Is it logically possible to hold the doctrine of justification by faith
THE assertion 'x believes in Jesus and is thereby justified' raises no obvious logical difficulties. But when it is asserted that x is justified by faith and not by works, we may wonder whether a meaningful distinction is being made. At first sight, the distinction appears to be meaningful, because we think of faith as something that happens "in the mind", and of works as things which are done by the body. But if we adopt an even partially behaviouristic account of mental events, faith is not just an instantaneous mental event verified by an act of introspection, but rather a long-standing disposition evidenced mainly by our behaviour. St. James says 'Shew me thy faith without thy works'; this is sometimes taken as meaning that faith, unless bearing fruit in works, cannot properly be called faith; but it could also be taken to mean that faith actually consists of a pattern of works undergirded by a particular discernible motive.