Some thoughts on James 2:18-26

Below is a blog post I wrote last September for the Feeding Jesus blog. It is part of a dialouge I was having with my brother-in-law regarding the role of works in faith. This is a question that comes up quite frequently in Sunday School classes and Bible study groups. At the outset I must give credit to John MacArthur's and F.F. Bruce's commentaries on James, which helped give me clarity on this often clouded passage.

The lines between works resulting from living faith and works resulting from legalism (dead faith) become blurred because people generally are looking at the wrong "line". I don't even like using the word line because it's so much more than that!!! James is calling us to be honest with ourselves about is whether what we are doing is being done from a desire to make much of God or to make much of ourselves. To simply say "well, this is biblical" is not enough. Just because I mimic something that was done in the Bible does not make it God-centered.

This is where living faith comes into play.

First, we know that living faith is a gift from God (Eph 2:8-9) and that's how we know it's alive. It's not the same kind of faith as me saying "I have faith that Danny will be a good husband to my sister". I know good and well that there will be times when Danny does something that ticks me off royally and my faith in him will wax and wane during the years to come. This happens because any faith that I generate is dead in the corruption of my sinfulness and in the process of being made alive (sanctification). Only the faith that comes from God is living and can produce righteous works.

Second, living faith ALWAYS results in righteous works. Pay close attention here. Notice I did not say that someone who has living faith ALWAYS does righteous works. Those who have authentic faith still fail. We still have the warts of our old nature on us. When we fail, it is always a result of acting out of self-centeredness rather than God-centeredness. But we have been given the ability to do works solely for the purpose of glorifying God and magnifying His name (the unsaved man does not have any desire or ability to do this). Therefore for anyone to expect a Christian brother or sister to live a legally sinless life in the eyes of the law represents a misunderstanding of what our justification is all about.

So from James' perspective (3:18), when an arrogant, legalistic Pharisee challenges him by saying "show me your faith without works", he responds by showing his faith BY his works.

James 2:18-26 is a wonderful description of the relationship between justification and sanctification. It can also be a dangerous minefield for the uninitiated. Paul had a lot to say about this too. I recommend comparing James 2:18-26 with Romans 4:1-16 and Galatians 3:1-9. You can throw Hebrews 11:8 and 11:17 in for good measure. This might give you a more "rounded" picture of what the Bible has to say on the topic.

Bottom line, as Ergun Caner once said "the difference between holiness and legalism is that legalism says 'you should be more like me', but holiness says 'you should be more like Christ'!"

God calls us to holiness, not legalism.
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