Faith/Works Duo

James 2:19 “19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”

James may well be remembering the monotheistic fear that demons exhibited when confronted by Christ, for it made a powerful impression on observers (Mk 1:23-28; 5:1-20). The point is that believing the truth without obeying the truth does not save us at all, any more than it saves demons. In fact, the comparison to demonic "faith" implies that belief without obedience is even worse than useless.

Mercy must and will replace discrimination as the way of life for people of faith.

This again verifies that James's underlying concern is for a life of genuine faith. Looking back over the entire argument in James 2:1-13, we find James to be saying: My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ (and as believers therefore in a salvation by the mercy of God), do not be unmerciful to others. If you practice favoritism instead of merciful love, you are denying the very principle of our faith—which is belief in God's mercy through Christ. If you deny your faith by such actions, then your faith is not genuine (in fact, it is dead, to use the term James will employ in James 2:14-26). And if you have no genuine faith, then you can expect only judgment without mercy from God.

Matthew 7:16–20 “16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”

computers, uses a slogan—"garbage in, garbage out"—to label ineffective programs. If you do not feed information to a computer in the proper format or language, then even the most powerful computer will be unable to run your program and find your solution. In the same way, even though a philosophy consists of fine-sounding arguments, if its content is garbage it will not produce workable solutions to the daily struggles of faith and life. According to biblical Christianity, true religion is measured by what it produces as much as by what it teaches (see Jas 1:26-27; 2:14-26).

Luke 7:40–50 KJV 1900

40 And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. 41 There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. 42 And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? 43 Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. 44 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. 45 Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. 48 And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. 49 And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? 50 And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.

Luke 7:40–50 KJV 1900

In a remark that raises the stakes, he proclaims that the woman's sins are forgiven because she has loved much. It is important that this statement and the parable be combined to allow Jesus' theological point to be clear. Jesus is not saying that the woman's works have saved her. Rather, the love and forgiveness that have made her feel accepted by God (the parable's point) have produced her acts of love. Jesus commends the faith that led to her works

When Paul appealed to Caesar and was sent over to Rome by Festus the Jews were disappointed of the hope in which they had laid their plot against him and turned against James,** the brother of the Lord, to whom the throne of the bishopric in Jerusalem had been allotted by the Apostles. The crime which they committed was as follows. [2] They brought him into the midst and demanded a denial of the faith in Christ before all the people, but when he, contrary to the expectation of all of them, with a loud voice and with more courage than they had expected, confessed before all the people that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is the son of God, they could no longer endure his testimony, since he was by all men believed to be most righteous because of the height which he had reached in a life of philosophy and religion, and killed him, using anarchy as an opportunity for power since at that moment Festus had died in Judaea, leaving the district without government or procurator. [3] The manner of James’s death has been shown by the words of Clement already quoted, narrating that he was thrown from the battlement and beaten to death with a club, but Hegesippus, who belongs to the generation after the Apostles, gives the most accurate account of him speaking as follows in his fifth book: “The charge of the Church passed to James the brother of the Lord, together with the Apostles. [4] He was called the ‘Just’ by all men from the Lord’s time to ours, since many are called James, but he was holy from his mother’s womb.* [5] He drank no wine or strong drink,* nor did he eat flesh; no razor went upon his head; he did not anoint himself with oil, and he did not go to the baths.** [6] He alone was allowed to enter into the sanctuary, for he did not wear wool but linen, and he used to enter alone into the temple and be found kneeling and praying for forgiveness for the people, so that his knees grew hard like a camel’s because of his constant worship of God, kneeling and asking forgiveness for the people. [7] So from his excessive righteousness he was called the Just and Oblias, that is in Greek, ‘Rampart of the people and righteousness,’* as the prophets declare concerning him. [8] Thus some of the seven sects among the people, who were described before by me (in the Commentaries),* inquired of him what was the ‘gate of Jesus,’* and he said that he was the Saviour. [9] Owing to this some believed that Jesus was the Christ. The sects mentioned above did not believe either in resurrection or in one who shall come to reward each according to his deeds, but as many as believed did so because of James. [10] Now, since many even of the rulers believed, there was a tumult of the Jews and the Scribes and Pharisees saying that the whole people was in danger of looking for Jesus as the Christ. So they assembled and said to James, ‘We beseech you to restrain the people since they are straying after Jesus as though he were the Messiah. We beseech you to persuade concerning Jesus all who come for the day of the Passover, for all obey you. For we and the whole people testify to you that you are righteous and do not respect persons.* So do you persuade the crowd not to err concerning Jesus, for the whole people and we all obey you. [11] Therefore stand on the battlement of the temple that you may be clearly visible on high, and that your words may be audible to all the people, for because of the Passover all the tribes, with the Gentiles also, have come together.’ [12] So the Scribes and Pharisees mentioned before made James stand on the battlement of the temple, and they cried out to him and said, ‘Oh, just one, to whom we all owe obedience, since the people are straying after Jesus who was crucified,* tell us what is the gate of Jesus? [13] And he answered with a loud voice,* ‘Why do you ask me concerning the Son of Man? He is sitting in heaven on the right hand of the great power, and he will come on the clouds of heaven.’ [14] And many were convinced and confessed at the testimony of James and said, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David.’ Then again the same Scribes and Pharisees said to one another, ‘We did wrong to provide Jesus with such testimony, but let us go up and throw him down that they may be afraid and not believe him.’ [15] And they cried out saying, ‘Oh, oh, even the just one erred.’ And they fulfilled the Scripture written in Isaiah, ‘Let us take the just man for he is unprofitable to us.* Yet they shall eat the fruit of their works.’ [16] So they went up and threw down the Just, and they said to one another, ‘Let us stone James the Just,’ and they began to stone him since the fall had not killed him, but he turned and knelt saying, ‘I beseech thee, O Lord, God and Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ [17] And while they were thus stoning him one of the priests of the sons of Rechab,* the son of Rechabim,2 to whom Jeremiah the prophet bore witness, cried out saying, ‘Stop! what are you doing? The Just is praying for you.’* And a certain man among them, one of the laundrymen, took the club with which he used to beat out the clothes, and hit the Just on the head, and so he suffered martyrdom. [18] And they buried him on the spot by the temple, and his gravestone still remains by the temple. He became a true witness both to Jews and to Greeks that Jesus is the Christ, and at once Vespasian began to besiege them.”

[19] This account is given at length by Hegesippus, but in agreement with Clement. Thus it seems that James was indeed a remarkable man and famous among all for righteousness, so that the wise even of the Jews thought that this was the cause of the siege of Jerusalem immediately after his martyrdom, and that it happened for no other reason than the crime which they had committed against him.

Lake Kirsopp, “Preface,” in The Ecclesiastical History and 2: English Translation, ed. T. E. Page et al., trans. Kirsopp Lake and J. E. L. Oulton, vol. 1, The Loeb Classical Library (London; New York; Cambridge, MA: William Heinemann; G. P. Putnam’s Sons; Harvard University Press, 1926–1932), 169–177.

This is all the more striking since James employs some of the very words in debate between them (faith, works, justification). But he fails to touch what Paul has in mind. “Paul is looking at the root; James is looking at the fruit. Paul is talking about the beginning of the Christian life; James is talking about the continuance and consummation. With Paul, the works he renounces precede faith and are dead works. With James, the faith he denounces is apart from works and is a dead faith”

A. T. Robertson, Types of Preachers in the New Testament (New York: George H. Doran Company, 1922), 76.

Romans 3:19–28 KJV 1900

19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. 27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Ephesians 2:8–10 “8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Galatians 2:16 “16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

Galatians 3:1–11 KJV 1900

1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. 5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. 9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. 10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. 11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

The Messianic Jewish Epistles C. Barren Faith—2:18–20

Faith is not visible, yet works usually are. The refutation is: show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. The word show means “to demonstrate.” His point is the existence of faith cannot be proven without works because faith itself is intangible, invisible, not something seen. Therefore, the only means of showing faith’s existence is by its visible works. In this verse, both men claim to have faith. But one cannot substantiate his claim because there are no actual works to demonstrate his claims. Faith and works are inseparable.