Sermon Tone Analysis

James 2:14-26, NSB 4-18-07

 

TBKC – Johnny Hunt’s Book of Outlines on James, James 2:14-26, “Faith that Works” – Believer’s Bible Commentary – JFB – Wiersbe’s BE Series – KJV Bible Commentary -  The Bible Reader’s Companion – MacArthur Study Bible – Johnny Hunt’s Book of Outlines on James 2:14-26, “Funeral Home Visitation” -   The Nelson Study Bible (NKJV) -

 

People are unique in God’s creation.

And what makes us unique is that we have a spirit.

And that spirit lives in this body.

What turned Adam from a lump of clay, or a corpse if you will, was that God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (spirit).

Genesis 2:7 And Adam had a spirit – it was the part of him that was created in the image of God.

When the spirit came in the body came alive.

You knew the spirit or the life was in the body because the body was doing stuff.

Breathing – Walking through the garden – Naming all the animals – Eating from trees he was not supposed to eat from – Stuff like that

 

But the other side of the coin is that when the spirit and the body are separated then we are left with a corpse.

(James 1:26)

            And that is what we see when we visit in the funeral homes.

You can stand there and look at that body for a long time but it is not going to move because what makes these bodies alive is not there.

See…

The body without the spirit is dead.

And in verse 26 of what we have just read, James tells us that a body without a spirit is like faith without works.

Just as the body doing things is evidence that the spirit is in there

            So are our good works evidence that there is a real faith alive in us.

Let’s see what James has to say about two different types of faith as we walk this path from verse 14 to verse 26.

The first thing that he talks about in vv.

14-17 is:

 

*A DEAD FAITH *

- By introducing us to the */professor/* who is not a */possessor/*.

*James 2:14** (KJV) **14**What /doth it/ profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works?

can faith save him?

*

 

This verse can really confuse you because the way that it is worded in the KJV makes it look like James is calling into question whether or not faith can save this man.

Can faith save a man?

Absolutely – Eph.

2:2-9 and others.

So, James is not asking if faith can save this man.

Listen to verse 14 from the NASB.

*James 2:14** (NASB95) \\ 14 **What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works?

Can that faith save him?*

**[1]**

 

So, James is not asking if faith can save the man – He is asking if that faith can save him.

What faith?

A faith that does not have works.

So, can someone be saved and not have any good works to show for it?

Well, we will see.

Unless we look carefully we may think that he is asking if a man can be saved if he has genuine faith but not works.

But really that is not what he is saying -

So, we must look closer.

James is not talking here about a man who has faith without works.

He is talking about a man who */says/* he has faith and he has no works.

So, the correct understanding of James 2:14 is not as the KJV reads but it is more like this:

 

Is genuine saving faith a faith that produces no works?

So, in this passage James is not contrasting works with faith but he is contrasting genuine faith with pretend faith.

In other words, the question before us is not a question of can genuine faith save – it can.

The question is:  What about this pretend faith?

This faith that is all talk but no walk?

Here is the deal -

Merely claiming to have faith is not enough.

Genuine faith is evidenced by works.

[2]

 

Then, is there a type of faith that will not save us?

James tells us that there is.

H says…

If you have a faith that you are counting on to save you but it has not even changed you enough to produce good works in you then James wants to ask you a question:  “What good is it?”

Warren Wiersbe says:

“Any declaration of faith that does not result in a changed life */and good works/* is a false declaration.”[3]

Then in vv.

15 and 16, James gives us an example of what he is taking about:

 

*James 2:15 - 16** (KJV) **15**If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,  **16**And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be /ye/ warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what /doth it/ profit?

*

 

Here we have someone who would…

Claim to have saving faith on the inside but their actions don’t agree with their mouth.

In these two verses there is a person who is cold and hungry.

Now, if a person is cold and hungry guess what they need?

Warmth and food!

But what this person in these verses gives them is a spiritual blessing:  “Go in peace.”

And what we have here is a picture of a pretend faith that is of no value to the one who has it or to the one who is hungry and cold.

I mean if I come to your house and say I am hungry – do you know what I would like for you to do?  Feed me.

You can read the entire Gospel of John to me, but when you are finished, guess what?

I will still be hungry.

And so what James shows us is that You can have a fake faith.

A faith that does not work for others or for you.

A faith that does not do for you what you might think it will.

Things that don’t really do what they claim to do can be deceiving.

Illustration:  Thermostat in children’s church.

So, our genuine faith should have something more than words that goes along with it.

Look at verse 17 –

 

*James 2:17** (KJV) **17**Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

*

 

The evidences that you are alive are many

The evidence that your faith is alive is the works it produces in you.

You are saved by faith – and…

True faith brings something with it.

It brings works.

So, what we can deduce from James is this:

Any declaration of faith that does not result in a changed life */and good works/* is a false profession.

It is a dead faith.

And then after he talks about a DEAD FAITH, he talks about a

 

*Demonic Faith (James 2:18–19)*

 

Now, that may at first sound like an oxymoron but the truth is that demons are doctrinally correct in what they believe on a great many things.

*18**Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.*

*19**Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.*

Demons are not atheists

            Demons are not agnostics

            They believe in God and the deity of Christ.

Demons are straight down the line in their beliefs and what they believe lines up almost perfectly with what Baptists believe:

            They believe that Jesus is the Son of God

 

*Matthew 8:29 - 30** (KJV) **29**And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

**30**And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.