Faith without works is dead
Notes
Transcript
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
Another distinction that James makes
Faith is good and works is good, but separately they are useless
Our faith should produce good works
15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,
16 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?
Why is it important for us to take care of other peoples physical needs?
What James is saying is that we cannot acknowledge needs and not take care of them if we are able to.
This is not a small need, this is a dire need. They could possibly die from starvation.
But lets narrow this down a little bit
James is saying that this should be our duty with our believing brothers and sisters
There is a priority to our fellow believers
This does not mean that, if we are able, that we forget to help out unbelievers
1 John 3:17 “17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?”
17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
We are not saved by our works. Acts of mercy are not a means to salvation.
We are saved by our faith. But what follows true faith is acts of mercy.
This is hard for us to wrap our heads around in many ways
When we look at others, much of the time what we see is not their faith but their works. So we equate works with their salvation.
But without the faith behind the works, there is no salvation
This is why the gospel is so important. If we go by statistics, there are a number of people who sit in church pews Sunday after Sunday that do not have a saving faith.
18 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.
In the life of the Christian, you cannot separate faith from works.
People can have works without faith
You can serve people at the soup kitchen, Christian ministries, Habitat for Humanity without having faith
But you cannot have a true saving faith without works
We must have compassion for the hurting and needy
19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
This is a quote from Deuteronomy 6:4 “4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
He is saying that belief in God is not salvation
Even the demons believe. They believe a lot of the same things that we believe. They believe in the existence of God, the deity of Jesus, they believe in heaven and hell.
But this belief is not one that saves
There are many people that have been deceived by believing that they are going to heaven because they agree with the existence of God and Jesus
What gets us into a relationship with God?
faith
repentance
our sins being covered by the blood of Jesus
20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
He is going to show us again that works happens along with faith
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?
Found in 22 chapter of Genesis
22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works;
23 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.
24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
Romans 3:28 “28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”
How can these two verses coexist? Do they contradict each other?
Exalting Jesus In James Faith Sacrifices (James 2:20–24)
I don’t picture James and Paul standing toe-to-toe with each other with contrary understandings of the gospel. Instead, they are standing back-to-back with each other fighting two different enemies and together defending a unified understanding of the gospel. Paul is fighting against the false idea that we can earn our salvation with our works (which, by the way, is the same battle Luther was fighting in the Reformation when confronting the teachings of the Catholic Church). James, on the other hand, is fighting against an easy believism that had reduced salvation to intellectual belief.
In 22, James tells us that Abrahams faith was completed by his works. It does not say that he is saved by his works. Faith was already there.
When we look at the life of Abraham, he was not doing these things to earn favor from God. He already had it. His faith was already there.
In Romans, we need to see this as someone who has no faith. They try to earn justification through works of the law. James is speaking to someone who already has faith, they have been justified already, not by works but by faith.
But then we get to verse 24 and it tells us James 2:24 “24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”
I think we need to look at the word justified first
a simple definition of justification is “to be declared right.” In terms of salvation, we are declared right before God.
In scripture, the word “justification” is often used in two different ways. Our initial justification, when we trust in Christ as our Lord and savior. But also final justification when we stand before God.
But are we declared right before God by our works or by faith? This is the big question.
James does not say that we are justified by works alone and not by faith. There must be faith that precedes the works.
Exalting Jesus In James Two Pictures of Justification (James 2:24)
What James is confronting in his letter is different from what Paul is confronting. Paul wants us to avoid thinking we need to work in order to earn salvation. Then there’s the danger James wants us to avoid: thinking that works are not necessary as evidence of our salvation. Again, works are not the basis of our justification. Final justification is not based on our works, but rather James is wanting us to see that when we stand before God on the day of judgment, it will be clear whether we had real, true, and authentic faith or dead, demonic faith.
25 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?
26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
James uses Rahab as another example of having works with our faith
I know many people question their faith, and this can be a good thing. It will cause us to examine ourselves.
The way to know is through fruit
If there is no root, there is no fruit. If there is faith, then there will be fruit