An introduction note: I wrote this several months ago but never published it. These thoughts are most certainly incomplete as this idea of a balanced walk in following the Spirit has matured significantly. I hope you are blessed either way by reading my thoughts and journey in understanding the Bible.
There has been a great deal of struggle over this passage for me. On the surface, James’ position on faith and action is quite simple. Yet, once I began writing about the topic, the realization that the true misunderstanding of this passage lies in understanding salvation; not evidence of one’s faith. The primary misunderstanding in perceiving salvation is tied to the word-usage and Christianese manner of describing the phenomena. The intellectuals in Christianity have (whether accidentally or deliberately) misconstrued humanities role in salvation to be a procedure. Salvation is not a procedure: salvation is a person (Psalm 27:1). This person is Jesus Christ. Our struggle to emulate his characteristics and sacrifice the “old man” is the result of our state of Spiritual existence (under the governing authority and redemptive purchase of Christ’s blood) in righteous freedom and the lingering bondage of sinful flesh (our literal body destined to die physically). Our life as a Christian is a battle between a Living Spirit and a dead body (our Living body is provided at the resurrection). There is no procedure in salvation for us, but rather a battle between Life and Death. To accurately assess the meaning of James’ point about the relationship between actions and faith, an expanded view of God’s character, the system of Biblical law and Jesus role in relation to humanity must be properly set. As an analogy, to properly play a game of Chess, the pieces must be arranged in the manner befit the game. Mistaking a queen for a bishop or pawn has devastating consequences. In a similar manner, the roles and positions of people in scripture require proper ordering and definitions to understand rightly.
The beautiful wonder of scripture is that the definitions and assessments are provided for us! As an example of a contemporary misunderstanding and conflict, let’s examine “love.” In Galatians 5, we are told love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (for whom we can also find explanations of in the Gospels). Our culture has homosexual love, pacifist love, self-love, erotic love and many more “types” of love. Which one is correct? Even in Christian circles love is primarily restricted to the main three Greek versions of love: Agape, eros and phileo. In English, the common application is “unconditional love” for agape, “brotherly love” for phileo and “marital/sexual love” for eros. While understanding these can provide utility in a deeper understanding of scripture, using a Greek definition and an English definition is exceedingly inadequate! Does man or God define an attribute? 1 John 4:8 says “God is love.” Paul provides an extensive definition of love for us in 1 Corinthians 13 (commonly called the “Love Chapter”). “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Cor. 13:4-7). The cultural definitions can be discarded! The Word of God provides both author and definitions for us to properly understand the meaning and application of God’s desires, our purpose and the interrelations between men, and between God and man. As Christians, we can replace Merriam and Webster’s definitions with Yahweh’s definitions.
We do not have to consult Greek philosophy or English idioms for our understanding! God has provided all the answers if we would but “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9). The Bible is complete in providing guidance for man according to God’s will. It is comforting to realize when I am insufficient and lacking, someone (God) has already provided the answers; I must merely seek them out.
There is a secondary issue with the description of the Christian life and Jesus’ interaction with us: substituting “God the person” for “God the system.” Nearly every step of our lives is swallowed in systems of rules; the rule of parents, the rule of governing law, the rule of the workplace and the rules of social interaction. It is easy to dismiss the Christian life as another “rule of religion” or “rule of moral duty.” By “rule,” I mean: a system of “do’s and do not’s” that reward and punish according to competence. While God has set in place a Moral Law to determine righteousness—which is described throughout the Biblical Scriptures—we must not mistake the rules as God. Our lives are speckled with trespasses against the Moral Law of Righteousness; but the Judge my God is merciful and provided me another option besides death!
Any attempt to manipulate the Moral Law of Righteousness is an attempt to manipulate the Judge: God himself. How can we hope to accomplish this deed? Are we so foolish to believe our actions are hidden from His view? A rebellious slogan is “beat the system.” In the flesh, excellence and righteousness are not the pursuit; cheating the “game” or system to attain the reward is all that matters. Yet, a perfect person cannot be cheated. What is the point of acknowledging the difference between “person” and “system”? The point is to recognize the nature of reality. We cannot beat the Moral Law of Righteousness. From the first breath we were on course to fail.
From the Garden of Eden to your life, there have been two options: subjection to the Law (Knowledge of Good and Evil) or a personal relationship with God (Eternal Life). For Adam and Eve the option was manifest through two trees bearing different fruit (fruit of the Death in the Flesh or fruit of Life in the Spirit). Subjection to the Law led to Death. While subjection to the Lord Yahweh led to Eternal Life. What mystery is this, dear Church? Satan has held power over us since Adam and Eve through the fear of Death by placing us under the power of the Law which points at our sin. Yet, our God is merciful and provided a way to escape His wrath stored for those lawless persons that chose self-righteousness over redemption.
The brilliance of salvation is freedom. Free from the law which revealed the power of sin through the fear of death (the punishment). While many are nodding in agreement to this part; how many people actually believe they are free? On the Charismatic side the hands shoot up and the Baptists keep their hands in their pockets.
The question remains: what does it mean to be “free from the power of sin and death”?
On one hand, some believe it means they can sin without consequences. On the other, it is a hypothetical “freedom” under a new “law” condemning every intention of mankind. These are both incorrect. Let us lay again the Foundation that the Church might endure with Joy until the Day of our Lord’s return. We are free because we already died in Christ! How does death have power over a dead man? It cannot! There is nothing worse that can happen to that person! Our state Spiritually is died and rose with Christ! There is no more fear because we shall live in eternity.
Regarding the prior issue, James makes an extremely blatant statement in verses 18-19, “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder!” James is addressing a culture very much like our own: a culture laced with religiosity but no refining obedience. Knowledge of the truth is not salvation. The passage that hearkens to mind is Jesus final word in the sermon on the mount. Matthew 7:24-27 says, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
James and Jesus are making the same point: knowledge doesn’t save—obedience upon hearing the truth saves. James recalls Abraham, pointing out that by obeying the Lord to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, he was “credited…righteousness” (James 2:23). Abraham’s “faith and his actions were working together” (vs. 22). James is hinting at an extremely important question here: do you really believe enough to obey? It is the great question that nags at the back of our brains in moments of doubt. In the moment of trial, do we believe God’s words or believe in our own problem-solving skills?
From the garden of Eden to contemporary day, man has been deceived to believe there is a better way without God. Our instinct is to cast aside God’s wisdom for the wisdom of this world. Resulting in obedience to the dictates of sin rather than the Word. From the beginning, God has only asked one thing of us: obedience. What good is believing if it doesn’t change the way one acts? Indeed, “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead” (vs. 26). A test for oneself is to see if your actions are accompanied by the fruits of the Holy Spirit; “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23). These things should accompany our actions in accordance with obedience.
The inverse issue must be addressed as well. In James 2:24, he makes the statement: “You see that a person is justified by what he does, and not by faith alone.” Many individuals will read this and insert: salvation by works. On the contrary, James is walking a fine line between two ideas: earning salvation and obeying the savior. Let’s make the record clear: Jesus Christ alone bought every person’s salvation by his death on the cross and his resurrection to the throne. Due to our carnal mind, we are inclined to believe that “working out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Php. 2:12) equates to earning salvation. While salvation was earned, it was not earned by us. What is the requirement of righteousness? Perfect obedience to God the Father.
Where does this leave us? In our natural state at birth, our sin has earned death. We are unrighteous; on the other hand, Jesus is righteous. Jesus is the one with the right to conquer and rule death (Rev.). Jesus holds the keys to our salvation. What does James mean by “a person is justified by what he does”? It is the act and pursuit of obedience to our Savior’s wisdom. There are two extremes in the “faith vs. works” argument. One suggests that we are completely and utterly incapable of doing, performing or moving towards any act linked or presenting goodness. This position strips individuals of their freewill; supposing our sin nature and God’s sovereignty to dictate all actions in the universe with no voluntary contribution on our part. Any contribution by us is a predetermined formula which we cannot escape. This position is dreadful: God becomes a tyrant damning one man and justifying another on his whim without merit—just because he can. The second position suggests that belief and faith are enough. No changes need to occur in the sinful habits we have formed. Salvation is for everyone.
It is common in Christian culture to emphasize our inadequacies with slogans such as, “I’m not perfect,” “I’m a sinner saved by grace” and “I could never be good enough.” While true, we do not emphasize Jesus capabilities enough. Sure, his death on the cross took my debt, the blood price I owed for my disobedience (Rom. 3:21-27); but even more amazing is the overlooked fact: Jesus did not deserve death! Jesus deserved heaven. Jesus was not credited righteousness; Jesus was righteous. No one paved the way for Jesus; he obeyed God the Father perfectly. Jesus earned his throne. That is truly and sincerely awestriking. It is easy to dismiss Jesus’ actions saying, “Oh, well he is God; so big deal.” No, it is a big deal! “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin” (Heb. 4:15). Not only did Jesus give up his rights as God, he also conquered every temptation that we fail to overcome, and then re-earned his throne by the standards he set in place! Absolutely incredible! Our sin nature screams defiance and “foul” at God, claiming his standard is “too high” and “unachievable.” Then Jesus who is God, abandon his place as divinity to be encased by human flesh, obeyed God the Father’s standard perfectly and then both proved God’s just nature and his own right to be the final authority! Philippians 2:6-11 says, “[Jesus Christ], being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Action and faith are a paradox that balance following the Word. Accurately applying this paradox is a timeless struggle. The issues James is addressing one of two extremes: salvation by works and knowledge of the truth but no effort in conforming to the truth. In James 2:14-26, he is addressing the problem with knowledge of the truth but no action. While James is specifically dealing with this issue, the counter problem will be addressed by other scriptures as we investigate the delicate balance of belief and obedience and their relationship to salvation.
Help my unbelief. Perhaps the greatest struggle today is truly accepting the truth that Jesus bought us with his blood. James is observing that our belief dictates our actions. Do you believe you have eternal life through Jesus Christ? It is extremely simple but takes trusting God to apply.
