James: Faith Without Works

Intro

Tonight we are going to cover one of the most debated verses in the Bible

That’s not an exaggeration. For centuries, different groups — Catholics, Protestants, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others — have argued over these verses.

Entire theological denominations have separated because of this paragraph in James.

So when I say that this is highly debted I means it

The reason why is Because it deals with salvation.

And when you’re talking about salvation that’s not a small topic.

That’s not something we can afford to misunderstand. Eternity is tied to this conversation

Before we look at the specific verse that I am talking about, lets read through this entire passage to try and get a good understanding of what is going on.

Read James 2:14-24

James 2:14–24 ESV

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 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? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 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. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 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. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Let’s pray.

The Problem

Ok, we have read the full passage, and it might even be familiar to some of you, so what is the verse I am talking about?

It is James 2:24

James 2:24 “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”

This verse usually gets pinned against Romans 3:28 which says

Romans 3:28 “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”

Now when we read these two verses back to back like this, it is pretty easy to see how debates and disagreements can happen pretty quickly.

It seems that James is saying that in order for us to be saved we need some combination of both faith and works.

It seems that Paul is saying that faith alone saves us.

At face value, it definitely seems like the Bible is contradicting itself here.

And This becomes a real issue because it leads to a lot of unhealthy questions about …

salvation

How can we have security in God when it seems like 2 different things are being taught here?

biblical integrity

If Paul and James, two powerhouses of the faith, disagree on this major issue then how can we even trust that the rest of the Bible is true?

Understanding of what life a Christian is supposed to look like.

What is actually expected of me by God?

All of these questions start to come when we see this seamingly big contradiction

The Solution

As you can see, These are some series repercussions on making sure we understand this scripture correctly, and fortunately for us, it is a lot simpler of a solution than it is made out to be.

It seems to be this huge issue when it reality its not hard to overcome.

The Solution to this debate and one that we harp on so much is that we must understand the context of what is being written by the authors.

When we rip these verses out of context, it does actually seem that they are conflicting when in reality they support one another.

James and Paul’s beliefs are not different at all

These debates start because people believe that both Paul and James are trying to describe to the audience how we are saved.

The reason why they think that is the word “justified” that is used in both verses.

Justified is a loaded term in Christianity.

When we hear it we typically think about salvation - about being declared righteous in God’s eyes

So when we see this term be used in these verses, we assume that is what we are talking about salvation

However, just because the same word is used doesn’t mean that the word is being used the same way…

When we say the word football, we think of the NFL and UGA.

However when someone in europe says the word football, they typically mean what we would think of as soccer.

The word hasn’t changed. The setting has.

In the same way, when Paul and James use the word “justified,” we can’t assume they’re using it in the exact same way just because it’s the same word.

We have to look at the context they’re speaking into and the issue they’re addressing.

I believe that Paul is actually using this word Justified in the since of being made right before God, James is not and I will show you why I think that.

At the very beginning of this passage, James starts by giving us a hypothetical example to set up this main point that he is trying to drive home.

He asks in verse 14

James 2:14 “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?”

He then goes onto explain this more in his example in verses 15-16

James 2:15–16 “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 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?”

So in this example, the person who is claiming to have faith but doesn’t have works is being compared to a person who is offering these empty words to someone in need.

They act as if they care, but they don’t actually care because they don’t help the person by providing with them with the food.

Do they truly care about the person? No because if so they would help them out.

In the same way, James is saying if we claim to follow Jesus, our lives should reflect that.

If we claim to follow Christ, but aren’t willing to apply his teaching to our lives, do we really follow Him?

James wants to give a gut check to these people and ask them, are you actually following Christ, or are you just claiming too?

Remember he wrote just a few lines earlier about not being a hearer only deceiving themselves but to be actual doers of the word.

James is not trying to explain how we are saved, rather he is showing us what our walk should look like if we truly are.

It is not the cause of our salvation, but the effect

When we understand that, suddenly the “problem” between James and Paul suddenly goes away.

Paul is trying to teach us how we are saved while James is asking us examine the fruits of our lives to check if we are really saved.

Paul would later go on to teach the very same thing in Romans 6

Romans 6:1–2 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” Romans 6:11 “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

In other words, once we are saved we must turn away from ungodly living. There is “work” for us to do.

There are going to be fruits of our salvation

Application

So how does this text apply to us?

We need to see if our faith is genuine by examining the fruits of our lives.

Jesus tells us this in Matthew 7:20 “Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”

If we have truly been saved by God, our lives will be transformed by Him and there will be evidence.

We will love God and have a desire to know Him more

We will feel conviction for sin - sin will have lost its appeal to us

We will see the fruits of the spirit in our lives (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control)

We will see this happen when we are sved because that is the Holy Spirit at work within us.

Being a Christian isn’t simply having the title, but its about actually allowing for God to transform you into a completely new person.

I am sure that if you ask any of our adults that are here tonight what their live looked like before they met Christ, it would look a whole lot different than it does now.

Because when you truly understand who Jesus is, it is going to change everything for you.

Close

I’d like to ask Pastor Bob if he would come up as we take a moment to reflect tonight and I am going to ask you to stand with me.

The question is obvious, do you have the fruits of salvation in your life?

Are you actually putting into action the things Jesus has taught us to, or are you simply claiming to be a follower of Christ?

James tells us that faith without works is dead and worthless. Its not real.

So what do you do if that describes you tonight? And you realize that your faith has been dead and worthless.

First recognize that it is the God that has given you that realization.

This is what Paul teaches us in Romans 10:9 “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Simply what he means is this, if you truly believe in your heart that Jesus is who he says he is, that he is God in the flesh, who came down to earth to live a perfect life and die upon a cross for the forgiveness of your sins, and that he came back to life on the 3rd day in power

If you truly believe that, then you will be saved from God’s righteous judgement of your sins.

You will be fully forgiven and restored.

As Pastor Bob sings, I am going to ask if you just close your eyes and spend a moment reflecting on your faith. Is it real? If not you can find myself or one of the volunteers who would love to pray with you as you seek for Christs forgiveness.