FAITH & WORKS

Jas 2:17-26  

So also faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative, dead).

Jas 2:18 But someone will say [to you then], You [say you] have faith, and I have [good] works. Now you show me your [alleged] faith apart from any [good] works [if you can], and I by [good] works [of obedience] will show you my faith.

James 2:18

Show me thy faith without thy works - Your pretending to have faith, while you have no works of charity or mercy, is utterly vain: for as faith, which is a principle in the mind, cannot be discerned but by the effects, that is, good works; he who has no good works has, presumptively, no faith.

I will show thee my faith by my works - My works of charity and mercy will show that I have faith; and that it is the living tree, whose root is love to God and man, and whose fruit is the good works here contended for.

Jas 2:19 You believe that God is one; you do well. So do the demons believe and shudder [in terror and horror such as make a man's hair stand on end and contract the surface of his skin]!

Jas 2:20 Are you willing to be shown [proof], you foolish (unproductive, spiritually deficient) fellow, that faith apart from [good] works is inactive and ineffective and worthless?

Jas 2:21 Was not our forefather Abraham [shown to be] justified (made acceptable to God) by [his] works when he brought to the altar as an offering his [own] son Isaac? [Gen 22:1-14]

Jas 2:22 You see that [his] faith was cooperating with his works, and [his] faith was completed and reached its supreme expression [when he implemented it] by [good] works.

Jas 2:23 And [so] the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed in (adhered to, trusted in, and relied on) God, and this was accounted to him as righteousness (as conformity to God's will in thought and deed), and he was called God's friend. [Gen 15:6; 2Ch 20:7; Isa 41:8]

Jas 2:24 You see that a man is justified (pronounced righteous before God) through what he does and not alone through faith [through works of obedience as well as by what he believes].

Jas 2:25 So also with Rahab the harlot--was she not shown to be justified (pronounced righteous before God) by [good] deeds when she took in the scouts (spies) and sent them away by a different route? [Jos 2:1-21]

Jas 2:26 For as the human body apart from the spirit is lifeless, so faith apart from [its] works of obedience is also dead.

These verses are perhaps the most controversial in James' Letter. Even such a great worthy of the church as Luther thought he saw an irreconcilable conflict between James' teaching on justification by works and Paul's insistence on justification by faith. These verses are commonly misused to support the heresy that we are saved by faith plus works, called “synergism.” In other words, we must trust the Lord Jesus as our Savior, but that is not enough. We must also add to His redemptive work our own deeds of charity and devotion.

The section might actually be entitled “Justification by Works,” because there is a sense in which we are justified by works. In fact, in order to grasp the full truth of justification, we should clearly understand that there are six aspects of justification. 

We are justified by grace (Rom 3:24). This simply means that we do not deserve to be justified; in fact, we deserve the very opposite. We are justified by faith (Rom 5:1). Faith is the human response to God's grace. By faith, we accept the free gift. Faith is that which appropriates what God has done for us. We are justified by blood (Rom 5:9). Here blood is the price which had to be paid in order to procure our justification. The debt of sin was met by the precious blood of Christ, and now God can justify ungodly sinners because a righteous satisfaction has been made. We are justified by God (Rom 8:33). The truth here is that God is the Person who justifies. We are justified by power (Rom 4:25). Our justification is linked to the power that raised Christ from the dead. His resurrection proves that God is satisfied. And we are justified by works (Jas 2:24). Works are the outward proof of the reality of our faith. They give outward expression to what would otherwise be invisible. From this we see that the person is justified by grace, by faith, by blood, by God, by power, and by works. Yet there is no contradiction at all. These statements simply present different aspects of the same truth. Grace is the principle upon which God justifies; faith is the means by which man receives it; blood is the price which the Savior had to pay; God is the active Agent in justification; power is the proof; and works are the result.

2:14 James insists that a faith that does not result in good works cannot save. There are two keys which greatly help in the understanding of this verse. First of all, James does not say “What does it profit ... though a man has faith ... .” Rather he says, What does it profit ... if someone says he has faith. In other words, it is not a question of a man who truly has faith, and yet is not saved. James is describing the man who has nothing but a profession of faith. He says he has faith, but there is nothing about his life that indicates it. The second helpful key is brought out in the NASB. There, the verse closes with the question “Can that faith save him?” In other words, can that kind of faith save? If it be asked what kind of faith James is referring to, the answer is found in the first part of the verse. He is speaking about a say-so faith that is not backed up by good works. Such a faith is worthless. It is all words, and nothing else.

2:15, 16 The futility of words without deeds is now illustrated. We are introduced to two people. One has neither adequate daily food nor clothing. The other has both, but is not willing to share them. Professing great generosity, the latter says to his poor brother, “Go and put on some clothing, and eat a good meal.” But he doesn't raise a little finger to make this possible. What good are such words? They are positively worthless! They neither satisfy the appetite nor provide warmth for the body.

2:17 Thus also faith by itself if it does not have works, is dead. A faith without works is not real faith at all. It is only a matter of words. James is not saying that we are saved by faith plus works. To hold such a view would be to dishonor the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we were saved by faith plus works, then there would be two saviors—Jesus and ourselves. But the NT is very clear that Christ is the one and only Savior. What James is emphasizing is that we are not saved by a faith of words only but by that kind of faith which results in a life of good works. In other words, works are not the root of salvation but the fruit; they are not the cause but the effect. Calvin put it tersely: “We are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.”

2:18 True faith and good works are inseparable. James shows this by giving us a snatch from a debate between two men. The first man, who is genuinely saved, is the speaker. The second professes to have faith, but he does not demonstrate that faith by good works. The first is heard delivering an unanswerable challenge to the other. We might paraphrase the conversation: “Yes,” the first man may correctly and justifiably say, “you say you have faith, but you do not have works to demonstrate it. I claim that faith must be backed up by a life of works. Prove to me that you have faith without a life of good works. You cannot do it. Faith is invisible. The only way others can know you have faith is by a life that demonstrates it. I will show you my faith by my works.” The key to this verse lies in the word show: To show faith apart from works is impossible.

2:19, 20 The debate continues. The first man is still the speaker. A man's professed faith may be nothing more than mental assent to a well-known fact. Such intellectual agreement involves no committal of the person, and does not produce a transformed life. It is not enough to believe in the existence of God. True, this is essential, but it is not sufficient. Even the demons believe in the existence of God and they shudder at the thought of their eventual punishment by Him. The demons believe the fact, but they do not surrender to the Person. This is not saving faith. When a person truly believes on the Lord, it involves a commitment of spirit, soul, and body. This commitment in turn results in a changed life. Faith apart from works is head belief, and therefore dead belief.

2:21 Two examples of the faith which works are now given from the OT. They involve Abraham—a Jew, and Rahab—a Gentile. Abraham was justified by works in offering up Isaac his son on the altar. In order to see this truth in its proper perspective, turn to Gen 15:6. We read that Abraham believed in the Lord, and He counted it to him for righteousness. Here Abraham was justified by believing; in other words, he was justified by faith. It is not till we come to Genesis 22 that we find Abraham offering up his son. It is then that he was justified by works. As soon as Abraham believed in the Lord, he was justified in the sight of God. But then, seven chapters later, God put Abraham's faith to the test. Abraham demonstrated that it was genuine faith by his willingness to offer up Isaac. His obedience showed that his faith was not merely a head belief, but a heart commitment.

It has sometimes been objected that there was no one else present when Abraham offered up Isaac, and there was therefore no one to whom he could prove the reality of his faith. But the young men who had accompanied Abraham were not far away, waiting for Abraham and Isaac to return from the mount. Moreover, Isaac was there. Also, Abraham's willingness to slay his son in obedience to God's command has been preserved in the Bible record, thus demonstrating to all generations the reality of his faith.

2:22, 23 It is clear then that Abraham's faith inspired his works, and by his works his faith was made perfect. True faith and works are inseparable. The first produces the second, and the second evidences the first. In the offering of Isaac we see a practical demonstration of the faith of Abraham. It was the practical fulfillment of the Scripture which said that Abraham was justified by believing. His good works identified him as the friend of God.

2:24 We conclude from this, then, that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Again, this does not mean that he was justified by faith plus works. He was justified by faith Godward, and by works manward. God justified him the moment he believed. Man says, “Show me the reality of your faith.” The only way to do this is by good works.

2:25 The second OT illustration is Rahab the harlot. She certainly was not saved by good character (she was a prostitute!). But she was justified by works because she received the messengers (or spies) and sent them out another way. Rahab was a Canaanite, living in the city of Jericho. She heard reports that a victorious army was advancing toward the city, and that no opposition had been successful against this army. She concluded that the God of the Hebrews was the true God, and decided to identify herself with this God, whatever the cost might be. When the spies entered the city, she befriended them. In doing so, she proved the genuineness of her faith in the true and living God. She was not saved by harboring the spies, but this act of hospitality proved that she was a genuine believer.

Some people misuse this passage to teach that salvation is partly by good works. But what they mean by good works is giving to charity, paying your debts, telling the truth, and going to church. Were these the good works of Abraham and Rahab? Certainly not! In Abraham's case, it was willingness to kill his son! In Rahab's case, it was treason! If you remove faith from these works, they would be evil rather than good. “Strip them of faith and they were not only immoral and unfeeling, but they would have been sinful.” Mackintosh well says, “This section refers to life-works, not law-works. If you abstract faith from Abraham's and Rahab's works, they were bad works. Look at them as the fruit of faith and they were life-works.”

So this is a not a passage that can be used to teach salvation by good works. It puts the user in the untenable position of teaching salvation by murder and treason!

2:26 James ends the passage with the statement, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” Here the matter is summarized very beautifully. James compares faith to the human body. He likens works to the spirit. The body without the spirit is lifeless, useless, valueless. So faith without works is dead, ineffective, worthless. Obviously it is a spurious faith, not genuine saving faith.

To summarize, then, James tests our faith by our answers to the following questions. Am I willing like Abraham to offer the dearest thing in my life to God? Am I willing like Rahab to turn traitor to the world in order to be loyal to Christ?