The second part of James 2, verses 14-26, really should be handled all together as one, but that would create a lengthy post. As such, it is best for this case to break it out by handling verses 14-20 today and 21-26 in the next post. With this, let’s get started.
Just as the law of love gives no excuse for respect of persons, so the possession of faith gives no license to dispense with good works. A believer must not only demonstrate their love by a willing acceptance of others, but they must also demonstrate their faith by responsible aid to others. James went on in his letter to emphasize the expression of true faith (vv. 14-17), to outline the evidence of true faith (vv. 18-20), and finally to cite examples of true faith.
In verses 14-19, James says that faith is more than an intellectual belief in God. If that belief does not lead us to a holy life of righteousness and mercy, it is not a saving faith (Matt 7:21-23). James gives three arguments in support of this truth: (1) faith without works is no better than words without deeds (vv. 15-17). (2) Faith can be neither seen nor verified unless it shows itself in works (v. 18). (3) Even the demons have an intellectual belief in God, but it does not lead to their salvation (v. 19).
14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. 18 But someone may well 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.” 19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? (NASB)
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- true faith stimulates action. Active faith is alive; inactive faith is not.
- Beware of a mere intellectual faith. Faith in Christ brings life (John 3:16), and where there is life there must be growth and fruit. Dead faith is not saving faith. Dead faith is counterfeit faith and lulls the person into a false confidence of eternal life.
- Being a Christian involves trusting Christ and living for Christ; you receive the life, then you reveal the life. Faith that is barren is not saving faith
CLOSER LOOK
Verse 14: Some claim the faith mentioned in this passage is not genuine faith that produces eternal life. But James addresses this section to believers (“my brethren”), that is, people who have exercised genuine faith. Another shift in the argument of the epistle can be seen by James’ use of “my brethren.” He introduced this paragraph with a rhetorical question, “What use is it … if someone says he has faith but he has no works?” The emphasis is not on the true nature of faith but on the false claim of faith. It is the spurious boast of faith that James condemned. Such “faith” has no “use” or does no “good”; there is no profit.[1] This type of faith is worthless because it is all talk with no walk. It is only a habitual empty boast (“says” or “claims” is in the present tense). “Can that faith save him?” A negative answer is anticipated in the Greek. Merely claiming to have faith is not enough. Genuine faith is evidenced by works.
The issue in this paragraph is not true faith versus false faith; it is faith that is alone, meaning without works (v. 17), versus faith that is accompanied by works. “Saved” (Gk. σῴζω (sōzō)) is used five times in James.[2] Each time it refers to the saving of the temporal life, not saving from the penalty of sin (5:15). In this context James is referring to being “saved” from the judgment without mercy at the judgment seat of Christ (v. 13) and possibly the saving of one’s life from physical death (1:21).[3] “Works” are actions that follow the “royal law” of love (vv. 8, 15, 16). James is implying in this verse that faith in Christ will demonstrate itself in love for others (see Jesus’ command to His disciples in John 13:34, 35).
Verses 15–16: The rhetorical question is followed by a hypothetical but realistic illustration: “If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food.” (James frequently wrote about the poor: 1:9, 27; 2:2–6, 15.) For one in need of the basics of life, sentimental good wishes do little good, like the common Jewish farewell, “Go, I wish you well” (literally, “Go in peace,” cf. Jud. 18:6; 1 Sam. 1:17; 2 Sam. 15:9; Mark 5:34; Luke 7:50).[4] If nothing is done to fill the pressing need for warm clothes and satisfying food, “what use (good) is that?” The same phrase that James used to introduce this paragraph (James 2:14) is repeated for emphasis. When Christians say empty platitudes without actually helping those in physical need, what good is it and how does it help meet that need.
Verse 17: The vain boast, faith by itself, or faith in and of itself with no evidence of works (i.e. action), is dead. Workless faith is worthless faith; it is unproductive, sterile, barren, dead! Great claims may be made about a corpse that is supposed to have come to life, but if it does not move, if there are no vital signs, no heartbeat, no perceptible pulse, it is still dead. The false claims are silenced by the evidence.[5] A dead faith (πίστις (pistis)[6]) that is now dead must have once been alive. Works keep faith thriving (1 Pet 1:5-9). The absence of works brings death (Jas 1:14-15) to faith (2:26).
A faith not accompanied by action, that is faith alone, having no works to distinguish it, is dead. James’s statement implies that true faith stimulates action. Active faith is alive; inactive faith is not. The living are the acting, creating things that reveal their nature and character. Faith in Jesus produces actions revealing the nature and character of Jesus. The dead lie still doing nothing. So faith that lies still, inactive, proves it is dead. True faith brings salvation and life, not death.
We, as Christians, should show works of love to prove our faith is real. When Paul warned that a person could not be saved by “works,” he referred to the works of obedience to the Jewish law (Rom. 3:20).[7] When James called for works, he was not suggesting that these deeds resulted in salvation. James was calling for Christians to do what living faith naturally does: show care and concern for those in need. There are many Scripture passages (Acts 6:1–4; 9:36–43; 20:34–35; Romans 15:25–27; 1 Timothy 5:1–16; and many more) that show Christians and churches in action meeting needs. This type of loving, caring interest in others made early Christians distinctive. Likewise, today people who show loving, caring interest in others stand out as visible representatives of Jesus Christ.
Verse 18: This may be one of the most misunderstood sections of the entire epistle: “But someone may well say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’” An imaginary objector, “someone,” was introduced. This someone did not object to James’ conclusion. They agreed that faith without works is dead. But they wrongly disparaged faith while stressing works (see v. 19).
The part that follows, “show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works,” may be the continuation of the respondent’s words. If so, they should be included within quotation marks. (If this were James’ response to a contender’s “I have works,” James would have written, “Show me your works without faith.”) Though some recent translations do not include the second half of verse 18 in the quotation of the objector (e.g., ESV, NIV), “the NASB correctly considers this entire verse part of his remarks.”[8] The Greek does not include quotation marks, which accounts for the variations in English. However, it seems that the objector is throwing down the challenge, “Show me your faith without (“apart from” [chōris], ‘without’) works, and I will show you my faith by (ek, ‘emerging from’ or ‘out of’) my works.”
James 2:14–17 warns that faith without works represents an empty claim. Beginning in verse 18, we are warned against a faith which merely accepts a creed. Here are the limitations of mere intellectual faith. Saving faith involves a commitment to Jesus Christ which produces works or deeds.
Verse 19: It may be well to include even verse 19 as part of the objector’s argument: “You believe that God is one.” Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. The “you” in this case is James. The doing well in this case comes from kalos, which means you do something good (3 John 6). If so, the objector may be a typical Gentile believer who attacked the creedal belief of monotheism accepted by all Jews. James was saying, to “believe” in one God may be good so far as it goes, but it does not go far enough. The demons do that. In fact, not only do demons “believe” (the same verb used earlier, pisteuō); they even “shudder,” or “bristle up” (phrissousin,[9] an onomatopoeic verb used only here in the NT). The “belief” in one God may not be “trust” in that God. Unless it is “trust,” it is not true faith and will not be evidenced in good works. This basic creed of Judaism, belief in one God, appeared in Deuteronomy 6:4–5. The statement is intellectually true, but it doesn’t proceed far enough. A person must believe in God to be a Christian, but not everyone who acknowledges the existence of God has made a commitment to Jesus Christ.
In other words, the objector is saying, “Faith is not the key; what counts is works.” Thus, the objector has gone too far. James did not say that works are essential to faith, or that faith is unimportant. His argument was that works are evidence of faith.
Other writers understand this passage to mean that James (v. 18b) challenged the “someone” to show his faith without works—the point being that it cannot be done! James, however, said that faith can be demonstrated by what one does (v. 18c). The demons’ “belief” in God is inadequate. This word means to consider something to be true, be convinced of something, or trust that it is true. Such a so-called but unreal faith is obviously unaccompanied by deeds on their parts. In the objector’s statement, James provides a contrast being doing good and not doing good. On one hand, James believes that God is one and that is good. But on the other hand, demons even believe or acknowledge the existence of God and they do not do good works. They shudder with fear at the thought of God (see Matt. 8:29). Their faith has the wrong object. They do not believe Jesus died for them. They only tremble. The objector is arguing that there is no relationship between faith and works. The behavior of demons demonstrated that someone can believe the right thing and still have an evil character. Verse 19 concerns intellectual faith, a faith that touches only the mind. Saving faith involves the will as well as the intellect (see Rom. 4:16–22).
Verse 20: James now answers the objector. James did not launch into a lengthy refutation of the respondent. The apostle simply addressed him forcefully, “you foolish fellow” (or man, used in the singular, Gk. anthrōpos), and returned to his original argument that faith without deeds is useless (argē, “lazy, idle, negligent”). The adjective “foolish” (kene or kenos) is usually translated “vain,” “empty,” or “hollow” (cf. mataios, “worthless, fruitless, useless,” in 1:26). Putting it all together, this phrase means this person was empty headed. Flimsy faith is dead; so are empty, faithless works. James’ argument is not pro-works/anti-faith or pro-faith/anti-works. He has simply said that genuine faith is accompanied by good works. Spiritual works are the evidence, not the energizer, of sincere faith.
We must understand this not only in terms of James’s argument but also in terms of Paul’s argument in Romans 3:28: “We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” The difference between the two apostles is clear. For Paul the goal was justification; for James the goal was usefulness. In the context of Paul’s letter faith must not be allowed to boast in its own works in the judgment (v. 27). In the context of James’s letter faith must not be allowed to boast in self-sufficiency (cf. 2:7; 3:14). For James mere faith was an empty boast that masked great evil. Faith is trust in God alone, but it must be whole-hearted and produce good deeds based on the mercy of God. Faith without deeds is a hoax of the double-minded. It can and surely must be discussed because it is not honest about what it is actually doing, such as playing favorites and withholding mercy. Faith is always active, either producing good deeds in agreement with God or in producing evil deeds in deceptive contradiction of him.
[1] Use in this case is ophelos, used in the NT only here and in v. 16; 1 Cor. 15:32. Means “an advantage derived from something, benefit, good.” From the BDAG
[2] 1:21; 2:14; 4:12; 5:15; 5:20
[3] Earl D. Radmacher, Ronald B. Allen, H. Wayne House, eds., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville: Nelson, 1999), 1667.
[4] J. Ronald Blue, “James,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 825.
[5] J. Ronald Blue, “James,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 825.
[6] BDAG – “state of believing on the basis of the reliability of the one trusted, trust, confidence, faith in the active sense=‘believing’, in reference to deity.”
[7] Thomas D. Lea, “James,” in Homan New Testament Commentary: Hebrews & James (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1999), n.p.
[8] J. Ronald Blue, “James,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 826.
[9] Strong’s 5425. BDAG – “to tremble from fear, shudder,” quivering