One of the great themes of the Bible is the concept of faith. We are told that “It is impossible to please God apart from faith (Heb. 11:6).” When the disciples were struggling and unable to deliver a young boy from a demonic attack, Jesus told them it was because they had so little faith. Then He told the disciples that if they had faith as small as a mustard seed, they would have prevailed. Jesus called it mountain moving faith (Matt. 17:20). We know from Scripture that salvation from sin and death is a gift acquired by faith (Eph. 2:8-10). So, what is biblical faith and how do we know when we have it?
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.[i]
If we continued to read Hebrews 11, you would discover that faith produced certain outcomes, and it is to this reality about faith that James is addressing in the first two chapters.
There was a social tension that invaded even the church world in the 1st Century that James addresses. When we consider that slaves made up between 10-20 percent of the population in the Roman Empire, many of whom came to faith in Christ, there was great economic disparity or inequality in that society. If we looked at the totality of our world today, we would see the same thing. We see from James 1 and the beginning of James 2, this tension between the rich and poor in the church. It is within this context that we need to read what genuine believers do as a result of finding fellow believers in need. James now addresses this issue in 2:14-26 as it relates to the nature of genuine, biblical faith.
So, how does biblical faith express itself in life? James will declare that it is more than simply a mere confession of belief, but a faith that transforms the behavior of the person who possesses it. James begins by raising the question, can a faith that has no outward evidence in life be a biblical, saving faith? James now gives us his answer and describes three expressions to help us understand the nature of biblical faith, but only one of them is genuine. The tragedy is that the other two expressions leave a person living in a state of self-deception and therefore have eternal consequences.
THE FIRST EXPRESSION OR KIND OF FAITH THAT JAMES DESCRIBES IS DEAD OR MERELY A VERBAL ASSENT TO TRUTH
Many people would say that they are Christians and believe things that are theologically right but unfortunately, these truths do not govern their lives. They are the people who hear God’s word, but do not put it into practice. James challenges this kind of verbal assent and simply called it ‘dead’ faith.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.[ii]
A. A claim to faith.
What we notice is that this individual is claiming to have faith, not that they actually have it. James’ argument in these verses is that faith is not merely a confession of words but is demonstrated by the genuine expressions or act of faith that is seen in righteous actions.
Here the example is seen in the typical Jewish greeting of Shalom, which speaks of wellbeing. To say to a fellow believer that you wish them God’s wellbeing but do nothing to alleviate what they are struggling with in facing challenging physical needs, reveals a form of insincerity and indifference, which genuine faith would not do.
Thus, the faith-deed of provision for a fellow believer’s hunger or nakedness is a particularly apt example, not only because it emphasizes the necessity of love of neighbor in the church, but also because the needy person receives no benefit from nice words, just as the professing Christian receives no benefit from inactive faith.[iii]
Jesus speaks to this very issue in two very striking parables. At the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus closes the message with the example of those who stand in the storms of life, or as James would say, has genuine biblical faith.
‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?” Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.’[iv]
Jesus is explaining that it is the doers of God’s will, which is revealed in God’s word that will stand in the trials of life. That’s why trials are important. If we crumble under them, it shows that our faith is superficial. To say it another way, God’s will is simply obedience to what God’s word reveals. Are we doers of what God is telling us to do in His word?
The second parable which applies even more specifically to this type of neglect of aiding the poor and needy is the evaluation before God’s throne of judgment. It is the parable of the sheep and goats which gives us insight into the criteria in which we will be evaluated as we stand before God’s throne. There will be a great division based on how our faith affected our actions toward those who are less fortunate than we are. In the parable of the sheep and goats, God makes a distinction between the righteous and the unrighteous based on how we treated those who were poor in our society.
Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’[v]
Conversely, notice what happens to those who neglect to feed the hungry and clothe the poor, particularly those of the household of faith.
They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you? He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.[vi]
B. An example of false or dead faith.
James uses the example of our indifference to those who are suffering as an example of false or dead faith. When we see fellow believers in need and we are capable of meeting that need, what should our response be? Do we show mercy, concern, and care by acting on meeting the need? James is explaining that genuine faith produces good works. He is not in conflict with Paul’s statement that we are saved by faith apart from works, which means that Christ’s sacrifice alone brings us into a right relationship with God, but the results of that new relationship will produce a change in our behavior, and the results are good works. In Paul’s text describing the means whereby we are saved and receive God’s grace, he shows how good works fit into the equation. We see that this grace comes through faith alone, but then he continues to conclude that we are saved for a purpose, which is the good works we are called to accomplish in this life. This is not what saves us but is the outward evidence of that inward change that has come about through experiencing saving, or genuine, biblical faith.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.[vii]
James is explaining that faith without the corresponding proper response is dead. “If your faith does not benefit others, it will not benefit you either.”[viii] John Calvin expressed it this way: “It is faith alone that justifies, but faith that justifies can never be alone.”[ix] If we have dead faith it means that it is strictly an intellectual assent to the truth of Christianity, but it will not benefit us.
THE SECOND KIND OF FAITH THAT JAMES DESCRIBES IS A DECEIVED OR DEMONIC FAITH
This is the kind of faith that is not just a mental assent of the truth about God, but believes rightly about God, and even has a fear of God’s punishment; but continues to practice a rebellious lifestyle before God. These are people who have false assurance and think that because they believe in the right things it doesn’t matter what they do. These people not only have an intellectual understanding, but it also affects their emotions, but it falls short in that it doesn’t affect their volition or will. It does not change their actions.
But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.[x]
The point that James is driving at in verse 18 between faith and works is simply that they are inseparable. What James is arguing against is mere affirmation or confession of faith where there is no evidence of transformation of behavior. To drive this point home in verse 19, James illustrates this point by the response of demons toward God. It may come as a shock to people, but the demons are not atheists or agnostics. They not only believe in God, but as a result of their rebellion, they are terrified of him. We see this in Jesus’ confrontation with those who were demonized and acknowledged rightly who Jesus is.
Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, ‘What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!’ ‘Be quiet!’ said Jesus sternly. ‘Come out of him!’ The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.[xi]
James may also intend irony by mentioning the demons’ reaction to their belief. The word shudder (phrissō) was used in some ancient magical texts ‘of the effect that the sorcerer wishes to bring about by means of his magic’ (MM). It is, says Hort, ‘at once more distant and more prostrate than worship’. But at least it is a response—which is more, apparently, than can be said of some professing Christians who make the same confession!
This verse indicates quite plainly that the faith that James speaks about in these verses is very far from the full Christian faith that both he and Paul proclaimed. As important as correct doctrine is, no one in the early church considered it sufficient for salvation. Genuine faith must go beyond the intellect to the will; it must affect our attitudes and actions as well as our ‘beliefs.’[xii]
A person can be enlightened in his mind and even stirred in his heart and be lost forever. True saving faith involves something more, something that can be seen and recognized: a changed life.[xiii]
James has pointed out that there is a claim to faith that is dead and is strictly intellectual. Now as we have seen, there is a deceived or demonic faith that is intellectual and emotional but still there is no obedience to God.
THE FINAL KIND OF FAITH THAT JAMES DESCRIBES IS A DEVOTED AND DEDICATED FAITH
This is the actual, biblical kind of faith that changes our status with God, which then creates new desires to please God in our hearts, and causes a person to walk in obedience to God’s ways. This faith is not only intellectual and emotional, but also volitional, which means it impacts our will and moves us to action. James is about to show how useless or vain faith is apart from the evidence of works. “You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? (James 2:20).”
Douglas Moo gives us the sense of the actual condition of the person who would try and separate faith from the evidence of biblical faith, which is the actions or works that ensue. “Foolish (kenos, lit. ‘empty’) is rarely applied to people, but probably suggests deficiency in understanding as well as moral perversity.[xiv]
We need to remember that in the wisdom literature the two categories that people fall into, the wise which are the godly and the foolish which are the ungodly, the godly have reverential fear and obey God. It is an active faith that produces life-giving results. James now gives us two examples of genuine biblical faith that leads to certain action as a result.
A. The example of Abraham.
What is great about this example is that Paul uses it to explain that Abraham was justified simply by believing in God’s promise of bearing children from his own body. “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6).” Paul makes the argument from this text that it is faith alone not of works that justifies us.
If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’[xv]
In other words, it was not something that Abraham did in order to be righteous before God, but simply trusting in what God said He would do on Abraham’s behalf. Yet, genuine faith acts on what has been promised. Faith acts in obedience to what God commands, even when it is tested.
Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.[xvi]
James is arguing that just acknowledging something is far different than acting upon that knowledge. Abraham believed God and was later tested on that belief, which brought that faith to maturity.
Abraham’s faith was strengthened, matured and deepened by the successive ‘trials’ through which he was called to go. By this James does not mean that faith cannot exist without works (for a dying person may truly believe without ever performing a ‘work’), nor that faith is simply shown to be ‘perfect’ through works, but that works are the necessary, inevitable product of true saving faith and hence bring faith itself to ‘maturity’.[xvii]
The example of Rahab
In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.[xviii]
The contrast in examples is startling. We move from Abraham, the father of the faith, to a Gentile woman, who was a prostitute. Yet, it was faith in God that delivered both herself and family. How did it happen? She believed the report that God was bringing the Hebrew people into the land, so she hid the spies, and gave them direction for their safety. Dan McCartney explains how she was justified.
Rahab’s justifying works in view, then are not a righteous life generally, but those acts based upon her recognition that the God of Israel was the true and mighty God, and that her Canaanite society was doomed.[xix]
It was out of this conviction that she aided the spies and obeyed their instruction so that she was not destroy in the conquest of Jericho and as a result became a member of the Hebrew people and was included in the genealogy of Jesus.
Douglas Moo explains the tension between what Paul shares on saving faith and James who moves from the means of biblical faith to the evidence of what that faith looks like.
James has no intention of excluding faith from the process of justification. He was deeply disturbed, however, by a faith that had no consequences for life—what we may call ‘cheap faith’. Faced with this tendency, James had to place great stress on the active nature of faith and to assert that actions did matter in the long run. Paul was faced with a very different problem. His Jewish and Judaizing opponents considered works done in obedience to God as a necessary means to maintain their place in God’s covenant. Against them, Paul asserted that the covenant on which they relied was, in effect, broken and that faith in Christ was the only way that one could now be made right with God.[xx]
Throughout the church age, there has been tension between these two concepts that need to be understood. We are saved by faith in Christ’s finished work on the cross, but having experienced that work of grace in our souls it will produce the works that James states is the evidence of genuine biblical faith.
Douglas Moo challenges us to examine what each of us needs to hear in order to have a proper understanding.
Whenever people rely on their religious activities for salvation, Paul’s powerful plea for a radical commitment of the whole person to Christ must be vigorously proclaimed. But when “faith” has been turned into nothing more than a verbal commitment to certain doctrines, James’ understanding of faith as an active, vigorous obedience must be forcefully reasserted.[xxi]
There is only one genuine biblical faith that imparts eternal life. When we surrender to Jesus fully trusting that what He has done is sufficient for our salvation, it affects the totality of our personality: mind, emotions and will. It leads to walking in obedience to God’s word and will. What kind of faith do you have? A claim to faith, a deceived and demonic faith or a devoted faith to Jesus?
Paul in response to this great salvation that was purchased by Christ’s finished work on the cross, in making the application of how we should respond in the book of Romans states:
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.[xxii]
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[i] Hebrews 11:1 The New International Version of the Bible, Zondervan, 2011.
[ii] James 2:14-17.
[iii] Dan McCartney, James, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009), 157.
[iv] Matthew 7:21-27.
[v] Matthew 25:37-38, 40.
[vi] Matthew 25:44-46.
[vii] Ephesians 2:8-10.
[viii] Dan McCartney, James, 157.
[ix] John Calvin, as quoted in Warren Wiersbe, Be Mature, (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 77.
[x] James 2:18-19.
[xi] Mark 1:23-25.
[xii] Douglas Moo, James: An Introduction and Commentary, TNTC, Second Edition, E. J. Schnabel, Ed., Vol. 16, (InterVarsity Press, 2015), 139-40.
[xiii] Warren Wiersbe, Be Mature: How to Break the Mold of Spiritual Immaturity—and Grow Up in Christ, (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985.), 79.
[xiv] Douglas Moo, James: An Introduction and Commentary, 140.
[xv] Romans 4:2-3.
[xvi] James 2:21-24.
[xvii] Douglas Moo, James: An Introduction and Commentary, 144-45.
[xviii] James 2:25-26.
[xix] Dan McCartney, James, 171.
[xx] Douglas Moo, James: An Introduction and Commentary, 148.
[xxi] Ibid, 149.
[xxii] Romans 12:1-2.
