Living Faith

Living Faith

James 2:14-26

MIM: A faith without works is dead, while a living faith is evidenced by the fruit of good works

I. Dead Faith (2:14-20)

Example 1: “Faith” that fails to help a brother or sister in need (2:14-17). This kind of “faith” is really no faith at all; it is dead. 

Interlude: Separating faith & works (2:18); James warns that we cannot drive a wedge between “faith” people & “works” people. Faith will always be “shown” (made visible) by good works. 

Example 2: “Faith” that is mental assent alone (2:19)

“If we are ever tempted to congratulate ourselves about our orthodoxy – about having our theology right – we need to remember who we share it with. The demons have sound doctrine. This should not surprise us. They came from heaven, after all. They know who God is. They know he is One. There are no atheists in the demonic realm. Affirming certain right things about God is clearly not enough. Hell is full of good theology.” ~ Sam Allberry

“Any theology that does not lead to song is, at a fundamental level, a flawed theology.” ~ J.I. Packer

Matthew 23:27: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.”

II. Living Faith (2:21-26)

Example 1: The Faith of the Patriarch (2:21-23)

  • Genesis 12:1-3: Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

  • Genesis 15:6: And [Abraham] believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

  • Hebrews 11:19: He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

Example 2: The Faith of the Prostitute (2:25)

“The contrast is neat: Abraham, a major Bible figure; Rahab, a minor participant. Abraham the father of the faithful; Rahab a foreigner. Abraham the respected; Rahab the disreputable. Abraham a man; Rahab a woman… the contrast is intended to alert us to the fact that a fully comprehensive statement is being made — the primary works of faith are the works of Abraham and Rahab and they apply to all without exception.” ~ Alec Motyer

Joshua 2:9–11: [She] said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt… And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.

If your faith is dead, Jesus is in the business of making dead people alive by his grace & mercy (Eph. 2:4). Although faith is shown to be alive by good works, faith is made alive by grace. 

For those with a living faith, we’ve been made alive by the grace and mercy of God to be “his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10)

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