like that is ever said before not even of angels “After our likeness; and let them have dominion” chapter 1: 26. God says, I can do something, and of course man failed, but still those who have been brought into the assembly and have been saved, are men, because God could make other creatures and convert them if He wished to, but He is not doing it. He is holding to the idea of man.
CAM Do you think it is a consideration for us that any one of us might be concerned about the preservation of our minds as long as we are here. There is a great tax put on our mind, but proceeding on this line, surely our minds would be for God, and there would be a sort of guarantee.
J .T. “We have the mind of Christ”. Man has a mind to be converted with. He could not be converted if he did not, because he has a conscience and mind, but when you come to the mind of Christ, you have a great addition, and it is needed for God to build up His great thoughts.
AR Adam gave names to all the animals. What a mind he had!
JT He is really the crown of creation, and he was able to name every one of them and whatever name Adam gave it, that was its name.
TEH Would it be right to say that Cornelius must have had a remarkable understanding as a man? He would be seeking out “glory and honour and incorruptibility, life eternal” — Romans 2: 7. He would be the subject of the work of God in this way?
JT He would be in mind, no doubt, in what is said in Romans 2, and what there was before. Cornelius would be a sample of how God could take on a man, even though he was not a Jew, and use him.
Ques Do we see the thing in view in Revelation that the tabernacle of God is with men; not with the angels.
JT Yes, with men.
JS Peter’s mind would be helped by the sheet that was let down from heaven.
JT It would indeed; it would be a voice to him. He had to be instructed, showing how great this matter of Christianity is, because it is a question of Acts 10, and how Peter himself had to be brought into the thing. He did not have a special work in him yet he preached the gospel in Acts 2, but he did in Acts 10.
Rem “Pass over into Macedonia and help us”.
JT Another thing comes up there; that is, it is not simply a man, but certain men that came under certain education, certain influences, that is to say, the man of Macedonia was a Greek. The history of humanity was in mind. Nothing happens for nothing. These Greeks were capable men; they had cultivated their minds. God recognises that, and He takes them up even to use their language. These are not accidents, but what we are saying now shows what God had in man, and He could make another being if He wished. He could make many beings if He wished to, but He is not doing it. He is keeping to His primary idea and not abandoning it at all. The Lord Jesus became Man, and that settles the matter, that Person has become Man.
Ques Is it a wonderful triumph too, when we have a fallen creature made [p. 361] a vessel of light?
JT Quite so.
CAM I suppose you would say that because Christ has been exalted as Man, we need the Spirit.
JT It is a question of being made like Him. We are not deified but still we come very near, as we think of having the Holy Spirit, having the power of thinking as Christ does, and loving as Christ does.
A.R. Like what He is now?
JT That is the divine thought. Redemption is necessary, but now it is accomplished we are to be like Him where He is now. We shall see Him as He is, not as He was. That is the divine thought.
JAP “So then I myself with the mind serve God’s law” — Romans 7: 25. Is that the basic idea that we must be subdued in our minds?
JT I think so, and so you have power over your mind. That is another thing. It is an instrument that He can use. Romans 8 is built up on that. “So then I myself with the mind serve God’s law; but with the flesh sin’s law”.
ABP Does the reference to the mind in Romans 1, “being apprehended by the mind through the things that are made”, verse 20, suggest that man is capable of being reached?
JT God can use him. A great deal more has to be said about that, because the moral side has to come in, but still there it is, apprehended by the mind. Of no other creature is that said, but man is capable of that.
AP And yet according to Romans 12, it is to be renewed.
JT Exactly; “transformed by the renewing of your mind”. Well, as usual, we do not go the whole way, but we are dealing with divine things, with great things. We have not really got to James.
JAP I would like to ask one question about the works of the law, as over against the works of faith in [p. 362] James. We are justified by faith without the works of the law. That is one kind of works but the kind of works you have been speaking of is another.
JT They are ordained of God. He has ordained them that we should walk in them.
ANW I wish you would say one word more about the works of Cornelius. “Not on the principle of works which have been done in righteousness which we had done” — Titus 3: 5. How did they go up to heaven as a memorial before he is taken up? It says they went to heaven. “But a certain man in Caesarea — by name Cornelius, a centurion of the band called Italic, pious, and fearing God with all his house, both giving much alms to the people, and supplicating God continually — saw plainly in a vision, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming unto him, and saying to him, Cornelius. But he, having fixed his eyes upon him, and become full of fear, said, What is it, Lord? And he said to him, Thy prayers and thine alms have gone up for a memorial before God”. Acts 10, verses 1 - 4. Those works must be good and acceptable placed in relation to this matter of salvation that we have been considering.
JT It is a question of what happened before; in the very beginning God was working. “My Father worketh hitherto and I work”. God had been working, and serving humanity in a certain sense, but only serving them anticipatively in view of Christ, but the work was going on. Cornelius would come into that. Although Judaism had come in, He has the same mind as to it. It says, He is the God of the nations also, and if He is the God of the nations, He has been serving them. There must have been a great harvest anticipatively in the Old Testament and that without us should not be made perfect.
AR In connection with hospitality, in James, that is the first mention of works.
JT [p. 363] He is reflecting God. Of course the heavens declare the glory of God. There are many things we could observe that God used before redemption.
ABP Does the Lord link on, in a sense, the idea of works in Luke 7, as a proof of faith when He tells Simon what he had not done and points out what the woman had done.
JT Quite so; it says, She anointed the Lord. How did she learn to do that? God is God and He is working from the very start.
FNW Does the knowledge in the believer’s soul of the sovereign work of God always serve as a leverage in the working out of these good works by the Spirit that was given to him?
JT Just so.
FSC Is James an advance?
JT I should not say that; I would not put him alongside of Paul; at the same time, we must leave them as they are. What James wrote is scripture and what Paul wrote is scripture. It is a remarkable thing how people view Paul’s writing. There are grades and quality contemplated in the scriptures. Paul wrote the letter to Titus, you know, and he is contemplating in the letter what the gospel really is. Paul has his place, and James has his place. It says the Lord appeared to James. He appeared to him by himself. He has a great place. He was a man who could act for himself, and a man needed in a crisis.