There are some people who seem to regard faith as the opposite of works. Now that, in itself, is not right, because the opposite of works is not faith. The opposite of works is the righteousness of God. That is what the Apostle is contrasting – men who try to save themselves by works, and this other salvation, which is the giving to us of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. …So you see, the opposite of works is not faith. No! it is the righteousness of Jesus Christ which is the opposite of works, and it is righteousness which comes to us through faith. – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans Vol. 1, p. 311
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No Other Boast 
1) I’m perusing old posts, so I know this is very belated.
2) I’m assuming this is talking about Ephesians 2 works? Because it seems to me that in James, works are the fulfillment of faith… the evidence of the righteousness of God working in us. Yes? No?
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Hey Matthew! Great to hear from you.
What the doctor is dealing with is the idea of our legal righteousness, our justification. What is the basis of our justification? Is it our works or is it faith? Now that is exactly the kind of reply that the doctor is trying to prevent – the thinking that the opposite of a works righteousness is a faith righteousness. That is that God looks at my faith and counts my faith as righteousness, this is deadly false. We do not have a faith righteousness but a righteousness that comes by faith. The nuance is subtle but deadly. This does not diminish the beautiful truth of sola fide (justification by faith alone), it clarifies it. It is not my faith that justifies me, my faith is simply a channel or an instrument by which I receive a foreign alien righteousness. My faith in and of itself is not counted as righteousness; rather my faith receives the righteousness of Christ, which is my righteousness. A light reading of Romans 4 that ignores the context might say that it is our faith that is our righteousness, but any serious study will put away such a delusion.
As a further commentary on this thought see this quote from “The Doctor”.
Hope this helps. Also Ephesians 2:10 and James fruit works I take to be synonomous. These are not the basis of our salvation, but the necessary outworking of it.
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