JAMES 2:14-21
INTRODUCTION
A. One of the problems a sincere Bible student may encounter reading the Bible, concerns the subject of “faith” & “works.”
a. “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.” (Rom.3:28)
b. “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.” (Jas.2:24)
B. Also, Genesis 15:6 is quoted by Paul to prove that Abraham was declared righteous on the basis of faith, but it appears that James quotes the same passage to prove that works justify (Rom.4:2,3; Jas.2:23,24).
C. This problem of what seems to be a contradiction results in confusion & uncertainty & leads to many heated arguments. “God is not the author of confusion but of peace” (1Cor.14:33). The problem doesn’t come from God, but from men who misunderstand & misapply what James has written.
I. THE OVERALL THEME OF JAMES’ LETTER
A. When studying an epistle, it is important that we keep things within context. The overall context of James’ letter is that of telling Christians that their obedience in the midst of suffering is training them & proving that they really believe that God’s mercy way is the best way.
a. (1:2-4) suffering gives us wisdom that causes us to look for mercy
b. (1:5) the “wisdom” God gives us is “we need mercy”
c. “wisdom” is appreciating God’s mercy/”the word of truth” (1:17,18)
B. Mercy begets mercy. When a person understands that it is only by God’s mercy that he has been saved, then he will show in his life that the mercy way is the best way by demonstrating mercy on others (1:21-27).
a. when people become judgmental & forget that they needed mercy, then they are like the man who looked in the mirror, only to walk away & forget he needed mercy
b. (2:13) such will not show mercy & receive no mercy
C. The opposite of trusting that God’s mercy way is the best way is to not have mercy upon others (2:13). Christians who do not show mercy are not doing “the word of truth.” Instead, they judge & condemn their brethren by human standards, concluding others are not righteous, but they themselves are. They deceive themselves & will not receive mercy in the judgment.
a. context – not showing mercy on the poor who came into their assembly
b. not following “the royal law” (2:8,9)
c. they trust in their own goodness instead of God’s mercy
II. SHOW YOU BELIEVE IN GOD’S MERCY WAY
A. We must keep things in context. James 2:14-21 was written in the context of knowing whether a person really believed in God’s mercy or not (v13).
B. (2:14-17) Does a person really believe that God’s mercy way is the best way if he does not help the needy, but only says, “Depart in peace, be warm & filled?” A person who says he wants God’s mercy, but doesn’t do “the word of truth” (show mercy) does not have true faith.
a. if a person does not have mercy on others, can that kind of faith save him?
b. the spoken words of mercy are useless; they don’t help the situation
c. this kind of faith is profitless/useless/dead
C. (2:18-20) Verse 18 - the topic sentence of the paragraph. Notice the word “show” occurs twice – something (faith) is to be seen if it is genuine (2:14).
a. not talking about faith & works saving, but showing or proving one has faith
b. (2:19) illustration one: demons – you don’t see acts of mercy because they don’t really trust in God’s mercy way
c. it is not a real faith if it doesn’t show mercy on others (2:20)
D. (2:21-24) Illustration two: Abraham shows he trusted in God’s mercy.
a. to separate this section of verses from others on salvation is a mistake & has led to a false interpretation of works contributing to salvation
b. when we let the Bible tell us when Abraham was declared righteous, then we can see what James is actually doing in the Abraham example
a. justified (declared righteous) in Genesis 15:6
b. Isaac wasn’t born until Genesis 21 & then not offered until Genesis 22 (15+ years after
declared righteous)
c. James is not talking about Abraham being made righteous, but showing that he was righteous by his exhibit of faith.
d. the word “justified” as used here means “to prove that one is righteous”
a. example of Luke 10:29 – lawyer trying to justify (show) he was righteous
b. example of Luke 7:29 – sinners justifying (showing) God was right
e. Abraham trusted God’s mercy way & showed it by his willingness to offer Isaac, believing God would have mercy on him (Heb.11:17-19)
a. he did what God told him to do & as a result his faith came to its ultimate goal – God had
mercy on Abraham then & when His Son died for him
b. “justified by works” (2:24) corresponds to “show my faith by my works (2:18) they are one
& the same
E. (2:25) Illustration three: Rahab showed (no lip service) she trusted in God’s mercy to be delivered from Jericho’s destruction by hiding Israel’s spies.
F. (2:26) Illustration four: Showing no mercy is comparable to being a corpse.
III. CONSEQUENCES OF MISAPPLYING JAMES 2:14-21
A. Ignoring the context of James’ discussion about faith & works results in the following:
a. puts James in contradiction with Paul
b. causes some of our preaching brethren to preach a confusing and contradicting message on the subject of faith and works
c. makes brethren think they are actually contributing to their salvation by their own works (this cuts the feet out from under Jesus)
d. leads to self-trust/self-righteousness
e. robs brethren of assurance & joy
B. (Eph.2:8-10; Tit.3:5) God’s election has always been the result of grace and not works. It is not some of each – “And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.” (Rom.11:6).
C. Faith and works are not the same. Faith is trusting in another’s work, while works are what we do. Our works are manifestations of our faith, but they are not faith.
CONCLUSION
For years I was bothered by what seemed like a problem in the relationship of faith & works. I knew the problem was not the Bible, but it resulted from my failure to understand & the misinformation I had heard. We are “justified”/declared righteous on the basis of our faith & we then show that we are justified by our “works” of mercy.