discussion board

So here we have it. In one of my fabulous classes from Liberty, we were asked to discuss the issue of Romans and what the purpose of the book is. And then to parrallel what James says in his book about faith and works so here's what i had to say.
question:
Read Romans 3:21-4:25 and explain the Apostle Paul's argument. What is his thesis (3:21)? How does he build his case? What is his conclusion? Compare Paul's conclusion here with James 2:14-26. How do you explain the tension between Paul and James? Offer a resolution.

I would first like to remind us of the context of this letter before we delve into it. Paul wrote this letter to a people group he had never been with, to a city he had never been to, and to a church he or any other Apostles didn't start. Paul's intention were to describe exactly what the Gospel was and was not about. And when your writing to a people group who is steeped in Jewish tradition you have to write in a certain way to make your point clear.
The Apostle Paul's point was this; faith in Jesus Christ is imputes righteousness on our behalf. And what i mean by that is this, for years the Jews spent their time working the law, an trying their hardest to obey every command. But, this was an impossible task for anyone who wasn't divine. So when Christ came to die for us, their lives were not supposed to feel like a losing battle anymore because Christ defeated sin through his righteous death.
To me Paul is building his case around Abraham's faith back in Genesis. God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, so that's what Abraham was doing until God stopped him in mid swing. This painted a prophetic picture of what the son of God would go through thousands of years before it ever happened. And that faith that Abraham trusted God with his only son, was counted to him as righteousness. Abraham didn't have the resurrected Jesus to place his faith in for righteousness.
His conclusion was not that keeping the law is pointless. His conclusion was that keeping the law apart from having a faith in the resurrected Jesus was pointless. Because of your faith in Jesus, you keep the law. Paul probably had to attack this argument from an extreme angle to let his readers know just how crucial faith in Jesus is. He wanted to let them know that there is no way for salvation apart from this faith.
So now let's look onto what James comments on in his letter. Again i want to first remind you of the context in which James wrote. It is very likely that James wrote to the Jewish believers who fled Jerusalem during persecution. So these believers would be believers that have had apostolic interaction and teaching before this letter. He basically tells them that faith without works is dead. Now what I believe that he means by that is that saving faith produces deeds of service to prove its reality. James was essentially asking his readers if a faith without serving save the lost. The answer to that statement in my opinion is no. Very plain and simple, because of our faith in Jesus we should desire to carry out his commission which is to reach the ends of the world with the gospel. If that isn't our desire then our faith isn't in the Jesus of scripture.