Faith Works and James Two (Part 3)

My last two posts have focused on the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone. I’ve noted that some see a contradiction between the teaching of Paul on this point and what James said in the second chapter of his epistle. In my previous post I demonstrated that there is a contradiction here only if we force the doctrine of justification before God to be the issue that James was writing about. Indeed, if James was writing about the way a sinner is justified before God, then his teaching dose contradict the teaching of Paul. But, as I noted, the resolution to this apparent contradiction is to be found in the way that James used three key words (works, justified, and faith) as opposed to the way that Paul used those same words. I defined each of the three words in the way that each writer used them. When the words “works” “justified” and “faith” are given there proper meanings (the meaning intended by the authors) in context there is no contradiction between Paul and James.

Now, having dealt in general terms with the issue of the compatibility of the teaching of Paul and the teaching of James, in this post I want to begin to look specifically at James 2:14-26. In doing this we will see how the definitions to those three words work in the context of the passage. But more importantly we will hear what James, and God, intended for us to hear in this passage.
James began this passage by asking what good is it for someone to say he has faith?

(James 2:14 NASB) What use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him?

The NIV says, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith…? James is clearly talking about a said faith or a claimed faith rather than genuine faith. This verse defines the way James most commonly used the word “faith” throughout this passage. By faith James meant a merely intellectual and said faith which is dead and has no power to produce righteousness or good works.

James asked, “What use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but he has no works?” By “works” James meant non-meritorious acts done after and resulting from salvation. James is asked “What use is it,” or “What good is it” to claim to have faith if you have no works to demonstrate that your faith is genuine. This is very much like what John the Baptist told the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to him to be baptized.

(Matthew 3:7-10 NASB) But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? "Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father'; for I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. "And the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

John the Baptist told the Pharisees and the Sadducees that if they had true repentance there would be fruit in their lives to demonstrate it. James said if your claimed faith is genuine faith your life will demonstrate it by good works. Likewise, the absents of good works demonstrates that the claimed faith is a farce.

Next, James asked, “Can that faith save him?” To this we must ask, what faith? If James was talking about genuine faith is the person and work of Jesus Christ then the answer would have to be yes! That faith saves. But the passage demands a no answer. We answer no because James is not talking about genuine faith in Jesus. What faith is he talking about? When, at the end of verse fourteen, James asked, “Can that faith save him?” he was talking about the same kind of faith that he defined at the beginning of verse fourteen. Kenneth S. Wuest, in his 'An Expanded Translation' of the New Testament, said it this way, "The aforementioned faith [namely, that faith which does not result in good works] is not able to save him, is it?"

The answer to the question is clear, that sort of faith, a said faith that does not result in good works, cannot save anyone's soul. We must examine our faith. Is it merely a said faith? Or is it the kind of faith that saves? The kind of faith that saves is the same kind of faith that results in good works.

James then used a parable to illustrate the uselessness of a said faith that does not produce good works.

(James 2:15-16 NASB) If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily good, 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?

There are two ways to look at verses fifteen and sixteen. First, we could see this parable as an example of a said faith without works. Someone may claim to have faith, but what good is that claimed faith if it does not lead them to help people in need? This does provide us with a real world application for the principle being taught. Our faith, if it is genuine will lead us to help others.

But the second way of looking at this text is more accurate. It is more appropriate to see this parable as an illustration of the deadness of words without actions.

In the same way that merely saying be warmed and filled is of no help for someone who is naked and hungry, so merely saying “I have faith” without a resulting holy life and good works is useless. This is what we see in the conclusion to the parable:

(James 2:17 NASB) Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

The point of this parable is that merely saying, 'I have faith,' without a resulting holy life and good works is as useless as saying, "be warmed and filled," to someone in need if I do not help in a tangible way.

Saying you have faith does not mean that you really do. Saying you have faith does not save you. Having genuine faith alone in the Person and work of Jesus Christ alone saves. But the kind of faith that save always results in good works.

Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone!

Now tell me, Doth this Offend You?