Personal
Evangelism Handbook
CHAPTER VIII
Faith without Works
James 2:14-24 is a passage
frequently questioned by the lost after they hear the
gospel of salvation through faith without works.
Actually, to receive proper
understanding of this passage is not difficult when one
keeps in mind some simple principles valuable in
discerning any Scripture:
1. To whom is the author
writing . . . lost or saved people?
2. What situation prompted the
writing of this passage?
3. A careful study of the
passage, verse by verse, not
adding to or taking away from
the Word of God.
4. Comparison of this passage
with other passages in the
Bible on the same particular
issue.
Looking at James 2:14-24 from
the above standpoints we find:
1. It is written to the saved,
to believers. In verse 14 James says "my
brethren."
2. This entire epistle is
written to Christians for their
instruction on conduct and
Christian service.
3. Below is a verse-by-verse
consideration of the passage. James 2:14, "What
doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath
faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?"
James asks if there is any profit, any value, any fruit,
if a man claims to have faith in Christ and yet doesn't
live and serve as a Christian should.
Christians are told in
Ephesians 2:10, "For we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus UNTO good works, which God hath
before ordained that we SHOULD walk in them." It is
true that those who are saved are saved by faith and not
by what they do; but, AFTER they are saved, God wants
them to do good works.
Titus 3: 8 points this out so
clearly: "This is a faithful saying, and these
things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they
which have believed in God might be careful to MAINTAIN
GOOD WORKS. These things are good and profitable unto
men."
In order to help people and
have a ministry with them a Christian must be careful to
live a good testimony. Titus 3: 14 tells us, "And
let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary
uses, that they be not UNFRUITFUL." If you want to
bear fruit for the Lord you must do good works . . . not
to be saved . . . but to be fruitful.
So to answer James's first
question-There is no profit, no fruit, if a man says he
has faith but doesn't produce any works. He is saved,
but he is an unfruitful Christian. John 15: 2 warns
those who are saved-in Christ-but do not bear fruit,
"Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He
taketh away...." God removes the Christian who is a
stumbling block to others.
The next question in James 2:14
is "Can faith save him?" Romans 4:5 answers
this clearly: "But to him that worketh NOT, but
believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith
IS COUNTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS." Yes, faith can save
him. In fact, nothing else could. When a person tries to
be saved by faith and works, he cannot be saved (Romans
11:6; Gal. 5:2; Gal. 5:4).
James 2:15, 16, "If a
brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
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?" The answer is that it doesn't profit that
hungry person at all. You have not helped a person's
material needs-you have not provided him with food or
clothes-just by telling him to leave in peace.
James 2:17, "Even so
faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."
Yes, it is true, that if you have faith in Christ, but
do not work and serve the Lord, your faith will not bear
FRUIT. The word "dead" in this verse is "nekros"
(Greek) and means "useless." (See
Greek-English Lexicon, by Arndt and Gingrich, Univ. of
Chicago Press, page 536.)
If you have faith in the Lord,
but you don't do anything for others, your faith will
not be of any value to them. It will be useless to them.
You are not demonstrating your faith in Christ to others
by just telling them to "Depart in peace, be ye
warmed and filled," if you are not willing to do
something to help them. In fact, you will be a discredit
to Christianity and do much harm to the gospel.
James 2:18, "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." A Christian could say, "You have
faith and I have good works. You tell me you have so
much faith without showing me any good works, but I will
tell you I have faith, and you can SEE that I have faith
because my works SHOW that I believe."
James 2:19, "Thou
believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the
devils also believe, and tremble." Even the devils
cannot deny there is a God. But believing in God isn't
enough to save. You must believe what God, the Lord
Jesus Christ, has done for you and accept His payment
for your sin to be saved.
James 2:20, "But wilt thou
know, O vain man, that faith without works is
dead?" As in v. 17, faith without works is of no
use to other people. A saved person who doesn't serve
the Lord lives a vain, useless Christian life. He will
be chastised in this life and have no reward in the
thousand year reign of Christ (Hebrews 12:6; I Cor.
3:15). He will not have love, joy, or peace in his life,
as these things are not the results of living for
yourself, but the results of living for the Lord,
disciplining your life under the direction of, and by
the power of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22).
James 2: 21, "Was not
Abraham our father justified by works, when he had
offered Isaac his son upon the altar?" The answer
to James's question here is "YES!" Yes,
Abraham was justified by works WHEN he offered up Isaac.
But the question is, justified BEFORE WHOM? Before men,
or before God? AT THAT TIME when men saw the
great faith Abraham had, that
he even offered his son to God at His request, Abraham
was justified in the sight of MEN. They knew, by his
works, that here was a man who truly had great faith in
God. His faith was DEMONSTRATED in the sight of man by
his works.
But WHEN was Abraham justified
in the sight of GOD? The Lord justified Abraham by his
faith MANY YEARS before he offered up Isaac. In fact,
Abraham was justified before Isaac was even born!
"And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to
him for righteousness" (Gen. 15:6).
Galatians 3:6-11 is very clear
on this. "Even as Abraham BELIEVED God, and it was
accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore
that they which are of FAITH, the same are the children
of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would
justify the heathen through FAITH, preached before the
GOSPEL unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations
be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed
with faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse: for it is written,
Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them. But
that NO man is justified by the law in the sight of God,
it is evident: for the just shall live by FAITH."
James 2: 22, "Seest thou
how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith
made perfect?" How true and clear this verse really
is. PEOPLE see, YOU see, that Abraham-through
faith-through absolute trust and confidence in
God-offered up his son . . . and this act (work) proved
to people that he certainly had GREAT FAITH.
James 2:23, "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." The Scripture
that was fulfilled is Genesis 15:6, "And he
BELIEVED in the Lord, and He (God) counted it (Abraham's
faith) to him for righteousness." Yes, Abraham's
BELIEF was imputed to him for righteousness. God puts
His righteousness to the account of the believer because
He has already paid the penalty of the believer's sins.
James 2:24, "Ye see then
how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith
only." PEOPLE, then, see by a person's works that
he has faith. PEOPLE do not have the ability that God
has to see a person's faith-to know a person's mind.
I Samuel 16:7 makes this very
clear, "But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on
his countenance, or on the height of his stature;
because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as
MAN seeth: for man looketh on the outward appearance,
but the Lord looketh on the heart."
To briefly summarize James 2:
14-24-This passage teaches us that if people are to
REALIZE that a person has faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, they must be able to see the person's good
works. Man looks at your LIFE and judges (rightly or
wrongly) whether or not you have faith. Therefore,
believers should take utmost care, as Titus 3:8 points
out, to maintain a good testimony. This has nothing to
do with the person's salvation, but it does have a lot
to do with how much influence his life is going to have
upon others for the Lord Jesus Christ.
4. Compare James 2: 14-24 with
verses in Romans, chapter four. This chapter is speaking
of the SAME person, Abraham, and the SAME issue, his
justification. Was he justified by his faith or by his
works?
Romans 4:1, 2, "What shall
we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to
the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by
works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before
God."
We just read, in James 2:21,
that Abraham WAS justified by his works! Yes, indeed . .
. WHEN he offered Isaac, his son, upon the altar, PEOPLE
realized he had faith, and he was considered a great man
in the sight of the people. His works justified him in
the eyes of the people at that time. He could
"glory" in the public acclaim of his great
faith. But IN THE SIGHT OF GOD, he received
justification many years before . . . as was pointed out
. . . even before Isaac was born!
Although God wants us to live
the right kind of lives, doing good works, serving Him,
He doesn't need our good works to SHOW Him we have
faith. He is a "mind reader." He knows how we
really feel deep inside. Man doesn't have this ability
to know perfectly the thoughts of others.
God says in Ezekiel 11:5,
". . . I know the things that come into your mind,
every one of them." And in I Samuel 16:7, ". .
. for the Lord seeth NOT AS MAN SEETH; for man looketh
on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the
heart."
The question raised in Romans
4:3 is: What does the BIBLE say about Abraham's
justification? "For what saith the Scripture?
Abraham BELIEVED God, and it (his belief) was counted
unto him for righteousness." This is referring back
to Genesis 15:6, as we quoted before.
Romans 4:4, "Now to him
that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of
debt." Salvation is by grace. If you work for
something, your pay isn't by grace; it is owed to you. A
laborer gets his pay at the end of the week because he
EARNED it by his work, not because of the GRACE of the
employer.
But our salvation is by the
GRACE of our Lord Jesus Christ, and not as the outcome
of our works. And it is a good thing salvation is by
grace and not of works because nobody could be perfect
enough for heaven by works, anyway. If a person thinks
he could get to heaven by his good works, a good
question to ask him is, "How many good works do you
think you have to do to go to heaven?" or "How
good do you think you would have to be to go to
heaven?" God says if we sin in just one thing
(James 2:10) we are still imperfect, even as if we had
sinned a lot.
God doesn't save anyone who is
trusting Christ AND ALSO trusting his GOOD WORKS to save
him. Because salvation is by grace, it cannot be of
works at all. Romans 11:6, "And if by grace, then
is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more
grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace:
otherwise work is no more work." (It's like saying:
"If you have ice, then you do not have steam,
because if you had steam you would no longer have ice.
But if you have steam, then you do not have ice,
otherwise steam is no longer steam.")
In salvation, grace and works
are "mutually exclusive." Satan is always
trying to reverse things in people's minds. He tries to
get them to think they have to work to be saved, and
then tries to keep them from working after they are
saved. I PRAY that you wouldn't let Satan ever confuse
your message of God's saving grace!
Romans 4:5 is one of the
clearest verses proving salvation is by faith, without
works. Let's examine this verse phrase by phrase.
"But to him that worketh
not" . . . To him who doesn't do ANY work at all.
"But believeth on Him that
justifieth the ungodly" . . . But believes on Jesus
who gives His righteousness to sinners.
"His faith is counted for
righteousness" . . . God sees his faith, and
because of his faith gives him righteousness.
Romans 3:28 gives God's
judgment and wisdom on the matter in finality,
"Therefore we CONCLUDE that a man is justified by
faith WITHOUT the deeds of the law."
Then, referring back to the
thirty-second Psalm, Romans 4:6-8 tells us, "Even
as David also describeth the blessedness of the man,
unto whom God imputeth RIGHTEOUSNESS WITHOUT WORKS,
saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom
the Lord will not impute sin." Blessed is the man
of whom God says, "I will not charge your sins to
you. I have paid for them Myself." God says this,
however, only to the man who trusts Christ alone for his
salvation. God never says this to the man who tries to
get to heaven by his own works, in full or in part.
In trying to lead a person to
the Lord, answer his questions as briefly and simply as
you can. Agree with him- Abraham WAS justified by his
works-- but NOT BEFORE GOD. Go into detail only as you
have to.
If the person does not, for
some reason, seem to understand the true meaning of
James, chapter two, even after you have explained it to
him using Romans, chapter four, we recommend that you
take him back to Ephesians 2:8, 9 and stay there a
while. If by this time he doesn't see the light, perhaps
his problem doesn't come from a particular passage like
in James, but rather from a complete lack of
comprehension of the plan of salvation itself. Go over
it again with him. Stay with clear, positive Scriptures
on salvation be cause it will still be the GOSPEL that
will be the power God uses to bring him to Christ for
salvation.
