James 2:14-26 is a famous passage about faith and works. Many assume it is James contradicting Paul, a logical impossibility if the Bible is breathed out by God (2 Tim 3:16-17). But that assumption comes from failing to read what James is discussing, and by reading into it other passages and ideas.
James tells us from the start what his topic is. “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” (James 2:14). He’s not talking about “saved by works.” It’s just not there. He’s talking, without a doubt, about “saved by faith.” So what is he talking about?
To illustrate his point, he uses an example. “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (James 2:15-16). James is not talking about saved by works. He’s not suggesting that taking care of people saves you. He’s not even suggesting we take care of the less fortunate. He’s saying, “If you say one thing but don’t act on it, ‘what good is that?’” He’s not talking about works that save, but faith that acts.
“So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17). That is James’ point. Genuine, living faith definitely produces works. If it does not, it is dead faith, good for nothing.
He says this in multiple ways and we often miss it. He points out that works demonstrate faith and not vice versa (James 2:18). He points out that demons believe and are scared—the works that demonstrate they believe (James 2:19).
Finally, he points to Abraham. This is the part that confuses so many, but if you’re tracking him it only makes sense. “Abraham was justified by works” (James 2:21). “There, see? Justified by works.” Stop. Keep in mind the aim. “Faith produces evidence. Works demonstrate faith.” That’s what James is saying. He uses the word “justified” in the sense of “proven right” like Jesus did in describing wisdom as “justified” by her children (Luke 7:35). Abraham’s faith was proven to be genuine, real, living—by his works.
What about you? Is your faith demonstrated by a change in your life? Does your faith cause you to be different? If not, you might have dead faith, and that can't be a good thing.
2 comments:
This particular passage from the Book of James really proves the rule that one must take all the teaching in the Bible together and not hold up isolated texts to form anomalous doctrine. James could not be teaching that we are saved by our works, of course, when so much else of the Bible clearly teaches otherwise. Instead, when taken as part of the whole, James’s words simply highlight another important facet of the gospel of grace--that the new birth changes people in demonstrable ways, that a faith received from above looks different from fleshly behavior. As a biblically minded person, I would wish to be trusting neither in good works without the assurance of a saving faith inspiring them nor in the kind of faith that produces no characteristic good works; both conditions fall short of the overall depiction of New Life in Christ.
When I hear people try to use James to teach justification by works I want to scream, "Then you are pitting James and Paul in opposition to each other." If Paul and James truly indicate that we are both saved not by works, but by faith, and that works save us, the Bible has contradiction and must be ignored as the Word of God, and we are left without Christianity.
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