Faith demonstrated by works
Contents
James 2:14-26 Faith proven by works
1. Verses 14-17/ Is your faith related to salvation?
. 14 My brethren, what profit is it if a man says he has faith and has no works? can faith save him?
- There are believers who profess their faith with their lips but do not act in their lives. James declares emphatically that such faith can never be saved. A very simple example is given to help us understand (verses 15-16).
. 15 If a brother or sister is naked and has no daily bread, 16 if any of you say to him, Go in peace, keep warm, and be satisfied, and give him nothing for his body.
what good is it
- If you see a brother who is starving and naked because he has no money and says, “Buy some good things and buy some nice clothes,” in words, what will it be of any help to that brother? In this way, the faith of a person who has a confession of faith but does not have works is vain, and is dead in itself.
2. Verses 18-19/ Is your faith shown to others?
. Verse 18 Some will say, "You have faith and I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds."
. Verse 19 Do you believe that there is only one God? You do well. Even demons believe and tremble.
- James cites the faith of demons as an example. Demons also know exactly who God is and are afraid before Him (cf. Mark 1:24). But their faith never saves them. Because their lives and their beliefs play apart. After all, the beliefs of demons are mere intellectual beliefs. A perfect belief is to go beyond the intellectual and to affect knowledge, affection, and will, that is, the entire personality.
3. Verses 20-26/ Examples of faith demonstrated by works: Abraham and Rahab the prostitute
. Verse 20, O foolish man, do you want to know that faith without works is futile?
- The word "empty" means "empty". It means a foolish person, an empty-headed person. In other words, a person who lives a life of faith based on simple intellectual beliefs without works is such an empty-headed person. Their religious life has no concept like this. It's just belief. Because other people do it, because your parents do it, because your friends do it... you just do it. It is only imitating the appearance. To the believers who live in this way, James proves their faith in vain by showing specific examples of the Bible. (vain: meaning useless, barren, unfruitful). Let's look at James' argument to prove that faith without works is futile.
21 Was not our father Abraham justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith worked with his works, and his faith was made complete by his works. 23 So it is said in the scriptures that Abraham believed God You said it was reckoned as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God
24 Judging from this, a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way, was not Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
- When Abraham began his life of faith, God gave him a great promise. Abraham's life shows how God fulfilled his promise and how he endured this process by faith. Abraham is called the father of faith because he was chosen as the example of faith for us. After waiting for 25 years, at the age of 100, he miraculously had a son, Isaac. When the son was a young man, God commanded Abraham to sacrifice him as a burnt offering. Will you obey? will you disobey? I had to choose. At this time, Abraham believed in God. Even if he killed his only begotten son Isaac as a burnt offering, he believed that God would surely fulfill the promise he had made to him. This Abrahamic faith was by no means an ideological or intellectual faith. It was clearly a faith demonstrated by works.
- Mention one more example. This time it's a woman. This is Rahab, a prostitute who was a resident of Jericho. Before the Israeli invasion, the inhabitants of Jericho were terrified when they knew that they had been destroyed. Through the rumors, he knew how the God of Israel worked hard on Egypt and how he destroyed the Amorites east of the Jordan. But their belief did no good to them. No action was taken. At this time, Rahab the prostitute risked her life to hide the spies sent by Israel and helped them escape safely. This Rahab's faith was clearly demonstrated by works.
- Then, how should we understand the claim that we are justified by the works of James and not just by faith? Let's read Joshua 1:7. “Keep observing all the laws that Moses my servant commanded you, and do not turn to the right or to the left, so that you may prosper wherever you go.” In the early days of faith, you cannot see the big picture of faith, so you tend to lean toward one side. For example, the Bible says to honor your parents. However, there is also a passage in the New Testament that says that if you do not hate your parents, you will never become a disciple of Jesus (Luke 14:26-27). In the Bible, there is a God of war and a God of peace. There is a God who blesses and there is a God who curses. Some verses tell us to just stand still and wait for God's salvation, while others emphasize the act of reaping what we sow. There is also a verse saying, If anyone sins against me, I will blot him out of my book (Exodus 32:33), and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand (John 10:28). There are also verses. Do not lean to the left or right means to live a complete and balanced life of faith with discernment.
- To sum up, the righteousness that Paul speaks of through faith refers to being born again as a child of God when we believe in the atonement of Jesus Christ (a unilateral declaration from God that has nothing to do with my works), and the righteousness attained by the works that James speaks of. Righteousness) refers to the sanctification in which Christians who are born again through justification by faith are established as righteous people who can be recognized by God.
- It will be helpful to understand salvation by dividing it into three stages. There are three stages: past, present and future.
. Past salvation is the salvation we got when we heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and accepted Him as our Savior at some point in the past. This past salvation frees us from any condemnation (Romans 8:1). It corresponds to the salvation of the spirit.
. Present salvation means being delivered from the direct influence of sin. This is called sanctification. We experience the concrete fruits of salvation that change our character and change our language and behavior. It is a process that entails many efforts to repent of the sins that are realized and to be raised up as worthy of the kingdom of God. It is the process of being raised as a disciple and becoming a soldier. The most important salvation is this present salvation. It is the salvation of the soul.
. Finally, it is the salvation of the future. It refers to the glory of being transformed into the body of the Lord when the Lord returns. It corresponds to the salvation of the body.
- Faith is important, but actions based on faith are equally important. Let's read verse 26. “As the body without the soul is dead, so faith without works is dead.” Our faith must mature. I pray that you will be raised as a blessed believer who can show our faith to people by acting from the faith of a child to the faith of a mature person.