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The apostle Paul said that we are saved by grace through faith
and that it is not of ourselves; it is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8-9). James, on the other hand, said that
faith without works is dead (James 2:26). Who is right? Martin Luther, God's grace champion who lit
the torch to begin the reformation in Europe, at first had a problem with
James' epistle. He felt that
James was contradicting Paul.
Is James’ call for works a contradiction of Paul’s grace salvation? “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he
has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without
clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace,
be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you do not give them what is necessary for
their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead,
being by itself. But someone may well say, ‘You have faith and I have works;
show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my
works.’ You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe,
and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith
without works is useless?” (James 2:14-20). When we look more
closely at exactly what James is teaching, we discover that he does not
contradict Paul's stand on the free grace of God at all. James does not
contradict Paul by saying that we are given life from God by faith plus
works. Rather, he is saying that the faith that gives us life will produce
works. Read further in Ephesians
2. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one
may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Eph.
2:8-10). Paul is teaching
that believers were created in Christ for good works and that God had
prepared these good works beforehand and that we would walk in them. This is
at the heart of what James is teaching! James, just prior to writing this
section, had taken believers to task about treating the wealthy differently
than they treated the poor in the congregation (James 2:1-13). In verses 14 and following, he is
telling believers to reach out to the poor! James used the unbelieving, arrogant Jews who said they
had faith in God yet made no attempt to meet the physical needs of the poor. These religious
Jews, when approached by someone in need of clothes or food, responded with
words like "We'll pray for
you, brother." They made no attempt to help those who were in obvious
need. They evidently claimed to believe in “one God” in an attempt to
separate them from this “new way” that James had associated himself
with. James reminded them that
the demons also believed in God. . .and trembled. To say that one
"believes in God" does not necessarily mean that one has been “born
of God.” There were many
idol-worshiping pagans who could claim “belief in God” at that time. If the
faith that one has is in the right object (the Lord Jesus Christ), their
faith will produce good works (Eph. 2:10). "Faith without works is dead," said James. By
dead, James means not productive.
Abraham James immediately
gave two illustrations of his point. "Was not Abraham justified by works
when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?" “By faith Abraham, when he was tested,
offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his
only begotten son” (Heb. 11:17). Abraham’s offering of Isaac was his work of faith. It was
the work that God had foreordained Abraham to do. It was the work that
verified Abraham’s faith. Genesis tells us that by faith in the
Lord Abraham received the righteousness necessary for life. "And
Abraham believed in the Lord and it (his faith) was imputed to him (placed
on his account) for righteousness" (Gen. 15:6; commentary mine). Paul used this same
illustration of saving faith in Romans 4:1-5 when he said that Abraham was
not justified by works before God, but rather his justification before God
came by faith alone. However, years later, Abraham's faith produced a work of
faith. Abraham was asked by God
to offer his son Isaac on an altar. What a tremendous test of Abraham's
faith! Abraham's living faith in the Lord was capable of producing this good
work. Abraham was able to produce that work of faith because God had
foreordained him to do so (Eph. 2:10). The act of offering Isaac on an altar
did not justify Abraham before God, but offering Isaac was clear evidence
that Abraham’s faith was producing works. The work of faith reveals that
faith is a living faith (James 2:22). Rahab James also used Rahab to illustrate that faith produces works. "By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those
who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace" (Heb.
11:31). Rahab, a harlot in Jericho, hid Jewish spies, sparing their lives
from certain death and helping to preserve the Jewish nation. There is no
written statement that Rahab had believed in the Lord in order to receive
justification. But she obviously had done so because of her work of faith.
She did this faith-work because of her faith in the Lord. Her work of hiding
and preserving the spies revealed that her faith was a living faith in the
living God. The overwhelming point of James chapter two is that the faith
that brings righteousness will produce works. God has foreordained it to be
so! Attempting to recognize
these works of faith in the lives of other believers is futile. We are never
given the responsibility of "inspecting the fruit of faith" in the
lives of fellow believers. God alone knows when, where, and how faith will produce
in the lives of believers. He is the one who has determined that this will
happen. Every believer is created in Christ Jesus to perform good works. Good
works are the proof of faith, not the means of righteousness before God. So
you see, both Paul and James are right!
New American Standard Bible Ryrie Study Bible |
What is the work of faith? |