A Living Faith (James 2:14-26)
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· 3 viewsFaith Without Works is Dead so what does it mean to live a faith that saves?
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A Living Faith
A Living Faith
INTRO
Good morning. Today we will be continuing in the Letter of James 2:14-26. As we continue in the letter James moves to the topic of faith and works in this next section. We remember that James is addressing the church, not the unbelievers, and this is why we must realize the differences in Romans where Paul says we are saved by faith alone and here where James addresses faith and works as a necessity. They are not in disagreement with each other but are addressing a different set of people.
In Romans Paul is addressing the unbelievers. He is laying through out all of Romans the plan of Salvation. This is reflected in the 5 Solas of the Reformation that I spoke about previously. That the 5 answers to the heresy found in Catholicism concerning salvation is reflected in scripture.
We are saved by the Grace of God alone, and it is this Grace of God that allows us to be endowed by the Holy Spirit with Faith to believe.
That it is this faith in Jesus Christ alone that we see according to Scripture Alone. We do not find the means of this grace and faith in the teachings of the church, or what the church says we must do, but we find it in the holy canon of Scripture only.
That scripture teaches us that our salvation is found in Christ and His completed work on the cross alone. Our salvation is not found in good works, in allah, in buddah, in good karma, or any other means. It is only through Christ that we are saved from the wrath of a Holy and Just God.
The final Sola is that it is all for the Glory of God alone. The entire work of salvation is not for our glory or our status before others, it is to glorify God and His sovereign work providing a way that His Holiness and Judgement could be satisfied, while restoring right relationship with His creation, by sacrificing His Son in payment for our sin, and adopting those that He chose as His sons and daughters.
It is important to keep all of this in mind as we go through James because it is easy to forget this distinction between the law and the Gospel when James talks about good works.
James observes in this section that faith and actions come from the same heart and cannot be separated as distinct items. If your faith is only in your mind and is not seen in your actions then it is not a complete faith. Paul is against works in Romans but he is talking about works of the law, actions such as circumcision, dietary rules, and keeping of the sabbath, following the traditional law of Judaism which was previously required for salvation for the Jew. These distinguished the Jews from the Gentile people. We do not have to follow the works of the law to be sons and daughters of God, but there is an outward change when inward transformation happens, that is visible to those around us and is an outpouring of a changed heart and mind. There is a change in our nature from the old man to the new creation in Christ that changes our actions and our desires. Paul confirms this in:
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
and
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
We cannot continue to sin, and not be repentant for our sins, and still be called followers of God. This would be the equivalent to me being married to my wife, but even though we are married I still go date other women and go do the things I want to do on my own while ignoring her needs and her wants and desires. That is a dead marriage. It means nothing if there is no visible sign of my love for her. If I continue the way I was before I was married then am I really married?
This is the same with our Christian walk. If we continue in our sinful ways and we do not change then are we really following God? We may say we are Christians, but what is seen in our lives to show that we are different from the world around us? There are many that claim the title of Christianity and yet there is nothing in their lives to indicate they are following the God of the Bible. Instead, many times they have made a god for themselves in the image and likeness they want to see as their god and this “god” resembles nothing of the Holy and Sovereign God of all creation. Paul tells us:
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Paul uses the term justified to reflect that we are acquitted and forgiven of all of our sins. This is done by the Grace of God alone but James uses the word Justified as it is found in the greek Old Testament translation, that it is a declaration that a person is just or righteous. It is a justification that is our outward testimony of Gods inward work in our lives, to be seen before all men. This doesn’t just happen because of the unseen inside a person’s heart, but it is a justification that is seen in a person’s deeds. It is a declaration of what God has done. One commentary when discussing this distinction between what Paul taught and discussing Martin Luther’s views on James said;
James: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition From the Text
James was fighting a battle different from Paul and Luther. His readers needed to understand that real faith produced a changed lifestyle, a change in behavior. James’ opponents were paying lip service to the church’s faith. They thought their confession of faith meant that nothing else was required of them. James was trying to show his readers that true faith results in godly actions.
James 2:14–26 (ESV)
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
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?
17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
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.
19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?
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.
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.
Here in this section James addresses 3 different types of faith.
Dead Faith (v.14-17)
Demonic Faith (v.18-19)
Dynamic Faith (v.20-26)
Faith is one of the foremost key doctrines in the Christian life. We are told that is by faith we are saved.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
That as believers in Christ we must walk by faith
7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.
That without faith it is impossible to please God
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
And that anything we do apart from faith is sin
23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Six: False Faith (James 2:14–26)
Someone has said that faith is not “believing in spite of evidence, but obeying in spite of consequence.” When you read Hebrews 11, you meet men and women who acted on God’s Word, no matter what price they had to pay. Faith is not some kind of nebulous feeling that we work up; faith is confidence that God’s Word is true, and conviction that acting on that Word will bring His blessing.
We are given the definition of faith in the Bible in;
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
That we have assurance and promises when we trust in God, and that by faith we know and are convicted, that even in the things we may not see, God is still keeping and holding to the promises He has made. It does not mean that if we have faith for a new Porsche or a multimillion dollar mansion that God is going to give that to us. It is faith that God has promised to give us life, He has promised to save us and forgive our sins, that He has promised to clothe us in the righteousness of His own Son, that we are assured that we are adopted sons and daughters of God , and that we are assured and have faith that there is no one or no thing that can ever take us away from God. That we are safe and secure in His Word and His Promises.
DEAD FAITH (vs 14-17)
The first type of faith that James addresses here is what we will call a “dead faith” (Vs 14-17) There are many that would claim the name of Jesus and the title of Christian, but that do not possess salvation and have no true knowledge of who God is. This was happening even at this early time in the church. Jesus warned us in the sermon on the mount in Matthew 7:21;
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
It is not simply enough to claim the title Christian and then you are one. There is more required or you will find yourself with a dead faith.
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Six: False Faith (James 2:14–26)
People with dead faith substitute words for deeds. They know the correct vocabulary for prayer and testimony, and can even quote the right verses from the Bible; but their walk does not measure up to their talk. They think that their words are as good as works, and they are wrong.
I can claim anything about myself, but that does not make it true. If I go and study different medical terms, and different diseases, I can claim to be a doctor, I can talk the talk and give diagnoses and give advice, but unless I have put in the work to go through medical school, and then my residency, and take my medical boards, then I can never be a doctor. I can claim to be one but it would be false and a lie.
James gives the illustration here of another member of the church who is poor coming into the assembly of the believers. This person was hungry and needed food, this person was poorly clothed and did not have the proper attire they needed and they are seen by another believer who boldly proclaims, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled.” We could modernize this as someone coming in as our brother and sister needing clothing and food and we tell them, you should go do something about that. Hope it goes well for you.
This does nothing to alleviate the situation. This does nothing to help our fellow believer in need. They will leave just as hungry and in just as much need as they were when they came in. As believers we are called to help those in need, especially when they are our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ! This was why the early church in Rome were called disruptors and dangerous. They took care of all of those society wanted nothing to do with. They cared for the widows and the orphans that society at that time cast away to die in the streets. They cared for each other and each others needs. When one believer was in need of something the church helped provide that need and make sure they were cared for.
Jesus told us that the deeds we do for others we are doing for Him.
40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
That when we care for the family we have in Christ, every deed and action we do towards others in that family, we are doing for Christ. John writes in 1 John 3:17-18 telling us that If we see our brother in need, we have the means to help them, and we don’t then there is no way the love of God can be in us. That we don’t just love with words but that there must be action behind those words. We see even in the parable of the good samaritan in Luke 10:25-27 that first a priest walked by the man that had been beaten and left for dead on the side of the road. Next a Levite walked by. Both of these were considered highly religious people that were looked to as leaders but instead of helping the man who was hurt they hurried by, whether it was out of fear, or lack of care. They could talk the religious talk. They knew the right lingo to say. But when it came to actually putting actions behind their words they showed a faith that was dead. It was all in their minds and not in their hearts.
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Six: False Faith (James 2:14–26)
The great theologian, John Calvin, wrote, “It is faith alone that justifies, but faith that justifies can never be alone.” The word alone in James 2:17 simply means “by itself.” True saving faith can never be by itself: it always brings life, and life produces good works.
I say all the time, you cannot have a genuine encounter with the Sovereign God of all creation and not leave changed. The person with dead faith lives it out in their mind. They know the right words, they know all the important theology and doctrine, but they have no relationship with God. They know of God but they don’t know Him personally. This person has never submitted to the power of God for salvation. We cannot have faith in Christ and remain dead. True faith in Christ brings life and with that life brings the Holy Spirit at work in our lives, and with the Holy Spirit at work we will see fruit of that work. The fruits of the Spirit will be evident in our lives, the way we treat and love others will begin to reflect the love of Christ, the things we desire to do and the places we go will no longer be led by our sinful desires but will be led by the Holy Spirit, and a heart that seeks after the things of God. Faith without works, or I will say here faith without evidence of change in our lives is a dead faith. There is no life found in it. It is a counterfeit faith that deceives and tricks people into a false confidence of salvation without requiring any surrender of self to God’s Will.
A DEMONIC FAITH (vs.18-19)
In the next section James gives his readers some shocking information. Even the demons in hell believe and have a demonic faith in Christ. One of the marks of a false demonic faith is that it is content to have a belief in the existence of God but that is all it has. Deuteronomy 6:4 is called the “Shema” in the Jewish faith. It is a statement of doctrine that is taught to every Jewish believer from the time of birth, The Lord our God is one! It is good to believe that there is one God and one God alone but James points out here that this is not sufficient for a faith that saves.
Even the demons in hell know the truth about God, they believe “pisteuo” (πιστεύω (pisteuō). vb. to believe, trust; entrust. Describes the act of believing or trusting something on the basis of its truthfulness and reliability. The verb πιστεύω (pisteuō) occurs 241 times in the nt. Most of these indicate belief in the truth of a reality or a person.),
they know God is holy, they know God is powerful, and this knowledge makes them tremble “phrissousin” (to be ruffled, to bristle; to shiver, shudder, from fear)because it is not a belief that saves but a belief that condemns.
James: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition In the Text
Ancient people often “regarded the very pronouncing of the name of a god as having the power to provoke fear and terror” (Moo 2000, 131). James’ verb choice, phrissousin, “the involuntary reaction of the body in shaking” (Johnson 1995, 241), is particularly appropriate in this context (Moo 2000, 131).
The point is that the knowledge of who God is does not save them; in fact, it is this very knowledge which makes them shudder …! A faith which cannot go beyond this level is worse than useless. (Davids 1982, 125–26)
Opening Up James (A Searching Comparison (v. 19))
Gordon Keddie writes of the demons,
They actually have a more informed ‘faith’ than human hypocrites! Men and women can make their easy professions of faith and live their worldly lives as if there were not God at all. Their casual blasphemies about ‘the man upstairs’ can roll off their tongues with never the slightest tremble at the consequences of offending a sovereign and holy God! Why is it that demons tremble, while sinners can sail on in blissful unconcern? The answer is that the demons are not so blind as people. They know their latter end … They really fear the wrath to come. But careless sinners say they believe in God positively, go on in daily life to live as if he did not exist and yet can dream that they are safe in the everlasting arms!
The demons believe in God but they do not surrender to God. They do not follow, instead they were cast from heaven in open rebellion against God. They know their end and where they will spend eternity but they remain in rebellion against God. They know who God is but there is no action to their belief to change their ways. A true saving faith requires a surrender of our entire being to God. We surrender our spirit, our soul, and our body, that our lives are no longer our own, to carry out and do as our flesh desires, but we now belong to God to accomplish His Will. To seek after His ways.
There are many that may have an emotional experience, they may feel their mind is enlightened and they may even be stirred in their heart, but true saving faith involves a changed life, not just an emotional experience that you walk away from with no change. This is what I grew up in in the pentecostal church. We would have huge emotional experiences in service where we would claim God had moved, but we would leave and there would be no change. We would be coming back seeking after that next emotional high, that next hit if you will of the Holy Spirit. There was no heart change. There were only intellect and emotions, but there was no true life to find in it. Faith without works is dead and the word translated as dead here means “barren or idle”. There is nothing that proceeds from the dead faith.
DYNAMIC FAITH (vs.20-26)
James has presented us with two false faiths at this points. A dead faith that only involves our intellect or our mind, and a demonic faith that involves our intellect and our emotions, but he closes this section describing the only kind of faith that can save, a dynamic or living faith. This dynamic faith has power, it is fueled by the Holy Spirits work in our lives as we are sanctified to be more like Christ. It results in a changed life and not just in knowledge or experience.
This faith is only received through the Word of God and the Holy Spirit revealing God’s Word to us in our lives.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
True saving faith is not believing in spite of evidence but obeying God in spite of the consequences. True, dynamic, saving, faith will always lead to action in the life of the believer. This is not just a one time act of obedience but a continual process of obedience throughout life. It is the process of sanctification in the life of the believer. That we become more like Jesus in every thing we say and do. This faith will always lead to works.
James uses examples from the Old Testament here to demonstrate this saving faith. You can read in Hebrews 11 a list of people in the Old Testament that were saved by their dynamic faith in God. With the illustration of Abraham and Rahab we see two different ends of the spectrum. That Abraham was the father of all of Israel and Rahab was a gentile who was a prostitute. That Abraham was called a friend of God but Rahab was associated with the enemies of God. Both despite their differences excercised a saving faith in God as evidenced by the works we see in their lives.
Abraham was led by God out of his home and even though he and his wife were advanced in age with no children, God made a promise that Abraham would have a son and from this son would come descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. In Genesis 15 we are told Abraham believed in the Lord, and (He) the Lord counted it to him for righteousness.
The word counted here is an accounting or a legal term and it means to “put to ones account.” Abraham was bankrupt spiritually, he was a sinner and there was no hope for him to be saved, but he trusted God, he trusted God’s promises, and God put righteousness on Abrahams account. God took the spiritual bank account that was in the negative and placed it in the positive. Abraham was no longer spiritually bankrupt, but he was promised justification and right standing before God because of his faith.
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Six: False Faith (James 2:14–26)
Justification is an important doctrine in the Bible. Justification is the act of God whereby He declares the believing sinner righteous on the basis of Christ’s finished work on the cross. It is not a process; it is an act. It is not something the sinner does; it is something God does for the sinner when he trusts Christ. It is a once-for-all event. It never changes.
James uses the sacrifice of Issac on the alter to God as another example of Abrahams faith in God. God had promised Abraham a son that would make him the father of the nation, but then God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son on an alter to God. His obedience to God did not save him, but his obedience to God shows he was saved and that he fully trusted God. That even when Issac questions where the lamb was for the sacrifice, Abraham told him that God would provide the sacrifice. In his obedience he still trusted that God would provide, but if God didn’t he was prepared to follow God’s command. In this story we see a beautiful example of God the Fathers love for us providing His only Son, Jesus, as a sacrifice for all of humanity. That God did indeed provide the sacrifice not just in the story here, but in the story of humanity.
16 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
Unfortunately we have those still today in the church that live out this denial of God. Dynamic faith obeys God and is proven every day in our lives, yet there are those who deny God by living for themselves alone and their own glory rather than glorifying God in all they do.
James second illustration here is Rahab. She was the opposite of Abraham. She was not Jewish, she was part of those that were the enemies of God’s people. Not only was she part of the enemies of God but she made her living as a prostitute. Instead of siding with the enemies of God in Jericho, she housed the Jewish spies and hid them from the authorities, she believed in what God had said and what He was going to do, and because of this belief, and the action she placed to this belief, she was promised that her and her household would be saved in the coming destruction of the city of Jericho. Rahab responded with her mind, her emotions, but did not stop there but she also responded with her will and put action to her faith in what God had said.
Not only was Rahab saved physically by her faith but she married into the house of Israel and became one of the bloodline through which Jesus would be born. She could have stopped with a dead faith, she could have had the knowledge and believed it but do nothing, she could have had an emotional response and had a demonic faith where she knew it was true in her heart and mind and did nothing about it, but instead she had a dynamic faith in which her mind knew the truth, her heart was stirred by the truth, and then she acted on the truth exercising her will. She did not exercise a dead faith but she proved her faith in God by her action. Rahab did not have a full revelation of God’s truth. She at best had a basic understanding of who the God of Israel was, yet she had faith.
How this should convict us today! We no longer wait for the promise of the Messiah to save us, we no longer sit and wait and look for the promise of God to be revealed, it has been revealed to us. When Jesus said “It is Finished” on the cross the Will of God the Father was completed and a way was made for us to be made righteous. We no longer had to search and long for the day that we would be saved but salvation was made ours that day for all those that God would call to Himself. We not only have the knowledge of the cross and Christ’s sacrifice as the spotless lamb that takes away the sins of the world, but we have the Holy Spirit to walk with us and to open our eyes to the truths found in God’s Word. We have the Holy Spirit to convict us when we have fallen short once again and to turn us to repentance to continue walking with God and to continue becoming like Christ.
It is important that we examine our lives and our hearts. Do you know without a shadow of doubt that you are truly following Christ with a dynamic faith? Have you fully put your trust in the promises of God or are you just sitting with a head knowledge, or an emotional experience? The Bible tells us that we are the body of Christ here on this earth. We are hear to be the hands and feet of our God and to carry out His will to all the earth. In the great commission in Matthew 28 we are not told to sit in our homes or our churches and wait to see what happens. We are told to GO and tell the world the Gospel message. We are called to a faith that has feet to it. We are called to take action and GO! We are told to boldly proclaim from the rooftops that Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and He came to make a way for sinners to be saved. That there is nothing we can do on our own. Our works cannot save us but it is only a dynamic faith in God that will save us, and out of that living, breathing, dynamic, powerful faith comes good works as we endeavour to fulfill the will of our Father in Heaven and to bring as many to the saving grace of our Sovereign God as He allows.
Opening Up James (An Objection (v. 18))
Kent Hughes observes, ‘Faith and works are like the wings of a bird. There can be no real life, no flight, with a single wing, whether works or faith. But when the two are pumping together in concert, their owner soars through the heavens.’
When we combine our faith with action, then we will be able to soar on the wings of eagles and carry the Gospel message to the World!
5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
We must examine ourselves and have faith that God is who He says He is, that He will complete His will in us and through us, and that He will bring us to Himself when our work on this earth is done!
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
BENEDICTION
8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.