September 29
“What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to him, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.’ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe – and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” James 2:14-20.
What is written in James, chapter two, verses fourteen through twenty-six, are words that trouble and upset some people. They think that what the apostle James wrote contradicts what the apostle Paul wrote in Romans, chapter three, verses twenty through twenty-eight. However, there is no contradiction at all. Both of them are writing about faith and works. Paul says, “We conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the Law,” Romans 3:28. James writes, “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
What appears to be a contradiction is not a contradiction. The apostle Paul uses the word faith in one and the same sense – saving faith. James uses the word faith in several different ways; he speaks of saving faith, a dead faith, and a faith of the head and mouth. Placing the two passages side by side, remember that we are saved by faith alone, but saving faith is never alone.
“What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?” The person says that he has faith, but those are only words of the mouth. Such faith does not save anyone. James says that real faith demonstrates itself with works. He writes, “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to him, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
“Someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.’ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” Faith in Jesus as the Son of God and the only Savior is the faith that alone saves, but such saving faith is never alone. Saving faith is active, it is alive, and it shows itself by works. The works do not add anything to the faith. The works demonstrate whether it is a real saving faith or whether it is a dead faith – a faith of the head and mouth only.
“You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe – and tremble!” Many people say, “We all believe that there is one God!” James says, “You do well! Let me tell you something: You are not in good company! The devils believe that there is one God, too!” Faith without Christian works – faith only of the head and mouth – is dead!
Friend, continue in the saving faith. Trust and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose blood has washed away your sins. Your good works do not pay for your salvation. Jesus paid for it all!
“By grace I’m saved, grace free and boundless;
My soul, believe, and doubt it not.
Why stagger at this word of promise?
Hath Scripture ever falsehood taught?
Nay; then, this word must true remain:
By grace thou, too, shalt heav’n obtain.” Amen.