Does the Book of James Attack the Teachings of Paul?
Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman
Chris Huntley
4.8 • 745 Ratings
🗓️ 21 November 2023
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For over five centuries (going back to Martin Luther!) many readers of the New Testament have maintained that the letter of James flat-out contradicts the teachings of Paul, that a person is made right with God only by faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
James insists that a person is not justified by faith alone, but by doing good works; but Paul argues with equal passion that a person is justified by faith in Christ and not by doing works of the law. So... aren't these views at direct odds? Bart's views may seem surprising....
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman. |
| 0:07.1 | The only show, where a six-time New York Times bestselling author and world-renowned Bible scholar, |
| 0:13.1 | uncovers the many fascinating, little-known facts about the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the rise of Christianity. |
| 0:20.6 | I'm your host, Megan Lewis. Let's begin. |
| 0:24.6 | Hello everyone and welcome back to misquoting Jesus. Today we are talking about salvation. It's one of the |
| 0:30.7 | key themes of Christianity, but exactly how one achieves salvation has been the matter of debate. |
| 0:36.4 | Is it simply by having faith in Jesus as Lord and |
| 0:39.0 | Savior? Or is how you live your life important too? The book of James and Paul's letter to the Romans |
| 0:44.9 | both have thoughts to offer on this, thoughts that seem to be in direct contradiction with one another. |
| 0:50.4 | I'm going to be asking Bart why this disagreement is so important and whether it is even a disagreement in the first place. |
| 0:56.9 | But before we get to all of that interesting stuff, Bart, how are you doing today? |
| 1:01.5 | Yeah, I'm doing pretty well. |
| 1:03.0 | So we're recording this on a Friday and I've got a free weekend. |
| 1:07.8 | I mean, free, not free, free, but a free as in like I don't have any obligations. And I'm just trying to think, when did this happen last? I was like, I have no idea. It's like, Sarah's away for Shedarsoff in England. And so I basically, it's me and the dog. And I don't sit on the couch and watch TV all day kind of thing. Although I might watch some football. |
| 1:28.0 | But, I mean, basically, it's a chance to do my own work. |
| 1:30.8 | And I'm going to be able to, like, work on my next book. And it's like, wow, that's a novelty. So, but then again, I don't have five kids. How's your weekend looking? Busy. I think we're right in the middle of, as everyone knows, flu season and my toddlers are asthmatic. |
| 1:30.1 | So I spent... Busy. I think we're right in the middle of, as everyone knows, flu season and my toddlers are asthmatic. |
| 1:47.0 | So I spent some time in the ER last week with one of them and she's still on her inhaler every four hours. |
| 1:54.0 | So the weekend is going to be staying inside because going out into the cold air exacerbates it and giving her her inhaler |
| 2:01.0 | and trying to entertain her. |
| 2:03.1 | Okay. |
| 2:04.1 | Yes. |
... |
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