Dead Faith (James 2:14-17)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 09-15-03

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Dead Faith

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  James 2:14-17

 

            Message of the verse:  “14 What use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him?  15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?  17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.”  (NASB)

“14 Dear brothers, what’s the use of saying you have faith if you don’t prove it by your actions? That kind of faith can’t save anyone.  15 Suppose you see a brother who needs food or clothing, 16  and you say, "Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well"—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?  17 So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good deeds is no faith at all—it is dead and useless.”(NLT)

            This starts a new section, and a new chapter in the book “Be Mature” and Warren Wiersbe has entitled this chapter “False Faith,” and it goes from 2:14 to the end of chapter two which is verse 26.  We start out with verses 14-17 and this is probably the most misunderstood part of the letter that James has written, for in it some people have came to the conclusion the direct opposite of what James is writing about, for they have concluded that in order for a person to be accepted by God that all he has to do is “good works.”  We can see from James 1:18 and many, many other passages that this is not the case, for a man must be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus spoke of this as did the rest of the NT writers.  Paul spent much of the first part of the book or Romans driving this point home to his readers. 

            All of this being true, exactly what is James talking about in this section of his letter?  There are three questions to be answered in this section of his letter.  1)  What kind of faith really saves a person?  2)  Is it necessary to perform good works in order to be saved?  And 3) How can a person tell whether or not he is exercising true saving faith? 

            James asks a number of questions to his readers in verse 14, and then gives an example of what he is writing about in verses 15 & 16, and then gives a concluding remark in verse 17 tying it all together.  James wants his readers to know that faith without works is dead faith, and that there are some people who do not really have saving faith.  They talk the talk but do not walk the walk.  They know many of the right answers about saving faith, but they do not demonstrate it in their lives.  I can think of a number of illustrations of this from the Scriptures that will help to make this clear.  “Matthew 7:18 “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.  Matthew 7:19 “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”  In these verses Jesus is saying that if a person’s life has been changed that they will produce good fruit.  Paul brings this up in Galatians 5 where he talks about the “fruit of the Spirit.”  Another illustration that can be given to make these verses clearer is that of “life” In John 14:6 Jesus says, “6  Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”  This verse speaks about Jesus being the life, and all true believers have this life reproduced in them by the Spirit of God and the Word of God.  1 John 5:12 speaks to this issue of life, “12  He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.”

            The point of all of this is that a person must be born again by grace through faith as Eph. 2:8-9 speaks of and then they become a part of the family of God.  While that person is on the earth he will begin to grow in his faith, he will walk in his faith, (For we walk by faith, not by sight:), 2Cor, 5:7.  When we are walking by faith then we will do the good works that the Lord would have us to do, which is the fruit of our new life in Christ. 

            I have one more lesson to talk out of this section and it comes from Paul’s writings in “2 Corinthians 13:5  Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?”  I think that James is saying much of the same thing in these verses, for if some of his readers would test themselves than maybe they would not pass.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at this section of James I can honestly say that from when I was first saved that I did not have much of a clue as to what this all meant, however after studying it over the years the Lord has revealed some of it’s deeper meaning to me and I am thankful for His teaching me these truths about this passage.  This passage does convict me from time to time about doing more good works in my walk with the Lord. 

 

The Word of God was instructive and was convicting to my heart as I read it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  To be sensitive to the Spirit of God in His leading of my life today, that I may be able to hear that still small voice and obey it.