CCC #8: Faith - Intro #2 - Difficult Passages
The Corrupt Christian Concepts Series
(All scripture quotes are from the BSB unless otherwise noted.)
NOTE: this is the second part of my introduction to faith. If you haven't read that article, please take a look at it first. It will now be located at the end of the index on my home page. I believe there will be a third part to this introduction. There are just too many ideas about faith to introduce! So, be looking for that one soon. As always, appreciate your patience and time to read my stuff.
Faith Introduction Continued: Difficult Faith Passages
There are some ‘difficult’ scripture passages related to faith that I cannot ignore in this discussion. A soft gospel mindset is possibly a key to people making these passages harder to interpret than they have to be; but I admit that the verbiage is challenging and must be tackled.
To me the interpretation is obvious; since I don't believe there are multiple gospel messages in scripture, my context is that all the apostolic authors share the same gospel. Thus, this is a given fact in my interpretation. If this is true, then any seeming discrepancies in their writings must have other causes and/or meanings.
Again, I will repeat, anything that appears to conflict with the clear gospel message must have some other explanation. Period.
Finding those legitimate alternatives is my mission in this article. And, again, we cannot change the essential gospel of grace message. Salvation, becoming a child of God - a new creation in Christ - comes by grace through faith. Period.
However, given that many well known historical figures in Christian history have wrestled with these passages, I must humbly approach them myself. I am no one special, but I will simply call things as I see them (with much prayer and reliance on the Holy Spirit.)
Walk Humbly before your God
This is the problem with humans that are Christians and teachers isn't it? Most who would disagree with me will claim they prayed and the Holy Spirit is on their side, LOL. Welcome to the believer’s walk. We must all walk humbly before our God. No one has everything right. Many times, not even a majority are right.
Humanity loves to latch onto things without giving them much thought because others push it. And if they have been setup as experts, even better. And if they are famous from history, then they must have known something we don't, right? This is an easy trap to fall into.
Yet, we still all have the same scripture, and I must forthrightly give my perspective. My goal, as always, is to align all my perspectives with the clear documentation concerning the gospel of grace provided specifically by Paul. A gospel where everything is a gift, as I have emphasized over and over. No one else has written it more clearly than him. Thus, I humbly and prayerfully move forward, with the gospel of grace as my guide along with the Holy Spirit.
Don't Outsource Your Beliefs
In the end, I am presenting a perspective which I believe is scriptural and matches the gospel. But, ultimately what you believe is up to you. I think too many times in the Christian world we try to outsource our beliefs. We latch onto this person or that ‘-ism’; we go to church and just blindly accept the teaching, etc. I definitely don't want to be that person - on either side - though I was for many years - on both.
But, hopefully we all eventually grow in grace and knowledge of Christ - since that is the goal, is it not? Part of that growth is learning which spiritual food to eat is good and which is not.
My goal is to help you to obtain or confirm your own beliefs. Maybe what I write is a bit different from what you have heard. Again, perspective matters. But don't just blindly accept my writing either. Think for yourself! If my writing makes sense, great! Then let it influence you.
My great hope is that it actually helps you to focus and rely more on Christ. But only you can act as the gatekeeper of your own mind. Everything that is accepted there should be analyzed and filtered. And there is no better filter than the gospel of grace. It is the only guarantee that the food is not junk food.
Thus, don't outsource your beliefs to anyone else, including me. As we will find out, faith is hard work. And it is a work everyone must do - it is ultimately pass or fail. (God doesn't grade on a curve as Andrew Farley likes to say). If you possess “living faith” - as we will discuss soon - then you have already ‘passed’. God has given you a 100%. The rest is just icing on the cake (it's the fun part)! Growing in grace as we live and walk.
I'm simply here to help point out the tools with which you must do the work. If the tools I'm pointing at are rusty and broken, don't use them, reject them. But, if the tools you have been using are rusty and broken, then reject them and grab new ones. Any teacher coming from a place of faith should say the same. We are only ambassadors for Christ and the gospel - Christ is the truth and power.
Welcome to repentance - changing your mind about the faith tools you have been using and learning to use new ones! But, go back to my index to read more about that topic. Let's dig into faith and works now - a challenging topic indeed.
Faith Without Works is Dead
There is an elephant in the room with any discussion of faith that I must address. And I will not address it fully here, though I may in the future. I have many other reasons than I will provide now that allow me to come to the conclusions I do, but that would require a complete exegesis of the full text of James. Again, I may do that some day, along with Hebrews, but both of those will be long endeavors. For this discussion of faith, I will hit the highlights.
James, in his letter, makes several statements about faith and works that seem to go against the gospel as taught by Paul. I believe this is because in the Christian world we have the wrong concept of “works”. We often have an old covenant view: works of the law, keeping the law, etc.
But, let's take a look at one of the statements in question:
James 2:17 - “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (ESV)
James is qualifying that there is a type of faith that is ‘dead’ (and thus a different type of faith that is living). And there are apparently ‘works’ that are connected to whether faith is ‘living’ or ‘dead’. So, the main question is what does he mean by the word ‘work’? But first:
Why Would James Say This?
A quick background. Much of the time James was a leader in the Jerusalem church there was famine and other hardships in the land. The people in general were having a difficult time, especially those who were under privileged in society like widows and orphans.
The Jewish Law (Torah) required they be taken care of, but the religious leaders made loopholes that let them avoid actually following the spirit of the law, yet still pat themselves on the back that they were “keeping the law”.
The more things change, the more they stay the same, as they say.
This was influencing the Jerusalem church and frustrating James. He was also fighting these law lovers (Judaizers) coming in the church trying to directly corrupt the gospel. I will not get into the passages directly, but the Torah is a huge context in his writing. He wrote stuff like “if you keep the whole Torah, yet fail in one point, you have failed at all of it”. His church and audience were Jewish, so this makes sense.
I believe he was also fighting his own struggles with his past Jewish beliefs. He influenced Paul at the council in Acts 15 to go along with including some law based restrictions on the Gentiles, including food restrictions, which Paul later said was not a requirement.
Clearly, in this historical (not doctrinal) passage, Paul is compromising with the Jerusalem council over these matters. He is following his own teaching in Romans 14. Like he says in other places, if he had to compromise and act like a Jew under the Torah to win them to Christ, he would. But, this historical account does not change the gospel. Believers are still not “under the Law”.
Further, in Galatians 2, Paul calls out Peter for his Jewish hypocrisy when “certain men came from James”. It was not without cause that Paul mentions they came from James. Anecdotally, it appears James (and Peter) had a struggle to get away from their Jewish religious background and unhypocritically embrace the teachings of the gospel of grace. Yet, as often happens, I believe their struggle helped them eventually embrace it all the more. As James himself writes, “we all stumble in many ways”. (James 3:2)
However, he did have some practical motivation to help his congregation recognize that true faith leads somewhere: love for others. The letters of John have similar themes and I cannot deny this emphasis in James. That will be much of my emphasis going forward in these articles about faith - how living faith impacts believer’s lives and walk. However, we must discuss this seeming discrepancy concerning “faith and works” first.
The Consistent Theme of the Gospel: Living Faith Works
Anyone who claims that being connected to Christ by faith will not impact how we think, live, and act is ludicrous. Several passages in the book of James demonstrate this concept. Faith that does not ultimately lead to loving others naturally is not true, living faith. Again, the letters from John say this directly. A natural Christ type of love is a sign you have Christ.
Living faith has an impact in a believer's life. This should be a given. However, where we often go wrong is when we bring out the measuring stick and try to measure our faith by some volume of works, particularly by comparing our works to others. Remember again, a cup of water given genuinely by faith is enough to prove you have faith - and gain the “reward of the inheritance”. (Mark 9:40; Colossians 3:24 NASB)
One work flowing from faith is more valuable to the kingdom of God than a hundred that flow from trying to perform the works of the law. But, there is a work everyone must perform first in order to gain the kingdom of God; and it is not what you might typically think of as work. And this is where the topic gets confused.
Justification is the Key to this Passage
I firmly believe that James’ focus is not primarily on believers in this passage because of this verse:
James 2:24 - “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” (ESV)
This is both the most controversial passage as well as most clarifying. Because James uses the word ‘justified’, he can only mean one thing: salvation.
That word translated ‘justified’ is a salvific word. It describes how we are “made righteous” by Christ. It is the same word used by Paul to seemingly say the opposite. So, do we have a “works righteousness” or not? Are we justified by faith or works? Paul says one; James says another.
Are Paul and James opposed? The verbiage doesn't leave any wiggle room. This is a “yes or no” answer, and you must decide. And how you answer determines how to interpret this passage. Are we justified by faith or works? Choose a side.
But let's read Paul's take:
Galatians 2:16 - “know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”
Romans 3:28 - “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”
Hmm. Wow. This seems pretty clear. In Galatians 2:16, Paul manages to say three times that we cannot be justified by “works of the law”. Further, just in case you think there is some mixture of faith and works of the law that saves, in Romans 3:28 he uses the phrase “apart from”. There is no ambiguity in this Greek word - justification is completely separate, disconnected from works of the law. Period.
Should James be Considered Scripture?
For many reasons I won't get into, James has been included in the scriptural canon. I guess scripture is contradictory, so we should throw it all out? It is ideas like this that led Martin Luther to put James in the appendix of his scripture translation. Is that what we should do? Did good ole’ Marty have it right after all?
James is saying there is work, combined with faith, that makes it real. I mean, that is what he is saying. We can't get around this. That is what he says. Period. We cannot ignore this, but should we ignore James altogether? I do not believe we should. But, if James and Paul agree on the gospel, then what does James mean by this verbiage?
A Couple Ludicrous Theories
Scholars, internet ‘theologians’, and everyone in between have struggled with this. I have heard some say “James means you are justifying yourself in front of other humans, not with God” or “James is teaching a different gospel to his Jewish audience than Paul is to the Gentiles”. These are both hogwash, for many reasons beyond what I will mention here.
Paul and James use the same word ‘justified’. And Paul says both Jews and Gentiles are included in the gospel he preached. There are not two kinds of justification in scripture. There are not two gospels. This is just humans making up crap out of thin air.
Of course, many just mostly ignore the seeming contradiction to avoid controversy, but this isn’t fair to a discussion of faith. We cannot simply ignore parts of scripture - it must be resolved. James’ words about faith are helpful to understand it.
Scripture Provides the Answer
If you read Jesus Christ’s teaching carefully, and combine this with the Galatians passage above, this is actually not that complicated. I'm nobody special, but it became obvious to me in a word search about ‘works’. Perhaps it takes scholars to complicate things - or maybe the simple really can confound the wise, LOL. Or maybe I'm off, but hear me out. Again, you must decide what you believe.
Works of the Law
Note that in the above Galatians and Romans passages, Paul specifically says “works of the law”. Twice he calls this out, not simply works, but works of the law. This is not a distinction without a difference. There are dead works that come from a law based mentality and there are living works that come from a faith based mentality.
Paul himself calls out that as new creations in Christ, we were “created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.” (Philippians 2:10) Notice that the works come from God, He prepared and provides them. We can trust Him to do this. You may have no works today and 10 works tomorrow. This is all part of walking by the Spirit. Stop trying to validate yourself by finding “works”, trust me, God will place them before you, trust Him. But I digress…
Just as James distinguishes living and dead faith; the works that result from dead faith are dead works; and the alternately; the works that result from living faith are living works. As we will see when we get into more scripture - without faith you cannot please God, and whatever is not of faith is sin.
The whole point is whether or not you have “living faith” or not: are you justified - a believer - a child of God? Once that happens, are your works coming from that connection to Christ or from another place? Are they from the Spirit or the flesh?
These are two separate, but connected, topics; James has both in focus, and sometimes seems to overlap them. But for our study, we must see the distinction. And his main concern is that you have living faith in the first place. Because if you do, then the works will come, no matter how much we struggle against them. Christ's love within always pushes it's way out. We are slaves of righteousness - we can't ultimately resist.
Back to Justification by Works
Every other instance where justification and works are mentioned by Paul in a negative sense, that I can find, it is “works of the law”, not simply works. I believe that even in the instances where Paul is contrasting “salvation by grace through faith” with works salvation, he is implying “works of the law”. He uses this phrase too often to not imply that this is what he means by ‘works’. Maybe we are having a Princess Bride moment - I don't think that word means what you think it means!
But let's see what Jesus Christ Himself has to say about ‘work’.
New Covenant Work vs. Old Covenant Works
John 6:28-29 - “28-Then they inquired, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” 29-Jesus replied, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.””
Ok, so Christ defines new covenant “work” as believing in Himself (this is the Greek word pisteuó that is a verb form meaning the action that leads to faith - thus connected to faith). This is fascinating! Could belief be a ‘work’? Christ said it is.
The Jewish crowds were pestering Him with questions. One of them we just read: they ask the question from an old covenant (law) perspective - notice the plural - works. They mean “works of the law”, just as Paul picks up on later. They want a list of things to do to please God. But they have the Torah already, so clearly they want the supreme list, not just the normal stuff. Ironically, by asking the question, they admit the Torah is not enough.
Christ turns this around on them and makes the work a singular one: believe in the One God sent (Himself) - perform a mental action that leads to faith in Christ. So, clearly Christ sees belief as a work. See how simple this is? Are we to go against Christ and try to say that belief is not a work?
Could the word “work” refer to multiple things at once? Could James be referencing two kinds of work in his letter? In one sense, living faith will lead to faith based and empowered works. Yet, in another, the main work of living faith is belief. We cannot disconnect these two concepts.
Changing our beliefs (repentance) is the hard work of faith. This work is necessary for salvation, and then continues after. And it leads to living faith based works. It is this sequence to which James is referring.
Many of these corrupt concepts are connected. My third CCC was on repentance, and I emphasized that to repent means to change your mind. For salvation, what that change of mind is towards is often different for every person. Each person has a unique struggle to change their mind about Christ being Lord and that He is able to give them life.
Same with belief and the decision faith in Christ requires. Each future believer does the work of changing their mind about Christ and then believing in Him - that is how you become a child of God. These works performed by people that lead to living faith in Christ are not the works of the law. They are not what most would consider work at all. Many don't see belief as a work, but Christ does, and stated so very clearly.
I cannot overemphasize the object of the belief: Jesus Christ. The work is not some kind of generic belief - as many Disney songs herald - everything is magical “if you just believe”. This work is a belief focused on Jesus Christ. Do not miss that focus. However, what work does living faith in Jesus Christ that makes us into new creations do?
Faith Works and Works Hard
As Paul affirms many times, “works of the law” cannot justify or save. Period. However, James is not referring to “works of the law”. By definition, works of the law means you are striving to do something to get brownie points with God (blessings) or avoid punishment. However, works of faith flow from the work of belief - which demonstrates living faith. The results of dead faith and living faith may look very similar - but the power source is vastly different.
Living Faith vs Dead Faith
In James 2, he gives two old testament examples of the “works” that combine with faith to establish it as “living faith”, not “dead faith”. In the example of Abraham, he even says “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.”. It was the work of belief that was credited.
James’ point however is that putting his son on the altar was the choice Abraham made based on his belief (he believed God would rescue his son). Now, I have a question, is there anything in the Law, the Torah, that says “thou shalt place thy sons upon an altar as a test of your faith”. Of course not. Abraham's ‘work’ was not a “work of the Law”. He did not even have the Torah yet! It was a choice that turned his belief into “living faith”.
Same with the example of Rehab the prostitute. Is there a Law saying “thou shalt open your door and protect enemy spies”. Again, of course not. Rahab believed what God said, and thus she chose to act upon that belief. She made a decision to do what that belief required. This ‘work’ had nothing to do with “works of the Law”. Rahab was a Gentile, she had no knowledge of the Law of Moses!
Inspired by the Holy Spirit, James uses these examples specifically: a man who pre-existed the Law of Moses, and a Gentile woman who had no awareness of the Torah. His point is not the works in and of themselves, but the context of living vs. dead faith. What the examples chose in response to their belief in God was not the point - it was the fact they believed and responded.
With a similar context and Jewish audience, Hebrews parallels this concept in chapter 6 where the author references “repentance from dead works” as an elementary foundational concept of the new covenant gospel.
These dead works are works of the law that come from dead fleshly faith. Everything is wrong about these works: the mindset, motivation, and the source of power. Dead works and dead faith are connected, they flow from one another. In the same way, living works flow from living faith. And living faith is not connected to “works of the law” in any way, shape, or form.
I believe James and Paul are in complete alignment on this fact.
The New Covenant Living Work: the Obedience of Faith
This is important: the action that God through the gospel now requires is that we choose Christ. In his letter to the Romans, Paul both opens the letter (1:5) and closes the letter (16:26) with an interesting phrase “the obedience of faith”. This is now the call of God for every human.
Much like Abraham and Rahab obeyed God because they believed, now we need to do the work of believing in Christ and choosing Him over our own way. This is the obedience of faith. The gospel is now what God has spoken to us and that is the new covenant work of belief for us - we must choose Christ.
Just as God spoke to Abraham and Rahab, He has now spoken to us through his Son and said “Believe in Jesus Christ”. God is no longer speaking through the Torah - He is no longer speaking through the prophets (Hebrews 1:1-3). He is only speaking through His Son - Jesus Christ.
John 1:18 - “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” NASB 1995
I deliberately used a translation that says ‘bosom’. Here is what Discovery Bible Copyright 2021 says about this word.
2859 kólpos – properly, the upper part of the chest where a garment naturally folded to form a "pocket" – called the "bosom," the position synonymous with intimacy (union).
Christ, who is “enclosed in the heart of the Father”, is the perfect representation of the trinitarian Godhead as a human. The word translated ‘explained’ is a strong word meaning “provides a narrative”. The epic story of God is fully told in Jesus Christ. For humanity, He is the complete understanding of a difficult to understand God. Christ is the final, perfect, explanation of God.
Thus, if you want to have living faith like Abraham: truly from your heart, give your old life to Christ. Lay your old life down on a spiritual altar (only once though, not daily). Let Him give you new life. If you want living faith like Rahab, open the door of your heart to Christ. He will come in, make you a new creation, and live in you.
The fact that both of these examples parallel the spiritual acts of “opening the door of our hearts to Christ”, and “laying down our old self for a new life from Christ” should not be neglected. These were deliberate choices by James to reflect aspects of the work of believing in Christ.
In the famous words of Jesus Christ:
John 12:25 - “Whoever loves his life will lose it, but whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
Revelation 3:20 - “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me.”
Just like Abraham did with Isaac, lay yourself down - your spirit that is disconnected from the life of God - and Christ will raise you to newness of life: connected to Himself. Just like Rahab, Christ is knocking at the door of your heart, simply open the door and let Him in, and He will transform you into a dwelling place fit for the Divine, and take up residence, abiding in you. Your connected spirit will now be alive.
This work of belief is what is involved in “living faith”. But, as James says in this same passage, even demons are monotheistic and believe there is a God. Thus, it is the choice to believe in Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life that distinguishes living faith from dead faith.
The Only Work that Saves
This is the ‘work’ that combines with faith to save. Christ makes it clear that particular work is belief in Him. James also makes it clear that true faith, combined with the work of belief, results in a change of attitudes and actions. God's love in our hearts produces fruit. Let's look at a follow-on passage:
James 3:11-12 - “11-Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12-My brothers, can a fig tree grow olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”
In the very next chapter, after the discussion of faith and works, James gives a couple of analogies showing the identity of a water spring and trees/vines. Jesus also gave similar analogies. The point is clear. True faith causes an identity change: we become new creations; children of God; partakers of the divine nature of love.
The fruit produced by this connection to God's nature of love is real and produced by living faith - not dead faith. A dead faith tree produces dead works fruit; a living faith tree produces the fruit of the Spirit and living works.
James’ point is that many who claim to have faith have a dead version of faith - not living faith. Only living faith can save - and James’ grave concern is that his audience truly has salvation - not whether they are performing enough works. In this, James and Hebrews are written in the same context. And it is this evangelistic context - focused on justification - that defines his statement that “faith without works is dead”.
Faith that justifies is “living faith” - they are the same thing. When Paul says we are “justified by faith” - he means “living faith”. And living faith can only come by the work of believing in Jesus Christ - choosing Christ. Certainly there are those who think they have living faith, but their faith is dead. And Christ will say at the end: “Sorry, I never knew you.” (Matthew 7:22-23).
Ironically, they will tout their works as evidence! If that is the kind of works James means, then Christ should welcome them with open arms - right? Yet, their faith was dead, because it was pointed at themselves and their works, not Christ. The “will of the Father” and the work of the Father is that we truly believe and trust in the Son. Period.
James vs. Faith Conclusion
So, we have a conundrum here which we cannot ignore and must make a choice in this discussion of faith: was James teaching a different gospel than Paul? Was he possibly even opposing Paul, confronting his gospel as false? Or, are James and Paul's gospel the same? It must be one or the other. So, which is it?
If the first two are true - they are preaching a different gospel - then Martin Luther was right and we should rip James out of scripture. Gospel means “good news”, and if our salvation depends upon our behavior then we are screwed. That’s not good news at all. We must deny James as a heretic. He was not following the teaching of Christ or Paul.
However, I believe they are teaching the same gospel. James, in his own harsh way of speaking and writing, is emphasizing the result of the true gospel vs a fake one. Thus, when he says “justified by works”, he is not meaning our track record of behavior. He means the “work” of belief in Christ (plural across the church); which if it is true, will be shown by our response to God. The same as Paul, he means the “obedience of faith”.
Notice, Abraham’s faith was shown by a single action; Rahab’s faith was the same. Even the act of helping the widows and orphans James calls out is a single example; as Christ said, a single cup of water truly given to another believer gains the reward. Throughout scripture, the emphasis is that it only takes one choice that is motivated by faith.
Again, this is common sense. Many people who are not justified by God help the needy - that does not save them. In the context of justification, James is simply showing that living faith will work in you to love others.
James never says it is the “works of the law” that provide justification, so he never contradicts Paul. They are talking about the same ‘work’ - belief - the obedience of faith. As we get more into discussing faith, you will see that this continues to be our primary work, even after salvation. But let's take a look at one more passage, if you need more proof.
Romans 4:23-25 - “23-Now the words “it was credited to him” were written not only for Abraham, 24-but also for us, to whom righteousness will be credited—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25-He was delivered over to death for our trespasses and was raised to life for our justification.”
The same example: Abraham. The same credit: righteousness. The same result: justification. What is the work: believe. I want to emphasize this:
The same example: Abraham. The same credit: righteousness. The same result: justification. What is the work: believe.
This is a abundantly clear and the parallel with James is undeniable. This is like the blind men with the elephant story: Paul and James are describing the same thing: justification by faith. But not every kind of faith justifies: only faith in Christ justifies.
James is one of the apostles Paul met with to confirm the gospel, so I highly doubt they disagreed significantly or Paul would have called him out publicly - just like he did Peter. Paul was no shrinking violet. And given James tendencies, maybe he did call him out at some point privately. But, that was never recorded of course, and for both Peter and James, it was a matter of their walk, not their justification.
As Hebrews 4:11 states, for those who have not “entered the rest” of the new covenant gospel, the author says to “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest…”. I'm not going to argue what the ‘rest’ is. It is clearly entering into Christ at salvation. Nothing else fits. My point is for you to notice the phrase: make every effort. Sounds like work to me! Believing is often hard work. Repentance is hard. If you haven't believed in Christ yet, make every effort to get to know Him and believe!
Thus, how do you enter the rest of Christ? By faith. What is the work of faith? Belief. Almost the entire book of Hebrews emphasizes over and over to avoid unbelief and choose belief in Christ and the new covenant. Thus, every human needs to work hard to believe. That is the only work that justifies - not the “works of the Law”.
The Key to James and Hebrews - Fakers in the Church
James is not reproaching true believers for their lack of works as much as he is reproaching the unbelievers (fakers pretending to be believers) in the church for their lack of faith!
Let me emphasize that, it is vital!
James is not reproaching true believers for their lack of works as much as he is reproaching the unbelievers (fakers pretending to be believers) in the church for their lack of faith!
This is the key to the book of James (and Hebrews). Both authors had a similar audience and context. Their main audience were Jews in the church who were still putting faith in “works of the Law”. Their faith was not pointed at Christ (yet). They were pretenders (whether they even realized it or not).
Faith that combines with ‘works’ as James describes is salvation or justifying faith. James is clear on this when he uses the word ‘justification’. If you don't have living faith, then you are not a believer. Why would James be preaching this to folks he already knows has living faith? He wouldn't. That would be idiotic.
Please, this is so simple. Consider this carefully. Don't let this get complicated. If your faith is dead, are you saved? No. James is clear: a dead faith does not justify. A dead faith does not save. A believer has living faith that justifies by definition. So, those he is cajoling over their dead faith cannot be believers!
Am I being clear? Is this actually difficult? Let me state it again. If you are a scholar, read slowly. I feel a bit of Paul's sarcasm coming out!
James is teaching about dead faith - faith that does not justify. If your faith is dead, you are not justified. If you are not justified, you are not saved. If you are not saved, you are not a child of God or a believer. Thus, these words about “dead faith” cannot be about believers! It is a logical incongruity.
Many (not all) of the admonitions in James cannot be for you - a believer. You either have living faith or you don't. It doesn't come and go. And once you have it, it changes you. Some changes are more obvious than others, but it cannot help but do it. If not, then your faith is dead and your salvation never happened. The key to interpreting James is this simple: if you don't have living faith then you are not saved.
Using James in a Backward Way
Most folks have it backwards for James. They use James to cojole believers because their list of “good works” isn't long enough (or doesn't match their own list). They try to use James as a hammer to guilt themselves or others into “behavior improvement”. That is not James’ point at all - actually the opposite. Again, the living faith he is advocating for is saving faith. He is comparing the results of living faith vs dead faith.
Living faith leads to salvation; dead faith doesn't. Salvation occurs because we are now connected to Christ - new creations. And a connection to Christ bears fruit - demonstrated by loving others. And if a hungry widow or orphan is placed in front of you by God through your circumstances, and you have food to give them, then love will motivate you to do it. This isn't rocket science. And you only need to be motivated by love through faith once for it to be “living faith”.
This doesn't mean you have to feel guilty about all of the millions of starving widows and orphans out in the world that you don't know or have a relationship with so that you end up making your own family widows and oprhans because you work yourself to death trying to save the world. That is not faith. But living faith working it's way out through love will naturally motivate you to care for those God has brought into your circle - the works He has ordained for you!
Will we utilize this faith perfectly? Of course not - we still continue to grow! But it will be there, quietly motivating us. We won't have to force it. It will be obvious. It will be flowing from a heart filled with the unconditional love of God. It will truly be supernatural. One whose heart is filled with the love of Christ cannot help by be impacted by it.
Law Loving Fakers
When discussing faith in James, there is a major theme of keeping the Law (Torah). James is ultimately dealing with two types of fakers in the church - both those who are Judaizers and claim to be keeping the law, and those who claim to have faith in Christ. However, both groups are not actually keeping the law or demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit.
Neither group is truly justified - these are not people connected to Christ - they don't have the Holy Spirit.
This is no different than John saying “if you don't natrually love your fellow family of God, you don't have God's love within”. The love of God that indwells every believer by faith will result in a change of thinking and actions. It will result in your loving others, especially your own family - both physical and spiritual.
But neither John, James, Paul, or anyone else in scripture are advocating for a perfect track record of behavior and good works to somehow prove your status in the family of God! Of course, we should learn and grow in grace and knowledge of Christ. That is a no brainer. We should use the gifts we have been given.
But anyone who uses James to guilt trip believers into some endless list of requirements to prove you have living faith is using it in an enemy way. And all it will do is push you into a fleshly guilt motivation to try and prove something. You will use flesh power to enable works to show off and prove your faith is not dead. Yet, these things will not be of faith! Thus, you would be missing the entire point.
Sadly, many Christian communities encourage this attitude, little realizing that they are actually discouraging living faith, and pushing people into sin. Even feeding the poor can be sin if it is done from flesh power and out of the wrong motivation. Of course, it is a much better sin than many others, but whatever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23).
Don't let anyone use James to guilt you into replacing a bad looking sin with a good looking sin! It is much better to live by faith! Don't fall for a substitute!
Living Faith Sells Itself
The love of Christ in our hearts does not have to be forced. We simply relax in His love and then it can't help but come out. And we don't have to measure it or compare it to anyone else. When this happens, you will know. You will recognize it.
As you do the hard work of learning, believing, and trusting - faith will do it's work. If you are not a child of God, you will become one. If you are a child of God, then you will more and more bear the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and the like. They will flow from you. And they might even take you by surprise! When you are surprised by your healthy response to others, that is a sure sign it is of Christ and not yourself!
The results of “living faith” are spectacular. The fake fruit of works that are motivated by fear or compulsion simply cannot compare. James and Paul are not in any way opposed in their understanding of the gospel. They are simply describing multiple facets of living faith.
NOTE: The cool thing about the gospel is Christ has us no matter what. We don't have to constantly worry about whether a choice we are making is from ‘faith’ or not. That would be turning faith into law! We are forgiven on the go; there is no pressure to perform, even to have perfect faith.
In Philippians 1:15-18 Paul addresses people who are actually sinning while preaching the legitimate gospel! “Some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry…” Paul concludes “that in every way, whether by false motives or true, Christ is preached. And in this I rejoice.”.
Paul is certainly not rejoicing in sin of course, but he knows God can turn even our sinning into good. Would it be better for these folks to preach Christ from perfect faith motives? Sure. But is Paul worried? Nope. And this is a good mindset to have - about others and ourselves.
Thus, we can truly relax. Constantly worrying about whether an action is motivated by faith or not can deter faith! My whole point is not to cause that attitude, but to help us recognize the benefits of learning what faith is and how to naturally operate from a place of faith and thus “walk by the Spirit”. It is truly the best way to walk and live.
Faith is the Best Way
I am firmly convinced that James mostly has Judaizers and other fakers in his sights with his message about justification. However, neither he, nor any other apostolic writer, act as if once we have been justified, we can simply ignore what has happened to us.
It would be a despicable message to say that once we have used living faith to get saved, then we just discard it for our daily lives. God forbid. Don't neglect the gift! You were saved by grace through faith - now continue to walk the same way.
Colossians 2:6 - “Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him…”
My focus is fellow believers - my brothers and sisters in Christ - and my writing mostly reflects this, including this article. I assume you already have had the faith that justifies. If not, if you are one of the fakers trying to use human effort to keep God's rules in order to fascimile a “Christian life”, then please stop trying to please God by works and do the main work that does please Him: call upon Christ for life and help.
However, I will continue to write as if everyone reading has done that. This entire article was simply to point out that James was distinguishing saving, living faith that places you in Christ vs a dead faith that leaves you in Adam, a slave to sin. However, we cannot ignore that as believers we still have a choice. That choice makes up the entire life of a believer: walk by the Spirit or walk by the flesh. Put your living faith to work.
This is a whole different topic, but once you have living saving faith, you are now “in the Spirit”. You have oneness with the Divine. But, God's love continues to operate as His nature is. “I AM that I AM”. Love is what love is and it always does what love does. You now have an internal place of God's love in your heart that is a source of power to live, but you must continuously choose it. And faith is the mechanism through which we choose Spirit over flesh.
But, just as God offered your spiritual life as a gift, not under coercion; the gift within - the “treasure in an earthen vessel” - is still not forced upon us. We must learn about the gift and learn to trust it - the work of faith - the obedience of faith! This learning and growth doesn't add to the gift - it doesn't improve the gift - but it does help us use it well. Faith helps us see how good the gift within us is, so we want to use it!
Religion tries to make the “Christian life” an onerous set of requirements to try and make an angry God happy. Only the gospel gives us peace with God as a gift. Thus, it is His goodness to us, and recognizing how the gift of life He has given is so amazing, that motivates us to receive it and use it. As we get into scripture about faith, this idea will become more evident: faith is simply the best way to live.
Thus, I wanted to point out that James should not be used as a cudgel against believers to make them constantly striving to measure themselves and add more and more works to their list. This mindset will actually push them to walk by the flesh and it will damage faith.
However, that does not negate the benefits of continuing to rely upon our living faith to actually live. And the benefits are portrayed by how we love others. As faith works it's way out through love, it will spawn certain mindsets (renewing of the mind), and those mindsets will encourage certain activities. We cannot lose sight of that - as Paul says: it is all that matters.
But, now that I have gotten a difficult discussion out of the way, let's dive deeper into faith starting with an introduction to Hebrews 11 and some examples of promises of God we must put faith in. But that comes in part 3 of this introduction to faith. Until then, keep walking by grace through faith!