Faith Without Works Is Dead (James 2:14-26)

This passage has been used as a football, kicked back and fore between individuals who try and imagine that James is disagreeing with Paul about how a person is justified before God. With regard to what is said here about Abraham and Rahab, we can assume that Paul was aware of what James had written because this letter was one of the first of the New Testament letters to be composed. Paul may even have read it when it reached the synagogues in Damascus where many Christians had fled after the persecution connected to the death of Stephen. Yet Paul made no attempt to have the letter of James removed from Christian circles; indeed, he spoke highly of James in his letters. It is also important to remember that James wrote this section to deal with an area of pastoral concern and not as a contribution to the local theological society.

It is important for Christians to remember four things when they hear this suggestion about the alleged contradiction between James and Paul. First, behind the human authors of the Bible is the Holy Spirit who inspired them to write what they wrote. And to suggest that he led one of them to write something that was wrong is blasphemy. Second, the failure of some commentators and others to see that Paul and James agree is only evidence that scholars can be as spiritually blind and as interested in questioning the veracity of the Bible as anyone else. Third, when they are told by some authors that even Martin Luther had problems with what James said, they should first ask if Luther maintained this view because Christian leaders can make mistakes at an earlier stage in their lives that they later regret. Even if he did not change his mind, we don’t regard any human leader as infallible.

Fourth, it is possible for some words to have different meanings depending on the context in which they are used. An obvious one is the word ‘salvation’. Does it mean rescue from a dangerous physical situation or does it mean deliverance from eternal punishment? Or the word ‘heaven’. Does it mean the atmosphere or the night sky or the dwelling place of God? The word ‘faith’ can refer to an intellectual response or to a heart response, to a false claim or to dependence on Jesus. The word ‘justify’ can mean ‘reckon righteous’ or ‘vindicate’. Inspiration does not mean that biblical writers must mean the same thing whenever they use a word, which is the danger connected to using a concordance rather than examining a passage.

The issue that James is concerned with here is genuine faith. Someone must have been teaching that works were unnecessary and that a faith without works was acceptable. Maybe they were misapplying what Paul had been teaching because he was involved in teaching in the church in Antioch at the time this letter was written. It is possible to have such a faith. James points out that this is the kind of faith that the demons have, and it is not confined to them. After all, the devil has an accurate faith and in a certain sense his faith produces the right response for him, which is that he shudders at the prospect awaiting him. The obvious danger that James is dealing with is an orthodoxy without practice. We obviously object to a practice without orthodox beliefs, that is liberalism. But here James is countering orthodoxy without practice, which is a danger facing all evangelical churches.

James is not suggesting that a person with a false faith only has to add works to it in order to make it genuine. His point is that a genuine faith in Christ will produce certain works automatically. Adding external works to a false faith does not produce saving faith because it is an attempt to add an external activity whereas true biblical living flows from faith in God and is not an addition to it. The fact of the matter is that these verses are very serious and solemn because they call us to a reality check about the nature of our personal faith.

Two Old Testament examples

James uses the examples of Abraham and Rahab to illustrate how faith and works go together. He also takes an incident from each of their lives to make his points: the one from the life of Abraham is his offering of his son Isaac on Mount Moriah and the one from the life of Rahab occurred just before her hometown of Jericho was destroyed by Israel in obedience to God.

Looking at those two examples, we can see several differences between them. First, Abraham was an established believer, having followed God for several decades, before being asked to obey in this unusual way. In contrast, Rahab was a new believer, just converted. So we can deduce from these examples that real faith shows appropriate works at each stage of its development.

Second, Abraham had entered the kingdom of God through receiving a profound, personal encounter when the God of glory appeared to him and called him to leave Ur and head away to an unknown country, depending only upon God for guidance. In contrast, Rahab had only heard reports of what God had done in Egypt forty years earlier when he delivered his people from bondage; in addition, she knew what the spies had told her. Yet the difference in their conversions did not mean that their faith would be without appropriate works. We have similar accounts of conversion. Some have very vivid encounters with God that overwhelm them and can be reported in graphic language; others only hear the story about Jesus and begin to depend upon him because they recognise it is true. Does it matter whether our conversion is like Lydia’s or like the Philippian jailor’s? Not really. What matters is that our subsequent faith is evidenced by works.

Third, Abraham’s faith showed its reality in a very peculiar personal situation whereas Rahab’s faith showed its reality by identifying with the enemies of her people. In a sense, Rahab was only doing what Ruth would later do when she left the Moabites and adhered to the Israelites. We can say that Rahab only did, in her own way and time, what every Christian does when he or she begins serving the Lord – they leave the old way of life with its various ungodly features and join God’s people. In contrast, Abraham was placed in a very traumatic situation in which his faith was put to the severest of tests over a short period of time, and which seemed to be the opposite of everything God had said previously about the holy line descending through Isaac. Yet the point that James is making is that both of them showed by their responses that their faith was genuine.

Fourth, I think it is possible to see in Abraham’s testing and response an example of adhering to the first table of the law in that he showed he was prepared to fear God above his personal hopes. And it is possible to see in Rahab’s response an awareness of the law written on her heart because her actions can be classified as loving her neighbour as she showed care for the Israelite spies and for her relations whom she rescued. James has been speaking about the law and the Christian life in the previous verses of his book. He does not say that keeping the law will give spiritual life, but he does indicate that keeping it is an appropriate response to have been forgiven and is evidence of genuine faith.

Fifth, it could also be the case that the two examples selected by James were an indication to his readers to expect outsiders to join their communities. Both Abraham and Rahab were pagans when God called them, and those believers who had been scattered from Jerusalem were witnessing to Gentiles, according to what Luke says in the Book of Acts. It would have been encouraging for such to know that pagans can show true faith even when from such unlikely backgrounds.

Sixth, both Abraham and Rahab were challenged to act on their own when it came to faith. There were no other believers in Ur when God appeared to Abraham, although we know that Sarah would have believed soon after. And there were no other believers in Jericho when Rahab chose to identify herself with the God of Israel. True faith will stand by itself if it has to.

Abraham’s action showed he was justified

James points out that Abraham’s authentic faith led to divine approval and he cites two Old Testament verses as evidence. The first is from the book of Genesis, but from an occasion before he offered up Isaac, when the Lord made a covenant with him (Gen. 15:6).  On that occasion the Lord had declared that Abraham was reckoned as righteous because he believed what God had said. When James applies that verse to this later incident in the life of Abraham, he is saying that Abraham’s faith was active all along the path that Abraham took to and up Mount Moriah, and that his readiness to offer up his son proved or completed the genuineness of his faith. This action by him on Moriah fulfilled that previous justification in that it proved his justification was true. This only means that every activity motivated by faith completes it and reveals that the believer has true faith and is a person who has been justified previously by God. Believers have to act in faith all the time. Abraham did nothing on that occasion apart from faith in God. His activity on this occasion showed that the faith he had commenced years before was genuine.

The second reference may be to 2 Chronicles 20:7 where Jehoshaphat says that Abraham was God’s friend or to Isaiah 41:8 where God says that Abraham was his friend. This was a great privilege for Abraham. Maybe some might have wondered if the request made by God to Abraham was an indication that God did not like him and was trying to destroy his promises. After all, there had been those who once seemed to walk with God but who then abandoned any attempt to follow him. Whether anyone thought so or not, James reminded his readers that the Lord regarded Abraham highly and told a later generations of Israelites that Abraham had been his friend. Is James saying that faith in God and friendship with God go together?

Rahab’s actions showed that she was justified

There is a sense in which Rahab’s faith is more surprising because, unlike Abraham, she had no personal direction from God on which to base her actions. Instead, she had had to exercise a brave faith, which included the awareness that she deserved to be condemned with the rest of Jericho. Moreover, we can say that she even had a big faith because she accepted the possibility that others in her family circle would follow her example and reap the benefits. From one point of view, her faith was evangelistic and compassionate.

What blessings did Rahab receive from exercising faith in God at that time? Here are four. First, she married a prominent member of the tribe of Judah called Salm  on and they had a godly family – Boaz was her son. Second, her descendants became the royal line from which David and other kings of Judah came. Third, she along with Abraham before her became ancestors of Jesus. Fourth, Rahab went to heaven when she died.

What kind of works prove that faith is genuine?

I suppose we could give different answers to this question. One answer would be to focus on internal activities such as a healthy prayer life. But James does not go down that road. Instead he focuses on practical activities as described in verses 14-17. A true faith will give practical help to a person in need. He points out that it is not enough to talk about an issue of need. In addition, there has to be practical action about it. I watched a TV programme recently in which an individual was arguing that Britain should take in more refugees. The presenter then asked the audience to put their hands up if they would take a refugee into their homes, and as far as I could see, the person who was arguing that Britain should take more did not put his hand up. I wonder what James would have said about such a response.

James’ words indicate that a Christian’s primary duty regarding help is to show it to other believers – the brother and the sister mentioned in verse 15. Later on, Paul would agree with this when he writes in Galatians 6:10: ‘So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.’ The point that James is making is that a living faith shows itself in spontaneous practical care of others. Otherwise it is not a living faith.

At the time he wrote this letter, helping a believer in need was a matter of identification that could land someone in trouble with the authorities. But it was also a means of identification with Jesus. When Jesus met Saul on the road to Damascus, the Saviour probably was thinking about those to whom James was writing when he said to Saul, ‘Why do you persecute me?’ The ones who were being persecuted by him were those he had forced to flee, and indeed he was on his way to Damascus to get hold of them.