Paul was probably in prison by the time James wrote his letter. I don't know whether James ever read anything that Paul wrote. It's likely that he knew about Paul, and had even met him and knew what he taught. It's very likely that he met Christians who were using the teaching of Paul to get away with living a kind of Christian life that said "Hey, God has forgiven all my sins. I am put right with God by grace through faith. So long as I agree with these doctrines, it doesn't matter how I live my life." James doesn't agree. He tackles it head-on: verse 14: "If someone says he has faith but it doesn't make any difference to his life, can that sort of faith save him?"
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Faith
We have learned - rightly - to insist on the importance of faith... believing the truth; taking that personal step of faith involved in receiving Jesus Christ as your personal saviour. If you haven't taken that step, that is where you need to start. You can't work your way into Heaven. You can't impress God. There's in fact no point trying. He's perfectly holy and good. We keep messing up. Tuesday of this week I went for something like two hours of being really good. My wife will confirm that; well, may be it was an hour and a half. But that's unusual. We can't impress God. Simple as that. If getting anywhere with god depends on our impressing him, we're stuck. Right? And in fact, we don't need to impress God. This holy, perfect, being is our heavenly Father. He loves us and offers us a relationship with him, a new life, a hope - as a gift.
The only way to receive that is not by impressing God, by paying our own "debt", by being good, but by coming to God in repentance and faith. A faith that implies a complete reorientation of everything in my life to center around Jesus.
Real faith creates good works.
So if someone comes along trying to work out a compromise, and says, "Hey James, we all have different gifts. Some are good at faith; some are good at works. Can't we just live and let live?" James answers, "No! I challenge anyone who claims they have faith to show it - of not by how they live, then how? You can look at how I live, to see the evidence that I have faith." (V. 18) So there's no place for two different kinds of Christians: those who have faith in the great doctrines, and those who get on with the good works. Real faith creates good works.
James illustrates that with two stories:
Abraham. He had a son called Isaac, the one God promised; the one born to Sarah in her old age; the one who was supposed to give him a whole tribe of descendants. God tested Abraham by calling him to sacrifice Isaac. What an atrocity. Yet it wasn't an atrocity in the world Abraham lived in: the Canaanites probably made child sacrifices. And we will doscover that to sacrifice a child was an atrocity to God as wthe story pans out. If we're tempted to think "What a horrible thing for God to do. What an ugly kind of God" we shouldn't make our conclusions about God's character from this story; rather we should read this story in the light of what we know about God's character. That's what Abraham did. When asked to do this thing, Abraham's faith was prepared to say, "I still believe my heavenly Father is a loving and faithful Father. I still believe he is able to keep his promises to me." That is faith, confidence in the truth of God's character. And that faith resulted in his being willing to take his precious wee boy up that mountain. The end of the story is that it was only a test, and God had another sacrifice ready and waiting. But faith in God's loving character had to be put into action on that mountain. Despite the possibility that the promises God had made would literally go up in smoke, Abraham had to say, "I don't understand but I trust you, and You're in charge, Lord"
Rahab. When Israelites came to spy out the city of Jericho, they found lodgings in the place least likely to rouse suspicion: the brothel. Rahab, the prostitute believed that God was with Israel and would give Jericho over to Israel. So she hid the men, and in return they promised that she and her family would be safe when the city fell to the Israelites. Her faith led to action. Despite the possibility that she could be accused of treason, she had to say, "I don't understand but I trust you, and You're in charge, Lord"
There is grace in the way God chooses and calls people. An old guy and a prostitute. We may not amount to much, but we respond to God's call with faith that leads to action... "I don't understand but I trust you, and You're in charge, Lord"
God knows what is going on inside us. God can tell the difference between someone who is simply saying the words, and someone who believes the words. God can tell the difference between someone who really believes, and someone who simply accepts assents to stuff that is outside of the realm of reason...
"What about Grace?"
It almost looks as if James was arguing with what Paul says in Romans 3. 28: " We see that people are acceptable to God because they have faith, and not because they obey the Law." But James isn't taking issue with Paul. He is taking issue with those who used Paul for their own ends. The works that Paul was talking about were "works of the law". And James isn't calling us back to a legalistic kind of Christianity. He is talking about faith that goes into action. Verses 14-15 are examples of the kind of works that James expects as the evidence of faith. He is talking about works like compassion for the poor and needy. It is seeing situations to which we can respond with compassion, and doing so. It is stepping out with nothing but faith, to pray on the basis of what God says in this word. It is giving what you haven't got, to those who have nothing to give back in return.
We misunderstand faith and we misunderstand works, if we imagine they are two different things. Works is part of faith, because faith, the kind of faith that saves a person, involves repentance, and that, if it is real, is handing control of your life over to Jesus. "I don't understand, but I trust you, and You're in charge, Lord"
Faith works because God is at work
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| Daffodils in Spring. The life within produces beauty |
The answer that God gives in his word is this. Faith works. When faith works, we know there is the reality not just the words, of repentance and faith. "Most good things have been said far too many times and just need to be lived." - says Christian activist Shane Claiborne. Faith is meant to be a dynamic, living thing that releases the power of God in our lives and produces love, compassion, service, faithfulness. If it's living, it works. But faith without works is dead.
© Gilmour Lilly February 2012
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