Read James 2: 1-13:

  1   My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. This means that faith in Jesus Christ does not go hand and hand with being a respecter of persons.  The Lord is no respecter of person, in terms of worldly accomplishment, and so neither should we be.   2   For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;   3   And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:  4   Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

John 7:24 says, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”  This is an important precept.  It governs how we are to judge situations; it governs scientific thought; it governs civil law; and it should govern how we assess people.

As the writer Ravi Zacharias puts it, it is easy to see the outward poverty of a man when he is down, when he is of a low station in life, when he is dirty and unkept, or dressed in rags.  But spiritual poverty cannot be seen.  In the proceedings of the church, outward appearances should not be the rule for discerning a man’s disposition toward God or his fitness to serve.

We have our prejudices and preferences.  Three piece suit.  Clean shaven.  Shiny shoes.  We would shudder if John the Baptist walked in here in his camel hair shirt and leather girdle.  Now is James saying throw all your standards out the window?  No, he’s not saying that.  There must still be a sense of order and reverence toward God’s house; there’s nothing wrong with those traditions.  But he is saying remember that they are traditions and not holy writ.  They are expectations we set of ourselves, but they do not say a thing about what’s inside a man’s heart.

And worse than that, neither should we disregard a man offhand because he’s in a teeshirt instead of a linen dress shirt; owning a fine home and having good clothes you will not find in the list of qualifications for a bishop or a deacon.

In short, when we judge based on sight alone, we render evil.  We show our own iniquity and unfairness.   5   Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

This verse is a reality check.  James is asking the Christians, “Don’t you remember who you were?  Remember how God plucked you out of the mire of sin?  Didn’t He disregard your filthy rags and count your faith for righteousness?”  And it was a fact that in those days, the majority of believers came from the ranks of the poor.   6   But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?

He is reminding believers of the tendency of the wealthy to bring their riches and power to bear in matters of justice, often oppressing the poor and berating them.  A poor man who had trouble paying his debts could be brought before the judges and beaten or cast in prison.  Since the rich tended to persecute the poor, why show them favoritism?  Many rich people in Bible times treated the poor little better than beasts.  There was certainly no call or justification for exalting them above other members of the church, for preserving the class system that existed in the world and putting it into effect within the church.   7   Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

Always have the rich tended to see Christianity as the religion of the poor and oppressed.  People like former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura say that religion is a crutch for the weak.  As a class, the rich have always seen themselves as self-made and independent of the providence of a deity.  And so James is warning the people, don’t be so quick to pay deference to a man who in all likelihood pays no real deference to the Lord.   8   If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:  9   But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.

Here is yet another argument against preferential treatment: It violates the law.  Love thy neighbor as thyself.  What if you were poor?  Would you want to be kicked to the curb, so to speak?  Is that neighborly?  To show disdain for the poor shows a lack of love.   10   For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

Here is a humbling thought.  Despite one’s best efforts to keep the law, breaking it in just one point or one area nullifies everything else.  One sin separates you from God.  Don’t believe it?  Read Genesis 3.   11   For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

You wouldn’t tell God, “Lord I know I killed a man, but I never cheated on my wife.”  You wouldn’t say that.  That’s like the Pharisee we talked about earlier.  “Lord I know I’m at the altar for a reason, but I’m sure glad I’m not as wicked as that fellow over there next to me.”  We come back to the old dichotomy once again: you are either a transgressor of the law or you are not.  We should not be so quick to judge appearances because we are all equal before God: equally guilty.   12   So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.  13   For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

James is reminding believers that even for them, there is a judgment to come, “by the law of liberty” not the law of sin.  Thus, he is speaking of a judgment for rewards, where mercy in this life will be rewarded with mercy in judgment, charitableness with charitableness.

How much mercy you show in this life will bear upon how much judgment you receive when you meet your Lord.  Remember, mercy is not carrying out the letter of a judgment.  We can judge righteous judgment, thereby rendering the verdict, the vera dictus; that is our right.  But the sentencing, the punishment of sin or trangression; there we have a choice, to carry out the sentence or to show mercy.  This brings to mind something we must all deal with in this life: when someone wrongs you, it is your choice to show mercy and forgive, if only for the fact that we ourselves, who are saved, have received such great mercy, for surely we don’t deserve it.  One of the ways you show your gratitude for Jesus saving you is to show mercy toward others.  Or…you can let passion hold sway…anger, pride, self-righteousness.  You may be right.  You may have a right!  But you can still show mercy.

Read Chapter 2: 14-26:   14   What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

I’m not in the habit of quoting Martin Luther, but in this case he did say something ultimately true: A man is justified by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.

Let’s start by saying that everyone has faith.  Can we admit that?  Whether you a Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Catholic, Atheist, Humanist, believer in Karma or Chi or Chakras, whatever the case every one has faith in something.  The ones that truly have no faith at all don’t last long; they detroy themselves because to have nothing to believe in IS to have nothing to live for.  So when someone says, “I have faith,” what do they mean?

Noah Webster (1828)

Faith:  1. Belief; the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another, resting on his authority and veracity, without other evidence; the judgment that what another states or testifies is the truth. I have strong faith or no faith in the testimony of a witness, or in what a historian narrates.

This is the primary definition of faith for almost everyone in the world.  For most of the world, faith equals belief without evidence.  It is clear as we proceed through the scriptures here, that the faith spoken of in verse 14 is this kind of faith.  James is talking about faith verbalized, but not put into action, a mere agreement.  This is someone simply saying, “Yes, I believe that.  I believe Jesus was the Son of God.  I believe He died for my sins.  I believe He is the Savior of the world.  I believe He can save me.”  But there is a great difference between believing Jesus can save you and trusting Him to do so.

Furthermore, saving faith is not belief without evidence.  Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  Real saving faith is not blind, is not without evidence, and is not devoid of work.  While we do not work to be saved, we work because we are saved.   15   If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,   16   And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

Now here James uses absurdity to demonstrate the foolishness of thinking that words without action will profit an individual.  He’s not saying well wishes are vain, but rather that disregarding a need when you can do something about it makes your well wishes vain.   17   Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

It’s not enough to say you believe in Jesus Christ for your salvation and then go on living like you did before, no change, no fruit, no works.  Saying you have faith and not having any works only means that your faith is empty; it is mere belief as a mental thought, an agreement or approval.   18   Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

James is not trying to confuse the issue.  Remember, this letter is a letter of practical guidance in the Christian’s daily life.  That means he is concerned with Christian practice.  Also, he is addressing those who have professed to believe.  He is not dealing with lost people at this point.

Here are two propositions: Faith is shown without works.  Faith is shown by works.

They can’t both be true.

Think about it.  How can you demonstrate your faith without any works?  Can it be done?

Stated faith, apart from any works, is simply belief.  But belief and faith are not the same thing.  James is arguing here that mere belief demands nothing, requires nothing, in fact means nothing.  But faith, on the other hand, if it is real, spurs us to action.  Works will flow from faith and serve as evidence of it.   19   Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.  20   But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Here is James’s next argument:  He is drawing from the natural conclusion that devils are not saved.  Nothing in the scripture provides for the redemption of fallen angels, and yet they believe in God; they believe in Jesus Christ; they believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed One; in fact, they tremble at the truth of it.  And yet they are damned.  So if you say you believe these things, you are only in agreement with the damned.  Devoid of works, what good is that?  Jesus said of those who are false, “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” (Matthew 7)  This is in the same section of the scripture where he talks about the religious lost, those who sought to be justified BY their works.

James goes on.   21   Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?  22   Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

This gets sticky here for those who do not believe in justification by faith.  They want to say, “See?  See what it says, Abraham was justified by works.”  Remember that faith in God has always been demonstrated by obedience to God.  Beyond that, though, was a test of Abraham’s faith that asked him to sacrifice the most precious thing he had.

Matthew Henry: “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. Faith, producing such works, advanced him to peculiar favours. We see then, ver. 24 , how that by works a man is justified, not by a bare opinion or profession, or believing without obeying; but by having such faith as produces good works. And to have to deny his own reason, affections, and interests, is an action fit to try a believer.”

This is the crux of the whole argument it seems.  “By works was faith made perfect.”

Abraham believed in God.  No doubt about that.  But when the rubber met the road, how would he act?  Would he obey?  In the hour of temptation, real faith will produce obedience, despite our reasonings.  But the “bare opinion or profession” Henry talks about will give way to human reasonings, human affections and self-interest.  In those critical moments, when we must choose to obey God or obey ourselves, we find out if our faith is real.   23   And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

Remember Jesus called his disciples “friends”?  Did they merely say that they believed Him and then went about their business?  No, they put their faith in Him and went about the Lord’s business.  Abraham demonstrated that he trusted in the Lord and he showed that faith by obeying Him, even to the point of sacrificing his son.

That’s why preachers always say that those who profess to believe in God but don’t answer His call to be holy aren’t really saved.  How can you truly worship a God you are not willing to sacrifice anything for?  Or more specifically, how can you truly believe in God when for Him you are not willing to sacrifice the most precious things, not needful things, but the desires of the flesh?  If your faith can’t produce those good works in you, then your faith is dead.   24   Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

Again, James is not adding works to faith as a means for salvation.  Remember, the whole letter says little about salvation.  He assumes that church members are reading this letter.  If anything, he wants those who profess to be believers to check themselves, search themselves.  He is saying that justification is made manifest when faith is made manifest.  That’s not saying you get justified when you prove your faith.  That’s saying that the evidence of your faith, works, is evidence of your justification.   25   Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?

Again, did Rahab’s helping the messengers justify her?  Or did her helping the messengers serve as evidence of her faith in God?  Put it this way.  If she had said she believed in the one true God, and then NOT helped the messengers, how in the world would anyone have known whether or not she was a true believer in God?

Think about the French during WWII.  There were two kinds of French people: those who collaborated or facilitated the Germans, and those who resisted the Germans.  Now when the Americans came rolling in to the rescue, and a Frenchman stepped forward and said he was part of the French resistance, but it was subsequently discovered that he had never lifted a finger to aid the Resistance, had never donated goods or money to the Resistance fighters, had never housed any members of the resistance or shown them any hospitality, do you think anyone would have believed him?  What good is it for him to say “I’m on your side” after our side had already won and the battle was over and it was too late to contribute to the fight or prove his loyalty?

Likewise, don’t wait until the end, when it’s too late.  Don’t wait until that moment when it is revealed what side you are really on, for that won’t be the time to choose.  You call yourself a believer; ask those questions now, while there is time.  Do you trust in the Lord for your salvation?  Is that evidenced in your life?  Does your faith produce works?  Or are you trusting in your works to save you?  Secretly, in the back of your mind, you’re hoping you’ve done just enough good that God will say, “Okay; that’s good enough.”  That’s foolish.  Are you hoping He knows you’re on the winning side because you said so?  You better make sure.   26   For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

As surely as a body with no heartbeat, no movement, no breath, no sign whatsoever of animation is considered by any and all to be utterly dead, so a professed “faith” that shows no evidence of being real is dead and vain.