"... and I will show you my faith by my works.”

James 2:18-3 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

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…

¹³ Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. ¹⁵ This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. ¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. ¹⁸ And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

“You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.” Belief in God, even belief that He is the almighty God will not assure anyone of a place with Him in eternity. As James says, “the demons believe also, and shudder.” Romans 14:11 says: For it is written, "AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD."     Also Philippians 2:10-11 says:  at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Yet James says: “… faith without works is dead.”  He says: 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.” Let’s look carefully though at the example of works of faith that James gives us. He cites Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac as a work of faith, not the good things he did, not the way he treated or provided for his servants, but his willingness to place his son, the heir of promise on an altar offering him to God. We need to understand this example of what faith may require of us. It is one thing for us to come to the place in our lives where we recognize our need of a savior, where we turn from a life of sin and accept the work of Christ on the cross. We in effect lay our sins at the foot of the cross. True faith, truly believing in God requires that we be willing to offer everything to God, both turning from sin and being willing to sacrifice everything that represents our own strength and success.

In Philippians 3:7-8, Paul says: whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.     Just as with Abraham, God may not actually require that we give up all that we have. He wants to know our heart. He wants to know if we have the faith to work with Him, trusting Him fully every step of the way. The first and greatest commandment is that we: SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND (Matthew 22:37) If we hold onto anything above or before God, we fail in this first commandment. The works of our faith are to trust and believe God fully.

Let’s also look at the other example James gives us of an act or work of faith. He says:  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?   Quite the opposite of Abraham, who had received God’s promise and had great wealth and possessions, Rahab, a women of sin had nothing good to offer to God. Yet she believed and she exchanged her life of sin for a life of redemption and forgiveness. So great was her restoration through her one act of obedience and faith that she is listed in the genealogy of Christ.     Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse (Matthew 1:5) It is an act and work of faith, even when we seemingly have nothing to offer, nothing to lose, to give our life to Christ.

It may not seem fair in human terms, the one has everything to lose and nothing seemingly to gain and the other nothing to lose and everything to gain, yet for both their works of faith are credited as righteousness. Believing God, trusting Him fully with all that we have, being willing to lay down everything, both the bad and the good in our lives to follow, love and serve Him, that is the first and foremost work of faith each of us must demonstrate. Only as we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind can we do any other work of faith.   

James asks:  Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. Why do we do the things we do? Is it a response to the love of God? Is it a working out of our faith in Him, trusting both ourselves and the results of our work to Him. Or do we have other motives are we still trying to accomplish our own agenda and fulfill our own desires and ambitions? James says: “ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. ¹⁸ And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”   1 John 4:19 says:  We love, because He first loved us. God’s love is unconditional. Romans 5:8 says: God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus Christ had nothing to gain and He sacrificed all that He had. We like Rahab, have nothing to give, yet by our work of faith, believing God, trusting Him, we gain everything and are given the privilege of joining Him in His work.

Thank You Father God and Lord Jesus Christ, through Your work of obedience and faith I have been given everything. I in turn lay it all down, both all that is good and all that is sinful in me and choose to walk in obedience to You. I choose to walk in the truth of Ephesians 2:10.  For we/I are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we/I should walk in them.    Amen.