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Faith Without Works is Dead |
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What does James mean by that statement? |
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by David A. DePra |
| Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man |
| may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith |
| without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. Thou |
| believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also |
| believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith |
| without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by |
| works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest |
| thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made |
| perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham |
| believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and |
| he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a |
| man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab |
| the harlot justified by works, when she had received the |
| messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body |
| without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. |
| (James 2:17-26) |
| Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? No. |
| But by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified |
| by faith without the deeds of the law. (Rom. 3:27-28) |
| Read the epistle of James and you can get the impression that |
| he stands in contradiction to the apostle Paul regarding the basis |
| of our standing in Christ. Paul talks about grace APART or |
| WITHOUT works. James seems to be saying that we cannot be |
| saved by faith alone. "Faith without works is dead," is one of the |
| most commonly quoted verses from the Bible. |
| It gets even more complicated. James actually says, "You see |
| then how that by works man is justified, and not by faith only." If |
| this statement means what it says -- out of context -- we have a |
| problem. It means we are not justified solely "by grace through |
| faith." We are justified only if we add works. But worse, it means |
| that the Bible contradicts itself at the very core of the gospel. |
| What exactly is James saying here? Well, one of the keys to |
| understanding the book of James is to realize to whom he is |
| writing. James is addressing his teaching on faith to those who |
| would use the grace of God as a license. |
| Today we have many such people. Because they know that |
| we cannot be saved by works, justified by works, or kept in grace |
| by works, they have adopted the error that there is no need for |
| any sort of law or guideline for Christian living. To those of this |
| camp, any suggestion that a Christian should live according to |
| rules or laws is legalism. |
| Some have even gone so far as to say that a Christian, rather |
| then live according to God's law, is "to be led by the Spirit." And |
| then they are able to justify almost anything as a "leading" of God. |
| Some Christians have justified extra-marital affairs, irresponsibility, |
| lying, fanaticism, and many other actions as the God-ordained |
| outcome of "being led by the Spirit." For some reason, they have |
| ignored the fact that God will NEVER lead us in a way which is |
| contrary to Biblical principles, or His moral law. |
| The error of license has always abounded in the church, as has |
| the error of legalism. Defining each of these will help us in our |
| understanding of where James is coming from in his epistle. |
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Legalism |
| Some people define legalism as, "Replacing God's law with |
| man-made traditions, rules, and laws." They point to the Jesus' |
| rebuke of the Pharisees, where He told them they had no business |
| making void the law of God with their tradition. But even though we |
| are certainly guilty of legalism if we replace the law of God with |
| man-made traditions, such a practice barely skims the surface on |
| what legalism really is. Legalism is a much deeper error than that. |
| Legalism is the use of ANY law -- including God's law -- for the |
| purpose of establishing my own righteousness. It is an attempt, |
| through works, to do for myself, what only Christ can do for me. In |
| effect, legalism can be quite religious and "holy." It can be filled |
| with good works. But if the inner motivation of the person doing |
| these works is to make himself right with God, then that person is |
| walking in legalism. He has stopped short of grace. |
| Now, right here is where people get off the track. If you tell them |
| that they must not keep man-made traditions in order to make |
| themselves righteous, they will probably agree. But if you tell them |
| they must not keep God's law in order to justify themselves, well, |
| then they misunderstand. To many people, a statement like that |
| means you must STOP keeping God's law. Or that, as a Christian, |
| any kind of conduct is acceptable. |
| The fact is, if that is my reaction, I don't grasp the Truth of grace. |
| Read the epistles. Paul occasionally mentions man-made |
| traditions as the thing people use to justify themselves. But far |
| more often, he mentions God's holy and just law. THAT is what |
| Christians most often use to justify themselves before God. |
| We must get this straight. It is NOT the keeping of God's law, |
| or the keeping of any other religious practice, that is legalism. No. |
| It is the faith I place IN my law-keeping that is error. |
| What this means is that I am free to keep laws -- and SHOULD |
| keep many laws and principles from God's Word -- but I should |
| never place my faith in the fact I am keeping these. My faith should |
| always be in Christ. The works I do should be the result of it. |
| Legalism is placing my faith in my works, rather than in Christ. |
| Just as license is "faith without works," so is legalism, "works |
| without faith." Just as "faith without works is dead," so are "works |
| without faith" dead. |
| It is morally impossible for anyone who has REAL faith in Jesus |
| Christ to practice license. Impossible. Real faith in Christ is |
| evidence that I have received something from above -- a new |
| disposition which does not want to sin, but wants to obey God. |
| Those who walk in grace are going to keep God's law. But they |
| don't keep it to keep themselves in God's grace, or to justify |
| themselves for salvation. Neither do they keep God's law to avoid |
| condemnation, guilt, or fear. They CAN'T keep it for those reasons, |
| because if you have truly received the grace of God you know all |
| those issues are resolved APART from your works -- through the |
| death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. A Christian who has |
| received the grace of God is going to obey God because He loves |
| God, and because obedience is the natural outcome of faith in |
| Jesus Christ. |
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License |
| License is "faith without works," as James says. But we must |
| qualify this. License is NOT "real faith without works." That is |
| because there is no such thing as "real faith without works." REAL |
| faith always HAS works. The "faith" James is talking about is not |
| real faith. It is an intellectual faith. It is what has been called "a |
| said faith." |
| Realizing that James is not talking about REAL faith clears up all |
| the misunderstanding about this passage. James is not saying |
| that if I have real faith in Jesus Christ that I cannot be justified unless |
| I add works to my real faith. No. He is not contradicting Paul's |
| foundational teaching that I am justified solely "by grace through |
| faith." Rather, James is writing to those who would SAY they have |
| faith -- and thus claim justification -- only to continue practicing sin |
| and license. |
| We know James isn't talking about REAL faith because he |
| attributes the kind of faith he is talking about to even the demons. |
| He says, "Do you believe that there is one God? You do well. |
| The demons also believe, and tremble." |
| Herein we see the vast difference between REAL faith -- the |
| kind of faith necessary for salvation -- and "said faith" -- the kind of |
| faith which even the demons possess. "Said faith" is assent to |
| the Truth. "Real faith" is surrender to the Truth. |
| The Devil and his demons know the Truth. They know Jesus is |
| Saviour. But knowing this, assenting to this Truth, has done nothing |
| but bring them further condemnation. It is only if we wholly surrender |
| ourselves to the Truth we believe that we have real faith. |
| James is saying that if you have real faith you will surrender |
| yourselves fully to the One in whom you trust. And he is saying that |
| such a surrender will always produce the fruit of good works. Real |
| faith ALWAYS results in good works. No other outcome is possible. |
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Qualifications |
| Now, this is NOT to say that good works always prove that I |
| have real faith. No. It is just to say that real faith will always produce |
| good works. Do you see that? It is entirely possible for me to be |
| doing my good works because I don't have real faith. |
| Think about this. There are many of us who do good works, not |
| because we believe, but because we don't. We do good works to |
| appease the guilt Christ has already removed, or to avoid the |
| condemnation Christ has already removed. We do good works to |
| make us feel right with God. But this is NOT faith. It is the very |
| definition of unbelief; of legalism. |
| This is precisely why it is proper to say, as does James, that |
| faith always produces good works -- but that good works, in and |
| of themselves, do not necessarily mean I have real faith. No. I |
| may be living "under the law." God knows my heart. |
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Works |
| Of course, many of us are apt to look at our works and conclude |
| that we must not have real faith. Afterall, our works aren't too good |
| sometimes, are they? Does the fact that we continue to sin and |
| fail in this Christian life prove we don't have real faith? |
| This is no small problem. Most of us tend to conclude we are |
| bad Christians, lacking in faith, if we sin. And this can lead to fear, |
| condemnation, and an impossible weight of guilt. Reading the |
| book of James might make matters worse. If good works are the |
| evidence of real faith, then doesn't sin and failure prove we lack |
| real faith? |
| Not necessarily. This is not to say that if I am living in sin I can |
| claim to be doing it in faith. No. But sin and failure are nevetheless |
| continuing possibilities for one possessing real faith. |
| James doesn't say that we are look at our works in order to |
| determine whether we have real faith. That is nonsense. Take that |
| to it's extreme, and we would end up trying to "generate faith" by |
| doing good works! Good works never generate faith. Rather, faith |
| generates good works. |
| James is simply giving the general principle that if I have real |
| faith in Christ, it is going to result in my life showing it. This leaves |
| all the room in the world for sin and failure because such sin and |
| failure will not be deliberate or done in license. Indeed, it will be |
| precisely because I have real faith that I am able to rest in the |
| Truth that in Christ, all my sin has been covered. |