Bible Study Faith without Works Is Dead being Alone/James 2:17.

[WalterandDebbie]

Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. James 2:17.

James 2:14-26English Standard Version (ESV)

Faith Without Works Is Dead
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good[a] is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

 

[Tony Hyman]

This comment by NIV explains "Christians as devoted as Martin Luther have been troubled by this passage when comparing it to Paul's teaching of justification by faith alone. Rom 1:16-17

James argued against a false definition of faith , a definition with intellectual content but no consequences for practical daily life.
Faith is not repeating words even demons can repeat.(Mk 1:24; 5:7)
Faith is commitment to Christ, depending on Him and not on human achievement for salcation, but also serving Him as directed by His Spirit.Paul and James agreed.They simply emphasized different points in salvation experience and different components of Christian faith .Eph 2:4-5,7-10

Good deeds do not earn salvation one does not have. They do provide evidence of salvation received in faith."

 

[Chopper]

Good thread you two. I have observed folk who claim to be saved. In church? You couldn't ask for a better example of a Christian. At home? Well, there is a mixture of good works and works of the flesh. I sometimes would like to ask a person's next door neighbor if they think this person shows Christian ways. Then there is the work place. As far as I'm concerned, that's the place where the rubber meets the road. I have observed men and women who evidently think that Jesus is not watching their actions at work. "Faith without works is dead" and so is the profession of people who don't have Christian "works" on their jobs.

The work place is one of the easiest, or most difficult, to witness about Jesus and the Gospel. I have seen men and women who live out their testimony on their jobs and have led some of their co-workers to Jesus because their co-workers could see that Christianity is real. On the other hand, a co-worker of a professing believer in Jesus who does not live his profession at work, a co-worker might respond with, If that guy is a Christian, I don't want any part of it.

Yep! Faith without works will not get anyone into Heaven, it's dead!

 

[th1b.taylor]

Good thread you two. I have observed folk who claim to be saved. In church? You couldn't ask for a better example of a Christian. At home? Well, there is a mixture of good works and works of the flesh. I sometimes would like to ask a person's next door neighbor if they think this person shows Christian ways. Then there is the work place. As far as I'm concerned, that's the place where the rubber meets the road. I have observed men and women who evidently think that Jesus is not watching their actions at work. "Faith without works is dead" and so is the profession of people who don't have Christian "works" on their jobs.

The work place is one of the easiest, or most difficult, to witness about Jesus and the Gospel. I have seen men and women who live out their testimony on their jobs and have led some of their co-workers to Jesus because their co-workers could see that Christianity is real. On the other hand, a co-worker of a professing believer in Jesus who does not live his profession at work, a co-worker might respond with, If that guy is a Christian, I don't want any part of it.

Yep! Faith without works will not get anyone into Heaven, it's dead!

I'll add a bit to that, if youĺl allow, Chopper.

When a man uses his half hour lunch break to pray, eat and to study the Bible, never curses and does his best to honor and to glorify God at work, two things are, pretty much, guaranteed. I saw a Buddhist boss converted before he returned to Japan and the liars, claiming Christ will persecute you.

 

[Karl]

I would also like to add another dimension to this,

Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God, Rom 10:17

Not only are we being witnesses in/with our lives to those around us, we are walking in faith when we obey what the Lord has specifically told us to do from His Word, that too is where the rubber meets the road, ...have we heard from God and obeyed after we heard Him tell us the Gospel Message, ...or are we just cruisin' along, singing a song.

 

[Chopper]

Absolutely Karl, right on! My wife and I are so sick of people who profess Jesus to be their Savior but not their Master. The problem that we have been facing, I'd say in the past 6 months, is they profess Jesus to be their savior but not their Master. Faith without works is indeed dead because the Master is not the Master of their works, they master their lives when not in church. In church? O my, a wonderful deacon they say, opps! you should see them at their job!

We have left the church that we have attended for the past 15 years. For me? It's the immodest way the women on the worship Team dress. I confess that I'm "Old School" and to me, a man should not see a womans thighs, and half of her chest. Dresses that are 4in. above the knees is not Christian "works". Low V-neck sweaters & blouses do not qualify for Christian "works" in my opinion. And men who do not practice the instructions of Jesus in their daily routines fail to prove their professions as followers of Jesus.

We have decided to attend an "Evangelical Free Church" in another Town. So far so good. I want to attend a church of people who do not impede my desire to worship God in holiness. I really like the fact that so far nothing draws away my mind, eyes, or ears from good old fashioned worship.

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

I think people sometimes get confused with James Chapter Two, thinking of it solely as works of the flesh, because we cannot satisfy or please God in the flesh.
John Chapter Six explains things better.
Jesus says that the work of God is to believe in the one he sent.
Then he goes on to tell us that he is the bread of life, and believing in him we will have eternal life.
He finishes in verse 70 by saying, "yet one of you is a devil".

We see here that many have the faith to believe that Jesus is or may be the Messiah, but will walk away at some point for whatever reasons.
The faith that saves is one that truly wants Jesus, the one that will not waver, the one that really matters, the one that will cause us to act according to his will.

Bill Taylor's answer above is the best example of that.

 

[Malachi]

I think people sometimes get confused with James Chapter Two...

You are absolutely right. Because the entire chapter is not read, and everything put in scriptural context, people not only get confused but confuse others.

According to James 2:21 ("Justified by works")

Abraham's faith------> obedience-----> Offering of Isaac ("work")

Before God: Abraham's faith---> Justification by grace through faith

Before Men: Abraham's "work"-----> Proof of justification by faith

Hence Christ said (Mt 5:16) "Let your light so shine BEFORE MEN that they may see YOUR GOOD WORKS, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven".

If a Christian truly wants to glorify God, he/she will tell others that any good works they produce are really the "works of God" and not of themselves (Phil 2:13). We cannot produce good works unless Christ produces those good works. Therefore He said "Without me, YE CAN DO NOTHING" (Jn 15:5). Hence we should not be talking about "the Christian's good works" but about "Christ's good works using the Christian as an instrument". Thus "The Acts of the Apostles" are really "The Acts of the Holy Spirit".

 

[Chopper]

You are absolutely right. Because the entire chapter is not read, and everything put in scriptural context, people not only get confused but confuse others.

According to James 2:21 ("Justified by works")

Abraham's faith------> obedience-----> Offering of Isaac ("work")

Before God: Abraham's faith---> Justification by grace through faith

Before Men: Abraham's "work"-----> Proof of justification by faith

Hence Christ said (Mt 5:16) "Let your light so shine BEFORE MEN that they may see YOUR GOOD WORKS, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven".

If a Christian truly wants to glorify God, he/she will tell others that any good works they produce are really the "works of God" and not of themselves (Phil 2:13). We cannot produce good works unless Christ produces those good works. Therefore He said "Without me, YE CAN DO NOTHING" (Jn 15:5). Hence we should not be talking about "the Christian's good works" but about "Christ's good works using the Christian as an instrument". Thus "The Acts of the Apostles" are really "The Acts of the Holy Spirit".

Very good post! What you said reminds me of John 15, the Vine and branches. One of my favorites.

 

[th1b.taylor]

This subject, not in my small Church Family, is so relevant and at the same time, so ignored. That night I walked away from, certain fame, opened my Silver Leather covered KJV, my life was not my own and I knew it.

Everything about my life was eternally changed. I, as a Lost Man had been married three times and had figured it out, if I could not get it right after three times, I did not need a wife, the world was filled with women with no better morals than what I had. God had a different plan and when my wife, the only woman I've been with since my conversion, introduced herself, I had noticed she was the best looking lady, not woman, in the Church. That was February and we were married on her birthday that November, vowing never to separate what God had joined together.

We have grown closer and closer since that day, becoming one! We have been called of God to do things I never thought myself worthy of and together we have been allowed, by our Master, to serve in co-teaching the Primaries Class, to visit folks that have been stricken, to teach the Elders classes, to sing praises to God together in Church and on stage and to lead worship services. The first time I filled the pulpit I thought God might be loosing it but I prayed for God to take over and He did, everything I had studied or three weeks was suddenly just thet, what I had studied. God had a completely different message and I was much more amazed than the folks in the pulpit.

We are the Hand Tools God uses... if we submit to Him as Master. When I taught, one time, on being Bond Servants, Slaves, to God, I was informed on one forum that one gentleman owed God nothing, that he was a Son of God. I admit, I am a Son of God but first I was purchased by the Son, a big difference, that day, some two thousand years ago on that grotesque cross. I am and I always will be a Bond Servant, called to serve. And as such I am called to live for Christ that others might be, likewise, influenced and to pray for them, the duty of us all.

 

[Chopper]

What a wonderful testimony of your conversion to our Master Owner Jesus the Christ of God the Father. You certainly are a hero in my book Bill. You have overcome many, many stumbling blocks that the evil one has placed in your path. Jesus has been by your side for a long time and will continue to use you for His glory until you are buried with your Gospel boots on. I love you my dear Brother, keep letting your light shine!

 

[Eugene]

Jas 2:24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
We are justified by works before who?
We’re certainly not saved by works (Titus 3:5).

Mat 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Mat 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them, and this is the exact context of what James is saying in Jas 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

God know us because of Jesus being in us. Gal 4:9 . . ye have known God, or rather are known of God . .

Now if we don’t remain producing fruit we read in Joh 15:6, If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

 

[19DuggarFan]

I really don't think that James contradict Paul one bit. One of the most famous passage in the Bible which most Christian know is the following:
8) For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9) Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
From the above passage we see that it is not of anything that we do that we are quicken/made alive with Christ but His wonderful grace see Ephesians 2:5, so that no work that we do, can save us. But we as Believers really need to look at the next verse to understand that Paul and James are in complete agreement.

10) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10
When we accepted Christ Jesus as Savior, the Holy Spirit indwell us, Romans 8:9; as such we are created in Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit working thru us, can only produce good works or if you prefer good fruit. So that Paul is saying that there is nothing good in any of us that can save us, but when we are saved the Holy Spirit will produce His Good Works in us. James in his second chapter is just saying that the Holy Spirit's work in one life is the true sign of a living faith.

 

[th1b.taylor]

I really don't think that James contradict Paul one bit. One of the most famous passage in the Bible which most Christian know is the following:
8) For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9) Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
From the above passage we see that it is not of anything that we do that we are quicken/made alive with Christ but His wonderful grace see Ephesians 2:5, so that no work that we do, can save us. But we as Believers really need to look at the next verse to understand that Paul and James are in complete agreement.

10) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10
When we accepted Christ Jesus as Savior, the Holy Spirit indwell us, Romans 8:9; as such we are created in Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit working thru us, can only produce good works or if you prefer good fruit. So that Paul is saying that there is nothing good in any of us that can save us, but when we are saved the Holy Spirit will produce His Good Works in us. James in his second chapter is just saying that the Holy Spirit's work in one life is the true sign of a living faith.

AMEN!

 

[Chopper]

I really don't think that James contradict Paul one bit. One of the most famous passage in the Bible which most Christian know is the following:
8) For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9) Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
From the above passage we see that it is not of anything that we do that we are quicken/made alive with Christ but His wonderful grace see Ephesians 2:5, so that no work that we do, can save us. But we as Believers really need to look at the next verse to understand that Paul and James are in complete agreement.

10) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10
When we accepted Christ Jesus as Savior, the Holy Spirit indwell us, Romans 8:9; as such we are created in Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit working thru us, can only produce good works or if you prefer good fruit. So that Paul is saying that there is nothing good in any of us that can save us, but when we are saved the Holy Spirit will produce His Good Works in us. James in his second chapter is just saying that the Holy Spirit's work in one life is the true sign of a living faith.

Good post there fan of 19 kids and counting. The Duggars out a favorite in this house as well.

 

[JohnD]

I really don't think that James contradict Paul one bit. One of the most famous passage in the Bible which most Christian know is the following:
8) For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9) Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
From the above passage we see that it is not of anything that we do that we are quicken/made alive with Christ but His wonderful grace see Ephesians 2:5, so that no work that we do, can save us. But we as Believers really need to look at the next verse to understand that Paul and James are in complete agreement.

10) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10
When we accepted Christ Jesus as Savior, the Holy Spirit indwell us, Romans 8:9; as such we are created in Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit working thru us, can only produce good works or if you prefer good fruit. So that Paul is saying that there is nothing good in any of us that can save us, but when we are saved the Holy Spirit will produce His Good Works in us. James in his second chapter is just saying that the Holy Spirit's work in one life is the true sign of a living faith.

This one phrase links Pauline and Jacobean theology.

Paul never taught that we are to be useless trophies of God but to get truly with it if you are his!

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (KJV)
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

1 Corinthians 7:23-24 (KJV)
23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
24 Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.

 

[19DuggarFan]

This comment by NIV explains "Christians as devoted as Martin Luther have been troubled by this passage when comparing it to Paul's teaching of justification by faith alone. Rom 1:16-17

James argued against a false definition of faith , a definition with intellectual content but no consequences for practical daily life.
Faith is not repeating words even demons can repeat.(Mk 1:24; 5:7)
Faith is commitment to Christ, depending on Him and not on human achievement for salcation, but also serving Him as directed by His Spirit.Paul and James agreed.They simply emphasized different points in salvation experience and different components of Christian faith .Eph 2:4-5,7-10

Good deeds do not earn salvation one does not have. They do provide evidence of salvation received in faith."

Excellent Post, Tony.

Good post there fan of 19 kids and counting. The Duggars out a favorite in this house as well.

I definitely had to give your post a like, just for the underlined part