It’s a sobering fact that there is a kind of faith that may seem genuine but is a faith that is useless, powerless, and dead. It is a faith that does not save from hell.
When we speak of “saving faith,” we are talking about a kind of faith that puts us in right standing with God. Saving faith is faith in Jesus Christ, the One who lived a perfect life for us and died a substitutionary death in our place, so that we could be forgiven of our sin.
Apart from God’s grace through saving faith in Christ, every one of us deserves death, hell, and eternal separation from God. To be “saved” is to be rescued from that awful predicament, rescued and made right with God so that one may enjoy abundant and eternal life.
James teaches that true faith, saving faith, is shown to be genuine by the “living out” of one’s faith. A true Christian will do good works—not in order to earn God’s favor; this is impossible—but a true Christian will do good works as a demonstration of the fact that his or her heart has been truly converted. Good deeds, or good works, necessarily flow from authentic faith. This is why James can say, “Faith without works is a dead faith.”
James gives two examples from the Old Testament to make the point that real faith is proved genuine by the doing of good deeds, works that naturally follow and flow from a truly converted heart. These two Old Testament examples are the examples of Abraham and Rahab, a patriarch and a prostitute. Here’s the text, James 2:20-26:
20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?
22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?
23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.
24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Consider a Patriarch’s Faith
Abraham is the patriarch of believing Jews and Christians alike. He is the primary “Father figure” of the faith. So James uses this patriarch to illustrate that one’s faith is proved genuine by the doing of good works.
Specifically, James asks, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?” And he adds, “Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?”
The background of James’ illustration is found in Genesis 15 and Genesis 22. In short, Genesis 15 is where we read of Abraham’s faith and Genesis 22 is where we read that Abraham’s faith was proved genuine by the doing of good works.
Genesis 15 describes that memorable occasion where God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. And the Bible says, “And Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6).”
This is the same text James cites now in verse 23 where he writes: “And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ And he was called the friend of God.”
The Apostle Paul also cites this text in Romans 4, teaching that one is declared righteous solely by faith. He writes: “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness (Romans 4:3).” When a person genuinely believes, surrendering to God, he is credited “righteous.” Abraham took God at His word. He was saved by grace through faith.
This is a good place for us to review that men and women throughout biblical history are saved the same way. In our day we are saved by grace through faith in Christ, looking back in time to the event of the cross, looking back to the Christ who has come. In Abraham’s day, believers also were saved by grace through faith, as they looked forward in time to the Christ who would come. Whether on one side of the cross or the other, all persons are saved by trusting God, looking to Him in faith.
Abraham believed God (Genesis 15) and his faith was proved genuine by what he did (Genesis 22). And what was it that Abraham did in Genesis 22? This is that marvelous accounting of Abraham’s giving visible evidence of his faith in God by obeying God’s command to offer up his son Isaac upon the altar.
To summarize, God says, “Abraham, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and…offer him as a burnt offering…” And the Bible says that Abraham obeyed God and proceeded to do precisely what God had asked. You can read the full account in Genesis 22, but for our purposes know that God stopped Abraham before he sacrificed his son because He was merely testing Abraham’s faith, testing to see whether Abraham would obey. And Abraham passed the test. This is why James can say that Abraham was called “the friend of God.”
God was looking for evidence that Abraham’s faith was genuine. He tested Abraham and Abraham passed the test by demonstrating that his faith was not merely confessional, nor merely intellectual, nor merely emotional, but that his faith was real and genuine. That’s why James can say that Abraham’s faith “was working together with his works, and by works his faith was made perfect, or complete.”
So James concludes: “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.” That is, one way we can be reasonably certain that a person is saved, is by seeing the evidence of his or her genuine faith. If a person is born again, he or she will live a different life than before conversion.
It is important to note that no one can know for certain about the salvation of another. None of us can see into the heart the way God can see. But we can be reasonably certain that a person is saved if his confession of faith is demonstrated by the way he lives out his faith. There will be a growing pattern of godliness, an evidence of saving faith. The once barren tree now bears fruit. There is life.
How sad are those occasions when we attend a funeral and listen to a preacher trying his best to put a positive “spin” on the deceased person’s life. We are told this man was a Christian. Perhaps even years earlier this person himself—like the person described by James in James 2:14ff—had “said” that he had faith. But there is no evidence, no overall pattern of spiritual growth. There is no real evidence of his love for God, nor love for His Word, the Bible. Here is a man who had faith, but apparently it was a faith James describes as useless, powerless, and dead. It was a faith that does not save from hell.
Abraham’s faith saved from hell. His faith led to demonstrable works. We have learned from this patriarch’s faith.
Consider a Prostitute’s Faith
James could not have provided a greater contrast with Abraham than Rahab. He takes us from a patriarch to a prostitute, from a Jew to a Gentile, from a man to a woman, from one who was privileged to one who was poor, from one who had a good reputation to one who had a bad reputation.
He asks, “Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?”
The second chapter of Joshua relays the story of Rahab the prostitute. Rahab is the one who hid the spies, or messengers, that Joshua sent to do reconnaissance work in Jericho, the ones who viewed the land that they would soon be claiming as their own.
The Bible indicates that Rahab had come to know the One True God. She had heard how God had divided the Red Sea so that His people could cross over as they escaped the Egyptians. Rahab trusted in the One True God. So when God in His providence guided the spies to Rahab, she hid them so they would not be discovered by the unbelieving rulers of Jericho. Rahab risked her life by covering for the spies and helping them to escape later.
So Rahab, along with Abraham, serves as an example of one whose faith in God was proved genuine by the doing of good deeds. Her works, namely her saving of the spies, proved her faith to be genuine.
I think it is a mark of grace on the part of James to place Rahab alongside Abraham. It is as if he wished to stress that whether one is “really good” or “really bad,” both are saved the same way—by grace through faith, a faith that is proved genuine by the doing of good works. And a “really good” person like Abraham is no more saved than a “really bad” person like Rahab. And a “really bad” person like Rahab is no less saved than a “really good” person like Abraham.
Whether you identify more with Abraham the patriarch or Rahab the prostitute, every person is saved the same way and, because of the gospel, every Christian is on equal footing in the eyes of God. Every Christian—whether patriarch or prostitute—is loved equally by God because every believer is equally “in Christ.”
If we are saved, God loves us perfectly in Christ. No one is more loved or less loved due to background, giftedness, education, or experience. Furthermore, no Christian will be loved more by God when he does well, and no Christian will be loved less by God when he stumbles. God loves each Christian perfectly because He loves each one in His perfect Son, Jesus Christ.
**Excerpt from You’re Either Walking The Walk Or Just Running Your Mouth (Preaching Truth: 2020), pages 91-95, available on Amazon.
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