Faith and Works Together

A. Serving is the outworking of our salvation.

1. Expression of faith ().

a. Two Questions begin the discussion:

i. What Good is it?

a) “Profit”—Benefit, good or advantage.

1. James is questioning the reality of their faith.

b) “Works”—Actions done in obedience to God.

ii. Can a workless faith save?

a) A negative answer here is anticipated, since genuine faith is evidenced by works ().

b) Basically, what we do evidences who we are. Those who have eternal life, will live eternal lives ().

b. Worthless words ():

i. There are real problems in this life, with a mixed bag of solutions.

ii. False empathy does nothing to fix those problems.

a) There seems to have been a pattern of behavior that was typical for this ministry.

b) Using your words to empathize with that person but doing nothing to provide for and solve their problem just provides no advantage to anyone. Lip service really does nothing to help. A political answer to assuage guilt or responsibility does little for both.

c. Dead faith ():

i. Faith without the action of obedience is an illustration of no faith at all. Just like the words of an uncaring believer prove he is not going to help with the physical need that believer is experiencing.

ii. This is not a contrast between faith and works, as though they are different paths to God. James is actually saying that our faith is inherently defective if there are not works. But a faith that is active and working is a genuine faith.

2. Evidence of saving faith James (2:18-20).

a. James is driving the point home here: you can’t demonstrate faith without works, but we will always be able to demonstrate our faith by our service.

b. The example of faith without works is the knowledge that Satan and demons have of God but refused to work for Him. Their faith was dead, proven by their lack of service to God.

3. Examples of saving faith ().

a. Abraham’s example of faith is that when God asked him to offer his son, he did. He believed in the goodness and greatness of God in that “God will provide Himself a lamb ().”

b. Rahab is another example. She believed the God of Israel to be the true God and proved it by hiding the spies and helping them escape ( & 6).