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Inscription: Writing God’s Words on Our Hearts & Minds
Part 90: Real Faith
James 2:14-26
September 30, 2012
PRAYER
SCRIPTURE READING: James 2:14-19 (Eddie?)
~* Text QUESTIONS!
JAMES is very DIFFERENT from the rest of the Epistles, and rereading it I realized I’d forgotten just how RICH it is.
~* I am thinking of doing my NEXT SERIES on it.
Contrast that to MARTIN LUTHER, the key figure of the Reformation, he hated it, wished he could take it out of the Bible.
He called it “an epistle of straw.”
It seemed to CONTRADICT the Gospel of grace so dear to him:
ESV James 2:24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
ESV Romans 3:28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
These two verses side by side have been a constant source of FRUSTRATION and CONFUSION to Christians and have been used as an example of CONTRADICTIONS in the Bible.
~* In reality, it is an example failing to READ CAREFULLY.
In English and Greek, the difference is CLEAR, if not SUBTLE.
READING CAREFULLY
It is my hope that my church be BETTER at READING the BIBLE than the average Christian, that as I teach you, you get better at carefully reading the Bible.
Many times, all that we need is there, we just need to read MORE CAREFULLY.
Here is a great example:
Luke 22:44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
This is a FAMILIAR IMAGE, Jesus in the garden, sweating blood.
We’ve heard all about the medical explanation, etc.
Q But is that what it says?
“became like,” “as,” it is describing the SIZE of the drops.
Most Christians misunderstand this passage just because they don’t read CAREFULLY ENOUGH.
...OF THE LAW
Q With that in mind, what is the DIFFERENCE between:
ESV James 2:24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
ESV Romans 3:28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
“justified by works”
“justified...apart from works of the law”
They are NOT talking about the SAME thing: Paul is talking about “works of the law,” which means all of the RULES Jews had to follow to stay part of God’s nation: Circumcision, eating kosher, etc.
WHAT IS FAITH?
So what is James talking about?
Something entirely different.
He is clarifying something one whole STEP EARLIER in what Paul is talking about.
Paul and James agree – we are justified by faith.
~* But, James asks, WHAT is FAITH?
That is the question James is answering.
James 2:14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?
Can such faith save him?
The key word here is “SUCH,” “that kind of faith.”
James believes that we are saved by faith.
But WHAT exactly is faith?
Is it SIMPLY BELIEVING something, simply saying something?
Q Is faith WITHOUT DEEDS (“works”) indeed FAITH?
He is actually asking a RHETORICAL QUESTION; the Greek implies a “no” answer.
HEARTLESS WORDS
James then proceeds to show, from MULTIPLE ANGLES just how useless deedless faith is:
James 2:15-17 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
16 If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?
17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
This is a great ILLUSTRATION because it does DOUBLE DUTY:
~* On one hand, deedless faith is an oxymoron, like foodless food.
On the other hand, this is a POIGNANT EXAMPLE of the sort of DEEDLESS faith James’ audience was guilty of.
The beginning of chapter 2 is addressing favoritism of the rich.
SIDEBAR: BENEVOLENCE
Q I can’t answer every situation, but what are you doing with the situations in FRONT of YOU?
I don’t mean when a panhandler asks you for money, but when a REAL SITUATION presents itself, particularly WITHIN our BODY.
IT’S EVERYONE’S JOB
Next James confronts another misconception~/excuse: That sort of stuff is SOMEONE ELSE’S JOB.
James 2:18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
~* This is a Greek writing device called DIATRIBE: An imaginary speaker making a wrong statement and then being corrected.
This “guy” is basically saying we all have DIFFERENT JOBS, so it’s okay some FAIL in WORKS.
Wrong, James says, this is one we all have to have.
Why?
Because faith without deeds isn’t faith.
Q Have you ever heard the expression, “If you have to TELL ME you are a CHRISTIAN, maybe you are not”?
That’s the idea here.
If your faith ISN’T DEMONSTRATED, maybe it isn’t real.
THEOLOGY ISN’T ENOUGH
James 2:19 You believe that there is one God.
Good!
Even the demons believe that – and shudder.
This is James at his most SARCASTIC, and I love it, even if I am pricked.
James isn’t simply talking about monotheism.
This phrase is packed with meaning for the Jews, which is James’ audience.
It is the final line of “The GREAT SHEMA,” the core statement of Jewish faith which the Orthodox still recite twice a day:
Sh’ma Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai E?ad –
Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is One
In other words, he is referring their CREEDAL CODE, the summary of their belief.
To put it in terms we’d get:
So you believe the BIBLE is the Word of God? How nice for you!
You believe you are SAVED by GRACE not work?
Well, aren’t you special!
Yeah, the DEMONS believe all that too.
But believing it doesn’t help them at all.
A WORTHY TARGET
James is NOT SAYING, “Doctrine doesn’t matter, you can believe in one God or many.”
Faith requires a worthy target, not just “believe.”
Your faith has to be in a TRUSTWORTHY SOURCE.
~* But that is only step one; DOCTRINE alone isn’t even remotely ENOUGH.
FAITH ISN’T FAITH UNTIL WE ACT
James then looks at ABRAHAM as a great example of faith demonstrated by actions:
James 2:20-24 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?
21 Was not our ancestor 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.
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