Faith and Works
James 2:14–26 | Stefan Van der Merwe
A healthy relationship between faith and works.
James 2:14–26
“14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that — and shudder. 20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless (or dead in some manuscripts)
21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”(Gen. 15:6) and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”
An old Scotsman operated a little rowboat for transporting passengers. One day a passenger noticed that the good old man had carved on one oar the word “Faith,” and on the other oar the word “Works.” Curiosity led him to ask the meaning of this. The old man, being a well-balanced Christian and glad of the opportunity for testimony, said, “I will show you.”
So saying, he dropped one oar and plied the other called Works, and they just went around in circles. Then he dropped that oar and began to ply the oar called Faith, and the little boat just went around in circles again — this time the other way around, but still in a circle.
After this demonstration the old man picked up Faith and Works and plying both oars together, sped swiftly over the water, explaining to his inquiring passenger, “You see, that is the way it is in the Christian life. Dead works without faith are useless, and “faith without works is dead” also, getting you nowhere. But faith and works pulling together make for safety, progress, and blessing.”
I. The claims to faith
A quick search on google will show you that there are about 4300 religions in this world, with all of them staking a claim to believe in something or someone. Faith you could say is truly universal. But Apostle James wants us today to contemplate on our definition of faith. That is the question today. Or put differently, when can I truly say (according to the bible) that I have faith? That is why Apostle James starts this passage by saying “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith…”
Let’s quickly take a look at the idea of claiming something. According to Collins dictionary: “If you claim something, you try to get it because you think you have a right to it. … If you claim money from the government, an insurance company, or another organization, you officially apply to them for it, because you think you are entitled to it according to their rules.”
Ah-ha, so in applying this definition to our claim of faith we could say that our claim to have faith must be met by a certain set of rules otherwise the legitimacy of your faith claim is in question. James’ argument here in the first verse is clear. Faith and deeds go together but let us look at other claims people often make.
II. Faith & words
Apostle James says: Suppose (Because this faith claim needs to be investigated) a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed…
This is the claim I often hear and is certainly not new. Let us test this claim quickly, how many of you believe that this chair (use any chair in the auditorium) will be able to hold you if you sit on it? OK, good, we all believe! Or do we? You see our faith in the stability and workmanship of the chair still needs to be put to the test. So will it suffice if I say to you: “John (use any person in the audience’s name) please come and sit on this chair?!”
What does it say about my claim in the stability of this chair if I tell someone else to sit on it instead of me? Would you say I truly believe in this chair? I can repeat 1000 times, here and now, that I do believe in this chair, but will my words be enough to convince you?
The example James uses here has to do with a serious need of a brother/sister. He/she is without clothes and daily food. I’d say, that is pretty much serious. Let’s look at the response to this need: “Go in peace, keep warm and well fed..”
And he could repeat this too, a thousand times, but the need will remain. Would you agree that trying to “project change by your words alone” is actually useless in meeting any need? James asks the following question to this approach “What good is it?”
We can apply this to so many other truth claims out there. Here are a few.
We often say:
- “You’ll soon be better…”
- “Things will get better…”
- “My ship will come in…”
- Soon we will get a better president..” (Controversial I know!)
Do any of these utterings even have an effect on the outcome of our health, our wealth, or circumstances around us? No! It hasn’t and will never have.
So, first, we need to understand that although our words can be powerful in many ways (Pastor Caleb will preach in the use of the tongue next week — not to be missed!), merely words are not enough to meet any given need, neither does it (and more importantly) confirm the existence of faith.
So, I conclude here that faith, with words as a companion, is not yet faith. The second option is actually even more absurd:
III. Faith & nothing else
In James 2:18 we read,
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
It almost seems as if apostle James is quoting someone here specifically but in the original Greek, there were actually no quotation marks. Nevertheless, I think there are many people that might have the same argument that James put forward here. This might be a claim that some believers have “faith” and some have “works.” It might even be the claim that not every Christian needs to have them both — that some Christians are “faith Christians” and some Christians are “work Christians”.
James’ answer to this claim is a simple challenge: “Show me your faith without deeds!” Simply put, faith alone with nothing else could never be faith.
In verse 19, James uses an example of faith alone:
“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that — and shudder.”
This verse is perhaps the strongest statement in Scripture on the difference between “knowing about” God and “true faith” in God. The question James asks in verse 14 goes hand-in-hand with his statement here. Knowledge is not the same as trust, or obedience, or faith. After all, James argues, even demons believe that “God is one” — and they shudder in fear of Him. It’s not enough to believe that something is true. Real faith in God asks for a response to that truth with trust and obedience (action).
The statement that “God is one” may have been a reference to one of the central ideas of Judaism. Known as the Shema, it is found in Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Every one of James’s Jewish readers would have grown up agreeing with that truth.
James’s point is that it is not enough to just agree. That puts those who talk about God but fail to act in ways consistent with that belief, in the same category as demons. It means knowing, but not trusting. It means “dead faith,” rather than “saving faith.” The danger of this condition is that a self-assured “religious” person can spend their entire lives in simple agreement without ever crossing over into true and living faith.
The previous verse (18) continues: “…and I will show you my faith by my deeds” ..and this brings us to the third and only option.
III. Faith & deeds
In verse 18 we read James says: “I will show you my faith by my deeds”. This is his main emphasis and one that he wants us to understand today. It is not faith alone, nor is it faith and empty words but faith needs action. You can almost hear James saying, “and don’t take my word for it..let me show you examples from history”. In both verses 21 and 25, he uses two examples from the history of Israel, that most Jews were very familiar with.
First is the example of Abraham. When Abraham was 100 years old and his wife Sarah was 90 a God gave them a son called Isaac. Their first and only child and the bible does not tell us exactly how old Isaac was, but we know that God appeared to Abraham and told him to go and sacrifice this only son of his. Without flinching, Abraham went ahead and did exactly what God told him to do up to the point where he was going to slaughter his son on the altar as a sacrifice. At that very moment, we know that God stopped Abraham and provided a ram in the place of Isaac as a sacrifice.
In verse 21 we read James asks the question, Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did? First I want to make clear that the New Testament clearly states that no man can be declared righteous before God by his/her works. Paul writes in Romans 3:20 “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law”. In the context of this Old Testament story in history, you could say that a person’s “righteousness” was related to correct conduct, as defined by God’s law, and the verdict of justification was pronounced over those who faithfully observed the covenant stipulations. In conclusion, then, verses 21, 23, and 24 in relation to righteousness James’ meaning was in the context of our actions and nothing more.
In verse 22 here James says of Abraham “his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.” This is an astonishing example of a man whose faith in God was so strong that he was willing to DO anything God tells him to do. I realize that is an extreme example, but it brings across a very important question for us. Can you and I do what Abraham did and follow God’s command to the letter? That is indeed what faith requires of us!
Take the example of a normal coin. A (money) coin has two sides and the two sides never look the same. If I had a coin here tonight and only one of the sides were engraved on and the other was empty would that be considered a legal coin? No, it won’t. The same with our faith and our deeds. Faith is the one side of the coin and the other side of the coin is our action.
But remember the word of Paul,
Romans 2:8–10
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
The second example James uses here was also edged in the memory of the Jewish hearers because all of them from childhood must have heard the story of Rahab. Rahab was not a likely candidate for a hero of the faith. She was a prostitute in a corrupt, pagan city that was under God’s condemnation. However, when the moment arose, she hid the Israelite spies and made sure that they did not get captured by the evil city of Jericho.
James uses this unlikely hero, a prostitute from that city of Jericho to show us that her ACTIONS saved her life. She did the right thing at the right time and that is what counts for God.
James concludes by using a very easy example for us to understand:
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. (v26)
IV. Our faith in action today
How does our faith look like today?
Can you confidently say that your actions show that you have faith or do we fail to show our faith through our actions?
In practice we could for instance ask the following questions:
- Do you for instance believe that there is power in prayer?
…yet, we do not pray that much — what does it say about our faith in God that answers prayer?
- Do you believe that the gospel of Christ can change a man’s life?
…yet, we are sluggish to share the gospel with other people — what does it say about our faith in the power of the gospel to save a man?
- Do you believe that God can heal our diseases?
…yet, before we ask Him for healing we first run to doctors and pharmacies — what does it say about our faith in God’s ability to heal people today?
- Do you believe that God forgives sins?
…yet, when it comes to other Christians we are often judgemental and skeptical about them even after they have asked God for forgiveness.
The list can go on, but I think the picture is clear tonight. Let us make sure that our actions show the faith we proclaim to have. This is particularly important when it comes to our witness to people who do not follow Christ.
Let us make sure that our faith is authentic in the way, that we do not only talk about it, but we show it in everything we do.
Amen!
