Real Faith

The passage before us today is, of course, one of the most controversial passages in the New Testament. It seems to contradict so much of what we find in particular in Paul’s letters. When James says, in verse 24 “that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone,” he seems to say the opposite of what Paul says in Romans 4.

Romans 4:2 (ESV)

2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

or, in Romans 5:1

Romans 5:1 ESV

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The contradiction seems so apparent, that we either dismiss what James says here or find ways of explaining it away. But here a word of caution is surely in order. We must not read James only in light of Paul; we need to read Paul, also, in light of James. We must not come to a conclusion about what Paul says without factoring in what James says. We need to let both Apostles speak and interpret both of them in light of what the other says as well.

This is actually quite an important point. If we believe that both Paul’s writings and the book of James belong in our Bibles, then we should let both of them speak their word and make sure we are only reading them in light of what the other has to say.

And here I would add that we don’t have a situation in which the whole truth only comes by listening to both with their distinctive points of emphasis. Some might say that Paul stresses faith and not works because he really wants us to see how important faith is. Then along comes James who emphasizes works and not faith because he really wants us to see how important works are. We then come along and read them both and say, “Well now, here we see the point. Paul stresses faith; James stresses works. We need to emphasize them both.”

Of course, we do. But I do not think that Paul and James are saying contradictory things, nor is each leaving out the other’s distinctive emphasis in order only to make a point. I think Paul and James are in complete agreement with each other and that, not seeing this, and not seeing how this is so, we end up actually misreading one or the other.

Since we are studying James, let’s approach it like this. The passage before us today, with its emphasis on the necessity of works for salvation, does not achieve its end by making faith irrelevant nor even by minimizing it in order to highlight works. James will say, at the very end of the passage, that “faith apart from works is dead” (Jas 2:26). But, he could have also said, “Works apart from faith is dead.” In other words, what James is talking about here is not so much “works” instead of faith. He’s actually telling us about faith. The kind of faith that saves, the kind of faith that doesn’t, and how saving faith and righteous works can no more be separated than can time and space.

Faith Is Necessary for Salvation

When James says, in verse 14, James 2:14

James 2:14 ESV

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

Notice what is implicit in his question. While he casts doubt on the salvific power of a faith that one claims to have which is not backed up by works, he does not question whether faith is a necessity. It is faith that saves, though not all that might be called “faith” is genuine faith.

Genuine Faith

James is very much concerned about genuine faith and does not think that salvation, or anything else for that matter, comes to us from God without it. Remember what he said in chapter 1? If anyone lacks wisdom, he is to ask for it from God, because God “gives generously to all without reproach” (Jas 1:5). However, the next verse says that the person who lacks wisdom must “ask in faith, with no doubting” or he will not “receive anything from the Lord” (Jas 1:6-7). So faith is absolutely essential. No one gets anything from God without it.

James is imagining there in chapter 1 a “double-minded” person who asks God for wisdom but does not get it. Why? Because he lacks genuine faith. That’s interesting because most of us would probably think that a person who “asks God” for something, a person who prays, is expressing faith in the asking. But not so fast. Genuine faith, real faith, cannot be so easily defined.

Three Dimensions of Faith

A big problem here is in our confusion about the word faith in the first place. What is faith?

We tell people to “have faith.” But what does that mean? We tell people not to “lose faith.” But how does that happen? If you have faith at one point can you actually lose faith at a later point? Does that mean you ever really had faith all along?

Richard Bauckham points out that there are basically three dimensions of faith: assent, trust or commitment, and faithfulness. Genuine faith, the faith that saves, necessarily involves all three.

That last one is important to this discussion. In the Bible, the word faith can also be translated faithfulness. There are not two different words for these in Hebrew or Greek, though in English we tend to think of these as quite distinct things. Faith means belief, but it can also mean belief over time and through difficult circumstances. In other words, faithfulness.

Think about it like that in a marriage. It’s one thing to say, “I love my wife,” but it’s not exactly the same thing to prove that love over time and through difficult circumstances. “I love you” does not mean the same thing on the wedding day as it does on the 10th, 25th, or 50th anniversary.

So it is with faith. But a faith that does not go on, faith that does not end up being faithfulness, is what James says cannot save a person.

Saving Faith

And because genuine faith involves all three, we can now begin to see what salvation means for James, too. To be saved cannot simply refer to one’s moral standing before God. When James goes on to explain how a person who says they have faith but is devoid of works cannot be saved by such faith, he gives the example of a Christian who tells another Christian who is in desperate physical need, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled.” “What good is that?” James asks.

One of the reasons we get confused by what James is saying is because he thinks of “salvation” and “justification” in ways that are much broader than we who are conditioned mainly by Paul are used to seeing them. We tend to think of “salvation” only in the first two dimensions of faith: assent and commitment. You believe in Jesus and you “give your life” to Jesus. You get baptized. Perhaps you even join a church. You are in. You are committed. You are saved.

But if we do not include that third dimension of genuine faith, faithfulness, then we can only think of salvation as how a person gets in to the family of God. And we end up not having much to say after that.

The problem is that saving faith is not simply the answer to the question of what happens to me when I die. Saving faith is all about the answer to the question of what happens to death after I die. Saving faith is about the hope of not just an afterlife, but a life after the afterlife. What we need is a faith that saves us from death, out of death. A dead faith has no power to save us from death itself.

The Proof of Faith

This teaching on the nature of genuine faith, a faith that saves, continues here in verses 18-19. James enters into a hypothetical conversation with someone who may raise some objection to what James has just said. James uses this technique to advance his argument. Here he wants to say that real faith not only saves but it is also shown. Real faith not only is powerful, it also must be proven.

Objection Raised

“But someone will say,” verse 18 begins. James is not necessarily confronting a real opponent to his teaching. This is a well-known style of writing that is used to enliven an argument. James wants to push his argument deeper.

Now, there are some problems with understanding exactly how verse 18 should read. Most English Bibles help us out by putting quotation marks around the first part of the verse. What this quotation does is present us with two options. Option 1 is a person who claims to possess genuine faith. Option 2 is a person who claims to possess righteous works. Someone might say, “Well, are not faith and works just two different gifts that God gives to some people? Is it really necessary that a person has both faith and works?”

To this possibility, that “faith alone” is just as good as a person who has “works,” James issues a challenge in the second part of verse 18. “Show me” is probably more like “prove to me.” And James is challenging the person who is content with “faith alone” to prove that his faith is genuine. Proof will require some sort of action, some sort of work, but that is precisely what person A does not have.

Person B on the other hand, can pass the test. Possessing genuine works, he can prove by them his genuine faith. The fruit from the tree proves the liveliness of the root. But if you want to prove the liveliness of the root, you won’t be able to do it without pointing to the fruit. So, “works,” James says, are the proof that faith is genuine. Without these proofs, we are right to suspect that the faith is not real, that it cannot save.

God Is One

And in verse 19, James pushes his case further. “You believe God is one; you do well.” This is a faith that one ought to have, because it is true.

Problem is, belief in something true is good but it is not good enough. It cannot save. And here James puts forward an interesting proof for his argument. “Even the demons believe—and shudder!”

The Letter of James, second edition (Pillar New Testament Commentary | PNTC) B. The Faith that Saves (2:14–26)

Critical to understanding the argument of the section and integrating it successfully into a broader biblical perspective is the recognition that James is not arguing that works must be added to faith. His point, rather, is that genuine biblical faith will inevitably be characterized by works. “It is not that faith is ‘supplemented,’ but the essence of faith is defined as a stance that includes one’s life as a whole.” Trying to add works to a bogus faith is an exercise in futility, for only by “accepting the word planted in you” (1:21) and experiencing the inner transformation that it brings can one produce works

What James is bringing up here, speaking to a Jewish audience, is the shema. You believe God is one. You recite the sh’ma. Good! Keep doing that. You are doing well. That is the place to start. Faith is priority. It comes first. You start there.

But faith alone, that is faith as mere assent, that goes no further than saying yes to a doctrinal statement, is no different than what the demons do. They know God is one. In fact, they go further. They at least have some response. They shudder! And so should every one who likewise have faith but have no works. [Moo]

Faith Is Completed by Works

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