Faith without Works is Dead James 2:26

James, the “servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”, wrote to his readers from the “twelve tribes scattered abroad” concerning “faith” without “works”. He employed the examples of “Abraham” and “Rahab” to show how “works” correspond to and validate what was believed. In chapter two and verse twenty-six of his letter, James concluded his thoughts by repeating the idea that “faith without works is dead” where we read:

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

The verse begins, “For as the body without the spirit is dead,...” James began with the word, “for” which means “as, because, even, indeed, no doubt, seeing then, verily and therefore” “as the body” or “in the same way the corpse or living body of a person” “without the spirit” which refers to “the vital principal by with the body is animated, the rational, the power by which humans feel, think and decide” “is dead” or “without life, deceased, departed, destitute of life and inanimate”. When the “spirit” of a person leaves their body, the “corpse” that is left behind is “lifeless” and without “power to feel, think or decide”.

The verse goes on to say, “...so faith without works is dead also.” James continued, “so faith” which means “the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ and a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God” “without works” or “business, employment and that which one occupied” “is dead” which means “without life, deceased, departed, destitute of life and inanimate” “also” or “even and indeed”. “Faith” with no “works” is as lifeless and inanimate as a dead corpse.

When we think through these words of James, we admire his choice of metaphors. When a person dies, there is no life left in the body, and James concluded that “faith” without the “corresponding works” is left very much the same way. “Faith” alone does nothing, but when it is demonstrated by proportionate “works”, it is vibrant, alive and worth aspiring. The Lord Jesus desires for our “works” to match our “faith”, and through James' exhortations perhaps we have learned what it means to have our “belief in Jesus” match our “employment” of things we do.

Next time we begin a new chapter and see James address “masters” or teachers, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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