Throughout the book of James the author writes about the very practical side to faith in Jesus Christ. Subjects such as equality, perseverance, love for God’s word, wholesome speech, humility, patience, and fervent prayer are addressed with the hope that believers will be obedient to God in these matters. But, can a person who is not concerned with obedience to God’s word have a faith which is genuine? Apparently some of James’ readers thought so. It seems that some people viewed faith as nothing more than a simple, mental belief in the existence of God with no desire to live a righteous life (2:19). James asks a glaring question to his readers: “if someone says he has faith but does not have works…can faith save him?” (2:14). He goes on to illustrate this by saying that a person who claims to have faith sees a person in need, but does not provide the things he needs (2:15-16). The real question James is posing is “Can a person who claims to have faith in Jesus Christ ignore His command to love others?” The implied answer is “no.” Genuine faith in Jesus Christ will always produce good works. Before I go further, I did not say that faith will result in perfection, but true faith will manifest itself in a desire to obey God’s commands, even if we do not always do what is right. A person who has no passion for doing what is right in the sight of God has not been saved by faith. Paul says that we were “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). James gives two very clear illustrations from the Old Testament of people who were saved by faith and that salvation was proven by their willingness to obey God – Abraham (2:21-24) and Rahab (2:25-26). Each of these two people was not perfect, but their faith was realized by their good works. Here is a simple way to summarize the words of James – works do not lead to faith, but faith leads to works. Faith is a gift from God and works are the byproduct of that faith. James says it well when he proclaims “faith without works is dead” (2:17, 20, 26).
Dear God,Thank You for saving me from the power of sin. Now, would You please provide the desire to obey Your commandments and follow Your will?
