James - James 2:14-26 - Part 2

James is challenging us to examine our faith. Do we have a faith handed down from our religious forebearers? Do we have a credal faith we can recite all the words? Is there anything in my life, is there anything in your life that would make anybody believe we are truly born again? 

Let's pray together. Father, whenever we open the Word, it is with a sense of awe and respect and even fear, lest we learn but don't live, lest You speak to us and we do not listen. Help us today as we study the Word of God, speak to our hearts and help us to be all that we ought to be through Jesus Christ our Lord, we pray in His name, Amen.

James asks a question in James 2:14, "What does it profit, my brethren, or in other words, what good is it, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that kind of faith save him?" And the construction there implies that the answer is no. Now James parades before us four witnesses to test the reality of our faith. The first, of course, is the needy brother or sister. If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? You see, words are no substitute for works. And James is pointing out very clearly here that saving faith not only enlightens the mind and not only stirs the emotions, but it moves the will. When a person is in Christ, he is a new creature, and of course he has a loving concern for others. Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Now in James 3:1, James is going to tell us of the power of words to create all kinds of problems, but here in James 2:1, he's saying words do not have the power to meet the needs of fellow Christians. These people need food and clothing and shelter, not words—depart in peace, be warmed and filled. 

Now the second witness he brings to us is in verses 18 through 20, the demons. The demons are now bearing witness. But someone will say, says verse 18—and notice the emphasis here on say—someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." You see, they're trying to separate the two. Now James is saying you cannot separate them. You don't get faith by working, but if you have faith, it will lead to works. We are not saved by a faith plus works; we are saved by a faith that works. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. Now that's the answer. Someone says, "Well, I have faith." Well, how do I know you have faith? "Well, I talk about it." Well, says James, the demons can talk about it. James 2:19, "You believe that there is one God." Now this is the great affirmation of the Old Testament. The Jewish believers—and James was probably writing primarily to Jewish believers—the Jewish believers would remember their daily affirmation of faith, Deuteronomy 6:4, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might." This is what the Hebrew people called the Shema, their great statement of faith. There is one Lord. 

Now, says James, "You believe that there is one God. You do well." Of course that is true. "Even the demons believe"—and then he adds two important words—"and tremble." Now here are the demons who come along and say, "Alright, talk about your faith. We can talk about faith just as well as you can." You see, the Old Testament believer would emphasize works because he lived under law. The New Testament believer might go the other extreme and so emphasize grace that he ignores the works that ought to come from a life that is really yielded to the Lord. Now look at this demonic faith, if you will. These demons had correct doctrine. Intellectually they were all right. Doctrinally, even the demons believe there is one God. They had emotions that were stirred. They believed this and they trembled. The Greek word means they bristle with terror. People can talk about God and not shake one bit, but the demons realize how great God is and that one day they shall be judged. What's missing with the demons? Their mind? They have the right doctrine. Their emotion? Oh, they have stirring emotions. Their will—ah, there's the difference. They aren't doing anything that proves saving faith. In fact, the demons cannot be saved; they are now set in their condemnation. I fear that there are too many people who have demonic faith. Oh, they know the right doctrines, and they occasionally have the right feelings, but their will has never given evidence that they have been born from above. 

And James says to us, "Alright, I've given you the witness of the needy believer. Are your words or your works going to prove that you're born again? I've given you the witness of the demons. Are your feelings and your affirmations of faith alone going to show that you are truly born again?" No, he says, no. "You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe and tremble." But they are not born again. Verse 20, "But do you want to know, O foolish man"—and some people don't want to know. Their minds are made up and they aren't going to listen to God's truth. "But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?" The word dead means idle, barren, inactive. It accomplishes nothing. Once again, let me make it very clear: we are not saved by works. We are not saved by faith plus works. We are saved by a faith that leads to works. It is God who worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. 

Now James reaches back into the Old Testament and brings two more witnesses to test the reality of our faith. Abraham—that's James 2:21-24—and then Rahab, James 2:25-26. What a contrast here. Abraham the Jew, Rahab the Gentile. Abraham a man, Rahab a woman. Abraham a religious man, Rahab a pagan who was a prostitute. Abraham the friend of God, Rahab who belonged to the enemy; she was a Canaanite. And yet both were saved by faith, and both proved their faith by their works. Now there is no question that Abraham was saved by faith. Genesis 15:6 makes this clear: "And Abraham believed God, and the Lord counted it to him for righteousness." Put it on his account for righteousness. Abraham believed God. That means he was saved by faith. Hebrews 11:1 makes this clear: "By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed." Now James tells us that Abraham's salvation should be an illustration of what we ought to do in our lives. "Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you not see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says"—and here's the quotation—"Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only." 

Now we've got to be clear here to note that James is not contradicting Paul. In Romans 4:1 and Galatians 3:1, Paul makes it very clear that Abraham was saved by faith. But you see, they are discussing two different kinds of justification. Abraham was justified before God by his faith, but only God could see that. He was justified before men by his works, and we can see that. You see, Paul was dealing with the legalists who were saying we are saved by faith plus works. And Paul is saying no, Abraham was saved the same way you and I are saved, by faith; he believed God. However, James comes along and deals not with the legalist, but with a person we might call the credalist. He has a creed. "I believe in one God. I believe in God the Father, maker of heaven and earth." And James says, "Wait a minute. All of that talk and all of that credalism is not going to save you." You see, we are not saved by works. Jesus died for us on the cross. That's the one work that saves all who will trust in Him. There's the work that God does for us; that's salvation. Then there's the work that God does in us; that's sanctification. And then there's the work that God does through us; that is service. You find all three of them in Ephesians 2:8-10. We are His workmanship—He's working in us—created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before prepared that we should walk in them. 

How did Abraham prove his faith? By his obedience. What act of obedience? A very difficult act of obedience: giving his son on the altar. Faith and works go together to perfect our faith and to mature our character. God was maturing Abraham's character so that Abraham was not simply a child of God, but he was the friend of God. He walked with God and talked with God and received God's commendation. You see, after you've given profession of faith in Jesus Christ, you'll be tested. And God will call upon you, as He's called upon all of His children, to give evidence through obedience that they truly are born again. God knows our hearts; we don't know our hearts. Other people don't know our hearts. I recall when I became a Christian as a teenager and stood up in church and gave my testimony of my faith in Christ, and I was so encouraged by the way people loved me and encouraged me and prayed for me. And then I began to have difficulties. Why? Because God was testing my faith. God was making sure I had a real foundation under it. Now Abraham comes along and says don't just talk about your faith; live it. God calls upon you to do something, obey. You aren't saved by obeying, but your obedience proves that you are one of God's children. 

Now he talks about Rahab the Gentile woman in verses 25 and 26. "Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works"—and remember that's justification before men, in the eyes of men, not in the eyes of God—"when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead." Now the story of Rahab is found in Joshua 2:1 and Joshua 6:1. The Jews were about to invade Canaan and their first job was to take Jericho. Now the spies went to check on Jericho and they met Rahab, and she knew all about what was going to happen. When you read Joshua 2:1, you discover that the fear of the Lord had gotten to Jericho. They knew what had happened in Egypt. Listen to Joshua 2:9. She said to the men, the two spies that she was hiding, "I know that the Lord has given you the land." Now there's her mind, intellectual faith. "That the terror of you has fallen on us." Now there's the emotions, emotional faith. "For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt." Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Joshua 2:11, "And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted." You see that she had emotion; she had intellectual understanding. 

But there's one more thing she needed: faith, commitment of her will. Joshua 2:11, "For the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath." Now there she could be like the demons; they say the same thing. She had emotional stirrings, she had intellectual enlightenment, now she's going to prove her faith by her works. She says, "I want you to swear to me that you'll save me and my father's house. I believe in the true and living God, and to show you that I really believe you, to show that I really know that God is going to do this, I am going to seek to save my family and I'm going to protect you." And so she hid them. She protected them. She gave evidence of her faith by risking her life. You see, Abraham put Isaac on the altar, but Rahab put herself on the altar. She could have been killed as a spy for the enemy. Now when the city was taken, she had her family in her house on the wall, and God protected all of them because she believed God and she proved her faith by her works. Notice now: her mind knew the Word, her emotions feared the Lord, but in her will she had to act and prove her faith. And she did. She protected the spies and she witnessed to her family, she risked her life to win her own loved ones. In Joshua 6:21-25, we're told that Rahab and her family were spared. In fact, you find her name in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ, Matthew 1:5. 

So as you summarize James 2:14-26, he is saying there are three kinds of faith. There's dead faith—it's only words. There's demonic faith—words plus feelings. And there is dynamic faith—words plus feelings plus obedience. Abraham illustrates dynamic faith. Rahab illustrates dynamic faith. Now let me make this very practical and very personal. It is possible that many church members do not have dynamic faith. They don't have saving faith. There is no spontaneous loving obedience to the Word of the living God. As a consequence, I fear that some of our churches we are collecting corpses, dead faith. What is dead faith? Oh, faith in words. We can sing the songs and we can pray the prayers and we can give the proper witness, we can quote the right verses, we can say to needy people depart in peace be warmed and filled, but we don't do anything. That is dead faith and James says it'll never save you.

Then there's demonic faith. There are those people who know not only the right doctrine—you believe that there is one God, you do well—they also have feelings, stirrings in their heart. The demons also believe this and they tremble. There are some people whose whole Christianity is based on their emotional ups and downs. They have to go to meetings and get pumped up and stirred up and picked up and then they last for a while and then down they go again. That's demonic faith.

James is challenging us to have dynamic faith. Faith that works by love, faith that shows itself to be real faith through obedience in the Word of God and obedience to the Word of God. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. James is challenging us to examine our faith. Do we have a traditional faith? Do we have a faith handed down from our religious forebearers? Do we have a credal faith we can recite all the words? Is there anything in my life, is there anything in your life that would make anybody believe we are truly born again? As the poster says, if you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. 

[Interview:]
You're listening to Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe here on Back to the Bible. And now, let's join Warren in the studio with Arnie Cole, CEO of Back to the Bible International. 

Warren, why is it so important for Christ-followers to put their faith into action? 

Because that's the only faith we really have. I have a great deal stored up in my head, so do you. I thank God for my professors who were so knowledgeable. But if we don't practice it, what good is it? The Bible was written that we might become Bibles ourselves. We get the Word of God in our hearts. And I remember Cedric Sears, I don't know if you knew him or not, he was in Youth for Christ. He was called the walking Bible. Name a topic, he'll quote you ten verses. He's in heaven now, I'm sure he's enjoying it. But if we don't practice the Bible, it gets into our heads but not into our hearts. Obedience is what puts the Word of God in your heart. And the Bible doesn't say, "Your Word have I memorized in my head," no, no, no, it says, "Your Word I have hidden in my heart." So the only Bible I really possess, no matter how much I know, is that which I practice. And that's convicting. 

It is.