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.
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