James 2:18-22 LSB

But someone will say, “You have faith; and I have works. Show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.” But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected.

Two Warriors, One Position to Defend

Have you ever watched a movie where men were warring against each other, and you had two men standing back-to-back fighting off enemies who were coming from many different directions? They were fighting on the same spot and as they were back-to-back the objective was to defend the position. They each were protecting the other while remaining in close proximity.

This illustration can be applied to the Apostle Paul and James the brother of our Lord Jesus Christ. Both are defending the same spot. Both were fighting off the spiritual enemies that were trying to destroy the faith of early Church believers. Both were defending each other. Yet as various enemies were coming at them from various directions Paul and James appeared to have conflicting interests as they were facing different directions. Nothing could be further from the truth. They were not fighting against each other with split agendas. They were back-to-back defending each other.

To fully understand what James is telling us in our text for this evening, and throughout his book, we need to understand what the plot of ground they were defending was and then we will need to know the differences regarding the enemies they were separately fighting against. Before we look closely at the passage let us look at what they were defending and who the enemies were; and more importantly, what they may look like today.

Both the Apostle and Jesus’ half brother would have understood that it was by faith that one had to enter the doorway of salvation. At one time both Paul and James were together in Jerusalem at what scholars call “The Jerusalem Council”, as recorded in Acts 15, when the Apostle Peter clearly articulates while addressing the issue of Gentiles receiving salvation - “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.” (Acts 15:11) Both James and Paul understood what Peter was saying. Salvation is by faith alone. Furthermore, James adds that the Gentiles need not have additional burdens placed on them regarding salvation but then adds that they be trained to have consciences sensitive to what others consider sin and the ability to turn away from sexual sins. The consensus was works is not required by faith but training in righteousness needs to follow faith.

The followance of works after faith stems from the reality that we are “born again,” or are “a new creation.” Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:5-6 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit.” Paul mentions in 2 Corinthians 5: 17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” The Old Testament prophets wrote about the transformation of a believer’s heart. God told the nation of Israel through His prophet Ezekiel: “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” (Ezekiel 36:26–27)

We enter the doorway of salvation only by believing that the forgiveness granted to us by Jesus is obtainable only because of His sacrificial substitutionary death that was to appease the holiness of the Father. There is nothing we can do that will allow the Father to declare that we are innocent from our committed sins outside of our own death, or the death of Christ. Yet once we believe, we then receive the Holy Spirit of God who will then move us unto holiness. This movement will be recognized by both ourselves and those who can witness our lives. Our called-out faith moves the Father to forgive us then His Spirit moves us onto holy living.

Paul’s Fight

Paul was focused on explaining that it is our faith that moves the Father to declare our innocence based on the work of His Son. James was focused on what happens after our being declared just by holy decree of the Father. Both truths apply. Paul was facing the enemies who declared that we must work to produce forgiveness. James was facing the enemies that declared we can receive forgiveness without being transformed in a manner that will move us towards holy living. If we never move towards holy living after our being declared free from the guilt of our sins then we will never have assurance of our salvation. This can leave us in despair causing us to be ineffective for our Lord and robbing us from our rewards; and this is the best-case scenario. The worst-case scenario is we never truly had faith alone and are thus not forgiven. No salvation.

The world in which we live here in the Philippines is by-and-large controlled by the enemies that Paul was fighting. Works are required for salvation is their war cry. We must be baptized in order to have salvation. Not only are we to be baptized, but we should be baptized when we are infants. We need to pay penance for our sins as prescribed by a priest. We must pray the rosary. We must go to confessional. Every time we pass by a church or some other holy site, we need to touch the crucifix dangling from our neck. We must have possession of a crucifix so we can touch it. Attend the wake, pray for the dead, have your last rites, and pray the rosary, always pray the rosary. Mother Treasa, who is now both a Catholic saint and a Hindu god, herself felt she had not worked hard enough to appease God. And that was because she couldn’t. We can never work to take away the guilt of sin. We can only pay the wages - which is death or belief that Jesus paid the wages for us. These notions were what Paul was fighting against.

James’ Fight

As for James, we see his enemies as those who have a form of doctrine but allowing that doctrine to undermine the holiness of God. Have you ever heard someone tell you “I do not believe that God would send someone to Hell because ‘God is love?’” The doctrine is correct, but the conclusion is wrong. If we believe that due to His love for humanity He would not send anyone to Hell, then why should we bother to evangelize. Afterall, evangelizing is hard work and often results in our being rejected by others. The modern critic will say that if you love yourself then why place yourself in a position where you will be rejected and feel sad? The day before I wrote this, I read a headline on the home page of the news site that I frequent where a stripper claimed that she felt God wanted her to strip off her clothing on the internet for the whole world to see. Really? Do we truly think that God wants a beautiful, yet evil and seductive, woman to strip bare and cause men to lust and self-gratify themselves undermining the purpose of intimacy in marriage? And this is just the beginning of the issue. Many years ago, I was in a men’s Bible study where a newcomer was telling us that he felt a woman’s body was like a finely crafted piece of art. This was before the internet and the intensive porn battle that is now being waged against men (and even women). After the meeting I asked the group leader what just took place and he explained that he was someone addicted to porn and the issue was greater than just the porn. The greater problem was his lack of wisdom and that he was not taking the conscience holy convictions of the other men into consideration. Other men in the group struggle with porn and he just gave them justification to fail.

It is this issue, conscience holy convictions of others, that James was sensitive too. In the Jerusalem Council both Paul and James understood that Peter was informing the elders that salvation is by faith alone, but James brought out the issue that we in our pursuit of holiness are never alone. We are helping others in their pursuit, and this will require us to be sensitive to what they understand sin to be on their own personal level. How many times have we heard a woman lacking wisdom say that the problem of lust is the man’s problem and therefore they will dress provocatively? Look again at what James said in Acts 15:19-20 “Therefore I judge that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from sexual immorality and from what is strangled and from blood.” Jewish believers were still wrestling with the issue of the dietary laws and so to help them other believers should be conscience of their struggle to the point of abstaining from meat that was processed from an animal that was not butchered in a kosher manner. Sexual immorality was an act of worship on the part of the pagan religions thus the believers needed to understand the proper context of intimacy and act in a manner that was beneficial to the Church community at large.

James’ Imaginary Critic

Let us now jump back into our text and see if what I presented is truly what James is teaching. We will do so by looking at what an imaginary speaker presents in the form of a hypothetical scenario. James 2:18-19:

But someone will say, “You have faith; and I have works. Show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.”

James is arguing that the proper theology, or doctrine, is that we “believe” thus having faith in the work of Christ. Then the proper doctrine must be followed by proper actions. The hypothetical critic is trying to prove that one can have proper doctrine (theology) and it is sufficient. So, in verse eighteen the critic (imaginary) sets the stage for the argument. On one side a person has faith that is not followed by proper works. On the other side a person has faith that is accompanied by works. Then the critic injects a doctrine (theology), and the doctrine is that God is one. The theology is correct. God is one and embracing this doctrine the critic says that “you do well.” [James was not defending or challenging the doctrine of the trinity but assumed that the critic embraced the doctrine.] Now if the doctrine is correct, and we are doing well, then the question is are proper works required to accompany the doctrine. Can not the doctrine that God is one stand alone on its own? The critic believes yes and proves so by pointing out that demons believe. Demons believing that God is one requires no “work” to validate the doctrine. Yes, they shudder, they fear, they revere, but never do they work for God to prove that they believe in His existence. Moreso, never will they work for God to demonstrate their faith. They hate God. Their belief is not validated by their actions. Thus, validated works for God is unnecessary to have a belief in God. And with this James’ critic will rest his case.

Have you ever evangelized a person and told them that if they ask Jesus into their hearts that they can be saved and have eternal life? Many of us have; and many of us understand what we are trying to say. But what does the person that we are speaking with hear? What is it that they understand? To say to an adult that they should “ask Jesus into their heart” should be understood by the hearer that we are not being literal - but that may be all they understand. They do not know the meaning behind the metaphor. Then to say that they can be saved; saved from what? But the statement that will cause them to lose interest all together is to say that they can have “eternal life.” What if they do not like their current life because of guilt? They may think “why do I want to eternally feel bad?” Or, eternal sounds nice, but it does not help me right here and right now. So, with the statement they lose interest and put off thinking about spiritual matters until a future time. They make no connection between the doctrines that we tell them and how it will affect their lives.

Or how about telling them that God loves them and has wonderful plans for their lives. This may be a theologically correct statement (though often the “wonderful plans” doctrines are misapplied – God was speaking to Israel the nation) but if a person has no sense of purpose the statement may only cause the person to conclude that since they have no purpose God must not love them. We tell people that God wants to bless them, and they are thinking that they want the blessing now. God’s blessings will be fully realized only after our resurrection. We may have small blessings now, but Jesus promised persecution comes first. That is a doctrine we tend to leave out.

We, as the Church, are painting pictures that cause the world to think that yes, faith may be important, but, as there is no connection between the faith that the Christian proclaims and my realities, that faith stands alone with no benefits nor responsibilities. Thus, the Christian faith is just an empty set of words.

Recognize That Faith Without Works is Useless

In James 2:20 our Lord’s younger brother points out the fallacy that knowledge alone is sufficient. To counter the critic’s argument, we need to understand that demons do believe in God but not by faith. They have seen God. They saw that the second person of the trinity became a man. Yet for us, what we believe we believe by faith. Hebrews 11:1 – “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” We believe though we have not seen. Faith is responding to what we believe. Faith is moving beyond knowing (belief) and responding with action. To have knowledge means nothing if we do not act on the knowledge.

Let us say you are at the night market, and you are buying food for your family to eat supper. You have knowledge that you have a P50 bill in your hand so you order P30 worth of barbeque. You have the correct knowledge in mind that informs you that you should receive P20 worth of change. Do you then end the transaction by receiving the barbequed meat and then just walk away with the knowledge that the change is P20? No. You receive the change. Knowledge alone was insufficient. Do you end the transaction by having faith that the vendor will give you P20 but they get distracted and fail to give you the change? Is your faith sufficient? No, you remind them of the action required. Knowledge alone equals nothing. Believing the right truth yet having no response equals nothing.

This is what James is telling the critic of verses 18-19 here in James 2:20: “But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?” The critic in verses 18-19 is saying that having just the proper doctrine is sufficient but James responds by saying that knowledge alone accomplishes nothing. Sure, maybe the person has been forgiven, then again, maybe not. Assurance only comes through obedience. [John 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”] We are saved from the results of evil by faith alone in the completed work of Christ. We are now able to defeat the evil in our lives by living a life believing that God will deliver us from evil. But having that knowledge alone is useless. We need to start living holy lives. We need to start acting motivated for a love for God. We need to act in ways that are caring for the needs of our neighbor; our neighbor being defined as whomever we have contact with even if we do not like them. It is not our actions that produce salvation but rather our actions prove and perfect salvation. [Perfect by motivating us unto further actions.]

Abraham Our Role Model

Like any good Bible teacher should, James draws an illustration of what he was teaching out of the Bible (Old Testament) and the life of Abraham. Let us recall the account.

After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.” 2 Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.” 4 Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” 5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Genesis 15:1–6 (NASB95)

We have just read the account of Abraham being declared righteous. Yet this is not the story that James was referring to in James 2:21. Let us read that story as well:

On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. 5 Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. 7 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together. 9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

Genesis 22:4–12 (NASB95)

Currently the year is 2021. Take a few moments and think back to where you were in 1991. 1991. Some of you were not even yet born. Many who are now married and have children were not yet married. Some of you were still schooling. I’m a little older thus I had already finished school and served four years in the U.S. Army. In 1991 I was living in Arkansas U.S.A. working as a construction worker building houses. 1991 was the year I started with prison ministries. I served in prison ministries for 10 years (minus the year and a half while I was involved in short-term missions) before I came to the Philippines 20 years ago. Think about thirty years ago.

Thirty years is the time span between Genesis 15 when Abraham believed Yahweh and was forgiven to the time that Yahweh tested Abraham by asking him to start the process of sacrificing his son Isaac. God never intended for Abraham to fulfill His command. God also knew that the test was difficult for Abraham. Think of the anguish that Abraham went through.

Hebrews 11:17-18 reveals some of Abraham’s pain: “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and the one who had received the promises was offering up his only son; 18 it was he to whom it was said, “THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE NAMED.”

Abraham knew the promises God made concerning Isaac. Yet Abraham was a man of great faith. Look closely at Hebrews 11:19: “He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.”

Faith Requires Painful Commitment

Abraham was a man of faith. We too claim to be people of faith. How unwavering is our faith? We state that God is our provider. We sing praises that God is our provider. We give thanks when God provides. Even many jeepneys have markings that declare God is the Provider.

Let us return to the night market and continue the story of buying barbeque for our families’ supper. I will use myself as the example. I go into the market and buy two sticks of barbeque for my wife Gloria, two sticks for my daughter, two sticks for the house workers and a plastic bag full of cooked rice. I am very grateful and thank the Lord for His provision. Upon arriving at home, the table is set, and we sit down to eat. Again, we thank the Lord for His provision and ask Him to bless the food for our nourishment. My wife Gloria takes one stick of barbeque and I suddenly become more thankful. Then my daughter does the same. I am now very, very thankful for God being our Provider. But then we hear a person at the gate calling out for our attention. I go to the gate and there is a poor beggar with two small children. God is the provider, yes? I know He is the provider; He just provided me with four sticks of barbeque. Nice barbeque where the tips are crunchy, and the sauce is perfect (for me that will mean with a little sili). I know that God is the provider but remember – knowledge is useless without action. How do you think God wants to provide for the beggar? Yes, I can afford to give away three sticks of barbeque. Yet this was the easy test. Let’s go deeper.

The scriptures teach that during the Tribulation some will be called upon to give their lives for the sake of the Lord. Revelation 12:11 reads: “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their witness, and they did not love their life even to death.” Bible scholars are divided as to who these believers may be. If that is the case (that our scholars are unsure) then the safest position that we may hold onto is that it may be us. These martyrs may fall by the hand of those who fall away from Christendom. Remember the words of Paul regarding the Lord’s coming in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 which reads:

“Let no one in any way deceive you, for it has not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the sanctuary of God, exhibiting himself as being God.

If you truly believe that the return of the Lord is near, then you know people who will walk away from Christianity and embrace the religion of the anti-Christ. They will be here amongst us. That is knowledge, but how do we act upon this knowledge?

Help The Brethren of Christ

31 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 “And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom, which has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44 “Then they themselves also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 “Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Matthew 25:31-46 LSB

The context of the previous passage is during the tribulation. Faith is believing a truth and acting on it. Faith is useless unless you act on it. Do you believe that one day you will be resurrected such as Jesus was resurrected? Are you willing to act on it? Would you be willing to aid the brethren of our Lord Jesus Christ even if it meant you would be put to death for your actions? You will be resurrected soon thereafter. Sure, you may be thinking, I will help my fellow Christian. In the Book of Revelation, the Christian roadmap that will guide believers at the time of the Tribulation, in its prelude, our Lord informs the believers who will be in a type of the church that was in Smyrna they should “not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Today one of the fastest growing churches is the church of Afghanistan. If the church of Afghanistan is cut from the same cloth as the church of Smyrna, do you have the faith to help? Would you take in refugees? Or how about go work in the refugee camps that will soon start forming under the guns of the Taliban. Medical missions? Food donations (God is our Provider). They also are fighting Covid-19 as well as being persecuted for their faith therefore the virus is not a valid reason to not go. Christians are our brethren.

Yet the brethren of Jesus are the Jewish people. Are you still willing? Many Christians have been taught that the Jews killed Jesus thus they are enemies of the cross. Yet recall the words of Jesus in John 10:18 “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” The Jews did not kill Jesus. Jesus laid down his life! Nonetheless if you have ill feelings towards the Jewish people then we are still called to be the Good Samaritan. (If you do have ill feeling then take time to pray and think of how Jesus feels for His brethren.) Before the Lord returns the Jewish people will yet again face extermination and the Lord may ask you to help His people even unto your death. Do you accept that faith without works is useless?

“‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ “Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.””