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. [2:18].
When we last left the Book of James we were looking at a very controversial subject…something that is a hot topic in Christianity today…faith vs. works.
James…begins by introducing three kinds of faith…in which two are bad…like throwing a football… three things can happen and two are bad…in the same way…James is introducing two kinds of faith that are bad…I want to insert a third kind of bad faith.
First is dead faith…sometimes people assert that faith is all it takes to be a Christian…BUT…faith alone is not enough…again that sounds contradictory to what Paul says, that faith is all you need for salvation.
Salvation IS trusting in God alone…BUT…it must be whole-hearted and produce good deeds ‘I’m just hanging out till I die to go to be with Jesus’ is dead faith.
Faith is always active…it’s either producing good deeds or laying stagnant thereby being worthless to anyone.
It’s important to reiterate what I said earlier about faith and works.
If someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? [2:14]
Is salvation simply having faith in God…is just having faith in God enough to get you into Heaven?
That’s the question…Can that faith save him? …what’s the answer?…I don’t see an answer in [14].
On the surface it seems as though James is asking a question without giving you the answer…but the answer is in the question.
Don’t see this in any English translation because they all just simply state the question…Can that faith save him? Too often the English doesn’t bring out clearly what is written in the Greek… we lose something in the translation… that’s with any language.
BUT…in the Greek it gives you both the question and the answer…because the answer is in the question.
In the English it seems to be an open-ended question…can that faith save him? …the answer comes in the form of a little two letter participle (μή) (Mu-Eta) at the beginning of that question that is the KEY.
When a question begins with that word…a negative answer is expected…it negates the idea…ruling out its possibilities… so the best translation could actually be…Can that faith save him? …No, of course not.
A mere claim of faith is not sufficient…genuine faith produces good works.
Genuine faith produces a life that is God honoring.
Second kind of faith is demonic faith [2:19]
You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe–and shudder!
Even demons recognize who Jesus is…in that regard they have more sense than most people …they even call him King…their theology is amazing…they know Jesus and they know the truth associated with Him…the issue is their knowledge is informational only…not transformational.
Demonic faith is the kind of faith that believes the facts about something but it doesn’t have any bearing on their lives…goes back to the question… Can that faith save him? …No it can’t.
Believing that a man named Jesus lived 2000 years ago and was crucified is an historical fact…don’t need faith to believe that…nothing in knowing that will save you.
That’s what’s known as mental or intellectual acceptance…if your life…heart …mind…and body are not being transformed…you may be like the demons… having a demonic theology and demonic faith that is worthless.
I want to add a third kind of bad faith…emotional faith…many religions are popular because they stimulate emotions.
Some churches deliberately arrange activities that stimulate excitement and or emotions so people claim they ‘feel close to God’ or ‘feel the Spirit moving’ …mistaking emotions for spiritual mindedness.
This is accomplished in a lot of different ways…with the use of instruments or singing groups that arouse or excite to move the audience to create a mood that is more like a high school pep rally…based on feeling alone…apart from reality.
People think such activities are ‘spiritual’, but they are just natural emotions that appeal to man’s carnal desires for excitement…people may enjoy the mood but excitement is not spirituality.
Then in verses 21 thru 26 James introduces the third kind of faith…he contrasts faith that produces action with what he has just finished describing as dead faith and demonic faith using two people from the Bible.
The first is Abraham…the patriarch of the Jewish people…there is no one that is held more to a higher standard than Abraham…a man who obeyed unquestioningly the commands of God and is revered by the three great monotheistic religions… Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Abraham is the father of all those religions.
Abraham is the example…Scripture confirms Abraham as “the father of all who believe” because of Abraham’s unwavering belief in God and in God’s promises.
Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you’ (Gen.12).
—In faith he went out, not knowing where he was going (Hebrews 11:8).
—In faith being about a hundred years old He did not waver at God’s promise that he would have a son.
—In faith Abraham believed God that through him many nations would come about. That his descendants would be as numerous as stars in the sky.
—In faith Abraham was told to kill his son as a sacrifice…but believed that even in death…God could bring him back to life and did not hesitate to offer him up.
In all those instances it was a combination of both faith and works.
22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.
Understand why Abraham is called “the father of all who believe.” [Rom. 4:11]
He then contrasts Abraham’s faith against the most unlikely of all people…a woman…a Gentile…and a prostitute.
25 In the same way, (James is saying there is no distinction between what Abraham did and what this woman did)…Rahab the prostitute (was) also justified by works when she received the spies and sent them off in a different direction.
Rahab was part of a corrupt…depraved…pagan culture that was under God’s condemnation…a city that was to be destroyed…killing every living thing.
Rahab was a woman who benefited from what she heard…in her line of work she had heard from the many men that came into her establishment that the Israelites were to be feared.
She heard the stories about
…their crossing of the Red Sea on dry land…
…their wandering in the wilderness for forty years
…water coming from a rock…
…food that was just lying on the ground every morning…
…their clothes and shoes that never wore out…
…how God dried up the Jordan river and they crossed over on dry land
…their military exploits and how God fought for them.
This God of the Israelites is a God of action…unlike the statues of stone and wood others worshipped which could do nothing…these Israelites worshipped a God who protected those who worshipped Him.
So when the two spies came into Jericho she took advantage of her knowledge of what they were there for.
they came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there” (Joshua 2:1).
By Hebrew definition this woman’s lifestyle meant she should be dead…yet this is the woman whose door the two spies chose to knock on.
What’s the odds that these spies would select this particular ‘business’ to hide in…what are the chances of picking that particular place…it’s called Providence.
It is through Divine providence that God directs all things in the universe…it is how He accomplishes His will to ensure that His purposes are fulfilled…divine providence asserts that God is in complete control of all things…everything …He is sovereign over the entire universe.
A couple examples in the Bible are the stories of Joseph and Moses.
Rahab tells the spies that she knows the God of Israel is great and He is about to destroy the entire city…she’s heard the rumors.
This is how God works in the lives of people…how did she come to that conclusion that this Israelite God is without equal?…obviously no one else realized that…we see this in the story of Lydia in the New Testament…
Now a certain woman named Lydia …who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul [Acts 16:14].
When God looked down on Rahab He didn’t see a prostitute…He saw a woman who recognized God’s might…through general revelation God opened her heart to understand there was a God…because that which is known about God is evident…and is clearly seen. [Rom. 1:19]
God saw a woman who made herself available to be used by God…she didn’t know all the deep things about God…had never heard of the teachings of Moses.
But she had learned enough through general revelation to reach the correct saving conclusion…your God in heaven above and on the earth below” (Joshua 2:11).
God saw a woman who was willing to risk everything including her own life to save her family…she trusted these strangers to keep their word…to promise safety to her and her family…and they trusted her to honor her word despite the demands of the king to turn them over.
That was the result of faith with works…a faith that is coupled with actions…this is what God wants in the life of every Christian because He has plans and purposes for every person to accomplish.
Here’s the most incredible thing about this whole story…God was not done with Rahab…God continued to bless her faith and works for thousands of years …her descendants would not only include the greatest king in Israels history …King David…but whose descendant would one day include the incarnate God. This prostitute is in the linage of Jesus’ genealogy.
By mentioning the actions of these two people, James is continuing to deal with evidences of true genuine faith.
True faith is exemplified by action…both Abraham and Rahab’s faith resulted in action.
So far in his letter James has identified areas that reflect the importance of how faith works in our lives to produce action:
One….How we respond to trials that come into our life.
Two….The importance of being perfect and complete in Christ.
Three…Importance of asking in faith without doubting.
Four….Knowing temptations do not come from God.
Five….Anger does not bring about the righteousness of God.
Six……Not allowing any unwholesome words to proceed from our mouths.
Seven…Not showing favoritism.
Eight…Proving yourselves doers of the word and not just hearers only.
Genuine salvation, which is always and only by God’s grace working through man’s faith…inevitably (that faith) will be demonstrated outwardly by serving God and obeying His commandments.