While doing some research on James 2, I came across an interesting fact:
The Moody Bible Commentary gives a Free Grace interpretation of James 2:14-26![1] The contributor for The Epistle of James in
The Moody Bible Commentary is none other than Dr. John F. Hart, a long-time Free Grace advocate. For example, it was Dr. Hart who wrote the excellent article on Romans 10:9-10 many years ago titled: “Why Confess Christ? The Use and Abuse of Romans 10:9-10”.[2] Dr. Hart was for many years a professor at The Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, and I remember when I was a student there he was presenting the views of Zane Hodges to the students. I never had Dr. Hart for any of my classes, but I recall students coming into the dorm area after class and talking about “The Deserted Island Scenario” after learning about it in one of Dr. Hart’s classes. Anyway, Dr. Hart gives an excellent Free Grace presentation of James 2:14-26 in
The Moody Bible Commentary, and I highly recommend this excellent resource. I should clarify that I’m not saying I agree with every single point of view in the entire commentary, but it’s encouraging to know that the Free Grace view of James 2:14-26 is becoming more mainstream. I know when I was a student at New Tribes Bible Institute (a traditional Free Grace school), the textbook that we used for James (beside the Bible, of course) was the commentary written by Zane Hodges titled
The Epistle of James: Proven Character Through Testing (Irving, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 1994). This has been called “the best commentary available on James.”[3] And I think that’s about right. I will have to read Dr. Hart’s commentary on James in
The Moody Bible Commentary, and post another article about it in more detail. But in this blog post, I just want to point out the fact of it, and that it’s encouraging to know that the Free Grace view of James 2:14-26 is being taken more seriously in the academic community. I always knew that D. L. Moody was basically Free Grace in his theology (not necessarily on every point of doctrine, but in general), and it’s nice to know that vestiges of Free Grace theology are still being taught at The Moody Bible Institute. This is great news!
References:
[2] John F. Hart, “Why Confess Christ? The Use and Abuse of Romans 10:9-10.” Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society 12 (Autumn 1999), pp. 3-35.
[3] Robert N. Wilkin, Grace In Focus (July/August 2023), p. 30.
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Here is Dr. Hart’s Free Grace commentary on James 2:14 from The Moody Bible Commentary:
“2:14. For James, being ‘quick to hear’ (1:19) meant to be prompt to obey God’s command to do good deeds that benefit others. But the readers had neglected good works, content to claim their justification before God by faith alone. James agreed that justification before God was by faith alone. But believers must add works to their faith to develop maturity. Then they will be justified (called righteous) by their works in the eyes of other people (cf. Mt 5:16). A person who says he has faith finds it easy to talk his faith while lacking useful deeds. Bible teachers may be in mind (cf. 3:1-12). The question Can [‘that’ is not in Gk.] faith save him? demands a negative answer in Greek (‘Faith cannot save him, can it?’) and appears to contradict justification by faith alone (Rm 3:27-28; 4:4-5; Gl 2:16; Eph 2:8-9). But James’s use of the Greek verb ‘save’ (soizo) is flexible. This is evident in 5:15, where James uses the word in a way that does not mean ‘delivered from eternal judgment.’ Contextually, ‘save’ in v. 14 is equivalent to the believer’s triumph over a stern evaluation (‘judgment’) by God mentioned in 2:13 and 3:1 (an inclusion). (Also see comments on ‘save’ at 1:21.) So the phrase, ‘Can faith [alone] save him?’ asks if a believer without acts of mercy will be able to escape a strict evaluation at the believer’s final performance review.”
Source: John F. Hart, James. Michael Rydelnik and Michael Vanlaningham, General Editors, The Moody Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2014), p. 1951, bold and brackets his.
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