Bible study: James 2:14-26

“Talk is cheap— show me!”
Text: James 2:14-26

¹⁴ What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can [a]that faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, [b]be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? ¹⁷ Even so faith, if it has no works, is [c]dead, being by itself.

¹⁸ But someone [d]may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” ¹⁹ You believe that [e]God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. ²⁰ But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? ²² You see that faith was working with his works, and [f]as a result of the works, faith was [g]perfected; ²³ and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. ²⁴ You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? ²⁶ For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Have you ever heard of the term “trash talking?” It is quite popular, particularly in the world of sports. Even before a game is played, there are players who believe that they can gain an advantage by talking about their team’s performance (or their own.) I can remember Hall of Fame quarterback John Unitas’ quote to his teammates: “Talk is cheap. Let’s play!”

The book of James was the first of the New Testament books written in about 48-49 A.D. The theme of the book is proper Christian conduct in the midst of persecution. You see, the people to whom James is writing were first-generation Jewish Christians who were being chased down, and in some cases, martyred for converting to Christianity. So James writes this letter to encourage them to stand firm for Jesus Christ (1:2,12), but also to rebuke them and make them accountable for improper conduct, such as sin (1:13-15), personal favoritism (2:1-7), and speaking harshly to their fellow Christians (3:1-12). Please take the time to read this entire text on your own, because I want to focus on the word “justified.”

I recently had three people from three different systems of man-made religion tell me that they believe that we are saved by our works because the Bible says that “faith without works is dead.” (James 2:26) In our last four studies, we have clearly seen from Ephesians 2:8-9, Galatians 2:16-21, Romans 11:5-6 and Romans 4:1-5 that our works cannot save us. Each of the four texts were written by Paul from the books whose main theme was the doctrine, or teaching about salvation.

Some people may look at James 2:21 as a contradiction of God’s Word, because James writes, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?” The word “justified” has two definitions and translations. In James 2:21, Abraham was “justified”, which means “to prove or show to be just”. His faith, like Rahab the harlot in verse 25, was proven by their demonstration of faith in obedience. In verse 23, we revisit Genesis 15:6, this time being quoted by James. Last time, we saw in Romans 4:5 that it is God who “justifies the ungodly” by faith, or belief. In Romans 4:5, the word “justified” means; “to judge, regard, or treat as righteous.” It also means “to qualify as bail or surety.”

In our text, James says that saving faith is proven to those who observe our lives by what we do, not based on what we say. If a person’s actions do not display a changed life for Jesus Christ, then his claim to be faithful to the Lord is dead. In James 2:23 and Romans 4:5, God’s righteousness was credited, or deposited into Abraham’s “account”, He proved his faith in God by obedience to Him, (James 2:22), and he was given God’s surety as His child.

If you had thought that Paul and James were contradicting each other, I hope this study provided clarity for you. Have you surrendered, by helpless faith, to the surety of Jesus Christ? Can your observers see a change in the way you live?

Steve Visconti