Funny, Rekna, he was actually paraphrasing the New Testament
James 2:20 "Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless?"
or 2:26 "For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead."
Of course, none of these contradictions are really a problem if one doesn't try to take all of the bible literally. There is a consistant message throughout BOTH statements re: faith and works if you look beyond the words themselves.
If one simply has faith and does not seek to do (note, I said
seek to do, not necessarily just do) good works, one's faith is dead (as "James" says to correct the misunderstanding of Paul's statements.) Paul's point is that one cannot just follow some rulebook of works and expect to find God while not having any faith, not that one needn't worry about doing good works merely because one HAS faith. The latter interpretation is that of the Christian slaveholders in America and I don't think it's difficult to see their hypocrisy.
Or, to take a bit from the Lutheran World Federation and Catholic Church's Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification,
Quote:
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We confess together that good works - a Christian life lived in faith, hope and love - follow justification and are its fruits. When the justified live in Christ and act in the grace they receive, they bring forth, in biblical terms, good fruit. Since Christians struggle against sin their entire lives, this consequence of justification is also for them an obligation they must fulfill. Thus both Jesus and the apostolic Scriptures admonish Christians to bring forth the works of love.
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No, the works themselves are not what grants one what we call heaven, but one cannot have faith without works, for it is dead.