What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? (Jas 2:14)It seems to me to be a rhetorical question. That is, the obvious answer ... indeed, the reason for asking the question ... is "No!", making it a dangerous question. "Is your faith a saving faith?"
James goes on to argue the point. He gives an example of someone who sees someone else in need and ... wishes them well ... without, you know, actually helping. Did they actually wish them well if they simply wished and didn't do? He goes on to say, "Even so ..." (as in, "In the same way ... ") "... faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself" (James 2:17). And that's the chilling part. James is arguing that there is a type of faith that is ... dead, useless, not saving. We learn that this faith may be spoken ("someone may say ...") or even correct ("You believe that God is one"), but it's not saving faith if it lacks a particular component. "You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone" (James 2:24). That is, faith is required for salvation, but not a faith that is alone; it must be a faith that changes us, that produces works.
It's said that we always act on what we truly believe. That seems to be what James is saying here. If you truly believe, you will act. Don't get lost in the terminology. He's not saying we're "justified by works" in the sense of "made right with God by works." This "justified" is the same sort that Jesus used when He said, "Wisdom is justified by her deeds" (Matt 11:19). The word means "to declare right," and in this case, the works declare that the faith is real. (The NASB translates the phrase, "Wisdom is vindicated by her deeds," recognizing that this is not the "made right with God" kind of justification.) How about you? Does your life indicate that your faith is living ... or dead? You can see it's a critical question since there is such a thing as "faith," both claimed and correct, that is dead and, therefore, useless.
I believe that "Is your faith a saving faith?" is the most critical question--a spiritual life-and-death matter, in fact. I know that Scripture teaches that a saving faith--i.e. one generated from the Holy Spirit to enliven my dead heart--will produce good works out of that new life. “The proof is in the pudding” applies here, I think; it simply can’t not grow and bear fruit, if it’s truly a living faith. In recent years, I have become aware of another critical question about my faith that relates to that first one: “Am I manufacturing good works in order to prove--either to myself, others, or God--that my faith is the saving variety?” In other words, am I producing cleaned-up works of the flesh to be passed off as genuine fruit of the Spirit? After all, I know well what a saving faith should look like … so it’s completely possible to fake it. I might kid myself and even fool others, but I won’t deceive the Lord, of course.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Loved the Star Trek reference in the title. My husband offered this: "Beam me up, Scottie. There's no sign of intelligent life down here." :)
It is a shame that so many evangelicals have done exactly what Rome warned about in the 1500s. No Reformer would have said, "All you need is to have faith, but not change your life in any way." It is important to remember that Once Saved, Always Saved isn't a license to live as you please, exactly because of what James says here, or as Jesus says when He is talking about inspecting fruit. We confirm our saving faithby our changed lives, which means the works we do. Anyone that says otherwise is selling something.
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