The Kind of Faith that Saves...

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.  But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!  But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? --James 2:14-20


Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna and Mikayla,

The key to the understanding of this passage is in verse 14.  What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?  Note here that James is not saying that this person has faith, but that he is claiming to have it.   James is really asking if this kind of faith...the kind that is not evidenced in works, can save? Faith cannot be just an emotional or intellectual assent...it must be evidenced in active, committed obedience to the word.

I love the example he uses in verse 15 and 16.  Many of us profess compassion for the hungry, weak and poor among us, but if we do nothing, what does that profession mean.  It means that our professed compassion is a lie.  It is phony...fake...not real...there is nothing of substance behind it.  The same can be said for the kind of faith that is not evidenced in works...it is an empty profession. Talk is cheap, says James!

In an attempt to perhaps shock his readers James talks about the faith of demons.  Yes, demons have faith...it is clear from Scripture that they believe in the existence of God and the deity of Christ.  The Believer's Bible Commentary says that they also recognize Christ as judge, believe in the existence of hell and submit to the power of the word.  The man with dead faith believes only in his mind but the demons believe not only with their mind but also feel  their belief in their emotions...they tremble.  Belief can be of the mind and the emotion but if it is not of the heart and evidenced by a change in your behavior..i.e. a changed life...it is dead.  Verse 20 can literally be read this way.  "that faith without the works is dead." and also calls those who are claiming to believe and do not have works, foolish. Their belief is a sham...they are not saved.


With that said, however, it is important to remember that the bible is clear...no one is saved by works.  Salvation is entirely by grace.   

^" For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,  not of works, lest anyone should boast."--Ephesians 2:8-9

If it were by works, it would not be grace.  It should also be said that a profession of belief without genuine good works  (i.e. repentance and obedience to the Lordship of Christ) is dead...not real.   Our belief will be expressed in the new nature we receive when we believe.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.--2nd Corinthians 5:17
 
These verses in James remind me of a parable Jesus told that illustrates how true faith reveals itself through doing good to others.  Look at what the parable shows us about the relationship between faith and works and how the King is able to tell which are His true subjects.

"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;  I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' 

 "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'  And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'

"Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink;  I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' 

 "Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."--Matthew 25:31-46

Our actions will follow what our hearts believe.  God will separate his obedient followers from pretenders and unbelievers. The proof, so to speak, is in the pudding.  Our belief will be evidenced in our lives.  Do we treat all those God places in our lives as if we were serving Jesus Himself?  Make no mistake, your words, deeds and actions indicate what you really believe and think about Jesus' word to us. 


We were created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.  We are bankrupt and without hope in and of ourselves.  When we believe our Spirit is quickened to life in Christ Jesus.  When this occurs, the Spirit of God takes control of our thinking and we, by faith, begin to pour out the grace that has been shown us to others.  Look at one more example in Scripture...Zacchaeus and see how his life was changed when Jesus entered his heart.

Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.  Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.  And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature.  So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way.  And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”  So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.”

Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.”

And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham;  for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”--Luke 19:1-10

Love
Mom

Refining Fire...Amy Carmichael

"One day we took the children to see a goldsmith refine gold after the ancient manner of the East. He was sitting beside his little charcoal fire. ("He shall sit as a refiner"; the gold- or silversmith never leaves his crucible once it is on the fire.) In the red glow lay a common curved roof tile; another tile covered it like a lid. This was the crucible. In it was the medicine made of salt, tamarind fruit and burnt brick dust, and imbedded in it was the gold. The medicine does its appointed work on the gold, "then the fire eats it," and the goldsmith lifts the gold out with a pair of tongs, lets it cool, rubs it between his fingers, and if not satisfied puts it back again in fresh medicine. This time he blows the fire hotter than it was before, and each time he puts the gold into the crucible, the heat of the fire is increased; "it could not bear it so hot at first, but it can bear it now; what would have destroyed it then helps it now." "How do you know when the gold is purified?" we asked him, and he answered, "When I can see my face in it [the liquid gold in the crucible] then it is pure."
—Amy Carmichael