COMMON ASSAULTS ON THE GOSPEL (Part 6)
“BELIEVE AND DO GOOD WORKS” Pt. 2
James
2:14-26 is one of the key passages used to support the need of adding works to
faith in Christ. The thinking is something like this: We are saved by faith
alone, but real faith is never alone, or the faith that saves is never alone,”
and James 2:14-26 is used to support this position. Does James 2:14-26 support this position?
There
are three views on this passage:
(1)
James is contradicting the Apostle Paul and teaching
salvation by works.
(2)
James is teaching that real or genuine faith will produce
works and fruitlessness is a sure sign that a person is unsaved. “That faith” in 2:14, the kind of faith that
is without works and fruitless, cannot save from hell.
MacArthur
writes,
The Bible teaches clearly that
the evidence of God’s work in a life is the inevitable fruit of transformed
behavior (1 John 3:10). Faith that does
not result in righteous living is dead and cannot save (Ja. 2:14-17). Professing Christians utterly lacking the
fruit of true righteousness will find no biblical basis for assurance … ”[1]
(3)
James is writing about the problem of the dead,
inoperative faith of a Christian whose faith has lost all of its vitality and
productivity because of his or her failure to walk with the Lord in the Word.
There is
no question that this is a difficult passage, but much of its difficulty stems
from our own preconditioned thinking, theological bias, the nature of English
translations, and our understanding of certain words like “save,” “salvation,”
“soul,” and translations like “that faith” in vs. 14.
There is
no question that faith without works is in some way defective, but that does
not mean that the person is unsaved or that their faith in Christ is not
real. Scripture teaches that faith
begins as a grain of mustard seed and must grow. If it is not fed and nourished by the Word and fellowship with
the Lord, it becomes stagnant, the soul becomes hard, and the life becomes
unfruitful.
Over and
over again the Scripture posts warning signs for believers against the dangers
of unfruitfulness (Titus 3:8, 14; 2 Peter 1:8).
The wasteland of barren living
was therefore a real and present danger which the New Testament writers faced
with candor. In no way did they share
the modern illusion that a believer could not enter that wasteland, or live
there. (Hodges,
Absolutely Free, p. 120).
That
James is not writing to refute or contradict the doctrine emphasized so
strongly in Paul’s epistles is seen from two facts: (a) James was written very
early, before the epistles of Paul that emphasize justification by faith
without works. James was written in 45 A.D. and Galatians and Romans in 49 or
55 and 58. (b) That James and Paul were in harmony and believed in salvation by
faith apart from works is clear from Acts 15:1f and Galatians 1:18-21; 2:9.
The
Recipients: Unquestionably, James was written to believers, to those
whom James considered as saved. He was
not questioning their salvation. This
is apparent from the following:
·
He identifies them as “brethren” in every chapter for a
total of 15 times in this epistle (1:2, 16, 19; 2:1, 5, 14; 3:1, etc.).
·
He refers to his readers as “begotten of God” (1:18), a
reference to regeneration or the new birth as a gift from God (1:17).
·
As a warning against partiality he refers to their faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ (2:1).
·
He also speaks about “the fair name by which you have been
called,” a reference to the name Christian because of their faith in
Christ and association with the Christian community (Acts 11:26; 1 Pet. 4:16).
·
He teaches and challenges them in ways that could only
have application or meaning to genuine believers: (a) In 1:2-4 of the goal of
trials to mature one’s faith and character; (b) In 1:5-8 and 4:2-3 he speaks of
their privilege of prayer and of the need to pray in faith with right motives
to receive answers for wisdom and to meet their needs; (c) In 1:12 of the
promise of the crown of life; (d) In 1:20 of achieving or producing righteous
character which has its origin in fellowship with God, i.e. God’s
righteousness; (e) In 1:21f of receiving the engrafted Word which, like a mirror,
is able to expose us and bring about much needed change; (f) And in 4:5 of the
jealous concern of the Holy Spirit who indwells all believers to keep us
faithful to the Lord, the Groom of the bride (cf. 4:4).
While
James knew his readers were born again, he also knew how they desperately
needed to take in the Word and respond to its truth. The facts of the epistle show that though they were religious and
orthodox in their faith, they were carnal, worldly, and legalistic. Legalism always nullifies the power of
Christ in believers’ lives. It means
they are trusting in their own ability and good works to be accepted with God
and to feel significant.
As is
clear in the epistles of Paul, this does not mean they were unsaved or only
professing Christians. But it does mean they were unfruitful because they were
laboring under the weakness of their own ability.
They
were begotten of God (1:18), they were brethren (1:2, 16, 19, 2:1), they had
faith in Christ (2:1), but they were religionists as is evident by James
warning in 1:26 and by the following facts: (a) They were hearing the Word
though not applying it (1:22-26); (b) they were meeting together as an assembly
of believers (2:2); (c) they prided themselves on having the Law (2:10-11), and
(d) some were wanting to be teachers in the assembly and were priding
themselves on their mature wisdom (3:1-2).
So,
while they had real faith in Christ for salvation (2:1), they were not
experiencing the liberty and deliverance that should accompany salvation. Their
faith in Him for daily living was dead and inoperative just as with the
Christians in Galatia. Like the
Galatians, they had fallen from a grace/faith way of life under the power of
the Spirit (Gal. 5:1-5).
Again,
they were external religionists who were seeking to live the Christian life by
their own ability and this had neutralized the power of God. They had some religious works in the form of
certain religious activities as mentioned, but they lacked a moment-by-moment
vital faith fellowship with the Lord in and through: (a) the mirror activity of
the engrafted Word (1:19-25); (b) through the ministry of the indwelling Spirit
(4:5); and (c) through drawing near to God in honest confession and humble
brokenness before God (1:21; 4:7-10).
While
being religious externalists, they were being dominated by man’s wisdom and
strategies for handling life rather than by God’s wisdom, the wisdom of the
Word, which they needed to apply personally (1:2-27). They were controlled by that which is earthly, worldly, natural,
demonic (1:13-16; 3:13-18; 4:1-4).
As a
result, while religious, they were lacking in bonafide Christ-like
other-oriented works. They were under
God’s discipline and perhaps on the verge of discipline unto death (cf. 1:21; 2:14;
and 5:14-15, 19-20).
The
following illustrates the failures of their inactive faith which failed to
appropriate their wealth in Christ: (a) They were frustrated by trials (1:2-4).
(b) The rich were trusting in their riches (1:10-11; 5:1f). (c) The poor were
complaining of their lack (1:9). (d) They were ignoring those in need (1:27;
2:15-17). (e) They were guilty of sinful attitudes which were manifesting
themselves in sins of the tongue – in fighting, quarreling, and criticizing
(3:2-4:2, 11f). (f) They were guilty of
favoritism (2:1f). (g) They were guilty
of putting their business ahead of the Lord (4:13-17).
(1)
Faith: James is
not talking about a real versus a false or spurious faith, one that only claims
to be real, but really is not. These
were brethren (vs. 14), true believers with real faith in Christ for
salvation. But as for their daily walk,
their faith was dead, inoperative, and unproductive. Faith, in order to work and be productive, must have a valid
object and be energized by fellowship with the Lord; it must grow in the grace
and knowledge of Christ (2 Pet. 3:18).
Their faith had a valid object for salvation from sin’s penalty, but not
for the Christian life and victory against the power of sin. Again, compare
Paul’s argument in Galatians and in Colossians. See also Matthew 6:30; Colossians 2:6; Romans 10:17; 2
Corinthians 5:7; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 2:13.
(2)
Save: In James
1:21, James speaks about the Word’s ability “to save your souls.” Compare also 2:14 and 5:20. We need to be careful that we do not
misunderstand this. The modern English
translation has for many only one religious meaning – “to be saved from hell.” But this is not what James meant nor what
his readers would have understood. By
context, this meant “to save your life” from God’s divine discipline and the
self-made misery of walking out of fellowship.
Five times James uses the word sozo, “to save,” which means:
·
to save or deliver from peril, injury, suffering, or
physical death (Matt. 8:25; 14:30; 27:40, 42; Mk. 13:20; Jam. 4:12; 5:20).
·
to heal, restore to health or strength (Matt. 9:22; Mk.
5:24; Jam. 5:15).
·
to save or deliver in a spiritual sense from the penalty,
power, and presence of sin (1 Cor. 1:21; Jam. 1:21; 2:14; 1 Tim. 1:15). Used of the past, present, and future
aspects of salvation. Some passages
could refer to all aspects of salvation; past, present, and future.
We
simply cannot limit this word to mean salvation from hell. James is clearly
saying their faith, in the condition it was in, could not save or deliver
anyone from the things that were dominating their lives. But he is not talking
about salvation from hell. Why should he?
This does not fit the context as demonstrated above. He did need to warn them, however, about the
bondage and futility of legalism and dead orthodoxy, and about the consequences
of sin – the loss of rewards and divine discipline even to the point of death
(1:15, 21; 4:12; 5:1-4, 7-8, 9, 14-16, 20).
(3)
Soul: Soul is psuchē which
is translated “life” or “lives” as often as it is translated “soul” (43 versus
47 times in the NASB). In some cases
(as in James 1:21) it would be better to translate it with the English word
“life” or “lives.”
(4)
Works: James is speaking
of deeds and actions which are the product of a vital, growing, productive
faith in the indwelling Spirit (Jam. 4:5) and the engrafted Word (Jam.
1:21). Paul, by contrast, speaks of
dead works that are done apart from faith, which proceed from the flesh and which
are done to gain merit with God.
(5)
Justified: This is the
Greek, dikaioo, which has two uses: (a) To declare or pronounce
righteous and refers to the imputation of righteousness through faith in Christ
(Rom. 5:1). (b) But it may also mean to
show to be righteous (Matt. 11:19; Luke 7:35; Rom. 3:4; 1 Tim. 3:16)
(Abbot-Smith; Thayer). James uses it in the latter way in 2:21.
Hodges
sums up the issue for the book of James and writes,
…James …understood how easily
Christians, who knew the great truth that God accepted us on the basis of faith
alone, could fall into the error of downplaying good works altogether. He understood how readily doctrinal
correctness could take precedence over practical, everyday obedience. In short, he knew the danger of dead
orthodoxy.
One of Satan’s methods of
assault is to get us to lock up our shield of faith into our theological armory
so that we never employ it on the field of combat and everyday life.
Too often Christians go about
proudly proclaiming their theological position, their orthodoxy, and
ungraciously denounce those who believe differently. They talk like theologians and behave like enemies at war. (Hodges,
Absolutely Free, p. 122-123).
In his
little epistle, Jude calls upon the Church to “contend for the faith” (Jude
3). For us today, the faith refers to
the body of revealed truth that has been handed down in the Scripture. It concerns the great fundamental truths of
Scripture concerning subjects such as God, Jesus Christ, man, salvation, the
Bible, and things to come including the personal return of the Lord.
This
body of truth is called “the faith” because it must be received by faith, and
because “the faith” contains the Gospel that is a message of grace offering man
a salvation that is free, without price, one that is to be received by faith
rather than by human works.
But from
as early as Acts 15, the Church has had to contend against assaults on the
Gospel wherein people have tried to add some form of human works to faith alone
whereby we could gain salvation like works of the Law, or circumcision, or its
counterpart for today, water baptism.
Truly, the Gospel of God’s grace in Christ is under siege and we need to
be able to contend for the faith. ¢
J.
Hampton Keathley III, Th.M. is a 1966 graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary
and a former pastor of 28 years. Hampton currently writes for the Biblical
Studies Foundation.
Copyright
©1997, 1998, 1999 Biblical Studies Press. This material is provided for
personal study or for use in preparation of sermons, Sunday school classes, or
other oral communication. This material may be quoted in written form but give
credit where credit is due (author’s name and web site address: www.bible.org).
It may not be reprinted for commercial publication. It may be copied or
reprinted for distribution as long as it is given away and no charge is made
for copies, shipping or handling.