Reflections on James 2:14-26

Faith is an active, living thing – it is not a lucky penny, kept in a pocket as a symbol of one’s salvation. It is an infusion of the Holy Spirit, who permeates every cell in one’s body. A true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is first a belief in his gospel and then a joyful, unencumbered leap into the service of the one God. Faith is reliance on and submission before God, not just belief in him. We know that we don’t, and are unable, to do anything to earn our salvation; as Paul says, “By grace you have been saved through faith… not [as] a result of works.” James knows Jesus’ teaching too well to think otherwise. Indeed, he tells us in chapter one that our salvation comes from receiving the Word with meekness and that it was God himself who “brought us forth by the word of truth.”

Paul’s many references to being saved “not by works” are accompanied over and over again by the words “of the law.” Indeed, Romans 3:27-4:8 shares 5 words with this James passage that I find significant. These are “faith,” “work,” “justify”, “apart from,” and “believe.” The significant thing to me, though, is which word is not shared. The word “law” occurs six times in this section in Romans (five times as nomos in the Greek) and not once in James 2:14-26. This tells me that James is talking about a different kind of works from those Paul is addressing. Paul is speaking of works of the law – works done to earn salvation. James speaks of the works that flow naturally from salvation. He is telling us in no uncertain terms that true faith, by nature, produces good works. He is not talking about the rules and sacrifices of the law of Moses, but about the expression of faith that proves its presence.

James explains to us that faith and works are as inextricable as the spirit is from the body. James’ choice of examples in his illustration has much to tell. First, neither Abraham, living 430 years before Moses, nor Rahab, a Gentile, were under the law. Their actions were not motivated by a desire to earn salvation. Neither were their “works” recorded here in any way separate from their faith. Abraham believed that God would fulfill his promise to him, and so he lived this faith by obeying God despite the fact that God’s plan didn’t make sense by any earthly consideration. If Abraham claimed to trust and rely on God and to be confident that he would receive God’s promise, yet did not obey God in his deeds, what worth had his faith? As James would say, it was “useless.”

In the same way, Rahab, had she simply professed belief in the power of the Lord God and not hidden the spies, would have been exactly like every other resident of Jericho – and would have suffered the same fate. Abraham and Rahab proved their faith by their deeds. The fact that James writes of only Abraham and Rahab tells me one more thing. Here in chapter 2, James directly compares the faith of the first patriarch of all of the Jewish people to that of a female, Gentile prostitute, emphasized by his use of the connecting words “in the same way.” In James’ mind every person – Jew, Gentile, honorable, lowly, male, female – is on a level playing field when it comes to faith. According to James, looking at our works is a sure way to assess the state of our faith. A faith that remains within one’s mind, a cold acknowledgment of truth that doesn’t touch the heart, is no better than the belief of the demons; and that should make us shudder. A living faith is an active faith – a lamp that cannot be hidden.

So, what do the works of faith James speaks of actually look like? In his letter, he addresses many facets of a true believer’s behavior. It is a mistake to think that the works James addresses here in chapter 2 are simply “Christian” things, like praying, tithing, or serving on a church committee. In his letter, James certainly emphasizes caring for the needy (as did Jesus in his own ministry), but he also gives explicit commands regarding how a believer is to treat his fellow believers. Some of these instructions reference actual actions, but many others address attitudes of the heart. I believe that even things that do not sound like works, like gentleness or sincerity, are still active expressions of faith, since being gentle or sincere must show itself concretely in the treatment of others. If I had to condense all of the descriptions of different works described in James, though, I would do it in the words of Jesus: “My food is to do the will of God and to accomplish his work.” Faith, yes, is reliance on and commitment to God, but it springs from a deep love of the Lord that ardently desires to do his will. The works that are born of faith are all, in essence, loving obedience to our King.