Living Faith Is Faith Lived Out

Resurrection Wisdom in a Perishing World – Part 4
The Faith that Works
(James 2:14-26, Preaching: Pastor Nathan Snyder, March 30, 2014)

[2:14] What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?  [15] If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, [16] 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?  [17] So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.  [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.  [19] You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder!  [20] Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?  [21] Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?  [22] You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; [23] 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.  [24] You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.  [25] 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?  [26] For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Genuine faith in Christ is demonstrated by obedience to God.  This is James’ point.  James uses words in ways that might make us cringe.  We love the gospel as proclaimed by St. Paul.  Paul tells us that we are justified by faith apart from works of the law.  We are saved by grace through faith in Christ, not by our own works.  We are in fact saved by the righteous work of Jesus Christ himself.  What freedom to know that our relationship with God is not dependent on our works but on God’s work!  Then along comes James writing that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.  Is James contradicting Paul?  No!  He is in complete agreement with Paul who also taught that true faith works itself out in love (Galatians 5:6).  Paul even taught that the final judgment will be based on works (Romans 2:6-11), meaning that the life we have lived now will be the evidence God produces to show that we belong to Christ.  Jesus taught the same thing (Matthew 7:21-23; 12:36-37; 25:31-46).  The apparent contradiction comes from the different ways Paul and James use the word “justified.”  When Paul says we are justified by faith alone, he is saying that God accepts us as righteous in his sight strictly on the basis of faith in Jesus and his saving work on our behalf.  When James says we are justified by works, he is saying that the genuineness of our faith and the reality of our right relationship with God are demonstrated in a life of obedience to God.  He is using the word “justified” in the sense of “vindicated.”  Don’t just say you have faith.  Show it in your life.  Real faith is trust and surrender to Jesus.  This leads to obedience.  Otherwise our faith is nothing more than a lifeless belief in certain true facts about God.  The demons themselves know these facts.  But they don’t trust God.  They shudder before him.  Look at Abraham.  He was called a friend of God.  His trust was vindicated as being real when he was willing to offer up Isaac.  Costly obedience showed his faith.  Look even at Rahab.  She was a foreigner to Israel, a prostitute, and living in a city of sin destined for destruction.  Yet she came to trust in Israel’s God.  This faith was shown when she helped the Israelite spies who came to her house.  Thus she was saved from destruction because she had real faith, faith that led to action.  Likewise we are saved from God’s coming wrath when we truly trust in him and in his Son.  And such faith leads to obedience, often costly obedience.  Where does such obedience come from?  James is on the same page with Paul, for he tells us in 4:6, “But [God] gives more grace.”  Our good works are the fruit of God’s grace as we trust in him and his promises.

Put the Word to Work:  Do not settle for good theology.  Live out what you know.  Put your faith into action.  Trust in the Lord and show that you trust him by obeying his commands.