“Suppose a person claims to have faith but doesn’t act on their faith. My brothers and sisters, can this kind of faith save them?”
That’s a hard question, isn’t it? But, since it’s coming from the book of James, it really shouldn’t surprise us, because James likes to ask hard questions and he likes to talk about hard things.
It’s a hard question, but a necessary question, especially now because we live in a time and culture that doesn’t seem to have a problem with just saying that you are a Christian and never acting like it. But, as James will make abundantly clear, this is unacceptable.
Let’s read James 2:14-26 to see what James had to say about this, “Suppose a person claims to have faith but doesn’t act on their faith. My brothers and sisters, can this kind of faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister has no clothes or food. Suppose one of you says to them, “Go. I hope everything turns out fine for you. Keep warm. Eat well.” And suppose you do nothing about what they really need. Then what good have you done? It is the same with faith. If it doesn’t cause us to do something, it’s dead. But someone will say, “You have faith. I do good deeds.” Show me your faith that doesn’t cause you to do good deeds. And I will show you my faith by the goods deeds I do. You believe there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that. And they tremble! You foolish person! Do you want proof that faith without good deeds is useless? Our father Abraham offered his son Isaac on the altar. Wasn’t he considered to be right with God because of what he did? So you see that what he believed and what he did were working together. What he did made his faith complete. That is what Scripture means where it says, “Abraham believed God. God accepted Abraham because he believed. So his faith made him right with God.” And that’s not all. God called Abraham his friend. So you see that a person is considered right with God by what they do. It doesn’t happen only because they believe. Didn’t God consider even Rahab the prostitute to be right with him? That’s because of what she did for the spies. She gave them a place to stay. Then she sent them off in a different direction. A person’s body without their spirit is dead. In the same way, faith without good deeds is dead.”
Alright, let’s make this point first, because we know it is true and we want to make sure that what we believe about God and what we believe about Christianity and how someone comes to Christ is right. We know from Paul’s words in Ephesians 2:8-9 that we are saved by God’s grace through our faith in Christ, and that it is a gift from God, nothing we could have done could have made us earn or deserve our salvation.
James is not disputing that point. Not at all. What he is doing is trying to give us a better understanding of what faith really is. He gives a few examples, and we’ll look at those in a minute, but let’s start to redefine how we think about faith. Is faith really just believing in God, believing in Christ, and that’s all faith is? Or is there more that has to be included in the definition of faith?
There have been numerous court cases throughout the last century about what constitutes “faith” or “religion”. This kind of conversation has recently had a resurgence as people sought religious exemptions from the COVID vaccine. How do we define religion or faith? The supreme court has upheld a few guidelines, that religious beliefs can be theistic (meaning God centered) or non-theistic moral or ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong. It cannot include social, political, or economic philosophies or personal preferences. These beliefs must be sincerely held. And while there has been even more discussion about what proves that beliefs are sincerely held, that discussion usually centers on a person’s actions that proves sincerely held beliefs. In other words, the court examines what a person does in their every day life that proves their beliefs.
While Scripture and the world do not often meet on what is true, this is one area where they seem to say the same thing, and it’s the same radical point that James makes: faith without deeds is NOT REALLY faith. Without deeds, your “faith” amounts to nothing more than just a statement about what you believe to be true about God and the way things work in the world. That’s why, if we read carefully, James says this, “You believe there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that. And they tremble!” In Acts 19:13-16 we read about some Jewish exorcists who confronted an evil spirit and the spirit told them that He knew Jesus. In Mark 1:24 the evil spirit inside the demon-possessed man called Jesus the Holy One of God. Even demons profess that there is one God and that Jesus is the Son of God. Simply saying such a thing is not saving faith.
Saving faith includes faith in action. Good deeds, James says is this faith in action. Let’s look at the examples James gives, and one that Jesus gives.
Abraham is the first example, and James says this, “Our father Abraham offered his son Isaac on the altar. Wasn’t he considered to be right with God because of what he did? So you see that what he believed and what he did were working together. What he did made his faith complete. That is what Scripture means where it says, “Abraham believed God. God accepted Abraham because he believed. So his faith made him right with God.” And that’s not all. God called Abraham his friend. So you see that a person is considered right with God by what they do. It doesn’t happen only because they believe.”
So Abraham, when confronted with the command to go and sacrifice his beloved son Isaac, believed God and what God said was right, and so he acted on that belief by obeying the command to offer Isaac on the altar. We can trace the line of mere belief becoming faith here. Abraham believes and then because he believes, he acts. His belief causes action. If his belief didn’t cause action, then it wouldn’t have really been true belief. If Abraham didn’t obey the command to sacrifice Isaac, then it would have showed that he didn’t really believe what God had said was true. In acting on his beliefs, his beliefs become faith and it is that faith which saves him and makes him right with God. It is the combination of right belief (orthodoxy) and right action (orthopraxy) that makes real faith.
The second example James gives is Rahab. “Didn’t God consider even Rahab the prostitute to be right with him? That’s because of what she did for the spies. She gave them a place to stay. Then she sent them off in a different direction.” This example is even more amazing because Rahab wasn’t Jewish, and she was a prostitute, and therefore not considered “savable” in Jewish minds. But she was considered right before God, not because she just believed what God was saying through the spies, but because her belief became faith when she acted on her beliefs. For Rahab too, we see the combination of right belief and right action becoming real faith.
The third example comes from Jesus Himself in the story of the Good Samaritan, which you can read in Luke 10:25-37. Jesus was asked what someone needed to do to inherit eternal life and He responded that it is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and to love your neighbor as yourself. Then He gave the story of the Good Samaritan as a way of showing who acted in a manner that was loving toward his neighbor. The first two men who came upon the man who was beaten and robbed were “religious” men. They had right beliefs about who God is. They knew the Scriptures! But they did nothing to act on their beliefs. Only the Good Samaritan showed real faith!
Again, the radical point is very clear. Faith without deeds is not really faith. James says that faith without deeds is dead, just like a person’s body without their spirit is dead. If you think about a body, it is impossible to have a physical body that is alive if the spirit is gone. That person could not be alive without a soul. Faith is not faith without deeds. It is impossible. Faith without deeds is not real faith.
Here’s some encouragement for us, because this, like I said, is learning a hard truth. But here’s the good thing, Ephesians 2:10 says this, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” The good news is that we were created to do those good deeds. That’s our purpose! We were created to be in relationship with the Father and to walk in His good deeds. Remembering that helps us have a mindset of doing good deeds with an attitude of love and joy, instead of obligation.
And we have Hebrews 10:24-25 as well, “and let’s consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds, not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” When we are here on Sundays, and anytime that the body of Christ gathers in His Name, it encourages us to love one another and to do the good deeds we were created for. This is the time when we have our stamina for doing good bolstered by others, which is part of why it is so very important for us to be gathering together regularly, in person! We need to be spurred on by one another in love to do the good deeds God calls us to do.
It might be any number of things that God is calling you to do in His Name, but quite simply, good deeds that are a part of saving faith is ACTING ON WHAT YOU BELIEVE ABOUT GOD. We believe He is loving, so we love. We believe He is just, so we are just. We believe He is righteous, so we do what is righteous. We believe He is merciful, so we act in mercy. In this way, we love God with all we are, we love others as ourselves, and we walk in real faith.
1. What “good deeds” does God have you doing right now?
2. Are there other “good deeds” you are noticing that God might be putting in front of you, asking you to walk in?
3. What is one doable “good deed” you can do for someone this week to show love and encourage them?