What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
I suppose this would be a good time to address the debate that seems to rage between these words of James and Paul’s words in Galatians regarding faith and works. I suppose it could be entertaining to examine how some have claimed that these two passages are at odds with one another. But I won’t do that because it wasn’t a debate for the recipients of James’s letter; Paul hadn’t written Galatians yet.
I realize some might still want to discuss it, but the Jewish believers in the first century had their minds elsewhere. Remember that James had just written to them that merely listening to the word was not sufficient. They knew their ancestors had heard the word of God but then went on their way and did whatever they jolly wanted to. They knew it wasn’t enough just to listen to the scriptures being read every seven years during the Feast of Booths, or every week in the synagogues; they needed to act on what they heard. They were to love the poor, they were not to show partiality, and they were to follow the royal law of Scripture and love their neighbors as themselves.
These early Jewish believers were not consumed with a debate about whether salvation came through faith or works. Rather, they needed to be reminded that their faith — a faith which they already had — was meaningless unless they acted upon it.
Imagine that God gave you a list of the following rules:
- You shall have no other gods before me.
- You shall not make for yourself a carved image and you shall not bow down to them or serve them
- You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
- Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy
- Honor your father and your mother
- You shall not murder.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s
Now, imagine that you look at the list and then cut it neatly between rule number 4 and rule number 5 then you discard rules 5 through 10 and decide to obey only rules 1 through 4. Does that make you very religious? Maybe. Maybe you are the most religious person anyone has ever met. Maybe you follow those four rules as closely as anyone can. And maybe you even write a bunch of other rules that further define what it means to follow the first four rules. Then you, and others like you, start telling everyone what it means to be religious — what it means to follow God.
But are you really following him? Do you really have any sort of tangible faith in God? Do you really believe?
No. No. And no.
Your belief in God must include both halves of the Ten Commandments. You can’t just love God without also loving others. The way in which you express your love for God is by loving others. God does not give us the option to pick and choose; it’s all or nothing. If you can’t love your neighbor, then you don’t love God. It’s that simple. Your faith is dead.
If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
James explains to his audience what faith looks like in practical terms. When you see someone who is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, you can’t just say to them “I’ll pray for you” and then walk away. You might as well spit in their face for all the good that does. When you see a brother or sister in need you are to help fill that need.
I must admit a part of me wishes James hadn’t used the terms “brother or sister.” I wish James had said “anyone,” but he didn’t. And there is a reason for that. Remember that the believers first hearing this letter were in exile and living under persecution. James tells them that believers take care of other believers. If you can’t show love to others like us who believe in God, then you can’t show love to anyone else.
This doesn’t discount the need to help non-believers, but that wasn’t James’s point when he wrote these words. James wrote to believers so they might know that the body of Christ takes care of itself. At the very least, this means you don’t leave your brother or sister naked and hungry.
But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
Faith and works are intimately related to one another; they can’t be separated. Take for instance the point James makes when he says that even demons believe that God is one (a not so veiled reference to Deuteronomy 6:4 which says, “Hear O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one”), but they don’t follow his will. This means that if you believe in God but don’t act upon your belief by following God’s will, then you are no different than a demon. To have faith in God means that we believe, but it also means that we act on that belief. If we don’t act on our belief then we are no different than Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, and Lucifer; we just might not have a tail and pitchfork.
Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
In case that wasn’t clear enough, James provides another example. Abraham’s faith — something touted throughout all of scripture as the prime example of faith — was nothing without his willingness to act on his faith. If Abraham had been merely a believer, then he wouldn’t have trusted God when it came to taking his son to the mountain. And if he hadn’t acted on God’s call then he would have been no different than the demons. True faith means that we act; that we do what it is that God tells us to do. If God tells us to take our only son to the mountain, we do that because that is what God tells us to do. If God tells us to put away our sinful behavior, we do that because that is what God tells us to do. If God tells us to love our neighbors, we do that because that is what God tells us to do.
And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?
But it isn’t just Abraham, the great father of the faith, whose faith was seen in his works. Rahab the prostitute was justified because she acted on her belief. As odd as it may seem, hanging a red rope out of her window — certainly not some great action or colossal movement of history — was how she showed her faith. She didn’t question. She didn’t laugh. She just did it. And because she acted and hung a red rope from her window in the red-light district she and her family were saved.
For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
The Christian life is really not rocket science. (Really, it’s not.) It’s much simpler than that. Even a child can understand it. If a child really loves and trusts their parents they don’t say “I love you,” without obeying their parents. When their parents tell them to clean their room, to wash the dishes, to walk the dog, to brush their teeth they do it. They may not feel like doing it at all times or they may understand why these things are important, but because they love their parents they will do what they are told. And, unless we become like that child and do what God tells us to do then our faith is worthless.
You should see by now that this is not a debate about saving faith; this is a discussion about loving God. And, if you have been paying close attention you will notice this is not the first time James brings up faith and works. James’s discussion regarding the difference between hearing and doing (James 1:22-25) is about faith, works, and loving God. And when James wrote about some very specific actions in which believers should engage (James 1:26-2:13) he continued his discussion of faith, works, and loving God. You’d think that was enough. But for James, it wasn’t. So why write about faith, works, and loving God again? Did James think his audience wouldn’t understand it the first couple of times?
Maybe. Maybe James knew that people had a difficult time acting on their beliefs so he wanted to hit them with it a few times. But, maybe there’s another reason why he discusses this topic again. Re-read James 1:22-25 and you will see that is written in fairly generic terms. He describes a man looking into a mirror, but personal grooming wasn’t James’s point. He provided that illustration to explain that we can’t read the word of God and just walk away without doing anything. But when he wants to drive that point home in James 2:14-26, he provides examples, not illustrations, from Israel’s history; the poor, the needy, Abraham, and Rahab.
Okay. So James wrote multiple passages on faith and works. What of it?
Take note of how James structures his argument about faith and works. Between the first passage of James 1:22-25 (being a doer and a hearer of the word) and the second passage of James 2:14-26 (faith without works is dead), James describes true religion and the royal law of love (James 1:26-2:13). Doesn’t this feel like a sandwich? The meaty definition of true religion is neatly placed between two slices describing the relationship between faith and works. It’s almost as if James was deliberately trying to emphasize the heart of the Christian life by placing it in between the first discussion about hearing and doing and the second regarding faith and works. In other words, faith and hearing without works and doing is worthless. Unless your religion is pure and undefiled before God — visiting orphans and widows in their affliction, keeping yourself unstained from the world, avoiding partiality, and loving your neighbors as yourself — then your religion is worthless.
But I don’t believe James stopped there building his sandwich of the Christian faith; there are many other layers to go. But we will have to wait until next week to discover the next layer of this tasty treat of the Christian life.
