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“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

While James is referring to the broad and varied forms of righteous action that we are called to practice, it is important to note that this comes directly following his comments on hospitality and equality to the rich & poor in our community.  Again, given that this letter was written broadly to many communities, we must see that it is more than just a narrow contextual example, but hinting that this was a (and remains) a central struggle for Christian communities in general.

The saying, “Be warm & well fed”, when honestly considered, seems a ridiculous thing to say to someone in need.  James is intentionally using this example to demonstrate that our more subtle and rationalized excuses for service and sacrifice are equally silly.  Consider what “reasonable” excuses too often come to mind (and mouth) is response to this.  After all, we are all performing “deeds” all the time.  If they are not the fruit of faith, what are they?  Are there truly any neutral deeds?  We must not get caught in the snare of double-standard, which praises good deeds & denounces evil deeds, but does nothing in the face of empty deeds.  There are only two kinds of deeds- living and dead- each a product of the faith we are called to live.  Here we see that we are called to live distinctly from the world- not apart from it, but in ways that embody the truth of God, which is Christ.

“But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.  “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.  You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”

We have all sought to demonstrate our faith apart from our deeds.  These demonstrations may have expressed things that were good, worthy and even necessary (such as sound doctrine), but apart from living, active faith bring no more life than the profane, unworthy and meaningless (even false doctrine).  This does not mean that God cannot work in spite of such unfaithfulness, but rather that it is not reckoned as faith to those who bear it.

When James said, “You believe that there is one God.  Good!  Even the demons believe that- and shudder” he was referring to the central prayer and belief of the Jewish people, the Shema Yisrael.  Drawn from Deuteronomy 6:4,5, which says “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” they would pray, “Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad”.  Christians today would immediately remember Jesus reference to this prayer in Matthew 22:34-40, summing up all the law (righteousness) and the prophets (justice).  However, He also included Leviticus 19:18 as an equal, indivisible part of that truth, “Love your neighbour as yourself”.  This is what has popularly become known as the Jesus Creed.

For the Jew, belief in the truths of the Shema Yisrael was at the heart of what made them God’s chosen people, set apart from the pagan and godless nations that surrounded them.  They considered themselves righteous on the merits of being His people, demonstrating it through the proclamation of this foundational prayer.  Yet James reminds them clearly that Jesus made the active love of neighbour (understood significantly to mean living justly towards all others) inseparable from the declaration and devotion of the One God.  Our identity in Christ, the very proof of our faith, is demonstrated in our love of God and others.  The standard is set high for all believers, without exception or qualification.

“You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.”

It is when James says, “You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone” that he landed himself in hot water throughout Church history.  Many believed that he was clearly contradicting Paul’s teaching on justification my faith alone.  For example, doesn’t this verse contradict Romans 3:28 which says, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law”?  In fact, he is not.  While our salvation is absolutely an unmerited grace from Christ alone, one that cannot be earned through any words or actions, we also believe that true faith is an active pursuit of Christ.  It is neither an intellectual nor emotional acknowledgment/acceptance of an idea(s) being right and true.  Neither do we believe that we are saved in spite of ourselves, but rather salvation is chosen freely through the exercise of our will (which is itself a grace from God).  Therefore, so to is obedience a reflection of the work of salvation in our hearts.  (For a brief overview of an Anabaptist view of justification, check out “What do Anabaptists say about justification by faith?”).

Consider it this way.  When we are married, we are bound together by God before His people in a sacred covenant.  Unarguably it is this binding by God that makes the marriage true.  However, after such a binding, if one of the partners is immediately and consistently unfaithful, the quality of that marriage is in question.  We might speculate that there was never faithfulness in the heart of the partner, but does that make the binding invalid?  Is it truly marriage if it remains in this state?  Rather, a true marriage, while made possible only through the power of God’s binding, is proven true by the daily work of faithfulness and service that reflects its intention.  So too with faith and works.

“In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”

Here James makes his most powerful blow to the religious entitlement of the Christian community to which he writes.  Remembering that his readers were primarily Jewish Christians and that he reminded them that their identity as Jews was not enough to merit true faithfulness (i.e Shema Yisrael), he cites an example of true faith (alongside that of Abraham) that was quite radical: Rahab the prostitute.  While Rahab was well known and honoured among Jews, it would have been shocking to use her in this example.  Why?  For three core reasons: First, because she was a prostitute, one who was unclean in one of the most culturally reprehensible ways; second, she was a Gentile, making her example alongside Abraham a direct assault against the claims of Jewish faith-supremacy; and third, because she was a woman (and we can assume that the Jewish Christians were still wrestling with the implications of Jesus’ radical embrace of women into the heart of the community.  Who are the Rahabs in our communities whom we presume our faith surpasses?

What James is teaching here is the very real implications of living the teaching of Christ explicitly as His people.  Faithfulness is costly to all of us, all the time.  We recognize His grace as an undeserved gift, but it is a gift after all.  We must believe that, though it will be hard and costly, such obedience will ultimately bring us true wholeness and happiness.