Faith Works - In Deeds

James 2:14-26 NIV 

[14] What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? [15] Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. [16] If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? [17] In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. [18] But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. [19] You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. [20] You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? [21] Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? [22] You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. [23] And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. [24] You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. [25] In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? [26] As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jas.2.14-26.NIV)

The American conman George C. Parker might not be so well known, but he was absolutely prolific in New York in the 1880s. He would target well-to-do but hopelessly naive immigrants. He would convince them that he was the rightful owner of the Brooklyn Bridge was willing to sell it to them. He pulled off this wheeze an astonishing 4,160 times, for sometimes as much as $50,000! He also tried to sell them the Statue of Liberty, Madison Square Gardens, former president Ulysses S. Grant’s tomb and the Metropolitan Museum of Art! He got away with it for years. He was so prolific that NYPD needed to put up posters informing immigrants as they arrived for processing at Ellis Island that they could not buy public assets. He was eventually arrested, but not before he had made a whole heap of money. 

Nowadays, we have people who claim all sorts of things, but somehow we are not allowed to contradict them. Many right wing Christians are up in arms about this – and on this issue, I can’t say I blame them. 

But a wider problem has been going on for generations that we need to call out and resolve: people claiming to be Christians, who, according to the Bible, plainly are not.  

Now, to some people that might sound horrifically judgemental. But I'm not sure if you've heard about the famous incident in the zoo in Louhe in China, which had a cage marked with ‘African Lion’, but inside was a bull mastiff dog. It would not be at all judgemental to point out their mistake to the zoo keepers, would it? You’d have paid to see a lion chewing on a steak; instead you got a dog eating food from a tin.  

Neither is it at all wrong to point out what the Bible says a Christian is, compare this to how some people behave, and point out that they are a little short of the mark. 

Provided you don’t mind them doing the same thing to you. 

What we have here is the beating heart of James’ message. The rest of his book consists of applications of this message. But we have to understand it properly and in context, otherwise we will leap to strange, and wrong, conclusions. 

At the start, when we began these studies in Galatians and James, I started them somewhere that might have seemed a little strange: Ephesians 2:8-10. I did this for a reason.

Let’s look at those verses again: 

Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV 

[8] For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— [9] not by works, so that no one can boast. [10] For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/eph.2.8-10.NIV)

Galatians largely, but not entirely, consists of Paul’s arguments to support Ephesians 2:8-9. In fact, we don’t find any practical moral teaching until chapter 5. 

James, however, is very different. His focus is on the Ephesians 2:10 side of things. Paul focused on being saved by God’s work, not our work; James focuses on being saved to work. 

These two approaches do not contradict each other. Instead, they complement each other. They are like two sides of the same coin. 

Now, in these famous words in James 2, James has effectively formed a bridge between Ephesians 2:8-9 and Ephesians 2:10. He acknowledged that we are saved by grace through faith – that’s why he talked so much about faith – but he stated that for faith to save, it had to be effective faith: it had to do something. In short, it had to be alive. 

How do we know if our faith is alive? Because we obey God. 

We become true Christians. ‘Christian’ means ‘little Christ’: someone who seeks to become like Jesus. It’s not someone who subscribes to a particular organisation because that’s what their family has always done. It’s not someone who becomes a member of a church because the building will look good in their wedding photos or because it’s attached to a really good school. A Christian is someone who genuinely wants to live their life like Jesus: 

1 John 2:6 NIV 

[6] Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1jn.2.6.NIV)

And how do we do that? What does a living faith do? As we saw in Galatians: 

Galatians 5:6 NIV 

[6] The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/gal.5.6.NIV)

So behind these really challenging verses in James – in fact, the entire letter – we see that we are saved by grace through faith, that faith must cause obedience, and we obey by loving God, our neighbours and ourselves. 

James provides us with three very powerful examples of this that really ought to make us sit up and take notice. 

The first is A Heartless Man. 

A Heartless Man 

James 2:14-17 NIV 

[14] What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? [15] Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. [16] If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? [17] In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jas.2.14-17.NIV)

I have worked for decades and been under all kinds of stresses and strains. I can tell you that there are few worse stresses than being poor. When you literally have no idea where you will find money to feed yourself or pay bills, or worse, debts, that is a truly unenviable position to be in. 

What makes it worse is when people could help you, but do nothing. 

What makes it far worse when people could help you, but mock your predicament for cheap thrills to boost their fragile egos. 

I have endured that. It stings like nothing else. 

Here we see in these few verses something almost too horrible to contemplate. Someone is in need. They lack daily necessities of food or clothing – things Jesus told us not to worry about (Matthew 6:25-34). However, I have never seen these things raining from the sky. Most likely, God will use His people to provide them. 

So you can imagine the poor person’s shock when someone who has the means to supply their need simply blesses them in words and moves on. 

Let me tell you, this is a very real issue. We have enough food in this planet to provide for everyone, yet in 2024 the World Health Organisation estimated that 673 million people experienced hunger. To put this into context, that’s almost double the entire population of North America during the same period. 

That is a vast and overwhelming number. We can’t solve the hunger problem for everyone, but we can do it for one person. As James said later on in his letter: 

James 4:17 NIV 

[17] If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jas.4.17.NIV)

Here we see someone who claims to have faith who has a needy person in front of them and does nothing – nothing except talk. 

James said this proves that this man has no faith. Why? Because faith produces deeds motivated by love. This man has no love for the needy person in in front of them, so they have no deeds, and the absence of deeds means that their faith is dead. 

And that is a terrible verdict to hear. However, it doesn’t stop it from bring true. 

So we move on from a heartless man to a much more positive example: A Faithful Man. 

A Faithful Man 

James 2:20-24 NIV 

[20] You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? [21] Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? [22] You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. [23] And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. [24] You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jas.2.20-24.NIV)

Now this is a stern challenge. 

Jesus told us we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27; quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5). When you love someone that much, it stands to reason that sacrifices elsewhere will be required. You can’t love God with all your heart and yet love someone or something else more than that. It just isn’t possible. 

Since this is God, and not some lesser being, it also stands to reason that God has every right to ask us to sacrifice something that should be a ‘lesser’ love. He did that with the rich young ruler, but he didn’t love God with his whole heart – he loved his money more (Matthew 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-30). 

Now, before we start to think that God is somehow petulant and demanding too much of us, we need to remember that God gave up His own Son for us (John 3:16). Nothing we could ever give up for Him could compare with that. 

James highlights the history of a man who was asked to give up more than most for God. This really is quite some situation. 

Abraham and his wife Sarah had been childless for eighty-six years when his son Ishmael was born, but he was born out of human connivance, not faith (Genesis 16). Ishmael's mocking of Isaac, Abraham’s son with Sarah, who arrived fourteen years later, cost him and his mother their place in Abraham’s family (Genesis 21:8-19). This established Isaac as Abraham’s heir and the only child through which his family line and name would be preserved. 

You can imagine, then, they being asked to sacrifice Isaac by God was an incredible thing to ask (Genesis 22:1-2).  

It’s worth noticing in particular that God highlights that Isaac is the son ‘whom you love’. Could it be that God was challenging Abraham to make sure that Abraham loved God more than Isaac? 

Yet this Abraham, by now at least a hundred and twelve years old, is willing to sacrifice his only son and the future of his family at God’s command (Genesis 22:1-19). 

Hebrews has a very interesting commentary on this: 

Hebrews 11:17-19 NIV 

[17] By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, [18] even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” [19] Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/heb.11.17-19.NIV)

So Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac, even to the point of killing him, because he believed God was able to bring him back from the dead. 

Now, that’s faith! 

We also see how the disciples were bamboozled by Jesus telling them how hard it is for rich people to enter the Kingdom of Heaven – which is still true. Jesus lays their confusion to rest and then passes on this beautiful promise: 

Mark 10:29-31 NIV 

[29]  “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel [30] will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. [31] But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mrk.10.29-31.NIV)

So yes, faith sacrifices. And yes, this sacrifice is often painful. And yes, no-one can tell how us how long that pain will last or how deep it will be.  

But it will always be worth it. Always. 

1 Corinthians 15:58 NIV 

[58] Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.15.58.NIV)

Just like in Galatians 5:13-26, we often find ourselves in a quandary between the easy way (the flesh) and the right way (the Spirit). The easy way is the way where we get instant, but temporal and fading, rewards. The right way provides slower, but longer lasting rewards.

The easy way gets us into enormous, endless trouble; the right way endless blessing. The easy way requires no faith: everything is superficial. The right way requires faith and patience, but it’s blessings are deep and everlasting. 

Abraham chose the right way. 

Which do you choose?  

Because your faith is proved by the path you take. 

As well as a heartless man and a faithful man, we also see A Transformed Woman. 

A Transformed Woman 

James 2:25-26 NIV 

[25] In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? [26] As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jas.2.25-26.NIV)

There are people we hold up as heroes of the faith – men like Watchman Nee and Richard Wurmbrand – who endured incredible persecution and stood strong. We could quite imagine why James would write about someone like that as a model of faith. 

But here we see someone so different that it ought to take us by surprise. 

Firstly, because she was not an Israelite. She was from Jericho. 

Secondly, she was a woman, not a man. Conservative Jewish society treated women as lesser than men. They had fewer rights. But that didn’t stop James holding her up as an example of faith. 

Despite the centuries of Jewish history behind him, James talks about a foreign woman as an example. 

Thirdly, she was a prostitute. Not an innkeeper. Not a hotelier. Not the ancient equivalent of an AirBnB host. She sold herself to men for money.  

We find this jarring fact both in James and in Hebrews: 

Hebrews 11:31 NIV 

[31] By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/heb.11.31.NIV)

In fact, the people who lived in that area often used prostitution in idol worship. It’s possible that her trade also involved participation in grossly immoral pagan rituals. 

So why would James hold a harlot up as an example of faith? 

The answer is not in her choice of career (which, by the way, I definitely don’t recommend), but in what she did and what she said. 

What she did was this:

Joshua 2:2-7 NIV 

[2] The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” [3] So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.” [4] But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. [5] At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” [6] (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) [7] So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jos.2.2-7.NIV)

Think about this: in one of the most fortified cities in the near east, with both a king and a people who were in fear of an approaching army, Rahab committed an act of treason and national betrayal: she sheltered the spies who had came to collect intelligence in her city.

In most nations of the world, something like this would lead to a severe penalty. Some even death. 

What she said explained why: 

Joshua 2:8-11 NIV 

[8] Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof [9] and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. [10] We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. [11] When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jos.2.8-11.NIV)

This is a confession of faith in a people and a God she had only heard of but did not know for herself. She saw the critical insufficiency of both her own people and their gods in comparison. She simply looked at what she had, then weighed up what the Israelites had, and decided which she wanted next. 

Think about the implications of this decision. She knew – absolutely knew – that the city was about to fall and the death toll would be enormous. That’s why she pleaded for safety for her and her family (Joshua 2:12-13). She would also know that she was departing her people and joining herself to a people as a foreigner, whom she did not know. 

This was a huge decision. 

Yet knowing the cost, she was prepared to sacrifice everything and turn her back on her own people in order to be saved. 

This was the decision that both James and the writer to the Hebrews highlight as an act of faith – as incontrovertible evidence of what she believed.

And she was rewarded – quite handsomely too. She had an incredible role to play in Israelite history. Matthew 1:5 records this foreigner, an erstwhile prostitute who betrayed her people, as an ancestor of the royal line of King David and of Jesus Christ Himself.

Now, that’s a reward! 

Some people may think that faith is a risk. It is not. It is an investment. It is the most sure investment you will ever make. Having faith in God might scare you. The immediate pressures might frighten you. 

But the rewards – oh, the rewards! – they far outstrip anything we stand to lose. 

A dead faith might be appealing. The use of God as a kind of divine insurance policy against hell might seem like a good idea. Using God as a heavenly cash machine who spits out blessings in exchange for our religiosity might seem like a good plan. 

But none of them work. They don’t give us what we need. 

We need a living faith, an active faith, a loving faith. 

That kind of faith is always rewarded. 

Conclusion 

James 2:14 NIV 

[14] What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jas.2.14.NIV)

Anyone who has travelled by either boat or plane will be very familiar with the concept of a life vest. They are usually a bright orange colour. On planes they are normally stored beneath your seat. You are normally required to watch or participate in some form of safety demonstration so that you know how to wear them and what to do, and that’s about it. You can enjoy the rest of your journey without thinking about them, unless, on a very rare occasion, you might need to wear them. 

That is how some people approach faith. They believe in God to save them. They believe Jesus died on the cross and rose again. His moral teaching might seem a little demanding, but the intention was good. So they store their Bibles on a shelf somewhere and live their lives safe in the knowledge that if it all goes wrong, they can rely on God to keep their heads above water like a life vest. 

That is wrong. 

What’s more, it won’t work. 

Because a passive faith is a dead faith. And a dead faith does nothing. 

Why? 

Because it is dead! 

I recently attended three days of wake and a funeral of a relative. Both the family home and the memorial garden were a hive of activity, with family members busy serving snacks and attending to guests. But what did the deceased do? It was all in his honour, after all. 

He just laid there and did nothing. Why? 

Because he was dead! 

James makes it crystal clear that a dead faith is not a saving faith. And his reasoning should jar us awake with a jolt: 

James 2:19 NIV 

[19] You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jas.2.19.NIV)

Do you realise what he is referring to here?  

The Jews differentiated themselves from the pagan people around them by worshipping one God (being monotheists) rather than many gods (polytheists). It was even part of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3-6; Deuteronomy 5:7-10). It was what gave them their identity and made them unique. 

Yet James told them even that was not enough. 

Why? 

Because even demons believe in one God – and they are afraid of Him. 

We need to understand this clearly. There are many creeds and statements of faith codified in the long history of the church – the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicaean Creed being two of the most famous. You can know them off by heart. You can understand every word of them. You can even teach them to others. 

But if you don’t live them, your knowledge is useless and your faith is dead.

As Jesus Himself told His followers: 

Matthew 7:21 NIV 

[21]  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.7.21.NIV)

Luke 6:46 NIV 

[46]  “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/luk.6.46.NIV)

James’s point in these verses is not that we are saved by works. That is not what he is saying.

As we saw earlier, we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not by our works. But we are saved to work. James’ point is that if there are no works, then there is no faith, and if there is no faith, then there is no salvation.  

Consider again what Paul said in Galatians 5:13-26. Look at the hammer blow he landed after listing the works of the flesh: 

Galatians 5:21 NIV 

[21] I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/gal.5.21.NIV)

James gives us three brilliant examples of faith. 

Firstly, we saw the example of a heatless man, and found out that true faith helps.

Secondly, we saw the example of Abraham, and found out that true faith sacrifices. 

Thirdly, we saw the example of Rahab, and saw that true faith repents. 

These examples show us the ‘faith expressing itself through love’ principle that Paul told us is the only thing that matters in Galatians 5:6. In fact, James is the best discipleship manual there is because what he is doing is unpacking what ‘faith expressing itself through love’ meant for his culture, and also means for ours. 

So we find ourselves confronted with the alarming reality that it’s possible to have a dead faith. There is no such thing as a ‘cultural Christian’, an ‘intellectual Christian’ or a ‘philosophical Christian’. The people who use these labels are not Christians at all: they just enjoy our festivals or agree with our thinking, but it makes no difference to their lives.

Whatever faith they have will not save them. 

No, to be a Christian does not depend on your systematic theology, your church membership, your taste in music or clothes, or whether you like Easter and Christmas. The deciding factor is whether or not your faith produces the works prompted by love. 

There is a famous Scottish comedy sketch about a doctor who had a little too much to drink and woke up on a table covered by a sheet in the mortuary. He woke up slurring the words, ‘It’s the mortuary. I’m in the mortuary. I must be dead!’ 

These verses are extraordinarily challenging. They cause us to think about the very foundations of our eternal security. But this is something we must think about so we can ensure we are headed in the right direction.  

So let me pose the question: is your faith alive or dead? 

Prayer 

Lord Jesus, I am challenged to the core with the thought that my faith could possibly be dead. Revive me, Lord. Resuscitate my faith. Show me where I have turned away from You and bring my dead faith back to life, I pray. Amen. 

Questions for Reflection 

• Define a living and a dead faith. Why will a dead faith not save you? 

• What can we learn from the three examples James uses? 

• Is your faith dead or alive? If it’s dead, what can you do about it?