James 2:8-26: Part Two

Verses 2:17, 20 and 2:26 all tell us that faith without works is dead. Many people assume that this means that if a person does not do good works, he doesn’t really believe in God. They say he isn’t really a Christian, because he must not truly believe. His faith must not be real. I would like to show you another usage of the word “dead” in Scripture.
Turn to Romans 4:19. In this verse, we are told that at the age of around 100, Abraham’s body was dead. Sarah’s womb was dead, too. This didn’t mean that they were non-existent, that they had “kicked the bucket” or “passed on.” The word “dead” in this passage can be defined as “useless; unprofitable; unfruitful.” Abraham’s body and Sarah’s womb were described as useless; they were unable to bear children. Bearing children and bearing fruit are similar ideas. Abraham and Sarah were unable to produce a child. When James tells us that faith without works is dead, I believe that he is trying to communicate the same idea that we find in Romans. Without good works, your faith is useless; unprofitable; unfruitful. This doesn’t mean that you would lose your salvation, or that you never possessed salvation to start with. It just means that you’re not doing anything with your faith. It’s not producing anything. God doesn’t like that. He entrusted us at the moment of salvation with the power of the Holy Spirit, which can bear amazing fruit that can transform our lives and the lives of those around us. Our faith has the potential to blossom and burst and produce wonderful things. But if you don’t abide in Christ, as Jesus said in John 15, you won’t bear fruit. You’ll just be a dead branch. This doesn’t mean you aren’t saved; you can still go to heaven. But you won’t bear fruit. Galatians 5 tells us that in order to bear the fruit of the Spirit, we need to walk in the Spirit. This is something that we can do or not do as Christians. As believers, we all live in the Spirit. But to walk in the Spirit takes action on our part (Galatians 5:25.) Faith without works is dead; unfruitful. Do you want to bear fruit, or be a dead branch for God, useless to Him for His work in the world? Faith plus works brings fruit. Faith minus works doesn’t. Faith is not enough if you want to bear fruit.

In verse 2:18, James uses a hypothetical person to offer a challenge. Try to show people your faith without works. Belief means to know that something is true. Can people see what you know? If you believe a lot of good things about God, but you don’t do good things, other people can’t see your faith. Your faith may still be genuine, and God can see it and reward it. But others can’t see it unless you show them. Suppose you love someone in your heart, but you never say that you love them or do anything to show your love. Your love might be real and genuine, but the other person would never be able to know it. In the same way, it is impossible to show your faith without works. You can have faith without works (although it would be unfruitful, so I wouldn’t recommend it) but you can’t show it without works. What is better is to show our faith by our works. Faith is not enough if you want others to see your faith.

People like to use James 2:19 to tell us why John 3:16 is wrong. John 3:16 tells us that to have eternal life, we need to believe in Jesus. But as James 2:19 says, “even the demons believe!” Obviously believing isn’t enough to save us from hell, or else the demons would be saved as well, since they believe. I don’t agree with that last statement. Let me ask you, is James talking about salvation from hell in this passage? Is that his theme? No. He’s talking about life for the believer, and why it’s important to do what is right, not just believe what is right. The demons have not been offered salvation for sins through Christ. Christ died for the sins of humankind. If God has a redemption plan for the demons, He has not mentioned it anywhere in Scripture. God did not say that if demons believe in Christ they will be saved, but He did tell us that we will be saved if we believe in Christ. Let’s look at what James really wants to tell us in 2:19. First, he says that you do well if you believe in God. Good job! God really does want you to believe. Hebrews 11:6 tell us that it is impossible to please God without believing in Him. But James doesn’t want us to feel too proud of ourselves for believing in God. After all, even the demons believe. James is reminding us that as Christians, we can do better than the demons. We can believe and obey God. Suppose a ten year old (who has no learning disabilities) comes up to his mom and recites the alphabet. His mom might say, “Well, that’s good. The alphabet is important. But even your three year old brother can say his ABCs!” The foundation is good, but a ten year old should be able to do better than just his ABCs. In the same way, believing in God is a great foundation to have. But as Christians, we can do better. We can start with faith as a foundation, and add to it with good works, fruit of the Holy Spirit. We can go beyond what the demons do—they believe in God and fear Him. But we can obey Him, love Him, live for Him, follow Him. Faith is not enough if you want to do better than the demons.

Now let’s look at the story of Abraham. James 2:23 says that “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” This comes from Genesis 15:6 and is quoted also in Romans 4:3. (On a side note, there are parallels for many, if not all, of the points that I am making in James 2 which can also be found in the teachings of Paul. Paul and James believed and taught the same things. They both received revelation directly from Jesus.) Abraham’s belief in God at that time is similar to our belief in Christ at the moment of salvation. When we believe, our faith is accounted for righteousness. Christ’s righteousness is put on our account, as a gift, regardless of our works. We are justified, or “declared righteous,” not based on what we do or don’t do, but because of what Christ did. Abraham received that same justification—he was “declared righteous” because of his belief, not his actions.

But there is another way to be justified. “Justification” in the Bible is not always referring to the justification we receive at the moment of salvation. “Justified” is not a synonym for “saved from hell.” Look at Luke 7:29. This verse tells us that the tax collectors justified God. Did the tax collectors save God from hell? Of course not. Did they place righteousness on God’s account that He had not earned? No. They simply declared that God was just, or righteous and good. We can be justified based on the merit of Christ, and this justification is necessary for our salvation. But we can also be justified, or declared right and good, by our own merit. When we do good things, God says that we are just. We are never perfect, and it is impossible to get to heaven on our own merit. But God does recognize when we do what is right, and He commends us for it. Certain people in the Bible have been declared “just” or “righteous” based not just on their belief, but on their actions. Noah was declared just (Genesis 6:9), and so was Job (Job 1:1.) We can also be “justified” by people, when people recognize that we have done what is right. Ruth was called a virtuous woman by the townspeople (Ruth 3:11.) These people, and many others in Scripture, are honored for how they acted, not just for their faith.

Many years after Abraham believed God, which happened in Genesis 15, in Genesis 22 Abraham was asked to show his faith in a very difficult way. He knew that God had promised him descendants through his son, Isaac. Yet God asked him to sacrifice Isaac on an altar. Besides the horrible test of facing the loss of his son by his own hand, Abraham was being asked to believe that God could still bring descendents to him through Isaac, even if Isaac was killed. Hebrews 11:19 says that Abraham’s faith in God’s promise was so strong that he even believed God could raise his son from the dead, because God would never break His promise. That took a lot of faith. And Abraham showed that faith by putting Isaac on the altar and raising the knife. If Abraham had believed in God’s promise but refused to obey, would we have been able to see his faith? No. Many people in the Bible have demonstrated their faith, such as Peter walking on the water or Elijah calling for fire from heaven. If they had not acted out their faith, we would not have been able to see it. It is possible to have faith and not show it, but how much better it is for the world and the glory of God when we do show our faith, with obedience to God! Faith is not enough if you want God and others to declare that you are “good” based on your own merit. We are talking here about a “Well done, my good and faithful servant!” from God. You can’t earn that kind of commendation if you don’t do what is right. Abraham was declared good, or “justified,” because he did a very good thing. His faith was completed, or brought to what God intended for it. God doesn’t want us to have faith and stop there, like a dead branch. He wants us to complete our faith—to build on it with good works! Faith is not enough if you want to fulfill or accomplish what God intends for your faith.

Abraham was called the friend of God. Not every believer gets to be a friend of God. Every believer is a child of God, but Jesus told his disciples in John 15:14 that they are His friends if they do whatever He commands them. There is a condition to friendship with God! Faith is not enough in order to be a friend of God. Would you rather be like the demons, who just believe, or would you like to be like Abraham, the friend of God?

James gives one more example of a believer who acted on her belief. In verse 2:25, we are reminded that Rahab was justified by the good works of receiving God’s messengers and sending them on their way in peace and protection. She was “declared just” because of the good work that she did. She wasn’t perfect (none of us are) but she is honored in the Bible for a good work that she did, and for the faith that led her to do it. She believed in God, as she boldly stated in Joshua 2:11. But she didn’t stop with just faith. If she had kept her belief to herself; if she had not received God’s messengers, protected them, called for mercy, and stayed in her house as commanded, she would have died. I believe that she would have eventually gone to heaven for her faith, but her physical life would not have been spared. That took actions. In the same way, my eternal destiny is secure because of my faith in Jesus Christ. But it is possible that because of sin in my life, I could experience severe consequences, and even physical death. If a teenager believes in Christ yet drives 90 miles an hour into a telephone pole, he could face death as a result of his sin (even though he would still go to heaven.) Rahab was more than justified for her good works—she was saved (physically) because she obeyed!

You have a choice as a Christian. You can have true, genuine faith in God yet refuse to obey Him. You can be alive because of the Spirit, yet refuse to walk in the Spirit. You can accept the free gift of salvation that Christ offers, and stop there. Do what you want with your life. You can still go to heaven. But don’t think that there won’t be consequences. You could face serious consequences in this life for not following God’s way, and sometimes those consequences can lead even to physical death. And you will miss out on many of the blessings of the Christian life. You can look back through this essay to see where I put sentences in bold print, which tell us some of the blessings for which faith is not enough. Obedience to God is necessary for enjoying a life of abundance, fruit, joy, fellowship and friendship with God. James listed many motivations to do good works, and there are others which he didn’t even have time to mention in his epistle (you can find these elsewhere in the New Testament.)

James is not trying to say that a person who lives in sin instead of good works is not truly saved. What he is trying to say is, Don’t! He’s not asking you to question the genuineness of your faith based on your works. He’s saying, Faith is not enough; add to it! This is an exhortation; an encouragement to do what is right. It’s not saying that if you have real faith, you will have works. It’s saying that if you have real faith, you should use it to bear fruit.