James 2:18-26

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? 
21: Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 
22: You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 
23: and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called the friend of God. 
24: You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. 
25: In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 
26: For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

*** 

James explained that faith alone doesn’t accomplish anything. Just believing in God—that He’s real—doesn’t please Him. Even the demons believe in God, but that belief doesn’t save them. It doesn’t please God or carry out His will. They believe, but because their actions oppose God they shudder, as they should. There must be “works” to carry out and prove our faith.

Without works there is no evidence of our faith. There is no proof of it. For our faith to be approved—as James described in James 1:2-3, 12, there must be outward action or behavior to prove it.

James gave the example of Abraham when he agreed to offer up his only son Isaac in obedience to God. He quoted Genesis 15:6 where it says Abraham's faith was reckoned to him as righteousness. Yet his faith had to become evident—tested and approved. It had to be backed up by actions to show it was really real. Someone can say they have money in a bank, but they will starve to death if they don’t ever take that money out to buy food and eat. Rahab also was justified by works when she took the Israeli spies, hid them, and helped them escape. Her actions proved she believed God was with them (Joshua 2).

When God was bragging on Job to Satan regarding his righteousness, Satan made an accusation against Job. God, being just, allowed what He said to be tested and proven to be true. Which meant that Job’s faith would be put to the test (Job 1:8-12). When our faith is tried and proven, it testifies to the reality of God, and His character—His nature, His goodness, and power.

Trials are powerful times of proving our faith in God and testifying to His reality and love. They allow the reality of our faith to become evident. They bring victory and breakthrough into the physical realm, breaking the barrier from spiritual to natural. Faith is like our body, works are like our spirit that gives life to it. Our works give life to our faith, making it real in the physical realm for all to see and witness the reality and goodness of God.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Galatians 1:1-10

1: Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), 2: and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: 3: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4: who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5: to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen. 6: I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7: which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8: But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9: As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! 10: For am I now see...
Read more

2 Corinthians 7:8-16

8: For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while— 9: I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. 10: For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11: For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter. 12: So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the offender nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be made known to you i...
Read more

2 Corinthians 10:1-11

1: Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent! 2: I ask that when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3: For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4: for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5: We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, 6: and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete. 7: You are looking at things as they are outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ’s, let him consider this again within himself, that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we. 8: For even if I boast somewh...
Read more