Commentary: James 2:18-26

¹⁸But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ¹⁹You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder! ²⁰Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? ²¹Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? ²²You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; ²³and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"-- and he was called a friend of God. ²⁴You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? ²⁶For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Faith and Works are Inseparable

James’ illustration in verses 18-26 are a very practical and logical extension of the point he began arguing in verses 14-17. In my previous commentary I illustrated the point that you cannot talk about faith without also taking about works because the two are integral to one another. In light of what James says it is necessary to re-evaluate your personal definition of faith. Most people that I know seem to characterize faith as only “belief”. While that may be one vital component of faith we must also force ourselves to consider the biblical perspective of faith. Sadly, faith has been ill defined by much of Christian culture. I say ill defined because when you ask numerous Christians to define faith they can generally only speak of believing in something. This reveals a lack of biblical foundation in understanding faith. I think James recognized that this gap could occur. So in order to clearly and cleanly illustrate the true nature of faith, God gave James the wisdom of verses 18-26.

James Imagines and Responds to Objections on this Teaching

Verse 18 is an example of an objection that James is well aware may occur when this teaching of faith and works is heard. James understood that someone may say, “Hey, you think your faith is so great but my works stand out as my testament of righteousness.” Then James responds to this objection by simply saying, “Show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith by my works.” In the latter half of verse 18 James is merely stating the fact that it is a logistical impossibility to demonstrate your faith apart from your works. James seems on the verge of beating a dead horse. He just keeps finding different ways to say that you cannot illustrate faith without works. I think there is an important reason that James is adamant about making this distinction as clear as humanly possible.

Consider, for a moment, the audience that James is addressing. In chapter 1 James greets “the twelve tribes in the dispersion”. He is writing to Israelites in exile. Why would it be important for James to drive home the inseparable nature of faith in conjunction with works? The reason is simple. The Israelites lived their lives by “laws”. Their whole lives were centered around accomplishing what the law required of them. So they had a very high emphasis of works forming the entire basis of righteousness. However, the very notion of Jesus being the supplication for righteousness would have blurred and confused this idea for many of the Israelites. So James is logically beginning where their confusion is likely to begin. He is beginning to show his audience that works has never been meant to stand on its own apart from faith, or vice versa. James will show them a bigger picture of their understanding for works and bring it back to a very old biblical ideology, an ideology that has existed since the beginning of creation. That ideology is this: Faith and works, which are inseparable, are both key components of what it means to humble yourself before God and honor Him as the King that He truly is.

Why the harsh nature of verses 19 & 20?

“¹⁹You believe that God is one. You do well; even the demons believe – and shudder! ²⁰Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?”

One thing that you can say about James is that he wastes no time with words. In contrast someone like Paul uses many metaphors. James, however, seems to cut straight to the point. Imagine that someone outside of Oasis wrote a letter to our church. Imagine that this person is someone that the leadership of Oasis trusts implicitly. Then imagine that this person wrote a letter to Oasis to address a concern that he/she saw within the infrastructure of the body. Next imagine that something like verse 20 is contained in that letter. It is quite obvious that James is eager to defend God’s word when someone has either perverted it or misunderstood it. Here James calls the one who doesn’t understand this teaching of faith and works a foolish person. Yikes! Yet he will be more brutal than that later on. In the closing stages of his letter, James will refer to certain individuals in the church as adulterous people because they request things from God only to spend it on their own passions. One might ask, “Isn’t this a little harsh? Does he have to speak so hotly with us? Is it really necessary to resort to name calling?” To the one who would ask such questions I would respond like this: James is calling us to abhor our own sin. Sin is a repugnant thing that bears no good. James isn’t calling us names. He is simply illustrating simple truths with very direct language. We’re not use to direct language in our culture. We live in a time of loopholes, excuses, and mindless banter from people that should know what they’re talking about.  When we hear someone speak clearly, concisely, and with blunt force trauma it comes as a great shock to us because we’re just not used to that kind of linguistic tactic. What I hear in verse 20 is not that I’m being called names but rather that this theological truth is so important to grasp onto that if you fail to do it then you will simply be foolish in your understanding of this very important lesson which is filled with the wisdom that can only come from God.

Even God’s Enemies Shudder at His Existence

Verse 19 is the perfect lead into verse 20. James is so adept at knowing when and how to bring human beings back down to their appropriate level. Verse 19 says, “You believe that God is one. You do well; even the demons believe – and shudder.” In other words James is saying that while it is good to understand that God is the one and only God and there are no other above him, do not become puffed up in your thinking. James then draws out this interesting parallel by saying that even demons, those who are enemies of God, believe that He is the one true God and in this knowledge they shudder. What an amazing thought. God’s enemies shudder at the fact that he exists. This merely shows how great and terrible our God is. I know that seems like an oxymoron but it should bring great comfort to those who love Him. There is a reason why we should rejoice with trembling in our hearts before our sovereign Father. If we have a big, biblical view of God, then it will be nearly impossible for us to stop ourselves from falling to our knees to worship Him in love and with a healthy, biblical understanding of fear. Verse 19 compliments verse 20 by making clear that it is foolish for us to think that all we are special in believing that God is the only God in existence. Even those who stand opposed to God believe that. James is pleading with us yet again to dig further into the understanding that God has made available for us. The purpose of this is to develop and further our understanding of the bigness, the greatness, the righteousness, and the gloriousness of the God that we get the privilege to serve every day of our lives. God is not foolish and neither should His people be. Don’t be content with knowing little of what God’s word says.

The Sacrifice of Isaac

Verse 21-23 is used as an illustration to show how faith and works go together. To get a larger appreciation of the story being referenced I would urge you to go back to Genesis 22. This chapter in Genesis tells the story of how God tested Abraham by saying, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I shall tell you.” Here’s what is amazing about this story…dramatic renditions of this story have Abraham portrayed as an agonized father leading his son to certain death. Yet the Bible gives no account or support for this. People just assume that they would personally struggle with such a command so why shouldn’t Abraham. Perhaps Abraham was tormented by this request from God but there is no Biblical evidence to support this claim. Abraham simply obeyed. The Bible does not speak of tears shed over the sons body. It merely paints a matter of fact picture of how Abraham believed in God’s demands and that he valued God’s commands more than anything else in this world. But Abraham didn’t just believe God, he acted upon what God told him to do and that is the whole point that James is making with this illustration. James is saying that if a person is truly a believer in God then that person will also be a follower of God’s desires. This entails that a person “do the word” rather than just “hear the word”. Both are crucial but if you hear the word and don’t do the word, then perhaps you have no real idea what faith actually is. Please recall what James told us in chapter 1, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

Also consider this story of Abraham and Isaac in conjunction with James 1:2. Abraham valued God more than he valued the life of his only son, a son who the Bible tells us that Abraham loved. To our ears this may sound wrong and unloving. Someone might say, “If Abraham truly loved his son he would never have put him through that whole ordeal.” Actually I don’t think that’s true at all. I think Abraham understood what we all need to understand. God must be first in all things. God must be valued above all things. This does not mean that any person should become a dead beat parent or behave irresponsibly with their child. Abraham was not behaving like an irresponsible parent when he offered up his only son Isaac on the altar. Abraham was doing the most responsible thing he could have done at that moment and that was to follow the will of God. I’ll be the first to admit that this is a difficult thing to grip. As I write these words I struggle a little even though I know it is true. However, this story teaches us about the value of God versus the value that we place on ourselves.

The Regenerated Life Will Have Certain Characteristics

Verse 24 says, “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” This verse is really the punctuation on the point that James is making here. The example that follows this verse is merely more Biblical foundation for this argument. The bottom line in this whole discourse is that if your faith is alive and not dead, your life will take on a transformed nature. It will be obvious by works that you can show in the meekness of wisdom that your faith is genuine. The evidence of doing the word will permeate every facet of your life. If this is not the case then one must wonder if a persons faith is alive or dead. James gives us pretty clear guidelines to follow. If you’re sitting at home or work and you’re reading this wondering, “Is my faith alive or dead,” then I would urge you to sit down with this entire section of James, pray over what it says, seek the counsel of others and pray with them as well. At that point the answer should be readily apparent to you but only if you are prepared to humble yourself greatly before God. If you find that your life is devoid of doing the word then begin getting intentional about doing what it says.

Rahab the Prostitute

The account of Rahab that is referred to in verse 25 is told in the book of Joshua. The stage for this story is set like this: Moses has passed away and Joshua has risen up in his place. God is about to hand over the promised land to the Israelites after many many years of waiting. Joshua sends out two spies into the land and he gives them instructions to look greatly into the mighty city of Jericho. While in Jericho the two spies lodged at the home of a woman named Rahab. No doubt someone will ask, why are these two guys staying in the house of a prostitute. I have no definitive answer to this question but it may be as simple as the idea that the home of such a woman would be a place where the least amount of questions would likely be asked. Regardless of this, it was somehow discovered that the two men were lodging there. Someone was on to them and it was told to the king of Jericho, “Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.” The king wasted no time in responding. He most likely sent armed men with a message to Rahab saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.” But Rahab was thinking one step ahead of them. She had hid the Israelite spies and she had also spun out a convincing story to the kings men. Needless to say, the spies escaped this peril and were able to return to Joshua. But why did Rahab do this? The great renown of the one true God had reached the people of Jericho. They had heard of how the Israelite God had brought them out of Egypt and dried up the Red Sea. They had also heard of how the Israelite God had already led his people to victory in battles against powerful armies. These things made Rahab acknowledge the greatness of God by saying to the two spies, “…for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.” Both Rahab and her family were spared in the sacking of Jericho because they believed and because they did what was right in the eyes of God.

Concluding Remarks

Verse 26 says, “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, faith apart from works is dead.” I don’t think there is a need for a waterfall of words here. James has illustrated his point through a firm Biblical foundation in the examples of Abraham and Rahab. He has dealt forthrightly with the issues of dead and living faith. Moreover, James has challenged us once again to not be shortsighted, or false in our worship of God. Yet even more difficult road lies ahead. Chapter 3 will take us into the belly of a beast that we all wrestle. The tongue takes center stage in our next exploration of this letter. Go ahead and read the first twelve verses of chapter 3. Be challenged, encouraged, and strengthened by them.

Comments

[Amy Hoffman]

Chad, this was quite a bit to chew on, but good nonetheless. I enjoy contemplating your thoughts and I enjoy seeing how God is molding you. This is good stuff.

[Mark Murray]

This reminds of the last time I went to Niagra Falls. I observed a man pushing a wheel barrow across the falls on a rope that stretched from side to side. I watched him go over to the other side, then back again. I watched him do this several times. As he ended his trip back to the side I was on, I told him how amazed I was at what he was able to do. "I've been watching you for about four hours now, going back & forth. That's fantastic!" I exclaimed. "I've never seen anything quite like it!"
Then he asked me this question, "Do you think I can do it again?"
"Why sure I do!" I said with certainty. "After all I watched you do it several times now."
To which he replied, "OK, come on, get in."

You can say that you trust Him, but it's not really faith until you get in the wheel barrow.

Mark

[Chris Stewart]

Cool. Did you get in?

[Mark Murray]

well, this allegory doesn't go that far, but I'm sure I would have. I may have had to be convinced. Even Moses needed some coaxing. But yes I trust Him! And I am in the wheel barrow.

Mark