# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_April 1855_S120
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

120 James's Teaching on Justifying Faith.

...with "en" (würdigen [to deem worthy], vollenden [to complete], etc.). Verbs of this formation express the activity of making an object into that which is indicated by the underlying adjective; the meaning of the latter, however, determines whether that activity fixes the essence of the object or merely its position relative to the perception or judgment of the one acting. Of the former kind is "vollkommen werden" [to become perfect], whose active form "to make perfect" or "vollenden" [to perfect] occurs in verse 22 of our passage; it carries the meaning of an activity that touches the essence of the object. The adjective "gerecht" [righteous], by contrast, denotes a purely personal quality which cannot be appropriated to a person's essence without that person's own moral effort and exercise; indeed it even presupposes a steady activity in deed and conduct. Moreover, no one can, without further ado, make the essence of a person into what "righteous" designates. If, then, a verb is formed from "gerecht" with "machen" [to make], this can only fix the above-described position of a person, not determine that person's essence. "Gerecht machen" [to make righteous] therefore never means, either in the Bible or among secular writers, the activity which we express in the word "heiligen" [to sanctify] — namely, to train the essence or heart of a person so that it does God's Word and truth or practices righteousness. Rather, we must confine the scope of the meaning of "gerecht machen" within the actions — carried out in thought, word, or testimony — of holding, regarding, and declaring someone to be righteous. Thus at Isaiah 5:23 (Septuagint) and Matthew 12:37 it is the judge's acquittal; again at Luke 10:29 it is the effort of the accused, or even of one conscious of guilt, to present himself as innocent — that is, self-justification, down to the more contemptible sense of "burning oneself clean" — and finally it is the bestowal of God's grace, which we are accustomed to call specifically "rechtfertigen" [to justify], "Rechtfertigung" [justification]; and in the present verse 21, and afterward in verses 24 and 25, it likewise can mean nothing other than "to declare righteous," to impute righteousness, or to justify. If we now set entirely aside the fact that "gerecht machen" or "rechtfertigen" has become the standing name for God's act, whereby he reckons faith to us for righteousness, then the statement that Abraham was made righteous by works when he offered up his own son Isaac on the altar will no longer seem so offensive to us, because we must now recognize its sense and meaning to be the thought: Abraham was declared righteous by his works. Yet in order to be able to agree with this, we shall above all demand a satisfying answer to the question:

What righteousness is ascribed to Abraham by his works?

The righteousness of faith, we answer, for this is testified by

Verses 22 and 23.

To substantiate his statement in verse 21, James here teaches us to recognize, in the sacrifice of Isaac,

1) How Abraham's faith and works stood in the close connection of