James 2:14 - Meaning and Application

In this part of the chapter, the apostle shows the error of people who rested on a bare profession of the Christian faith. They thought that saying they believed would save them, even while their minds and lives were far from the holy religion they claimed. James proves at length that a person is justified, made right with God, not by faith only, but by works as well.

This raises a very important question: how do we reconcile Paul and James? In Romans and Galatians, Paul seems to say the opposite, often and very strongly, that we are justified by faith alone and not by works of the law. Yet there is a happy agreement between different parts of Scripture, even when they seem to differ. As Baxter said, only a misunderstanding of Paul’s plain meaning could make this seem so hard to settle.

A few things help clear this up. When Paul says that a person is justified by faith without the deeds of the law (Romans 3:28), he is speaking of a different kind of works than James is. Paul means works done in obedience to the law of Moses, before people received the gospel faith, and he was dealing with people who trusted those works so much that they rejected the gospel (Romans 10:1-4). James, on the other hand, speaks of works done in obedience to the gospel, which are the proper and necessary fruit of true faith in Christ Jesus.

Both apostles want to honor gospel faith, because only that faith can save and justify us. Paul honors it by showing that no works of the law, before faith or against Christ’s saving work, can justify us. James honors the same faith by showing what true faith naturally produces. Genuine faith is active, and it leads to obedience.

Paul also speaks against a different use of good works than James does here. Paul deals with people who depended on the worth of their works before God, so he rightly gives those works no saving credit. James deals with people who praised faith but would not even allow works to serve as evidence of it. They were trusting a bare profession as enough to make them right, and James rightly presses the need for good works. We must not set the law against the gospel, or the gospel against the law. We need both faith in Jesus Christ and the good works that grow from faith.

The two apostles also speak of different kinds of justification. Paul speaks of our persons being justified before God, while James speaks of our faith being justified before people. James says, in effect, “Show me your faith by your works.” He means that faith is shown to be real in the eyes of others by what it produces. Paul speaks of justification before God, who justifies only those who believe in Jesus, and only because of the redemption found in him. So our persons are justified before God by faith, but our faith is justified before people by works.

This fits James’s purpose very clearly. He is only confirming what Paul says elsewhere about faith, that it is a working faith, a faith that labors through love (Galatians 5:6; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; Titus 3:8). Some also understand Paul as speaking of the beginning of justification, while James speaks of its completion. By faith alone we are brought into a justified state, but good works come in as part of the final approval of that justification at the great day, when Christ says, “I was hungry, and you gave me food.”

From this passage, we learn first that faith without works will not profit us and cannot save us. “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” A faith that does not save will not really help either. A bare profession may gain a good opinion from good people, and it may even bring some worldly advantage. But what profit is there if someone gains the world and loses his soul? We should judge all things by whether they help or hinder the salvation of our souls.

We should also notice that having faith and saying we have faith are two different things. James does not say, “If someone has faith without works,” because that is not his point. He is showing that a mere opinion, idea, or agreement in words is not true faith. The case is framed this way, “If a man says he has faith.” People may boast to others, and even flatter themselves, with something they do not really possess.

We also learn that love, or charity, is an active thing, and faith is active too. Neither would be of any use if it stayed idle. Try imagining someone claiming to be very charitable, while never doing a single work of charity. That makes plain how empty it is to claim faith without its proper fruits. If a brother or sister is naked and lacking daily food, and one of you says, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” but gives them nothing they need, what good is that? What will such charity, made only of words, accomplish for you or for the poor? You would be just as mistaken to think love can stand without acts of mercy as to think a profession of faith can stand before God without works of piety and obedience.

Even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead, as James says later (James 2:17). We are very likely to rest in a bare claim of faith and think that alone will save us. It is an easy religion to say, “We believe the truths of the Christian faith,” but it is a serious mistake to think that this is enough to bring us to heaven. Those who reason this way dishonor God and deceive themselves. A pretend faith is as hateful as pretend love, and both show a heart dead to real godliness.

You could as soon take pleasure in a dead body, with no soul, sense, or action, as God could take pleasure in a dead faith with no works. We are also taught to compare a faith that boasts without works with a faith that shows itself by works, and to see what this comparison does to our minds. “A man may say, ‘You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works’” (James 2:18). Picture a true believer speaking this way to a boasting hypocrite: “You make claims and say you have faith. I make no such claims, but I let my works speak for me. Show any proof of the faith you profess without works, if you can, and I will show you that my works come from faith and prove it is real.”

This is the proof Scripture teaches us to use when judging ourselves and others. It is also the proof Christ will use on the day of judgment. “The dead were judged according to their works” (Revelation 20:12). How exposed those people will be then who boast of what they cannot prove, or who try to prove their faith by anything except works of godliness and mercy.

We are also taught to see a faith that is only speculation and knowledge as the faith of demons. “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe, and shudder” (James 2:19). The example James chooses is the first basic truth of religion. You believe there is a God, which stands against atheists, and that there is only one God, which stands against idolaters. So far, that is right. But if you stop there and feel satisfied about your standing with God just because you believe he exists, that will leave you ruined. The demons also believe, and they tremble.

If you are content with a bare agreement to religious truths and some thoughts about them, then you are going only as far as demons go. And just as their belief only leads to horror, so yours will do the same in time. The word “tremble” is often taken as a good effect of faith, but here it is better understood as a bad effect in the case of demons. They tremble, not from reverence, but from hatred and resistance toward the one God whom they know is true. So repeating the words, “I believe in God the Father Almighty,” will not set us apart from demons in the end unless we now give ourselves to God as the gospel calls us to do. We must love him, delight in him, and serve him, which demons do not and cannot do.

We are also taught that anyone who boasts of faith without works should now be treated as a foolish and condemned person. “But do you want to know, foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 2:20). The phrase translated “foolish man” carries the idea of one who is empty and worthless. It expresses proper disgust toward people who have no good works and still boast about their faith. It clearly shows them to be fools and low in the sight of God. Faith without works is called dead, not only because it lacks the actions that prove spiritual life, but because it cannot lead to eternal life. Such believers, who rest in a bare profession of faith, are dead while they live.

We are taught, too, that true saving faith cannot be without works from two examples, Abraham and Rahab. Abraham, the father of the faithful and a chief example of justification, was highly valued by the Jews. “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?” (James 2:21). Paul says in Romans 4 that Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. These are fully reconciled when we look at Hebrews 11, which shows that the faith of both Abraham and Rahab was the kind of faith that produced the good works James is speaking of. Those works cannot be separated from faith when faith is saving and justifying.

Abraham’s actions showed that he truly believed. God’s own words make this plain: “Because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you” (Genesis 22:16-17). So Abraham’s faith was a working faith. It worked together with his works, and by works it was made complete (James 2:22). This gives the true meaning of the Scripture that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (James 2:23). In this way he became the friend of God. His faith, shown in such works, won him great favor and close fellowship with God. It is a great honor that Abraham is called the friend of God.

So you can see, then, “that a person is justified by works and not by faith only” (James 2:24). That means a person is brought into a right place of favor and friendship with God, not by a bare opinion, a simple profession, or belief without obedience, but by having a faith that produces good works. Beyond explaining James’s point, this also teaches us several useful lessons about Abraham. Those who want Abraham’s blessings must copy Abraham’s faith. It will not help anyone to boast that they are Abraham’s descendants if they do not believe as he did.

The works that prove true faith must be works of self-denial and obedience to what God commands, like Abraham offering up his son, his only son. They are not the kinds of works that please human desires, help our own interests, or come only from our own ideas. What we sincerely plan and truly resolve to do for God is accepted as though we had already done it. So Abraham is counted as offering his son, even though he did not carry the sacrifice through. In his mind, spirit, and resolve, it was already done, and God accepted it that way.

The actions of faith make faith grow complete, just as true faith makes a person act. And a faith that acts like this will make others, as well as Abraham, friends of God. So Christ says to his disciples, “I have called you friends” (John 15:15).

All dealings between God and the truly believing soul are easy, pleasant, and full of delight. There is one will and one heart between them, and they are pleased with each other. God rejoices over those who truly believe, to do them good, and they find their joy in him.

The second example of faith proving itself by works is Rahab, the woman of Jericho who hid the Israelite spies. James says, “Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute justified by works, when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?” (James 2:25). The first example was someone known for strong faith all his life. This one is of a woman known for sin, whose faith was smaller and weaker. That shows that the strongest faith still must have works, and the weakest faith is not allowed to go without them.

Some say the word translated “prostitute” was actually Rahab’s proper name. Others say it means only that she kept a house of lodging, where the spies stayed. But it is very likely that her reputation was bad. James uses her as an example to show that faith can save the worst sinner when it is shown by fitting works, and that it will not save even the best person without the works God requires.

Rahab believed the report she had heard about God’s power with Israel. But her faith proved real when, at the risk of her life, she received the messengers and sent them away by another road. Here we see the great power of faith to change sinners. We also see how God looks with favor on active faith and grants mercy to it. And we see that when great sins are forgiven, God’s honor and the good of his people must come before the safety of one’s own country.

Rahab had to leave her former friends and completely give up her old way of life. She had to give clear proof of this before she could be counted righteous, that is, accepted as right with God. Even after that, her former character was still remembered, not so much to shame her as to glorify God’s rich grace and mercy. Though she was justified, she is still called “Rahab the prostitute.”

James now draws the conclusion: “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26). Some read this as “the body without breath,” which shows that works belong to faith as breathing belongs to life. Others read it as “the body without the soul,” which shows that a body without life becomes a useless and disgusting corpse. In the same way, a mere profession of faith without works is useless and even offensive.

We must avoid extremes here. The best works, if they are without faith, are dead, because they have no root or true source. Faith is what makes anything we do truly good, because it is done with God in view, in obedience to him, and with his approval as our main goal. On the other hand, the most impressive claim to faith, if it has no works, is dead too, like a root that never grows anything green or fruitful.

Faith is the root, and good works are the fruit. We must be sure we have both. We must not think that either one, by itself, will justify and save us. This is the grace of God in which we stand, and we should stand firmly in it.