Faith and Action, OR the Indicative vs. the Imperative

"For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead." - James 2:26 (ESV)

I have always struggled with James. How can it be that, as Paul tells us repeatedly, we are save by grace alone by faith alone - all the while, "faith apart from works is dead?" I never believed this to be a contradiction, but I could never quite reconcile the two either.

For those of you who were not aware, I am teaching the Youth (9th - 12th Grade, sortof) Sunday school class at Church. Right now, I am teaching a semester on "World View" in three phases; (1) Terms/Ideas Defined (particularly dealing with various epistemological views (2) Generic "Christian" Orthodoxy (based upon the ecumenical creeds - particularly the Apostle's and Niceno-Constantinopolitan), (3) Specific (Conservative-American-Southern-Presbyterian) Christian Orthodoxy (based upon the Westminster Standards - particularly the Shorter Catechism). There are several points within the Shorter Catechism, but the one, which has intrigued me the most, is that of the Mosaic Covenant (specifically in the Decalogue - which takes up 1/3 of the Catechism).

Obviously, working from a Covenantal framework (theologically), I do not believe that the Mosaic Covenant was the standard for salvation in the O.T. Rather, I believe that the Mosaic Covenant served to remind God's elect of their complete dependence upon the Covenant of Grace (established in Gen. 3:14-15; further clarified in Gen. 15:4-6, 17:1-14, II Sam. 7:10-16; and fulfilled in Jesus Christ as described in Hebrews 10:10-17). This perspective has completely changed the way I see and approach the Decalogue (Ten Commandments) - at some point in time (I don't know when the sun rose, but I know that it shines today) I converted from being an Antinomian (one who denies that God's law in Scripture should directly control the Christian's life) heretic to being flat out unclear about the role of the law in the Christian's life.

Paul tells us (in Galatians 2) that while we are not justified (made right with God) by observance of the law, Christ does not promote sin (the breaking of God's law). Further, in I John 3:6, we are told, "no one who abides in Him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen Him or known Him."

So... I'm saved by Grace alone, which is through Faith alone, but I cannot be a law-breaker?

This past weekend at the Ohio Valley Presbytery Men's retreat, Dr. Bryan Chapell (president of Covenant Seminary) offered this insight, which I found to be brilliant:

"The imperative rests on the indicative, and this order is not indicative."

In other words, we might envision God looking at us (as children who have misbehaved), as He opens His mouth to say; "Child, I am your Savior, and I love you - NOTHING could ever change that - you cannot do ___________." Our actions do not determine our relationship with God, however our actions must be determined by our relationship to God.

Let's think of this in another way - how about our covenant children? While shopping at Walmart, little Johnny gets angry and hits his sister - for a moment everything stops, everyone looks at the child, then looks at the father (we all know that in this instant, all of the bystanders are watching the Father, and making judgments upon him, based on his son's action). The Father, then, pulls Johnny aside and says, "Johnny, I am your Father, and I love you - NOTHING could ever change that - you cannot hit your sister." Johnny's actions are not the basis of his relationship with his father - hitting his sister could never change the basis of his relationship with his father - yet, from this moment on, hitting (or not hitting) his sister means something. First, by hitting (or not hitting) his sister, he shows what he thinks of his father. Second, by not hitting his sister, he displays his father's character. Third, by displaying his father's character, he shows that he is his father's son.

So what does all of this mean? I return to my original question; "since we have been delivered from our misery by grace alone through Christ, without any merit of our own, why must we yet do good works (particularly in observing the Decalogue)?" I believe that the Heidelberg Catechism answers this question beautifully:

"Because Christ, having redeemed us by His blood, also renews us by His Holy Spirit to be His image, so that with our whole life we may show ourselves thankful to God for His benefits, and He may be praised by us. Further, that we ourselves may be assured of our faith by its fruits, and that by our godly walk of life we may win our neighbours for Christ."