For those of you who were unaware, yesterday was Reformation Day. It commemorates October 31, 1517, the day a friar named Martin Luther walked up to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany, and nailed his 95 Theses there. Although originally written in Latin, and meant to be debated amongst theologians, they were soon translated into German and distibuted among the people.
One of the primary aspects was how the Roman Catholic church and protestants teach being justified before God. The tension is the interpretation of Paul's writings, and the writings found in the book of James. Over and over again, Paul affirms that justification comes by trusting in the perfect obedience of Christ on our behalf. This is also the Protestant position. Catholics point to James' statement that a faith devoid of works is dead.
So, is the Bible contradicting itself? Absolutely not! Paul is referring to the basis of being declared just. James is referring to the outward manifestation of a life surrendered to Christ. These are hardly contradictory. They are complementary
