Last week James told us that if we are careless with our language our religion is worthless. (Jas. 1:26) This week James tells us that if we believe without acting on it our faith is worthless. (Jas. 2:14,17,20,26).
A worthless religion and a worthless faith make a worthless Christian and a worthless church. Jesus said: You are the salt of the earth! But if the salt loses its flavor how can it be made salty again, it is then GOOD FOR NOTHING, but to be cast out and trodden under foot by men. Salt without flavor is worthless salt, it is good for nothing. James doesn’t actually say faith without works is “worthless.” James says, “Faith without works is DEAD.” Dead! That’s almost worse than worthless.
Dead faith doesn’t work. Dead faith doesn’t save. Dead faith only makes mockery of living faith by claiming to be valid when it is actually like the devil’s kind of faith. So it is not simply the claim of faith that counts but the practice. Not just the talk but the walk of faith that pleases God.
Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who DOES the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Matthew’s gospel gives us several discourses of Jesus where it is clear that our salvation hangs on this at the judgment: whether we did or did not do God’s will. James words in 2:14, 17, 20 & 24 fully agree with Jesus and strongly declare:
14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?
17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by deeds, is dead.
20You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless (or dead)?
24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
It is interesting that James has to take up this argument at all. Why does he need to talk about this? What is going on that brings this up and makes this instruction even necessary? It makes me wonder who is in his sights when he pulls the trigger here, and how did they ever get there?
Some think that James is providing a corrective for Paul’s instruction about saving faith. It is true that Paul stresses salvation by grace through faith and apart from works. Let’s go to a couple of passages that illustrate this: Ephesians 2:1-10, Romans 4:1-8. (Read)
Now, do you hear anything in the writings of Paul here that seem to conflict with what James is saying in James 2:14-26? If you listen carefully, you will hear things that sound like James and Paul are standing in opposite sides of the ring ready to duke it out. But actually it’s like heads and tails of the same coin.
I have read a few lessons by various denominational leaders in evangelical churches on these verses to see what they say. Generally I found them saying: We know that we are not saved by works but by faith alone. And Paul’s letters were referred to, particularly Romans 4 and Ephesians 2. As I read their sermons I was reminded that the great temptation here is to choose one side and stand against the other. It seems that we either must explain James through Paul, or explain Paul through James. But I think it is more serious than that. Jesus own words in Matthew must be taken into account as well. Jesus teachings in Matthew sound a whole lot like James words in his epistle. So that now you have to take the gospel of Matthew and James to explain Paul or the other way around.
Is anyone confused yet? If not let me give you some more to think about: if you lay James 2:20-24 beside Romans 4:1-5 and just read them one after the other you will notice that James and Paul use the same statement to support what appear to be opposite positions. When Martin Luther, the great reformer commented on James, he called it an epistle of straw, meaning that it was of less importance than the letters of Paul. He noted that James does not talk about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which are the very heart and soul of salvation, the very core of our saving faith. But, does that mean that James’ teachings should take a back seat to the writings of Paul? I don’t think so. Matthew 5-7 record the words of Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount, they never mention the death, burial or resurrection either, but does that make them less inspired and important? No way! While Paul is theological, James is practical and there is no biblical reason to think that what James wrote is of any less importance than Paul’s writings. Both are inspired of God, both are preserved as Holy Scripture and both need to be taken to heart and heeded by every Christian.
So… what do you do here?
In the play “Fiddler on the Roof” Tevia joins a conversation where one man says, “We need to keep out of everyone else’s business” and Tevia says, “You’re right!” Then the other man says, “If we don’t know what’s going on in the world we can’t even pray about it or do anything to prepare for what is coming.” And Tevia says, “You’re right!” Then the Rabbi’s son says to Tevia, “He says this and you say, ‘You’re right,’ and he says the opposite and you say, ‘You’re right.’ They can’t both be right!” And Tevia says, “You’re right too.”
Is James right or is Paul right? I would have to argue that they are both right! Our interpretation of them may be wrong, but what each of them is saying, that is set in such tension, is right. They are dealing with problems from two different extremes. Paul worked mainly with Gentiles and had to constantly do battle with Jewish false teachers who would come behind him and tell these new churches that they must follow the law and do the works of the law to be saved. You can read about this in Acts especially chapter 15, which, incidentally, features James and Paul in AGREEMENT. So, Paul, in his ministry to Gentiles, works to keep the Judaizing false teachers at bay with his instructions about how no one is saved by the works of the law but by grace through faith as we are led by the Spirit. James, on the other hand, is dealing with Jews who have come to understand that they are not judged by keeping the law (Hallelujah! We are free!) but then they seem to think that a confession of faith in Christ is all you need. They have thrown out not only the law of Moses but also the Lordship of Christ and the will of the Father. James has to say, “Whoa! Faith is not talk without walk. Believing God without obeying God is how the demons do it.
James has to say, “You can’t just claim faith and do nothing that shows faith; that’s dead faith, demon-like faith.”
The teaching of Paul and James on faith and works are like scissors, we need both of these blades to cut the cloth of Christian motivation and life and reveal the shape of true Christianity. I need my pride and self-righteousness stripped away by Paul’s teaching on faith (it’s not about me and my righteousness) and I need my laziness and disobedience stripped away by James’ teaching on faith (God expects me to do His will). What I don’t need is to choose one of these and make it mean something that allows me to disregard the other.
Paul makes it clear that you can’t work your way to heaven, you are saved by faith. James makes it clear that unless your faith works you will never make it to heaven, period… faith without works is dead.
This seeming contradiction actually brings out a better understanding of what is faith and how faith works.
As the Hebrew writer put it: Faith is the substance or evidence of things hoped for the certainty of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
The New Testament largely focuses on how important faith is. In the gospels Jesus is constantly observing and commenting on the faith of those who come to him. Jesus said: “Oh you of little faith!” to his disciples on occasion. Or in the case of a Gentile centurion who asks Jesus to heal his servant by simply saying the word, Jesus said: “I have not found such great faith in all Israel!” To a Syrophonecian woman who wouldn’t give up begging for Jesus to heal her daughter even after being called a dog, Jesus said, “Woman you have great faith, you may go, your daughter is healed.” The faith Jesus commented on was always active in nature. After the Holy Spirit came and the church was born faith became a word that took on a life of its own. It is not just faith, but THE faith, not just an individual matter but a corporate one:
The New Testament says things like: One Lord, one faith, one baptism… or Contend earnestly for the faith, once for all delivered to the saints.
Paul and other New Testament writers use the term “The Faith” to describe the Christian religion as a whole, or faith in the individual to describe the Christian response to the gospel. Paul’s fight against works salvation was in the context of Jewish works of the law or living good enough to merit salvation by doing enough to satisfy God’s righteous requirements. Paul plainly states that no one can be saved that way.
Then we come to the book of James. James does not use the word faith like Paul does in his letter, but limits his meaning to the mere idea of believing. James looks at those who claim to have faith, but act like they don’t and speaks out!
The message of James is pertinent to today’s American Christian faith. How many people in America do you think would claim to believe in God and Jesus Christ? How many act like it? I found this article printed in Harper’s magazine on line.
The Christian paradox:
How a faithful nation gets Jesus wrong
By Bill McKibben
What it means to be Christian in America. An excerpt from this report appeared in August 2005.
Only 40 percent of Americans can name more than four of the Ten Commandments, and a scant half can cite any of the four authors of the Gospels. Twelve percent believe Joan of Arc was Noah's wife. This failure to recall the specifics of our Christian heritage may be further evidence of our nation's educational decline, but it probably doesn't matter all that much in spiritual or political terms. Here is a statistic that does matter: Three quarters of Americans believe the Bible teaches that “God helps those who help themselves.” That was Benjamin Franklin.
Asking Christians what Christ taught isn't a trick. When we say we are a Christian nation—and, overwhelmingly, we do—it means something. And therein is the paradox. America is simultaneously the most professedly Christian of the developed nations and the least Christian in its behavior. That paradox—more important, perhaps, than the much touted ability of French women to stay thin on a diet of chocolate and cheese—illuminates the hollow at the core of our boastful, careening culture.
Despite the Sixth Commandment, we are the most violent rich nation on earth, with a murder rate four or five times that of our European peers. We have prison populations greater by a factor of six or seven than other rich nations (which at least should give us plenty of opportunity for visiting the prisoners). Having been told to turn the other cheek, we're the only Western democracy left that executes its citizens, mostly in those states where Christianity is theoretically strongest. Despite Jesus' strong declarations against divorce, our marriages break up at a rate—just over half—that compares poorly with the European Union's average of about four in ten. That average may be held down by the fact that Europeans marry less frequently, and by countries, like Italy, where divorce is difficult; still, compare our success with, say, that of the godless Dutch, whose divorce rate is just over 37 percent. Teenage pregnancy? We're at the top of the charts. Personal self-discipline—like, say, keeping your weight under control? Buying on credit? Running government deficits? Do you need to ask?
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James has a word or two to say to those Americans that claim to have faith but do not demonstrate it in their behavior. That kind of faith is dead. What we need is a funeral service for dead faith and a revival from God. We need a return to the fear of God so that we can begin the path of wisdom and learn to love God as we respond to His love poured out through Jesus Christ and we need to obey His commands as an act of true faith.
We need a living faith! A true faith! God calls us to a faith that works salvation AND sanctification in us. We need a working faith! If our faith motivates us to move in God’s will and do deeds that look like Jesus Christ, then we have a living working faith that honors the name of the One in whom we put our faith. May God grant us to have stronger, deeper faith that expresses itself in humble, honest obedience to the word of God.
Jesus once said, “When the Son of man comes will he find faith on the earth?” May God help us to be faithful unto death so that we may receive the crown of life!
