Dead Faith

Faith without works is dead (James 2:26).

Does that statement disturb you? Does it cause you any consternation? Does it ruffle your feathers or at least make you wonder? I mean, haven't we been clearly taught that we are saved apart from works? And, look, we all know that we are to "judge not", that we aren't supposed to be fruit inspectors, right? But here we are being told that we can judge faith by works. So we go with "faith" and leave it at that, right?

James, it appears, disagrees. James says twice that faith without works is dead faith (James 2:17, 26). This kind of faith, according to James, does not save (James 2:14, 20). And still we're asked to not evaluate people by works, but only by the faith they claim to have.

How do we make sense of this? If we are saved apart from works, is James wrong or are we mistaken somewhere else? Well, assuming James is not wrong, we would need to figure out what he is saying. And, when we pay attention, it turns out to make a lot of sense. In a backhanded way, James gives us a clear explanation. "You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder" (James 2:19). Clearly there is sarcasm. James says that belief gets you up to the level of the demon. But not quite. Why? Because the demons actually believe that God is one. How do we know that? I mean, how does James say we know that? It's not a profession, a claim of faith. It's a response. They "shudder". They bristle. They respond with genuine fear. Us? Lots of us believe ... and shrug our shoulders (as evidenced by yesterday's "lost kids" idea). "God? Yeah, He's cool. So?" That does not bode well for living faith.

You see, the human being is pretty straightforward when it comes to faith. Here's the standard rule of all humans: You always act based on what you really believe.

Here, imagine this. I'm sitting in the room with you and tell you, "There's a bomb in my briefcase set to go off in 3 minutes." Do you believe me? It should be fairly simple to tell if I'm telling the truth. What do I do? If I sit there calmly and do nothing, I'm lying. I don't really believe what I said or I'd act on it.

Do you believe in an actually sovereign God? Then why would you worry? Worry contrasts "sovereign God". Do you believe that God is omnipotent? Do you question whether He can do something? Do you see that these two are contradictory? In both examples -- worry or doubt -- you are saying that while you "believe" in God's sovereignty and omnipotence, you don't actually believe in them because the belief doesn't engage your living. It is "dead faith". Do you "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ"? You do well. But if you actually believe on the Lord, then isn't it a contradiction to say, "No, Lord"? See the problem?

We all suffer from double-mindedness. We believe ... but not quite. I'm not suggesting perfect faith. I'm suggesting that you check yourself. Here are a couple of questions you might ask. First, "Do my actions reflect what I say I believe?" Very important. Second, "What does what I do say that I really believe?" Test yourself. "Oh, yeah," you might say on self-examination, "I can see areas that I say I believe but my actions and attitudes say that I don't." What then? It's a biblical prayer: "I do believe; help my unbelief" (Mark 9:24).