James Chapter 2

vs 18

This is a great one-sentence pharse which shows the fruitlessness of faith without good works. Interestingly, the NASB (and to a lesser extent the KJV, which doesn't use quote marks) give the sentence different emphasis by treating the whole thing as one sentence - that is, as if someone will say the whole thing, not just the first bit. Of course, ancient greek doesn't have punctuation like quote marks, so it's hard to tell where they end. John chapter 3 has the same problem. I think it makes easier sense if you read the whole thing as a saying. That means James is suggesting "All you have is faith (invisible), while I have faith and works (visible). So show me your faith (you can't, because you can't see faith), and I'll show you my works which point to my faith."

vs 19

James here is widening the depths of his definition of faith. Faith is not just "to believe". Belief in God was such a pitiful, childish first step back then. Everyone believed in God. It was alomst a fait accompli. Nowadays we have trouble even getting people to admit that God exists. But simple belief in the existance of God is not enough. Faith must do more than convince you - it must convict you. That is, it must do more than just give you an intellectual stimulus which convinces you of the truth of the argument. It must convict you that this truth requires action, and you must then go and take that action. You're not a rich man if you've got a map which shows an x marking the spot. You're only a rich man when you dig up the gold bullion.

vs 20

It would seem that someone needs yet more evidence, so James will continue to blast away.

vs 21

What an interesting argument. Paul uses the exact same person, Abraham, and the exact same situation, but this time to prove that we are justified by faith alone. Check out Romans 4 for more info.

So James' argument is that Abraham had faith, but he was considered righteous because that faith sprung into action.

vs 22

Faith is completed by action is James' argument. So note that James is not just saying that a complete faith becomes visible through action. There is more to it than that. James is actually stating here that faith is perfected (greek word teleioo) by the actions you take. When looking at that statement in terms of a "justification by faith" doctrine, we must ask, I guess, how much faith is required to be saved, and how much perfecting does a faith need for salvation? Justification comes later...

vs 23

So to complete his tale, James quotes the same pasasge as Paul, that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. This passage is a much stronger argument for Paul than it is for James, if the two were contradictory. After all, Paul's argument of "justification by faith" is proved far easier than James' "perfection of faith by works" because the verse they both quote comes before Abraham has done anything special - certainly before the sacrificing of Isaac!

But notice that James says that this scripture was fulfilled - so he sees it as a prophecy that was completed once Abraham's faith had been tested as genuine.

vs 24

And so James states finally that it is action as well as faith that justifies. Now we're struggling through contradictory territory. How do we reconcile this with Paul's theology? Before this verse, we could argue that James is talking about the progressive sanctification of the believer, and that this happens (at least partly) through our actions. But now, he has out and out said that justification, the one off work that sets us up as a non-guilty party, is accomplished by works as well as faith. What do we do?!?!?!

Sorry about all the punctuation - there's not many times for excitement and buildup in Bible study. This entire argument can be settled by looking again at that great verse, verse 18. This is the framing verse around which this whole argument takes place. So what does that mean? It means that when James is talking about the justification of faith, he is talking about it in regards to its justification by people around you, not in reference to God.

"But what about Abraham and the example James uses?!" I hear you cry. Interrobang. Well, if what you are saying is that God could not have credited Abraham with righteousness until he knew that Abraham's faith was genuine by taking action (in this case, preparing his son for sacrifice), then I want you to look at your argument, and look at the fundamental flaw in it.

Look hard. Is it obvious? Here it is - if you are saying what I just said above, then you are saying that GOD doesn't know if Abraham's faith is genuine unless Abraham proves it first. That is, GOD (we're talking abot that all powerful, all knowing being, that God) doesn't know what Abraham is going to do, and can't look into his heart and see if he's really faithful or not. Is it just me, or does that sound stupid?

Ok, you say, then why did Abraham have to "prove it" with his actions? Good question, why don't you think about it a bit. "I'm trying Ben, but you're just too smart for me. Please give me the answer!" Ok then, but I actually gave you the answer above. God forced Abraham to take action to justify his faith before men. Probably primarily before Abraham himself! Once he had been there, with the knife in his hand, he knew that he really was faithful to God. And when we read about that story, we have no doubts. If God had just said "I have read your heart, and I know you're faithful, so now I'll make you a huge nation" we'd really wonder, wouldn't we?

It's the same thing here. We are justified before God by our faith which only he can see. But us poor saps of humans can't see that faith. We can only see action. We can only see baptism, hear words of confession, see people's regular church attendance, see their help to the poor and needy. If we could see people's faith, say as a bright shining light eminating from them, then we'd probably be quite surprised - but think about it: you'd probably only notice the people who do all the action all the more, instead of noticing those who do nothing. That is what James is saying.

vs 25

So here we see James' argument. Rahab was considered righteous. By who? By God? No, God doesn't consider people righteous - he knows whether they are righteous or not. Now I will point out that there's no word in the greek that suggests "considered". But the question as it is posed I think still gives the same answer. She was justified by her works in protecting the spies. And the people of Israel accepted her into the Israeli nation! She had proven to them, not God, that she was faithful. You see, people of great faith wouldn't be very good role models to us if they didn't do anything. Faith inspires action and is perfected by action for our benefit! Not to try and keep us out of heaven, but to show us "Hey look! There's a person of such great faith that they did something! I wish I could be like them!".

vs 26

And indeed we do need to be like them. Because without the constant prompting of action to show our faith as genuine, even we ourselves would dry up and fade away from the Christian walk. Interesting thought, no?