The Test of Righteous Works

Refreshing our memories

James wrote this epistle to challenge his readers to examine their faith to see if it was genuine saving faith.

We breakdown the whole book as a series of tests:

The Test of Perseverance in Suffering (1:2-12)

The Test of Blame in Temptation (1:13-18)

The Test of Response to the Word (1:19-27)

The Test of Impartial Love (2:1-13)

Our study for today:

Faith and works are not enemies of one another; rather, righteous works authenticate true saving faith. This truly is an important discussion, for to be wrong here affects our doctrine of salvation. What kind of faith truly saves? Is it necessary to do good works in order to be saved? How do we know when we are exercising genuine faith?

Faith and works are not enemies of one another; rather, righteous works authenticate true saving faith. This truly is an important discussion, for to be wrong here affects our doctrine of salvation. What kind of faith truly saves? Is it necessary to do good works in order to be saved? How do we know when we are exercising genuine faith?

A Description of Useless Faith

14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?

James: Wisdom for the Community 1. A Description of Useless Faith (2:14–20)

This man had a wordy but worthless faith. Words without deeds characterized his life, and James questioned its worth—‘what use is that, what does that profit?’ It is devoid of any operative energy to produce anything beneficial. As we shall see, James looks upon works as proof of faith, not as a means of salvation.

This man had a wordy but worthless faith. Words without deeds characterized his life, and James questioned its worth—‘what use is that, what does that profit?’ It is devoid of any operative energy to produce anything beneficial. As we shall see, James looks upon works as proof of faith, not as a means of salvation.

B. Dale Ellenburg and Christopher W. Morgan, James: Wisdom for the Community, Focus on the Bible Commentary (Great Britain: Focus Christian Publications, 2008), 105.

15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?

‘Go in peace’ was a common Jewish farewell—shalom (; ; ; ). In other words, the Christians wanted them ‘out of sight and out of mind.’ ‘Be warmed’ and ‘filled’ could be either middle or passive voice. So, the meaning could be ‘warm yourselves’ and ‘feed yourselves.’ Instead of warm clothes and satisfying food, all they get is religious frivolity. Their words speak of grace, but even as they speak they fail to minister grace. How can they go in peace when in reality they will go hungry and cold?

16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?

17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

The bottom line is this, James argues: faith apart from works is dead. It is pious talk without reality. It is ‘by itself,’ like an engine without fuel. Some essential components are present, but it is useless and inoperative without the fuel that enables it to fire and run. Jesus did not merely preach about faith, He served and healed and helped and died to show us what Christian faith is all about.

18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” 19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?

19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?

James 2:14–20 NASB95

14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. 18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” 19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?

It seems most likely that someone refers to James himself, speaking of himself using the third person out of humility. He was not boasting, trying to prove that his own Christian life was more exemplary than another’s. He was not speaking primarily about faithfulness in the faith but about faith itself. He was saying, in effect, to anyone opposing the truth he was declaring about true salvation, “You claim to have faith and that nothing else is necessary, that your faith can stand by itself before God and bring salvation. But the truth is, you cannot show me your faith without the works, without any practical evidence or outworking of it, because true faith always gives practical evidence. You cannot demonstrate your kind of faith because you have nothing to demonstrate it with.”

The Manifestation of Saving Faith

Having denounced dead and demon-like faith as useless and destitute of saving power, James now begins to confirm from Scripture the positive truth that saving faith reveals itself through tangible acts of righteousness. In doing so he effectively brings forward two people who could not be more disparate. These examples of true faith that works are Abraham and Rahab—a patriarch and a prostitute, a Jew and a Gentile, a godly man and a godless woman.

Abraham

Abraham’s faith was accompanied by works

21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?

22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;

The Fruit of that Faith

23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God.

22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God.

James 2:21–25 NASB95

21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

The Conclusion from Abraham’s example

24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.

The conclusion he draws is that faith and works are inseparable. Any profession of being justified by faith must be proved by the works of the one making such a profession. James rejects a ‘faith’ that remains alone and produces no works. He insists upon a working faith. Jonathan Edwards asserts:

The drift of the apostle does not require that he should be understood in any other sense; for all that he aims at, as appears by a view of the context, is to prove that good works are necessary. The error of those that he opposed was this: that good works were not necessary to salvation, that if they did but believe that there was but one God, and that Christ was the Son of God and the like, and were baptized, they were safe, let them live how they would, which doctrine greatly tended to licentiousness. The evincing the contrary of this is evidently the apostle’s scope.

The drift of the apostle does not require that he should be understood in any other sense; for all that he aims at, as appears by a view of the context, is to prove that good works are necessary. The error of those that he opposed was this: that good works were not necessary to salvation, that if they did but believe that there was but one God, and that Christ was the Son of God and the like, and were baptized, they were safe, let them live how they would, which doctrine greatly tended to licentiousness. The evincing the contrary of this is evidently the apostle’s scope.

John Calvin summarizes, ‘Faith alone justifies, but faith that justifies is never alone.’

John Calvin summarizes, ‘Faith alone justifies, but faith that justifies is never alone.’

Rahab

25 In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

James deliberately designed the greatest conceivable contrast to the godly patriarch Abraham. Abraham was a Jew; she was a Gentile. He was a man; she was a woman. But honors her as a woman of faith. She confessed her faith clearly in . And she acted on that faith by harboring the Jewish spies who came to her city and sent them out by a safe way. As simple as her story of faith was, it was a faith that demonstrated itself in a tangible manner.

B. Dale Ellenburg and Christopher W. Morgan, James: Wisdom for the Community, Focus on the Bible Commentary (Great Britain: Focus Christian Publications, 2008), 113.

The Union of Faith and Works

James 2:26 NASB95

26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

joames 2 26

26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,

Creed and conduct cannot be separated any more than the body can be separated from its very life-breath and still be called alive. The relationship between faith and works is like that between the body and its breath. Without breath, the body is a corpse. Without works, faith is dead. Religious words without accompanying works are worthless.

16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?

17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?

B. Dale Ellenburg and Christopher W. Morgan, James: Wisdom for the Community, Focus on the Bible Commentary (Great Britain: Focus Christian Publications, 2008), 113–114.

22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;

23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God.

24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.

25 In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.