Daily Bread 2011 - James 2
Faith and Deeds
14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. 20 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
What Does This Mean?
As we listen to James’ words, which are often the cause of much debate, it is important to know this about James’ life and how he died. This account is from Eusebius, a first century historian. Eusebius's account of James's martyrdom gives us a vivid example of impartiality). “James was held in such high regard as one who "does not respect persons" that when the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem were alarmed by the numbers who were believing in Jesus as the Christ, they appealed to James to make a speech to calm the crowd! When they presented James to the crowd, the speech he gave was hardly what they wanted, for he declared Jesus to be the Christ in such strong terms that many became believers then. According to the account in Eusebius, it was this incident that led to James's death. The authorities were so angered by his speech that they cast him to the ground and stoned him to death—while he prayed for God to forgive them.” (1890:125-128)
So as we can see James’ is one who was willing to practice what he preached, even to his own demise. As we hear these words today some might ask, “Wait I thought we are justified by faith, not works”. And, of course, the answer to that is a resounding yes! If we could be justified by our works then Jesus would not have had to die. But what about James words that seems to say the opposite.
Remember the whole purpose of his letter is to encourage the believers who were under persecution. Best possible construction out of this conundrum is to say that if a person has real, living and active faith, it is impossible for this person not to be doing good works. As Luther said, “It is as impossible to separate faith from good works as it is the iron from the fire.” Without the fire the iron has no forging ability, but without the iron the fire can’t make its impact.
What Does This Mean For Us?
Bottom line is faith is always working itself in love and other good deeds. Since faith is trusting in God’s promises and in Christ, faith is always about the work of the Father. As we exercise our faith, we become more and more sure of God’s promises, because we seeing them in living color right in front us.
Just as it took James faith to give that speech to the crowd, each day our faith is tested as well. Each day as we step out in faith to honor God with our lives we our faith is growing and getting stronger. As we face larger trials and tests, these little battles of faith that we win each day will prepare for the day when our faith will be tested in a more severe way.
Heavenly Father we thank you for the great example of the faith like our Father, Abraham and Your Son Jesus who in fact acted knowing you would honor Your promises. Help each us in our time of trial to take the path of faith so that we might please you and show that our faith is not dead but living and active! Amen.
14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. 20 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
What Does This Mean?
As we listen to James’ words, which are often the cause of much debate, it is important to know this about James’ life and how he died. This account is from Eusebius, a first century historian. Eusebius's account of James's martyrdom gives us a vivid example of impartiality). “James was held in such high regard as one who "does not respect persons" that when the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem were alarmed by the numbers who were believing in Jesus as the Christ, they appealed to James to make a speech to calm the crowd! When they presented James to the crowd, the speech he gave was hardly what they wanted, for he declared Jesus to be the Christ in such strong terms that many became believers then. According to the account in Eusebius, it was this incident that led to James's death. The authorities were so angered by his speech that they cast him to the ground and stoned him to death—while he prayed for God to forgive them.” (1890:125-128)
So as we can see James’ is one who was willing to practice what he preached, even to his own demise. As we hear these words today some might ask, “Wait I thought we are justified by faith, not works”. And, of course, the answer to that is a resounding yes! If we could be justified by our works then Jesus would not have had to die. But what about James words that seems to say the opposite.
Remember the whole purpose of his letter is to encourage the believers who were under persecution. Best possible construction out of this conundrum is to say that if a person has real, living and active faith, it is impossible for this person not to be doing good works. As Luther said, “It is as impossible to separate faith from good works as it is the iron from the fire.” Without the fire the iron has no forging ability, but without the iron the fire can’t make its impact.
What Does This Mean For Us?
Bottom line is faith is always working itself in love and other good deeds. Since faith is trusting in God’s promises and in Christ, faith is always about the work of the Father. As we exercise our faith, we become more and more sure of God’s promises, because we seeing them in living color right in front us.
Just as it took James faith to give that speech to the crowd, each day our faith is tested as well. Each day as we step out in faith to honor God with our lives we our faith is growing and getting stronger. As we face larger trials and tests, these little battles of faith that we win each day will prepare for the day when our faith will be tested in a more severe way.
Heavenly Father we thank you for the great example of the faith like our Father, Abraham and Your Son Jesus who in fact acted knowing you would honor Your promises. Help each us in our time of trial to take the path of faith so that we might please you and show that our faith is not dead but living and active! Amen.
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