Faith That Works | James 2:14-26
Introduction
Seventy-three percent of adults in America believe Heaven is real, according to a 2021 Pew Research study. According to an older Barna study, “Nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) believe they will go to Heaven.” Compare that to the fact that only one-half of 1% of Americans expect to go to Hell when they die.
There is no more significant question for you to consider than that of your eternal destiny. When you die and stand before the Holy God, what verdict will he render? Will he declare you to be righteous in his sight? Or will he find you guilty of transgressing his holy law and falling short of his glory? Will he condemn you to the eternal punishment your sins deserve? Or will he vindicate you, acquit you, justify you, and welcome you into the unending joy of his glorious presence?
Every human being is destined to die, and after death to face judgment (Heb 9:27). How can you know that you are right with God?
In this practical and pastoral letter, James turns the full force of his attention to this question, explaining how sinful people can be counted righteous and saved from God’s wrath by trusting in Jesus Christ alone with a living and active faith. His words, his arguments and reasons, and his supporting illustrations are inspired by the Spirit of God to strengthen and sustain your faith. So give your full attention to the very Word of God.
James 2:14–26
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 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. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 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? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
The Nature of Saving Faith
James introduces his topic by raising a question in v. 14: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?”
What does James mean when speaks of being saved? Well, he just brought up the final judgment in the preceding verses: “So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty” (James 2:12). In James 4:12, James writes, “There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy.” To be saved, then, is to be acquitted on the day of judgment rather than condemned.
The reality of future judgment comes up again in chapter 5: “Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door” (James 5:8–9). The Lord Jesus is the Judge who is coming to judge the world in righteousness.
To be saved (v. 14) is to be justified before the holy Judge. That’s the word James uses is v. 24: “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” Justification is a legal declaration that grants a legal status. A judge renders a verdict: innocent or guilty. A pastor solemnizes a marriage—“I now pronounce you husband and wife”—and with that declaration there is a status change. Those who are justified—declared innocent and righteous by God—are saved from the wrath of God their sins deserve. There is nothing more important than being right with God!
So look again at James’s question: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” James is concerned with the nature of saving faith. What kind of faith saves? What kind of faith must a sinner have in order to be justified on the Day of Judgment?
And his answer to that question—his main point—is straightforward. It’s stated clearly in v. 24: “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” Or to state it negatively, as James does repeatedly: “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (v. 17; cf. vv. 20, 26).
There is a kind of faith incapable of saving anyone—faith without works is dead. The only way to be right with God is by a living and active faith in Jesus. And the Holy Spirit’s aim is to use this text, not merely to fill your mind with information about the nature of faith, but to actually produce (and sustain) living and active faith in you so that you will be justified by God on the day of judgment.
Now, if you’ve been a Christian for a while, if you’re familiar with the Bible and with Church history—especially the Protestant Reformation—James’s wording in verse 24 probably strikes your ears with a harsh, grating sound: “A person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” That sounds like it directly contradicts the central doctrine of the Reformation, the doctrine of justification by faith alone. In Latin, sola fide. Not only does it sound like it goes against Martin Luther and the Reformation, but it sounds like it contradicts the Apostle Paul, who wrote in Romans 3:28, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” What is going on?
Martin Luther himself said, “Many sweat to reconcile James with Paul …. They are contradictory claims: Faith justifies; Faith does not justify. Whoever can put these together, I will put my cap on him and let him call me a fool.” With all due respect to Luther and no desire to wear his cap or call him a fool, I do not believe James and Paul contradict each other. Each has his own point to make and emphasizes different truths from different angles.
It’s not that Paul argued for faith and James argued against faith. “I will show you my faith,” he says in (v. 18). “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness,” he says in v. 23, quoting Genesis 15:6. James and Paul agree that faith is what unites you to Christ and all his saving power. However, the kind of faith that justifies is not a dead and useless faith, but only a living and active faith.
James and Paul addressed different errors in the churches they cared for. Paul frequently dealt with those who boasted in their own attempts to earn favor from God apart from faith, while James argued against those who were content to say they believed in Jesus apart from obeying Jesus as their Lord. James was not addressing people who boasted in their own works. He was dealing with people who made empty professions of faith. They said the right things. Their creeds and confessions were orthodox. Their doctrinal ducks were all in a row. But their faith was dead.
This problem is pervasive today. We still have legalists who need to understand Paul’s message. But there are also many who think that being gospel-centered means thinking about Jesus while being careful to avoid any talk of obedience to Jesus. Such people mistakenly think that obedience is legalism.
And if obedience is legalism and legalism is bad, then they must make sure they focus on trusting Jesus without worrying about obeying Jesus. To them, justification by faith alone means believing Jesus obeyed so I don’t have to. Therefore, words like “obey” and “command” and “good works” are dangerous. But that’s not the perspective of anyone in the NT—not Paul or James or Jesus.
What is the remedy? We must be clear about the nature of saving faith. What kind of faith saves? And what kind of faith doesn’t save? Look at v. 24 again: “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” When James speaks of “faith alone” in v. 24, he is not using the phrase faith alone the same way the Reformers did when they spoke of sola fide. He is describing dead faith that is all alone, literally all by itself (v. 17).
Counting verse 24, James speaks of “faith apart from works” six times, in six different ways in this passage.
“... someone says he has faith but does not have works” (James 2:14).
“So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (James 2:17).
“Show me your [supposed] faith apart from your works” (James 2:18).
“faith apart from works is useless” (James 2:20).
“You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24).
“faith apart from works is dead.” (James 2:26).
The word alone can function either as an adverb or an adjective. As an adjective, alone means isolated, all by itself—lonely faith. As an adverb, faith alone justifies. What kind of faith? Not lonely faith, which is useless and dead, but living and active faith, the kind of faith that works. The classic way to say this is that we are justified by faith alone (adverb), but that faith is never alone (adjective).
Now we can give our attention to James’s argument, which he develops in three parts: 1) an illustration (vv. 15–17), 2) a debate (vv. 18–20), and 3) two examples (vv. 21–26)
An Illustration (vv. 14–17)
James first develops his claim with an illustration. “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says [key word] to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” 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” (James 2:15–17).
Imagine you meet a homeless man dressed in rags downtown. He is starving and freezing, and as an expression of your deep care and concern, you greet him warmly, “May your body be warm and may your stomach be filled!” How much warmer is that man’s freezing body temperature after your kind words? What nutritional value did your words give his body? Your words—kind as they may be on paper—do that homeless man no good.
So it is with the person who claims he has faith but doesn’t have works (v. 14). Saying you believe—professing your faith—is not the same as trusting Jesus. This is a deadly mistake, to call yourself a Christian and to profess faith in Jesus without actually relying on and submitting to Jesus. Jesus asked, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46).
Twice James asks, “What good is that?” (vv. 14, 16). That could be translated, “What use is it, what benefit, what profit, what gain is it?” That kind of “faith” is worthless—most of all because it doesn’t save anyone. Faith without works is like a wish without action: literally, it doesn’t work. It does not justify. It does not save. James urgently warns against words with no actions.
A Debate (vv. 18–19)
Next, James shifts to a rhetorical device where he engages in a back-and-forth debate with a hypothetical opponent: “But someone will say …” (v. 18). James anticipates his opponent’s argument and interacts with it for the sake of his audience. “But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works’” (James 2:18). James is dealing with people who think that faith and works can be separated. They want to pit faith against works, insisting that it’s either/or. It’s either faith or works, and the implication is that faith is all that’s necessary.
To which James replies, “Prove it.” “Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18). Don’t merely say you believe. Show me your faith. Prove that you believe. The one who thinks faith can be separated from works can only assert that he has faith. But James says saving faith is demonstrable. It’s observable. It’s outwardly evident, not just inwardly thought or felt.
And this helps us understand something important about the nature of genuine faith. Can you see faith? It turns out you can. Faith is apparent through works.
Imagine a boy standing on the side of a pool. His father is standing water up to his shoulders. The father says, “Jump, I’ll catch you. I won’t let you drown.” That’s a promise and a promise is either believed or disbelieved. Here’s the question. Is it possible for you, the bystander, to know whether or not the son believes the father? Is faith visible or invisible? His faith is expressed in the act of jumping. He believes, so he jumps. The believing and the jumping can’t be separated. If he stands on the side of the pool professing his faith, “I believe my dad exists, I believe my dad can swim, I believe my dad will catch me,” but he never jumps, he has not demonstrated his faith.
Next, James says to his opponent, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” (James 2:19). James is warning here against head knowledge with no heart impact. One reason dead faith is so dangerous is that it may be doctrinally accurate, making it harder to spot than heresies and false teachings. James gives an example of a doctrinal belief that those with dead faith may be able to affirm. There are many people who believe God exists. They’re not atheists. They may believe abortion is wrong. They may believe Jesus is the Son of God.
So do the demons, as Mark’s Gospel recounts: “And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God’” (Mark 1:23–24).
Saving faith is not less than knowing the truth about Jesus. It would be wrong to conclude—as some do!—that studying doctrine leads to dead faith. Sound doctrine is not the problem. The problem is hearts that obsess over sound doctrine without treasuring Christ. Saving faith is not less than doctrinal truth, but it is more—much more than that.
Two Examples: Abraham and Rahab
James’s final way to show “that faith apart from works is useless” (v. 20) is to cite two examples from Scripture: the patriarch Abraham and the prostitute Rahab. “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 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 it was counted to him as righteousness’—and he was called a friend of God” (James 2:21–23).
For his second example, James points to Rahab: “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?” (James 2:25). Even though James doesn’t mention Rahab’s faith, it’s implied by the context, where James has been arguing that faith and works are inseparable. The original story is found in Joshua, where Rahab expresses her faith in the Lord. She said to the spies, “I know that the LORD has given you the land …. For the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath” (Joshua 2:9, 11). Also, the author of Hebrews makes it perfectly clear: “By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies” (Hebrews 11:31). So Rahab’s reception of the spies was an act of faith.
Regarding both Abraham and Rahab, James says they were “justified by works” (v. 21, 25). And right in between them both, he inserts his main point (v. 24): “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24).
In what sense was Abraham justified by works? It’s crucial to see that Paul and James use the word works differently. While James calls for works of faith, Paul opposed faithless works. [Repeat]
Paul seems to contradict James, but what he actually says is that a person “is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Rom 3:28). And Paul uses “works of the law” to describe works that do not come from faith. As he says in Romans 9:31–32, “Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works.” This approach to “works” is self-reliant, not relying on Jesus. When Paul asserts that justification is by faith apart from works of the law, he is condemning self-reliant, meritorious works that attempt to earn payment from God.
There are two giveaways for legalistic works: those who perform such works think they have done something they can bill God for and boast about. But God is not “served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25). And neither Abraham, nor Rahab, nor anyone else with living and active faith has done anything to meet a need in God or to earn salvation. The works of faith don’t meet needs in God; they come from reliance on God.
When James says, “A person is justified by works and not by faith alone,” he is not talking about faithless works; he is talking about works of faith. Speaking of Abrham, he writes, “You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works” (James 2:22). James’ point is to emphasize the faith of Abraham. And what kind of faith did Abraham have? Not empty faith. Not useless, inactive, or dead faith. Not words without action. Not profession without power. Abraham had living and active faith.
But both Paul and James would agree that genuine faith is inseparable from the “obedience of faith” as Paul calls it in Romans 1:5 and 16:26. Like James, Paul taught that saving faith works: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” (Galatians 5:6). Paul condemns works of the law (self-reliant, meritorious, wage-earning efforts) but commends the obedience of faith. Paul never calls for a faith that exists only your head.
So while James was correcting people who relied on a dead faith apart from works, Paul was correcting people who relied on dead works without faith. As James argues, faith and works can’t be separated any more than the body and soul can be separated. To separate body and soul is death. To separate faith and works is death. Genuine faith is faith with calluses, conviction that comes out your fingertips.
Conclusion
But why did James pick Abraham … and Rahab?
These two represent both ends of the spectrum. Abraham was the Patriarch of Israel. James refers to him as Abraham our father (v. 21). Rahab was a prostitute. Abraham was not just in the covenant. It’s called “the Abrahamic covenant.” Rahab was not a Jew. She was a Gentile outside of the covenant. Abraham was known as a righteous man. Rahab was a sinful woman. And both were justified.
From patriarch to prostitute, no one is right with God by merit, but only by the righteousness that comes by faith. And this gift of righteousness that Abraham and Rahab received is available to you by the same faith. What kind of faith? Not dead faith. Not mere talk, but living and active faith.
Are you trusting in Jesus today with a living and active faith?