"For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 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? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 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. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? 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. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."
Today's quote is another one of the most misinterpreted and misunderstood lessons in the entire New Testament. This is evident by the many supposed Christians who contend that James herein implies that whether or not an individual has eternal salvation is dependent upon whether or not that one practices "good works".
If that contention is true then the New Testament is in direct contradiction with its own teaching and is therefore a lie. That truth is borne out by what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8-9; "FOR BY GRACE ARE YE SAVED THROUGH FAITH; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: NOT OF WORKS, lest any man should boast."
James did NOT herein imply that faith is NONEXISTENT without works, he simply stated that "faith without works is "dead", or inactive, which, by the way, is very true. However, a dead or inactive horse is still a horse, it just accomplishes nothing in the physical sense. Faith is spiritual and whether physically exercised or not, faith still accomplishes spiritual things. Reference Job, he physically did nothing to change his horrible circumstances, yet his spiritual faith eventually brought back all he owned.
Granted, if one does nothing to exercise his/her faith it is, for all outward appearances, "dead", being inactive. However, being "dead" or inactive does NOT mean that faith does not exist just as Paul made very plain in the quote from Ephesians.
If we, as Christians, fail to practice our faith outwardly, it will never be apparent to those lost souls around us that our faith is present at all. However, if we practice our faith by praying for the things we need in absolute confidence that we will receive them and then allowing the fruits of our faith to be seen, our faith will be an active faith in the earthly sense, as was herein described by James.
We should certainly and continually practice our faith openly so as to be bright beacons toward salvation for all who seek God's divine truth.~
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