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JAMES - Be Doers of the Word, and not Hearers Only
Studies in the Letter of James (by Dr. Richard Thomas)

Chapter II

Faith and Works (James 2:14-26)


JAMES 2:14-26
14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? 15 And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, 16 and one of you tells them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled”; and yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself. 18 Yes, a man will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith. 19 You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead? 21 Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith. 25 In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.

The passage we shall now be considering is crystal clear taken in context. Parts of it become theologically perplexing when set alongside Paul’s statements on justification by faith (Romans 1:17; 4:22; 5:1; Ephesians 2:8). We could fall back on special pleading or resort to eisegesis and slur over the difficulties, putting into the passage what suits our argument instead of drawing out what is implicit in the terms. Let us set out some of the more striking questions or propositions in this half of chapter 2, without the intervening sentences they stand out more starkly:

Can faith save him? (14)
Faith without works is dead being alone (17).
I will show them my faith by my works (18).
Was not Abraham our father justified by works (21).
By works a man is justified … so also the woman (Rahab) (24,25).

In his second letter Peter writes about Paul’s epistles in which there are things hard to understand which the ignorant and unstable wrest to their own ruin (2 Peter 3:16). The doctrine of justification by faith leads itself such wresting and twisting in the minds and mouths of these ignorant wranglers. They would argue vehemently from apparently valid assumptions: “All that matters is to have faith”; “Believe once and you are for ever safe”; “Works contribute nothing to salvation”.

Definitions of faith are generally unsatisfactory or tautologous. Here is an example, “Faith is belief in something, or trust in some person”. This does not carry us very far. Alternatively we may start by distinguishing “faith” from “bare assent”. Both are kinds of belief. The difference between the two sorts of credence is often marked by the preposition ‘in’. To believe that God exists amounts to bare assent. We may believe all sorts of facts, that Africa is larger than Europe, that Uzbekistan has a prime minister and that Haydn lived in the 18th century. Such facts do not excite us or commit us to any course of action. On the other hand believing in Christ or Communism can become a matter of intense conviction, or on another level of experience. A doctor may believe in a miracle cure enough to stake his career on its success.

“I do not think that faith in Christ is the exercise of some mysterious faculty that unbelievers totally lack”. When we talk of childlike trust we assume that children everywhere have a quality of faith that Christ found commendable. When Jeremiah cries: “Cursed is the man that trust in man … Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord”, we presume that the verb ‘trust’ has more-or-less the same sense in both clauses (Jeremiah 17:5,7). The real difference between Christian faith and any other kind of faith is in the object to which faith is directed – Jesus Christ the same forever, who promises and fulfils, who never fails or forsakes.

A lively faith then has a steady course which keeps us on the right track and gives us the confidence we need through life’s journey. Faith has many degrees of clarity and certitude. Most believers (it seems) are woefully short on faith (Luke 17:6), yet the Lord accepts the little faith they exercise.

Briefly, what does faith stand for in the rest of the NT? In the Synoptics it is essentially trust in God. Jesus praises the faith of non-Jews in His power to heal, rebukes His disciples for their lack of faith (Matthew 15:28; 17:17). While presupposing faith Jesus laid down conditions for discipleship which were far more demanding and costly, than what popular evangelists normally declare. “Follow me” (Mark 1:17); “Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34); “Sell all you have and distribute to the poor … and come follow me” (Luke 18:22). With some of the disciples the response was just a drastic: “He left everything, and rose and followed him” (Luke 5:27).

John prefers the verb ‘believe’. Faith for him is virtually the same as knowing God. “That ye may know and believe that the Father is in me” (John 10:38). The Epistle to the Hebrews has its own matchless definition of faith as assurance and conviction (Hebrew 11:1). In the chapter on faith, the noun is usually followed by a verb indicating firm action, Abel offered, Noah prepared, Abraham obeyed, Moses refused. Scholars detect a shift in the meaning of ‘faith’, pistis, as used in the Pastorals. The noun there stands for the body of doctrine held by Christians, the prime expression of which appears in the Apostle’s creed.

For a satisfactory analysis of ‘faith’ in the NT much more detailed evidence would need to be brought forward, but the foregoing should suffice to show that James’ usage falls well within the range of definition which would emerge from a more thorough scrutiny of the NT data.

“If a man says he has faith but has not works can his faith save him?” One way of responding to the theoretical question is to insist that such a person has no real faith, but merely asserts (says) that he possesses it (14). This, however, is tantamount to saying that he has neither works nor faith – nothing plus nothing adding up to nought is scarcely a helpful equation. When James describes his hypothetical believer he has in mind someone whose assurance of salvation compares favourable with that of most Christians, and whose object of faith is Christ and God. Matthew Henry rightly comments, “Paul plainly speaks of other sort of works then James does, but not of another sort of faith. Paul speaks of works … before men’s embracing the faith of the Gospel … who valued themselves so highly upon these works that they rejected the Gospel. St. James speaks of works done in obedience to the Gospel”.

What does Paul write about a most impressive manifestation of faith which yet lacks the one thing that is needful? “If I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not love I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2). Faith without love is worth nothing; love must express itself in the kind of works that James commends. In 2 Corinthians 5:10 Paul reminds us that “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body whether good or bad”. With this we may link his warning in 1 Corinthians 3:13,15 “Everyman’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire … he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire”. It is tragic to contemplate that the efforts of a vast number of sound believers will on the great accounting day be discarded as dead wood.

All the more terrifying warnings on the reality and intensity of Judgment come from the lips of our Lord, as C.S. Lewis somewhere pointed out. Two instances come readily to mind: “Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? Jesus will reject those professors of strong faith in His name on the grounds that they have failed to do the will of His Father (Matthew 7:21-23). Again at the end of a disturbing chapter (Matthew 25), when the Judge segregates the sheep from the goats, we discover similar criteria of judgment. The sheep-goat metaphor is glibly applied to the ‘goodies’ and the ‘badies’ in such a way as to distinguish decent folk from looselivers and miscreants generally. Our Lord had a different aim in telling the parable (Matthew 25:31-46). The passage is indeed a prophecy of the end. In it He condemns sins of omission so as to alarm the complacent, not feeding the hungry, not welcoming the stranger, not clothing the ragged, not visiting the sick or the prisoners; and generally abstaining from all manner of good.

James mentions a specific example of this blissful unconcern (15,16), what American politicians describe as benevolent neglect. No matter that the apology is delivered in courteous terms: “Peace be upon you brother”, as they say in Arabic; or “Good luck friend”; or even “God bless you”. The whole exercise is worse than useless for it embitters the needy brother and drives him to doubt God’s goodness and to despair in life itself.

Paul’s suggestive phrase is Galatians 5:6, “faith working through love” complement James 2:18 “I by my works will show you my faith”. Love keeps things alive; by it faith is energised as it rests on the King of Love. Throughout the passage on faith and works love is pre-supposed, since it has already been postulated in 1:12 (loving God) and 2:8 (loving your neighbour). Thus faith which is energised by love is demonstrated by works, in effect the works of love.

“You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe – and shudder” (19). Pious Jews or Muslims hold that God is one; resting on their orthodoxy claim they are justified in God’s sight. One could plausibly argue, as some commentators do, that James addressing himself to Jewish monotheism. But such belief extends to distinctively Christian creedal statements. The devils believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was dead and buried, the third day He rose again. These demons know such articles to be historical facts and can vouch for their certainty as eyewitnesses from the beginning. They tremble as they reflect on the outcome of salvation history. Yet this belief is without good works or worse still with evil works.

Men can believe in this spirit and yet face condemnation. The verb ‘believes’ in John 3:16 implies a continuing faith in Christ the Son. This inference is supported by Paul’s words in 1 Timothy 2:15 where we are told that woman “shall be saved if she continues in faith and love and holiness”. That surely goes for man too.

“Was not Abraham our father justified by works?” (21). James makes this astonishing claim, then goes on to quote from Genesis 15:6 apparently in self-contradiction, “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness” (23). But when did Abraham actually start believing, was it at this point when God promised him great reward and a heir apparent? Did he not believe God when he obeyed His command to leave Haran (Genesis 12:4), or when he built an altar and called on the Lord’s name (Genesis 12:8)? Was it not his unshakeable confidence in the Lord’s power to give victory that impelled him to rescue Lot and the five kings (Genesis 14)? Melchizedek acknowledges this truth and blesses God for the deliverance. Above all Abraham showed how he trusted his God, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar. The writer of Hebrews puts it, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises, was ready to offer up his only son” (Hebrew 11:17). This text form Hebrews brings together the respective emphasis of Paul and James as they relate to justification ‘by faith ... he offered’ – a satisfying synthesis. Wisdom, our Lord declared, is justified or vindicated by her works (Matthew 10:19). Abraham also was vindicated by his obedience and offering, and in that sense was justified before God.

We cannot offer our works as payment for our salvation. I heard a Baptist minister in Beirut once, opening his sermon with these arresting words, “We are saved by work – the work of Christ”. Indeed we are saved by grace; God does not even need our faith to save us. The heavenly Father, however, delights in our trusting and thankful response to His inexpressible gift. He wants to see that our faith does not dissipate itself in mere words, but in the labour of love and the steadfastness of hope.

Let Martin Luther have the last word here. Having promised to hand over his doctor’s beret to anyone who would reconcile James and Paul, he managed to hold on to it with the following comment: “Faith is a living restless thing. It cannot be inoperative. We are not saved by works, but if there be no works there must be something amiss with faith”. If there is too much amiss then James would insist, our faith is dead. So, beloved brethren, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

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