ROBERT February 10, 2015 at 12:51 pmNo, James is warning against making an empty profession of faith.
True. He is warning against claims to be saved by faith alone.
If a man says he has faith…can that kind of faith save him? He’s warning against professing faith but not possessing it.
Exactly right.
So, are we justified because we fulfill the law,
Yes. Only those who fulfill the law will be justified:
Romans 2:13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.
or do we fulfill the law because we are justified.
Those who are justified are already fulfilling the law. Otherwise God would not declare them righteous.
The former would seem to go against the notion that by works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
On the contrary. We don’t justify ourselves. God justifies those who obey Him.
Read it slowly.
Romans 2:13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight,
Those who hear the law but do not obey the law are not declared righteous by God.
but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.
God declares righteous, those who obey His law.
Therefore, we are not justified by the law, or by the works of the law, but only those who do the law of God are declared righteous by God.