Faith Works

Some non-Xian friends came to my Baptism. As part of the service there were prayers for a particular world issue (much like Hilary or Trish might lead us in intercessory prayers). Josh (grown up attending a Catholic school) went to Afghanistan with British Army as a Christian/agnostic and came back an atheist. He is still one of my closest friends (and he’s more agnostic than he thinks!) - after the service he was critical of our praying and perceived lack of action.

Is there a degree to which James would agree would agree with my friend Josh? You could argue from today’s passage ‘Yes’ he would agree with Josh, although as we will see when we make it to James 5, James puts an emphasis on the importance of faith-filled prayer - an activity which compliments the faith-filled works of God’s people.

Introduction

James is writing to address a problem seen in many churches today and clearly even in the early churches. In James 1 we saw him instructing people to not just hear God’s word, but put it into action in their lives and now he makes a further argument for people of faith also being people of action.

Getting up to speed on where we have been, James has spoken extensively about the testing of faith through the hostilities experienced in the world and in his call to action has addressed the need for Christians to serve the marginalised:

James 1:27 ESV

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

This was further reinforced with his teaching on the need to show no partiality. Christians should not favour the rich (who actually oppress them) because of their worldy wealth, rather they should seek to show love to their neighbours, in accordance with the royal law set out by Jesus. For James it is simply an expectation that followers of Jesus help the poor.

You might recall that I mentioned how, at times, James can read like a list of disconnected bulletpoint thoughts - preachers notes which are intended to be fleshed out - here we see how James is drawing all the threads together as he goes.

James - Faith WORKS!

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?”

James uses rhetorical questions to make a point about the Christian faith. The answer for James is obviously ‘no’ - simply acknowledging God doesn’t get you very far if it doesn’t make any difference in your life!

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?”

Whilst Christians have a heart for the world, James roots his argument in the life of the local church. In the fellowship, if you see someone in need and don’t do anything about it, what good is that?!

Acts 2:45 “And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.” WELFARE - a mark of the early Church, which gave to people within its community as they had need. This could well be a good biblical argument for having a designated fellowship fund over it just be a budget line…

James 2:18 “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.”

This verse highlights conventional Greek writing style, introducing an antagonist into the story who makes an argument against James’ teaching. This is almost an argument that reads ‘your gift is works, my gift is faith.’ But for James this just isn’t even possible… It is like the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians. We cannot choose to major on some aspects and not the others. We might be naturally more gifted, but ultimately in our discipleship we are to grow in all these areas, not just some!

James 2:19 “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!”

This is a reference to the Shema (Deut 6:4 ““Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” ) A Jewish confession of faith. It was acknowledgment of who God was! Jesus added to this the royal law of loving your neighbour.

James is highlighting how easy it is to confess who God is intellectually, but it spiritually having no impact. Demons know who God is —and they shudder!

I can imagine James delivering this… “Christian, you know who God is, so live like it!”

James 2:20 “Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?”

James offers his hearers two examples to illustrate his point to them… He uses two stories with which his contextually Jewish hearers would have been familiar!

James 2:21-25 “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. 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?”

James 2:26 “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.”

James and Paul - Contradiction or Complimentary?