from James chapter 2 verses 14 through 26, James chapter 2 verses 14 through 26. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works, can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them go in peace, be warmed and feel without giving them the things needed for the body. What good is that? So 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 apart from your works and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe in God or believe that God is one, you do well. Even the demons believe in shutter. Do you want to be shown you foolish person that faith apart from works is useless? Does not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith, you see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works and the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God and he was in it was accounted to him for righteousness and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And 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. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. May God richly bless both the reading and the hearing of his holy word. Now it goes without saying that this text constitutes not only the most controversial portion of the book of James itself, but also the content of these verses and how they are interpretive represents a dividing or a fault line between any theology that claims a salvation that is the result of human works or faith and works or a salvage a theology that says that human salvation is a gift of divine grace that is passively received by faith. Some have suggested that James words here when he emphasizes that we are not saved by faith alone. Some have argued that James in that posture is at odds with the teachings of Paul because Paul particularly in places like Galatians and Romans is emphatic in making the case even as he does in Ephesians that we are saved by grace and not by works less any man should boast. And in Romans chapter 4 he makes it absolutely clear that it's not the one who runs or the one who works that is justified but rather it is the one who believes. In Galatians he makes it clear that there is no justification for humans through the keeping of the law, so the issue is is James at at odds with Paul when he when he makes the present or takes the position that he does that we are justified by faith that is not alone. Now it's my contention as well as it has been throughout the history of the Protestant Church to contend that there is no conflict between Paul and James. The rather it is a matter of what is what each one is emphasizing. Paul especially in his writings both in Romans and in Galatians is emphasizing what is it that gives us a right standing before God both now and for all eternity. And his point in those passages is the only thing that gives us a right standing which justification is a right legal standing before God. The only thing that gives us a right legal standing before God is God's grace that we embrace by faith and God's grace is the gift of his son and God imputes the righteousness of his son to us as Paul articulates in Romans 5 even as he imputes to him our guilt. And that is what gives us a right standing before God. And the point that James is making is really has to do with church and world. In other words we can make a claim that we are justified before God but what justifies our claim of justification before God as it relates to dealing with the world and more particularly in the context of the church. And for James he says no you can say what you want all you want but your works will prove what you profess to be. And so he is dealing with it from a whole definition. Now what we'll ultimately be doing is using verse 14 as our home base to attempt to make the case that James is not a threat to the Protestant doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone in the person and work of Christ alone. Now before we begin to look at the passage before us I want to use the basic formula and most have described it to Calvin the threefold definition of faith or the three elements of genuine saving faith that has come down to be to be held by many Protestants and most give Calvin credit for this. And John Calvin says that that faith and I'm not going to use the Latin terms I'll use the English terms. He says that faith consists of three things first off knowledge. There has to be knowledge that is presented information. You can substitute knowledge with information. Secondly, there is agreement or ascent. The knowledge or the information is presented and one must agree with it. That both of those are elements of faith. There is knowledge that is presented and then there is agreement with that knowledge and then the third element is trust. So there is knowledge, there is agreement and then there is trust. Knowledge that is presented and you can believe or not believe or be an agreement or disagreement with that knowledge but to be in agreement with the knowledge is to act in faith. And then the third thing is trust. Now it's my contention that in James, this difficult passage in James, in James he is making a case for all three elements of faith in order for a person to make a claim for James and his genuine saving faith. So in other words, James is speaking or writing in a way that would be consistent with our Protestant forebathers in saying that genuine saving faith consists in all three of these elements. So in verse 14, as our base, let's delve into this difficulty that I think is which is easily misunderstood and look at what James is actually saying. So verse 14 is going to be our base and remember what we're saying is that what James is saying is that if you don't have all three elements of saving faith then there's reason to question the legitimacy or the genuineness of that faith claim. So let's look in verse 14. And in verse 14 there are two, the two questions that are raised here is the central issue. And these two questions rest on a presupposition that Paul would be in full agreement with. In fact, I'm going to look at the two questions and juxtapose it with the statement from Paul in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 through 10. So the questions that are raised in chapter, in verse 14, first off, James says, what good isn't that someone says they have faith and does not have works? That's the first question. What good isn't if a person says they have faith and they have not worked? The second question is this, can that faith that as boys of works save them? Now here's my contention. The raising of these two questions presupposes something that is mentioned by Paul in Ephesians chapter 2. So let's look at Paul's words in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 through 10. We're very familiar with verse 8 because if Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8, Paul says for by grace you have been saved and this is not your own doing or by grace, I'm sorry, by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing when he says not your own doing, but it is the gift of God he is referring to faith. So God has saved us by his grace and then God has given us the gift of faith to receive that grace. The way we've described it or illustrated it in the past is to say like a person wants to borrow a cup of sugar, but they don't have the cup. So consider grace to be the sugar and faith to be the cup. What God does is he gives us both the substance of grace and the instrument by which we can receive it which is faith. So Paul says by for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own, it is the gift of God not a result of works so that no one may boast and here's the key part for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, for which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So therefore for James to question a person's faith because there is no works that result from it, the context in which he raises that challenge is a legitimate one and it does not overthrow what Paul has taught about salvation by grace. You see James, for James, the works that he alludes to throughout this portion or throughout this passage when he keeps referring to works is the same thing that Paul refers to as walk. So what James says when when James says works Paul was saying the works that James is referring to is your walk and so therefore they're not saying something opposite. James's or Paul says that's the purpose by the way, the purpose for the grace that we have received and the proof of that we have received that grace is seen in our walk. So the purpose, the purpose of saving grace is so that we would be the workmanship of Christ created for good works because outside of Christ we're not capable of good works. So we have been saved by grace so that we would do the will of God which James refers to as works and Paul refers to as our walk and our walk in grace is the purpose for which we have been saved and it's to some degree the proof that we have genuine saving faith. It is proof of our being of our position in Christ. So that's where we begin Paul, or James raises the question, those two questions can a person, a person who says that they have faith, can they claim to have faith and no works and then he says so can that, if that is the case, is that faith that is void of a walk? Is it really saving? What that brings us to the second thing here, what James is questioning in this passage is those whose claim of faith seems to consist of nothing more than the first two elements of the definition or the three elements of faith. It seems to consist in a grasp of information and even an agreement with that information. This is why he throws in in verse 19 because he says in verse 19 where he uses the example of demons. He says you believe that God is one. Here's information. The information is that there is unity within the God yet that there's only one dog and you believe that that's knowledge that is presented and you are in agreement with that knowledge. So there are the first two elements of saving faith. The implication of course is that the knowledge that we are in agreement with ought to produce within us a particular manner or walk. So notice what he does in verse 19, he makes this case that a grasp of and a set to propositional truth is not enough to save. He's not saying he doesn't disagree that God does not want. In other words, let me put it this way. Faith as a noun and I probably will be in a disagreement with the way they use it in the dictionary because they define faith solely as a noun but faith as a noun is a body of truth that is to be believed but faith is also a verb but let's begin with faith as a noun. Faith as a noun is a body of truth that is to be believed and upholding and proclaiming that truth is part of the responsibility. In fact, it's part of the prophetic function of the church in the world to hold up a particular body of truth. That's why Paul in 1 Timothy 3, 15 refers to the church as the pillar and the ground of the truth. So that is the body of truth. That is that is proclaimed by the church is part of our prophetic function to speak the truth about God. So the doctrine of God being one is proclaimed by the church as a matter of fact, the truth that we confess and the truth that we proclaim is what Luke refers to in Acts chapter 2 as the doctrines of the apostles. So here's the beginning place of those who claim to be Christians that they hold to the faith as articulated by the apostles which is summarized as the apostles' doctrine. This body of truth or this noun aspect of faith is what Jude is alluding to when he tells when he admonishes us to contend for the faith that was once delivered to all of the saints. And this is a reminder brothers and sisters that this body of truth that we have been entrusted with is the first and it is the most fundamental test of orthodoxy. And by that what I mean that body of truth determines whether or not a person should be received into fellowship in a Christian church without looking at anything that they've done without looking at a transformed life. Here's what gives us the right to receive you into the faith or to reject you in terms of fellowship. Do you believe that God is? Do you believe that God is one? Do you believe that the Holy Spirit is God? Do you believe that the sun is God? Do you believe that? And listen, you might turn your life around a 180 degree turn. You may stop all of the stuff that makes you a reckless person but if you reject that truth we do not receive you in the fellowship. Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Do you believe that he lived for your righteousness and died for your sins? Do you believe that he bodily rose from the grave? Now you can give your body to be burned by science and or to be examined by science. You may give all of your goods to the poor but if you reject that you are not a part of the church. That's what James is beginning with and so here's but here's the other side of that. While it is necessary for you to embrace these things the apostles doctrine to be a part of the local fellowship it is necessary if you reject these things or even if you if you say that you believe and at some point in your walk you say I just don't believe Jesus rose from the grave and you stepped outside of that faith. So faith as a noun engages us at a cognitive level it engages us at a cognitive level because because at the level of a noun the mind is presented with information that it acknowledges to be true but here's the here's the thing while one cannot claim to be a Christian by rejecting that information receiving it and agreeing with it that it is true is not in and of itself indicative of saving faith. See in other words yes you must believe it in order to be claim to claim to be a Christian but just because you believe it doesn't mean that you actually have genuine saving faith and that's the that's the reason James uses the demons as an example. So I believe that God is one and James says you know and by way let me say this I try to point this out to people that apologetics a lot of people are getting into apologetics apologetics simply means a defense of what we believe and so we should be able as we read in our responsive reading to be able as Peter says to give an answer to anyone that asks for the hope that is within us but understand this even if you win the argument doesn't mean you won the soul and that's why James uses the example of the demons he says the demons are not tritheistic the demons are not polytheistic the demons believe that there is only one God and not only do they believe it they shudder at it so to say that you have sound doctrine that's good and to say that you are in in possession of this information that's good and that's two parts two thirds of what it means to have saving faith in other words again one can claim saving faith because you are in agreement with a certain set of facts but the third element of saving faith that James is addressing here is when faith transitions from the noun category to the verb and that's the third thing that we want to look at so the first thing we begin with the questions and questions is can a person say they have faith and not have works and then secondly that that the second question in verse 14 is can that faith indeed save them and the logic of James and raising that question is not at odds with the writings of the apostle Paul it presupposes that what Paul says that those who have been saved by grace have been created as the workmanship of God in Christ for good works so there is no disagreement with the two James is beginning with he challenges with the confusion that people have because it is a point of confusion that some people think that because I believe this that that's enough and that's that's sometimes it's sort of just a stretched argument against those who are so careful about doctrine you care more about doctrine than anything else and you know what sometimes that's just a caricature that people throw out there but I pray that it's never true because if we really believe these things at the level of the mind James third point is knowledge cognitive knowledge that is genuinely saving converts that knowledge of faith as a noun it converts it into a verb and so it's this third element is where faith becomes a verb and that is in trusting trusting is more than just oh I just believe and rest upon it no trusting and so James in addressing as in addressing the issue here the issue of trust here the trust aspect of faith which is at the level it becomes active his point is that this this this trust of this trust that is part of faith is a matter of acting on the information that we have acknowledged to be true the enacting on the information that we have acknowledged to be true this trust for our purposes can be divided along two lines so how do we act as a verb on the information that is proclaimed by the church that we have agreed to be true one of two is in two categories the first category is we believe or we we acknowledge this information to be true and we act upon it in trust as it relates to our salvation so in other words let me just back up here's the information God tells us that we are a sinner that we are condemned by his holy law and he tells us that we are unable to meet the demands of the law and that we are unable to bear its consequences he he breaks us down so that as Paul says in Romans three every mouth may be stopped and everyone would stand guilty before God then he gives us as but he doesn't just the information of the gospel is more than we're guilty the information that's contained in the gospel is that we are pardoned by God's grace and Christ that his righteousness is credited to us that his death is our death and he has risen from the grave and his resurrection is the guarantee of our victory and so therefore trusting in that is to throw ourselves upon the mercy of God and believe that so we trust unto salvation when we hear and believe what the Bible says about us and our need for salvation we believe what the Bible says about Christ as our only means of salvation so that's that's one area that we so the trust element of faith is seen in our salvation but the trust element of faith also comes to bear in our circumstances in our horizontal circumstances once we've been saved once we are brought into union with Christ by faith the trust element of our faith includes conforming our thoughts and our words and our deeds to our new position in Christ that's that's where the trust element comes in in other words we trust unto salvation in that we believe the information that that the Bible says about us without Christ we believe what the Bible tells us about Christ for our on our behalf and we embrace that and the way we embrace it is as Paul says by confessing believing in our hearts and confessing with our mouths that Jesus is Lord no not by a sinner's prayer burn that thing no here's how we here's how we embrace what he has done when Jesus says that I that that I and the father are one and that if anyone believes in me he will not die we believe that that is us when the Bible says it all it's sin and have come short of the glory of God we believe that's us we believe that when Paul says that in the fullness of time God sent forth his son to be born under the law for those who were under the law that he would offer himself as a sacrifice for us we believe that that is us so that we are united in his death and we are united in his resurrection and right now brothers and sisters I know we're seated in various places but you know where else you are by faith you are seated with him in the heavenly places but here's the trust element of our faith when it comes to our circumstances of life it means that we are to bring the reality of our union with Christ into bear on all of our dealings we are to filter our words through we are to filter our knowledge or our thoughts through we are to conform our actions to the grace that has saved us so therefore this conforming of our thoughts and our words and our deeds to our position in him this is the walk that Paul is alluding to in Ephesians 2 and this is the work that James is alluding to in his passage now here's what's interesting the example that James gives in verse 15 is not just the human being but he says you say that you believe in God you say that you believe that you have saving faith where here's a way in which you can demonstrate your saving faith you have a brother or a sister he doesn't just say neighbor but you have a brother or sister who is in dire straits and the only thing that you can say is I'll pray for you James says that there's a dead spot in your faith if you have the needs that the means to meet that physical need and the best that you can do is pray James says there's a dead spot in your faith now let's look at the way he illustrates that that's the fourth thing fourth thing let's look at the examples that he uses to make this case that faith as a noun is what you believe and faith as a verb is walking in light of what you believe because the implication is that you being connected to that noun is demonstrating a divine verb in other words while your work is proving what you believe the reason is proving what you believe is because God is at work in you causing you to will and do of his good pleasure and if God is not in you causing you to will and do of his good pleasure then that might explain why you're not concerned about his good pleasure in which case yours is either a dead spot in your faith or it's just a dead faith let's look at the two examples that he gives the examples that he uses to make his case that genuine faith prompts action in response to what we understand to be true and in response to what we embrace and believe the first example is Abraham that's in verses 21 through 23 now I gotta say this notice where he begins in the use of Abraham as an example his discussion with Abraham begins with Abraham offering up his son I think he says there's the work there's the proof but let's back up because he grounds Abraham's work in verse 23 where the scripture says Abraham believed God and it was credited and it was counted to him as righteousness the reason I think that's important is because Abraham doesn't offer up his son until what 20 chapter 21 22 of Genesis but it's in it's in Genesis 15 where Abraham believed the promises of God and it was counted to him as righteousness there's a lot a lot of stuff and a long journey between 15 and 22 there's a lot of haggling there's a lot of snickering there's a lot of failure there's a lot of flaw in Abraham now what Abraham does is he believes and because he believes the promises of God he does leave his father's house but the point that that that James is calling us to is that Abraham is willing to offer up his son hold in mind Abraham had two sons one of the reasons he had two sons is because he had a hard time believing what God said even though he trusted him for the salvation of his soul Sarah convinced him that well I'm old and you're older and maybe this is what God meant and so Abraham had to learn the hard way that God meant exactly what he said and he bruises helpful here because it says that Abraham offered up his son believing in the resurrection so what is the what is what is it that he believed that prompted him to offer up his son he believed cognitively that God has the power over life and death and he believed cognitively that since God promised offspring through this son that he must mean he's going to bring him back from the dead so therefore he worked let's hit the other example and this one I want to spend a little or read actually where it comes from because he mentions Rahab Rahab the prostitute he says you know it's funny how we do those things because she's in the Lord and so Rahab is mentioned and it says that in verse 25 she received the spies and that's called her work but what is it that prompts her work look at it in Joshua chapter 2 and we'll look at verses 8 through 11 so what is it that calls her because the action takes place before the motive is given the action is she she sees the spies and she receives them but in verses 8 through 11 we get the motive in chapter 2 of Joshua beginning in verse 8 it says before the men lay down she being Rahab came up to them on the roof and said to the men I know that the Lord has given you the land and that the fear of you has fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you for we have heard and how or how the Lord dried up the water of the red sea before before you when you came out of Egypt and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to Sion and Agh whom you devoted to destruction and as soon as we heard it information on our hearts melted and there was no spirit left in any man because of you for the Lord your God he is God in the heavens above all and on the earth and beneath why did she open up and receive these spies because she believes you heard the story of what Godway did in opening up the red sea and she believed that the God who opened the red sea and delivered them from those foreign kings was the Lord of heaven and earth she believed and she acted on that belief in other words brothers and sisters the point that's being made here is that whether we are talking about Abraham or whether we are talking about Rahab they are presented with presented with information that they cognitively embrace as being true and whether it's over a span of time or whether it's instantaneously their actions are conformed to the knowledge that they have you know what Rahab did in order to hide the spies she lied but she trusted the God whose story she heard she's not saved because she opened the the spies she hid the spies because she believed in God the point that James is making here is that wherever there is genuine saving faith there are actions that conform to what we believe let's put it on let's put it on a scale we understand that our actions as in the case of Abraham will be unsteady at times and it will be wishy washing but we will still act in light of what we believe and even as we grow in our grasp of what we believe sometimes we're just going to act in unbelief believer situationally can act in unbelief like my mother used to say sometimes we just act like we don't believe fat meat is greasy and God has to show us and here's the points that I think James is making James seems to be making the case or the point that for one to claim saving faith on the basis of agreement with doctrinal truth that allows them to see their brothers and their sisters bodily neglected and thinking that is talking about the Trinity is enough to deal with the hurt that your brothers and sisters are dealing with James says maybe that's dead faith because faith causes us to see ourselves in a different position with God and it causes us to act in light of that truth that we know about being in God you don't have to keep it at those who come amongst you your brothers and sisters who are poor and impoverished and you have the means to relieve their situation because there are more things than the lack of money that our brothers and sisters can stand in need of and so what James is saying is that living genuine faith allows us to partner with the hurt of brothers and sisters who are connected to us with whatever substance we have without compromising our faith so no it's not about standing back well we're orthodox and and that's no no here's what James says I'm not talking about your doctrine of the Trinity here I'm not talking about your doctrine of a final things I'm talking about your doctrine of anthropology let it be rich in the gospel that you hold to rather than the culture that you are part of secondarily or political party or some social group don't don't be afraid of and don't be overwhelmed by whatever say here's what we're looking at brothers and sisters if we see any human being as less than an image bearer of Almighty God I question the legitimacy of your faith if you see anyone as being sub who have been created in the likeness of Almighty God whether they are Muslim whether they are whatever they are if you see that as making the less than I question the legitimacy of your faith and if you see brothers and sisters
as being defined by their outward circumstances rather than through your union with Christ and being seated with him and if you think it's okay when you see your brothers and sisters hurting it's a way I pray for him James says maybe your faith is dead we can argue all we want but proof that we trust is seen in the actions that we take or that we fail to take because of the God that we say we serve and faith that is without a walk that corresponds to say what that corresponds to what we say we believe cannot save us if our faith is in a Jewish carpenter who went where respectable folk wouldn't go if our faith is in he who died with tax collectors and sinners if our faith is in he who spent time with lepers and known adulterers let a woman with questionable reputation wash his feet if we somehow think that faith in him disconnects us from the suffering that is around us then all we have to do is just pray James is suggesting that maybe there's a dead spot in your faith because just as the body without the spirit is dead so is faith without walk because walk is the work and the work is the reason we have been given the gift of faith to connect us to the gift of grace so if our faith allows us to continue to see others as we used to see them it allows us to see others and ourselves in an exhausted way and others in a subjected way maybe just maybe our faith is dead there's no inconsistency between James and Paul and brothers and sisters let me say this that what James is addressing here is part of the responsibility of the gathered church it is the responsibility of the ecclesiastical body to call Hogwarts not on the community not on the culture James is not questioning anything in the culture he's questioning those who are in the pews the responsibility of the Christian church is to call Hogwarts on anyone who claims to have saving faith and no compassion towards their brothers and sisters and by compassion it includes a commitment to whatever degree that we have to the circumstances and the needs of our brothers and sisters it's the church's responsibility and that's why James he writes to the church and he tells them yeah I know what your doctrine says I know how sound your confession of faith is but I'm telling you if that's all you do is believe that and you think that's just leading you on your knees and not on your feet then go back and read again you see the same Abraham that believed that God would raise him from the dead didn't even have enough confidence that ain't that God that saying God would spare his wife when he went into Egypt and so he said oh that's my sister that's not my wife
somehow God grew him up so that he acted in faith and I pray brothers and sisters that we get the noun part of faith right that we know truth and we embrace truth and we believe that truth but I pray that we get the verb part right that we would act on that truth and we're willing to step outside of the boundaries that others have set for us so that we can demonstrate that we believe what God said that we are his and so is everyone else who calls upon the name of Jesus notice what faith doesn't cause us to do doesn't cause to ask why your brothers in need is just meets them in the need faith without words is an oxymoron the way the reformers called it they said faith we are saved by faith alone but not by a faith that is alone we are saved by grace through faith and that's the only thing that gives us a right standing before God but a right standing before God checks and challenges my actions my thoughts and my deeds and that together with what I believe is what makes for living vital and vibrant faith let's pray