The Letter of James James 2:14-26 In this section James talks about faith and works. He talks about a faith that is an intellectual acceptance of the truth about Jesus Christ without the trust in Jesus as Saviour. In verse 19 “faith” is something demons have. They believe in Jesus so they have “faith”. In verse 20 he talks about “faith” as being useless when it is merely in the head and not demonstrated in the actions. In verse 26 he refers to “faith” without actions as dead. James argument is that true faith, that genuine, saving faith that believes in Jesus and trusts in the salvation won by Him on the cross is all a person needs to be justified before God. But genuine faith in Jesus Christ will produce good deeds. In this section James describes false faith and this has a parallel in the false love spoken of in 1 John 3:17. In that verse, John asks how a man who claims to have God’s love can see his brother in need and not act to help him. So true love from God is a love accompanied by actions as a response to that love. Likewise, true faith in God is a faith that is accompanied by actions in response to that faith. At the time that James wrote this letter there were some in the church who said that believers were “faith” Christians and “deeds” Christians. A distinction was made between the two and there were those who believed it was possible to do good deeds without faith and still be a follower of Jesus. James denies this is possible in verse 18 when he says “show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith by what I do.” (NIV). In verses 20-24 James talks about Abraham and how the Jews considered Abraham to be righteous because he put his son Isaac on the altar (Genesis 15). He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. It was his actions in response to his faith that caused him to be seen as a man of faith. In verse 25 he cites the example of Rahab (Joshua 2) who put her faith in God into action by hiding the Israelite spies and sending them to safety. Actions are not worth anything unless they are the result of faith. Many take James to be a justification of “works” as a necessity for salvation, but this is not what James is saying. He is saying that when we have faith in God (or as John puts it love) then the outpouring of that faith will be actions. In summation, James states that the body without the spirit is dead and faith that is not accompanied by the deeds or actions that flow from that faith is also dead. Because we have faith in God we will be drawn to act out that faith in the way we live our lives and our obedience to God’s calling. If you are in a Christian group and you are told you have to help on a particular roster because you do not have enough “deeds” pray about it. If God does not call you to do it then your participation in that activity is not a result of faith in God but is done to satisfy another person. Be careful not to be bullied into taking on more than God intends you to do by people who misuse the letter of James to fill their church rosters.
Posted on: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 05:26:30 +0000
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