Faith and Deeds
14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
My Understanding: We have all probably heard the phrase, “Actions speak louder than words,” at some point in our lives. What this means is that what people really do is more important than what they say they are going to do. People can pledge to do things but then fail to produce. A good example of this is the story in the Bible, about the two sons, which can be found in Matthew 21:28-32. The father asked the first son to do something. The son said he would not do it, but later he changed his mind, went and did what the father asked. The second son said he would do it, but then he didn’t follow through with what he said he would do. The question was posed by Jesus as to which son did what his father wanted, and the obvious answer was the first son. Jesus told this parable to the religious leaders. The moral of the story was that the tax collectors and prostitutes were entering heaven ahead of the religious leaders, because when they heard the gospel, they believed, but the religious leaders did not repent and believe like the tax collectors and prostitutes did.
James, in these verses in chapter two, poses a similar scenario. He basically asks the question of whether or not you can have saving faith if that faith is not combined with deeds that should accompany such a faith. So, in essence, he is asking the same question Jesus asked – which son did what the father asked? It was not the son who said he would obey, i.e. it was not the son who said he believed and that he would follow the Lord Jesus Christ with his life, but it was the son who actually did what the father asked. James said that faith, by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. The second son’s words were dead, too, because they were not accompanied by action. He did not follow through on what he said he would do. So, it is the same with faith. True faith is proved by its actions.
James gave several illustrations to prove his point, one of which is that if we say we believe in one God, we have to know and realize that the demons also believe that, and they shudder. The demons put some Christians to shame, because the demons’ shuddering reveals that they recognize the power of Almighty God, i.e. they have the fear of God instilled within them, and many believers today take God for granted. We, as believers, should not be afraid of God, but we should have a reverent awe, honor, and respect of Him that is so lost today among believers in Jesus Christ. How do I know? It is obvious by how so many live their lives without regard to whether or not what they are doing is pleasing to God or not or whether or not it honors and brings glory to the name of Jesus Christ. We should stand in awe of Jesus for who He is and for what He did for us in dying for our sins. If we had this kind of awe and fearful respect of Almighty God, we wouldn’t say we believe in Jesus and claim to be his followers and then continue to live like the world.
Then, James gave the example of Abraham as evidence that faith without deeds is useless. Some people feel that James’ teaching on this subject contradicts Paul’s teaching in Romans 4 where he states that Abraham was justified by faith, not by works. James said that Abraham was considered righteous for what he did, because his faith and actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. Yet, Paul stated that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness before he was circumcised, so the act of circumcision is not what saved him. He was justified by faith, not by works. So, who is right? Both!
When we continue reading in Romans (chap. 4), we learn that after Abraham believed, he received the sign of that faith (his covenant with God), which was circumcision, which also was a seal of the righteousness he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The believer in Jesus Christ is also given a sign and a seal of our faith, and that is the promised Holy Spirit coming into our lives to indwell us and to do his work of grace in giving us new lives in Jesus Christ, free from sin, and risen with Christ to be clothed in his righteousness. If Abraham had not followed through with what God had asked him to do in being circumcised, where would his faith be? Abraham’s faith, in Romans 4 and in Hebrews 11 is described this way:
• He believed against all hope
• He did not weaken in his faith
• He did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God
• He was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God
• He was fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised
• He obeyed and went even though he did not know where he was going
• He made his home in a foreign land
• He lived in tents
• He became a father (he physically participated in this process) of many nations
• He offered his son Isaac as a sacrifice
All of these descriptions of Abraham’s faith show some type of action of mind, heart or body in obedience to God in accordance with the commands and promises of God and as evidence that Abraham believed God, which is why it was credited to him as righteousness. So, James is right. Abraham’s faith and actions were working together and his faith was made complete by what he did. Paul was right, as well, because the faith preceded the actions, and the actions were merely the sign that true faith actually existed. For Abraham, he had to follow through with what God required of him to do, and he relied upon God to give him the strength he needed to do this. For us, we have the indwelling Holy Spirit within us to empower us to repent, and to obey God, so that our actions work together with our faith. Then, our faith is made complete by what we do in the power and strength of the Holy Spirit at work within us for God’s purposes and glory, as we cooperate with God in allowing the Spirit of God to have the throne of our hearts and to change us and make us new creatures in Christ Jesus, to purify our hearts and to make us holy.
Jesus Christ (God) came to earth, he became a man (took on human flesh), was tempted as we are tempted, yet without sin, and he suffered like we suffer, so that could become our perfect, and yet sympathetic and compassionate high priest. He was abandoned, denied and betrayed by his close friends and companions. Then, he was crucified on the cross for our sins, i.e. he was persecuted, ridiculed, spat upon and scourged by his enemies, and then they hung him on a cross, when he had committed no crime. Not only did he suffer this horrible death on the cross, but he took upon himself all of our sins. Our sins were thus crucified with him, they were buried with him, and then he rose from the grave triumphantly over them in conquering death, hell, Satan and sin – the penalty of sin and the control of sin over our lives on a daily basis. He did all this because he loves us so very much. He did all this so that we could be free from sin and the control of sin over our lives and so we could be free to love and to serve and to obey Him in all things, because then we are truly free! The song says:
Much Too High A Price / Jesus Paid It All / Phil McHugh and Greg Nelson
You paid much too high a price for me, Your tears, Your blood, the pain –
To have my soul just stirred at times yet never truly changed.
You deserve a fiery love that won’t ignore your sacrifice
Because You paid much too high a price.
http://www.music-lyrics-gospel.com/gospel_music_lyrics/much_too_high_a_price_9499.asp
Because of what Jesus Christ did for us in dying on the cross for our sins and then in rising from the dead so that we could be dead to our own sin and we could be resurrected to live new lives in Jesus Christ, free from the control of sin, and free to walk in obedience to our Lord Jesus, this should inspire us to leave our lives of sin behind us, and it should stimulate us to want to walk in obedience to God and to the Lord Jesus, who saved us out of those lives of sin so that we could walk in freedom and in victory. Jesus paid much too high a price for us for us to just say we believe, to have some kind of intellectual assent to who Jesus is and what he did, for us to just go through religious exercises or to have emotional experiences that never produce the kind of action that proves genuine faith exists within us.
The sign and the seal of our faith is the Holy Spirit within us doing his work of grace in changing our lives and in making us holy. If there is no evidence of changed lives after we say we have believed, i.e. if we are like the son who said he would do what the father asked, but then he never did what the father asked him to do, then chances are we are not in genuine relationship with Jesus Christ and our faith has never moved beyond the faith of the demons who believe and shudder. True faith in Jesus Christ is evidenced by our actions, but the actions are the working of the Holy Spirit of God within our hearts as we yield control of our lives over to God and we cooperate with God/Jesus in becoming who God designed for us to be. This is not works-based salvation. This is true and genuine faith that works together with our actions so that our faith is made complete by what we do in the power, grace and strength of our Lord Jesus Christ working in us and through us for his glory, praise and honor.
If you do not have this kind of faith as what James talks about and Paul talks about, i.e. the kind of faith that Abraham had where his faith was made complete by what he did, then I encourage you to make sure today that you are in genuine relationship with Jesus Christ.
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