James 2:1-26

Faith Works

The church reformer Martin Luther was so put out by this passage that he argued that the book of James did not belong in the canon of the New Testament. Luther argued that we are saved by faith alone and he had trouble with this passage. I believe that we are saved by faith alone but I don’t really have trouble with this passage.

All James is really saying here is that faith isn’t simply a matter of what you say you believe but what in fact you do believe. True belief will be demonstrated in actions. 

When I was a small boy (I believe I must have been around five at the time) I was intrigued by the red burner on the top of my mother’s stove. “No, you didn’t,” you say. Yes, I did. It was so pretty and interesting looking, and I was now tall enough to reach the stove top, so I put my hand right down on the burner. I didn’t tarry long. Ever since I have an unshakable belief that red hot object of any kind are things I want to touch. This belief is demonstrated by my actions of always avoiding red hot objects. If I did not truly believe this I might touch one every now and again just to test the theory that red hot objects should be avoided.

James says that if you truly have faith in God you will act like someone who has faith in God. I don’t have a problem with that thesis. The problems come when you turn tis around and say that just because you do some religious looking things that is proof you have genuine faith. Look at the examples James gives. These aren’t religious looking things at all.

Abraham was willing to kill his son. There is more to it that that but in the final analysis that is what we are talking about here. Rahab was willing to betray her nation (a city state in this case). When we see these for the great acts of faith they are both are quite impressive. But there is no denying that a freshman political science student could spin the heck out of both situations. The point isn’t that what they did was so righteous in and of itself. The point is that what they did was clearly the result of what they believed about God. 

And so the question is: Does what we believe about God impact the decisions we make in life? If not, then do we really believe?