20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
James is really stressing the point that faith without works is dead. A dead faith cannot lead to salvation. Only a living, genuine faith will save. We stress so much that salvation is through grace and faith alone and not by our works. Though this is true I think it can easily be used as a crutch for a lazy Christian life. I think that this is a good way for us to evaluate our own faith. James uses Abraham and Rahab's lives as an example of genuine faith that showed through their actions. What would James write about our lives? If our life was studied, would the reader know of our faith by how we lived our lives?
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4 comments:
just the words i needed to help me start this day... may God help me to exercise my faith through the choices i make this day... thanks eullie!
thanks eullie for a great reflection. it is an excellent reminder that our faith must be evidenced by works, or it is not a genuine faith at all. the apostle paul states that we, who were given a saving faith in Christ Jesus, were "created in Christ Jesus to do good works" which "God prepared in advance for us to do". in other words, we were granted faith IN ORDER TO do specific good works that God prepared beforehand for us to do. we should, as eullie points out, examine our lives very carefully in light of this truth.
Thank you Christine for your reflection. I think we all need to be challenged by the passage that we read today.
My prayer is same as Helen's today asking God to help me exercise my faith through the actions.
Let us be doers of God's Word!!!
Thank you, Christine!
You're words are so true. Today's passage really reminded me that my actions speak louder than my words do. What use is it if I constantly profess words of my faith in Christ, when my actions and works carry none of that weight. I do forget that faith comes first, then the works and deeds will follow as a result or product of that faith, but I switch it around. I don't want to be a Pharisee, no faith but all work.
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