HOW WORK RELATE TO FAITH

HOW WORKS RELATE WITH FAITH part 2 James 2:14-26

Let us now do some analysis of the passage under consideration. It is James’ contention that in the context of the tragic human situation we are in, Christianity should compel us to live our lives to the profit of others. This is why he says in James 2:14, what does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not work?

We have to agree with him that Christianity is utterly useless if it does not issue out in positive action. Moreover, there is the danger that the person who has that kind of faith may actually be an ambassador of in Christian costume. If there was anything that marked the life of Christ, it was compassion. How then can those who claim to be His disciples be marked by anything else? It is utter wickedness to show by attitude and say to a human being created in the image of God, “Go in peace, be warmed and filed,” without giving them the things needed for the body’ (James 2:16). And it is worse when the person in lack of daily food” is a brother or sister in Christ.

All the arguments James presents in James 2:18-20 are to show how impossible it is to drive a wedge between real faith in Christ and good works. Paul has said it all when he pointed out that Christ “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds” (Titus 2:14).
It was the consuming zeal for good deeds which issued from Abraham’s and Rahab’s faith that prompted them to act the way they did. James cites these two examples to buttress his argument that real faith issues in positive action for God. Abraham acted out of his faith by offering up his only son Isaac, the child of promise. He was persuaded that he must act he must act on his faith, so much that he was prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac and shatter his hope of becoming the father of many nations.

The problem of the previous promises God had made to him and how they relate to this call for positive action as a demonstration of his faith did not seem to bother him. All that mattered to him was the active demonstration of his faith. Any wonder that he was called the friend of God? Those who take positive actions for God are His friends because a real friend cannot do otherwise.

The case of Rahab the harlot was that she was courageous enough to become a saboteur against her nation because she was firmly committed to the idea that the kingdom of God must triumph over the kingdoms of the devil and the world. Because of this commitment, she took practical steps to bring about the destruction of her country, that the purpose of God might triumph.

From what has been said so far, it is abundantly clear that works do not recommend us to God. But if real faith has germinated in us, it is inevitable that it must issue out in good works of various kinds. Where this does not happen, that faith is useless, barren and dead. “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead” (James 2:26). How is your faith, dead or alive?