"The Separation of Faith and Deeds" James 2:14-26

I. Introduction

            This passage from James is a difficult passage. The great theologian Martin Luther even struggled with this passage throughout his whole life wrestling with it mainly because he thought that James and Paul contradicted themselves. Luther thought James emphasized works or deeds too much rather than being saved only by the grace of God through faith alone.

This passage comes across as difficult for some because people don’t take into consideration the context of this letter or the historical situation which James is addressing. People simply take the Scriptures at face value without digging into them; therefore it appears to be contradictory, but this isn’t the case due to the context of this letter.

And the situation which James is addressing seems to be a problem in the church or the churches to whom he is writing. This problem is that the church was favoring the rich and neglecting the poor in their very own church and community. The main point of this passage is that the works we do must not be added to faith; rather the main point is that genuine faith includes works. You see James wants us to realize that the very nature of a Christian’s faith includes works. And this main point needs to be heard in light of the historical context of this discriminating and neglecting of the poor or this passage doesn’t make sense. To a church community which is discriminating against and neglecting its poor members. James emphasizes, ‘works’ not as a means to obtain righteousness but as a natural and essential element of true, saving faith. James is not contrasting faith versus works here. Rather, he is contrasting two types of faith: a non-saving faith versus a saving faith.

            He first describes non-saving faith in verses 14-19. And then James describes saving faith in verses 20-26.

II. Non-Saving Faith vs 14-19

            James begins in verse 14 by stating his thesis or the main point that he will argue in this passage. And this thesis is that faith and works must not be separated. In other words, there cannot and must not be any separation between faith and works.

            He first proves this thesis by providing two examples of non-saving faith. The first example is found in vs 15-17 in which he describes a real situation or scenario of when a brother or sister is without food and clothes. And James says that the churches response to this is: “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed” but they do nothing about the physical needs of this person. They basically say to the person in need, “Hey, I know you need help, but I wish you well; go find clothes yourself and find your own food.” And in vs 16 there is a key question; this question may seem simple, but it is quit complex and the question is: “what good is it?” What good is it if someone comes to you or you see someone who needs food and clothes and you wish them well, but do nothing?! And the way this is asked it implies the answer, “well it’s not good!” So James is ultimately passing judgment upon this church for their lack of care and concern for the poorer members.

            But you see people of God, we do this same thing. We see people who are in need, whether it would be food, clothes or whatever, and many times we simply offer a pious cliché of wishing them well such as, “May the Lord bless you” or we assume someone else will handle the situation. And when we say these things without any action on our part, this is what James is describing as non-saving faith. And when our faith is not accompanied by action, James points out that this is when our faith has gone from a faith that is growing and alive into a faith that is now decaying and dead. No longer alive; dead.

This is a serious problem in the light of the summary of the law by Jesus saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.” The churches to whom James was writing to were guilty of not loving others as themselves and we too people of God do not love others as ourselves as much as we should.

            James second example of non-saving faith is found in vs 19. He says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder!” You see, even the demons know about God’s existence and God’s oneness, but their faith is clearly insufficient because “they shudder.” It isn’t just a fearful shuddering, it goes beyond that—they shake as their hair stands on end because they know of God, but have no commitment to Him. James is proving that true, saving faith involves more than just knowing about God; it is committing ourselves to God and to following His law which He has written on our hearts. You see, there are three parts to faith; faith is a knowledge about something; faith is a belief or conviction and faith is a trust or commitment.

Take marriage for example: it is one thing to intellectually understand the concept of marriage—to have knowledge about it. And also to believe in it as a valid human institution; yet it is quit another thing to walk down the aisle and say, “I do” making a lifelong commitment to another person. Therefore it is one thing to intellectually understand God’s existence and also to believe God’s existence; it is quite another thing to personally commit yourself to God. James is explaining that true, saving faith involves all three of these aspects—knowledge, belief or conviction and a trust or commitment. You see, demons know about God and believe in God but have no commitment to Him; therefore they shudder—they shake violently as their hair stands up on end.

What about you? Do you only know and believe in God? Or do you have a personal commitment to Him? God the Son Jesus Christ came to this Earth so that we could commit our very own life to the Father in heaven. Christ set the perfect example of what a commitment to the Father looks like. Through His life, death and resurrection from the dead, Christ has reconciled us back to the Father allowing us to commit ourselves to Him each day.

Have you made this personal commitment to Christ? He is inviting you; He is calling you to follow Him with your whole life. He wants your faith to be more than knowledge about Him and more than a belief—He desires a commitment. Will you give it to Him? Will you offer your whole self to Him no matter what the cost? Committing to Jesus isn’t just about saying a prayer at some point in time; it is about a life long relationship with Him in pursuit of holiness and desiring to be like Him in every way. It may cost you a lot, but I promise that it is worth it.

III. Saving Faith vs 20-25

            James furthers his argument that faith and deeds cannot be separated by providing us with two examples from the Old Testament of saving faith in vs 20-25. He restates his thesis in different words and again in question form in vs 20 “do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?” Well if you want evidence then take a look at Abraham and Rahab says James.

            The first example of saving faith that James uses is of Abraham. The specific story is a familiar story from Genesis 22 about Abraham being called to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, on an altar. But just in case you aren’t familiar with this story or the details sometimes became missing as we become too familiar with a story; here is a recap:

            This story takes place after the promised child to Abraham and Sarah, Isaac was born—their only son together. God said to Abraham, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burn offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” It is important to remember that God had promised Abraham that he would be a great nation one day. And even in their old age, Abraham and Sarah had finally received a son—their only son. And now God called him to sacrifice his only son! But Abraham, even though it was their only son, he continued, by faith following God all the way up until Isaac was lying on the altar and the knife was ready to slay Isaac. God calls out to Abraham to not lay a hand on Isaac, and thus provides a ram to be sacrificed! What a remarkable act of faith by Abraham!

And when we simply read this passage we assume that this could be the only time in Abraham’s life that he displayed a saving faith which includes works due to James only mentioning this specific story. But if we dig into vs 22, we notice some key words. “You see that his (Abraham) faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did” You see, James is not simply talking about this example of Abraham’s faith and works being combined, rather James is talking about Abraham’s whole life being an example of faith which included the works that he did. Abraham’s works were not added to his faith as an ‘extra bonus’ rather his works were included in his faith throughout his entire life.

James concludes this example of Abraham by stating in verse 24, “You see that a person is justified by what he does and not faith alone.” At first glance this statement may seem contradictory to what Paul says about being justified by faith not by works. But without getting too much into it notice the last word, the key here is found in the word, “alone”. To James, faith alone is a faith that does not include works. And a faith that doesn’t include works is not faith at all according to James. And we must consider the historical situation and the purpose of James writing this letter and the type of faith that he is describing—a faith that includes works due to the church he is writing to not showing any works to those who are in need. Therefore, James is not contradicting Paul at all; rather he is agreeing with Paul.

James then gives us a second example of saving faith which is the story of Rahab and the two spies found in Joshua 2. The story is another familiar one where Joshua sent two spies to Jericho to spy out the Promised Land. They end up at a prostitute’s house who is also a non-Israelite—named Rahab. She shelters and protects the spies from the King and makes an oath with them for her and her family to be saved. And sure enough in Joshua 6 her family is saved when the walls of Jericho fall! James explains that she displayed her faith by offering kindness to the spies by what she did.

But why did James use these two people—Abraham and Rahab—when he could’ve used any other characters from the Old Testament? Well you see, James has paired Abraham and Rahab because they serve as two extremes on opposite ends of the spectrum which include everything in between. This is a writing device in Hebrew known as a merismus where two extremes are named which includes everything in between.

 You see, Abraham is the father and hero of the Jewish nation, whereas Rahab is a Gentile, a woman and a prostitute. This summarizes that no matter who you are or what you have done, the call for demonstrating true, saving faith is the same for all God’s people—whether you are a patriarch or a prostitute. All those who believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior of their life are called upon to demonstrate the kind of true faith that manifests itself clearly in the works of kindness and obedience—they are called to make a commitment.

            James then ends his argument of faith and deeds in vs 26 by using a comparison: “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” When the spirit leaves a physical body, the body becomes dead and it begins to decay. This is the same with our faith; when our faith does not include deeds or works, then our faith is dead and begins to decay. This then supports his main point that faith and works must not and cannot be separated. The deeds that are done are included in our faith; they are not added to our faith; rather they are merely a visible extension of our faith.

IV. Conclusion

            In conclusion, James writes this portion of his letter because he is facing a serious problem in the Jewish Christian churches of Jerusalem and the surrounding area which is the discriminating and neglecting of the poor members of the church and community. James exhibits a positive view of works—not as a means to obtain righteousness but instead as a natural and essential element of true, saving faith; James is not contrasting works versus faith, rather he is contrasting a false non-saving faith versus a true, saving faith.

            James is not arguing that we must do works to be saved. And I am not arguing that we must do works to be saved. Rather, our works are a visible extension and display of our faith; our works are necessary to be included into our faith. Works are not necessary for salvation; rather works are included in our faith.

            Before I came to Bellflower, I lead our youth at my church back home on a mission trip to New Jersey. One of those days we went into New York City and we saw 6 homeless people. When we were traveling around New Jersey, we saw many people whose houses were damaged and/or destroyed by Hurricane Sandy which left them with nothing. And the house we worked on the couple had looked at wood studs on their main floor for 7 months, now there are white sheets of drywall on them looking forward to some paint on them. These high school students answered the call by faith to go to New Jersey to help hurricane Sandy victims whom they didn’t know.

But what good was it? This question is asked by James twice in this passage: “What good is it?!” What good is it if we have faith, but we have no deeds? The implied answer is that it isn’t good.

            Many of us find ourselves having faith, but no deeds. And then the question arises: do we need to go where the next natural disaster is to do works or deeds to have them included in our faith? No! Just drive around here and look for those who are in need or into downtown or maybe there are people here in this church who are in need. There are physical needs that need to be met, but there are also spiritual needs which need to be met. So the question I want to leave you with is this: will you help or will you simply offer a pious cliché response of, “I wish you well; go find some clothes, go find some food yourselves.” or will you sit back in your easy chair watching others do deeds of service?

            Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are called to follow God’s law of loving our neighbor as ourselves. But do we do it? And whether we do or not, we need to ask ourselves, what good is it? What profit is it that we help them? Well you see, James says that we not only following God’s law, but we are also showing our faith because our deeds are included in our faith. We are saved by Jesus Christ’s perfect life, perfect death and His perfect resurrection from the grave. He gave all that He had. He gave His life for you; will you do the same for others?

For example:

·        There is VBS coming this week, have you came up with every excuse in the book about how you were too busy to help or maybe you didn’t even think of helping? Or have you considered if there was any way that you could be involved?

·        What about the man you see driving to the grocery store with a sign begging for food, do you get extra groceries for him and his family or do you drive by him each and every time?

·        What about the prostitute you saw who is in need of the deep and real love of Jesus Christ, will you offer it to her or him?

·        What about the person at your work place who seems to be struggling or having a bad day, will you offer encouragement or simply say, “Well, I hope your day gets better”?

·        What about the family who is going through a divorce, will you offer encouraging words and will you be that someone that they can talk to about anything anytime? Or will you ignore the situation every time that you talk with them acting like nothing is wrong?

·        What about the family who is considering adoption, do you tell them that you are praying for them and not pray? Do you continually ask them how they are doing financially, but then

never offer any support yourselves?

·        Do we as a church body treat everyone the same—those who are dressed in suit and ties—and then those who aren’t?

·        Do we as a church recognize a need in the community and fulfill it or do we sit back and think that some other church in Bellflower or the surrounding area will do it?

·        Are we including these works into our faith or are we only happy with sitting comfortably in our home with our own faith without our own deeds?

People of God, I want to commend you for the deeds/works which you have showed to me since I’ve been here. The love and care that I have received has been absolutely amazing; I cannot thank you enough or repay you for the kindness and compassion which you have showed to me. May God continually work through you this summer and the remainder of your life as you extend God’s love, compassion and kindness to all those whom you come into contact with.

            But I wonder, what if someone came walking in here who you didn’t know and wasn’t your summer intern; would you have treated him or her the same way? Would you show the love of Jesus to him or her? If you treat him or her like you did me, then I have no doubt in my mind that they would be taken care of. I pray that we will do this to all whom we come into contact with.

So remember people of God: when we have no action to our faith—then our faith is dead.

May our faith not be dead, rather may our faith be alive!

For surely when our faith is alive and when we have genuine faith, then our faith and deeds will never be separated.