After James told us to maintain control over ourselves, he said our faith should be expressed in actions that are pure and unblemished in God’s sight. He is encouraging believers to remain unspotted and uncontaminated by the world.
There are three things that we should do to continue to live the life of faith.
- Exhibit equality to all people.
- Love everyone without partiality.
- Prove your faith with your actions.
Paul’s epistles emphasized God’s work. He was concerned about legalists who attempted to come to God through obedience to the law. Therefore, he spoke of justification with God by faith. Paul defined God’s work through the power of Christ that affects our position eternally.
James addressed the morally unrestrained people in the congregation. He was concerned about the unrighteous behavior of believers. Paul viewed righteous as a gift of God. James viewed the human experience and required a life that complimented the faith. Without God’s intervention, we are eternally doomed. On the other side, we must recognize the need to live the life before God. Faith without accompanying works is dead.
Paul never told believers to live carelessly because God had made them righteous in Christ. James was not saying that we can be good enough to please God without trusting the imputed righteousness of Christ. We are being encouraged to live the life that Christ has given.
Galatians 5:1 NKJV Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
Paul was not telling believers to attempt to come to God by works or self-righteousness.
James is telling us to live out the faith that we received.
- Do not waver in faith in life’s situations.
- Guard your thoughts and words.
- Exhibit equality to all people.
- Love everyone without partiality.
- Prove your faith with your actions.
From James we learn moral restraint and justification by works. Paul referred to faith as a gift of God, and James speaks of faith that requires appropriate action.
Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
If I am saved by grace, do I have to live the life?
James is looking for true religion in believers. Some believers began to think the life they lived was not important as long as they had faith in Christ.
Romans 6:14-15 NKJV For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
This is the premise from which James takes up his epistle. He wants to stir believers to be doers of the whole counsel of God. Believers have always found it difficult to balance the relationship of faith and works. Early believers who came from the observance of Jewish law found this particularly difficult.
James is looking for the development of the character of Christ in people of faith. True religion is not just profession of faith, it is also possession. What good does it do if we can talk like a believer and not live the life in which Christ has made us free. Authentic faith is demonstrated by living the life.
James 2:1 NKJV My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.
James 2:2 NKJV For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes,
James 2:3-4 NKJV and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
James 2:5 NKJV Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?
James 2:6-7 NKJV But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?
James 2:8-9 NKJV If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
James 2:10-11 NKJV For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
James 2:12-13 NKJV So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
We must be careful to live a holy life before the Lord Jesus Christ and the world. The world must see the impact that our faith in Jesus Christ has had on the way we live.
James 2:14 NIV84 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?
James 2:15-16 NIV84 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?
James 2:17 NIV84 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
James 2:17 AMP So also faith, if it does not have works, deeds and actions of obedience to back it up, by itself is destitute of power, inoperative, dead.
Compare that to what Paul said to the Ephesians.
Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
The message is clearly the same. When we have a true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, our lives will have accompanying works.
What was James really looking for? He was not encouraging legalistic lifestyles. He was looking for evidence of a changed life. He was saying, when Christ enters your life there will be real evidence.
Why do we do what we do? When a believer has faith in Christ, it really works.
- Are you living the life?
- Has Christ really changed you?
- What impact does your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ have on your life?
- Have you been changed from the inside out?
- Is there corresponding conduct?
This is crucial.
Faith in Christ will affect our thoughts and words, and will impact our attitude and actions to everyone. Our outward life will be a reflection of what has occurred inside. We cannot slander our brother and have a pure heart. We cannot have a pure heart and forsake the poor, homeless, and widows. Our actions are a declaration of Christ within us. The words of our mouth are a reflection of what is in our heart. Faith without corresponding actions is lifeless or dead. Faith without works lacks commitment. Works without faith is equally dangerous.
James took a quick look at how Abraham was justified by a faith that produced works.
James 2:21-22 NKJV Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?
The language presents a word that demonstrates how faith and works collaborate. James says faith and actions were “sun-er-ge-o.” The English word is synergism. It means the power of the two parts united is greater than the power of the individual elements. The power of faith and works together is greater than faith or works alone. Faith without works is dead. Works without faith is legalism.
Luke 4:18-19 Jesus said: “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
The Holy Spirit on Jesus Christ brought Him to action. The Holy Spirit will produce that same pure, undefiled and faith-based action in believers. True faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will produce these kinds of actions or works.
James 2:12-13 NLT So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free. There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you.
James is calling for a practical lifestyle of faith. Just as the Holy Spirit anointed Jesus to do a certain ministry, believers are empowered to action. This new life dramatically impacts the words of our mouth and our actions. When we are guided by this faith, all our actions will be under this control. Our new life in Christ is a life of faith that is evidenced by works and not just rhetoric. James is calling for nothing less than what Jesus required of His disciples.
Matthew 5:7 NIV Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Matthew 6:14-15 NIV For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
We must live as one who will give account to God Who will judge the living and the dead, (1 Peter 4:5).
What really matters is our testimony. We can profess to be a Christian, but that doesn’t matter. It’s the testimony that matters.
- Noah had a testimony of walking and living by faith.
- Pharaoh had the title, but Moses had been with God and had the testimony.
- Nebuchadnezzar had the title, but Daniel knew what it was to go through the lion’s den and have a testimony.
- Jezebel had the title, but Elijah had power with God and had the testimony.
- Herod had the title, but John the Baptist had the testimony.
- Pilate had the title, but King Jesus had the testimony.
God is not going to commend us in the end because we had faith. He will commend us by saying, “Well done good and faithful servant?” He will be looking at a faith that works. Are you living the life?
