What good is faith without works?
A closer look at James 1:14.
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? - James 1:14 (ESV)
Introduction
How does a person get to heaven?
Do we get there by doing more good stuff than bad?
Or do we get there by saying the right things?
The Bible makes it very clear that we get to heaven through Jesus Christ and the work He did on our behalf and we have access to this work by faith. Galatians 2:16 is a powerful verse that helps us to understand this:
16 Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. - Galatians 2:16 (ESV)
“Works of the law” refers to obedience and obedience refers to things that we do or do not do. It refers to us and to our behaviors. And Paul is reminding us that our salvation does not come from this. Instead, he tells us that our eternity with God is based on “faith in Jesus Christ.”
There are also verses in the Bible like Ephesians 2:8-9 which also clearly tell us that we are saved through faith:
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. - Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)
We are saved through faith and even this faith that saves us is a gift from God. However, this faith is not just having knowledge about God. We know this because James 2:19 tells us that even demons believe in God - they know stuff about God - but we know that they are not going to heaven. Saving faith involves more than just knowing things. It means that we trust God with everything. It means that we have placed all of our hope in Him and we trust Him for what He tells us He will do.
And then we encounter verses like James 2:14:
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? - James 2:14 (ESV)
Ouch.
This verse seems to contradict other verses in the Bible like the two shared above and seems to tells us that our salvation is indeed based on what we do. After all, James asks if faith without works can save a person.
Well, even though there is some tension created by James - under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, of course! - the verses actually go together very well. Let’s see how that happens together.
“What good is it, my brothers”
“What good is it.” This beginning phrase is also translated “what doth it profit” in the King James Version and sounds a bit fancier, but helps us to understand what James is trying to say.
With this phrase, he is about to tell us that one way is faulty and following that course involves no profit, or gain. It is not a good way to go. It is not a way that is logical or that ends well.
“If someone says he has faith but does not have works?”
What needs to be considered is this:
“…if someone says he has faith but does not have works.”
The verses on faith above tell us that we do not save ourselves and that there is no amount of work we can do to meet this need. Jesus saves. He is the one who paid the price for our sins on Calvary. Just like in Numbers 21 when God gave the people the opportunity to look up at the bronze serpent to be healed, He has made a way for us to be saved by placing our hope in the work of Christ.
It is clearly affirmed in Scripture that sinners are saved by faith.
However, there is also a tension created through God’s expectation of work. For example consider Ephesians 2:10 which follows the great faith passage of Ephesians 2:8-9:
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. - Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)
The Bible tells us that Christians are “created in Christ Jesus for good works.” We are not saved to sit and soak in our eternal destination. Instead, God has “prepared beforehand” the opportunity for “good works…that we should walk in them.”
Today’s verse also adds to this tension between faith and works. In James 2:14, James warns us of a situation where we claim to have faith in God, but there is nothing accompanying that faith.
“Can that faith save him?”
The warning that James provides comes in the form of a question: “can that faith save him?” He wants the audience to ask and ponder this question. If a person claims to have saving faith in Jesus Christ, can their life be lived without the obvious “work” that flows out of that salvation?
However, to some, this question is used to validate a belief that we must work to earn our eternal home in heaven. But while we might agree that we should have to do something to enter heaven, Scripture clearly tells us that it is the work of Christ that completes the work of salvation:
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. - 2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)
Jesus completed the work necessary for our salvation and He covers us with that work. Because of what He did, we are covered with the “righteousness of God.” Though our best works “are like a polluted garment” when compared to God’s standard, because of Christ’s work, when God looks at us He sees the righteousness of Jesus.
If we have received this truth and if we are placing all of our faith, hope, and trust in Jesus then a couple of things become realities. First, if we understand our depravity and the fate that awaited us before receiving Christ, there should be an attitude of gratefulness that flows from our lives. Second, when we receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to reside in us. When the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, we have the presence of God in our lives at all times and His presence provides such benefits as prompting us, convicting us of our sins, and helping us to understand Scripture. And when these things are present, we have the opportunity to live differently.
A couple of verses later in chapter two of James, James writes this to help us understand the point being made in today’s verse:
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. - James 2:18 (ESV)
James is making a great point about the actions that flow out of salvation - “I will show you my faith by my works” - but he is not arguing that we are saved by works. He is talking about what happens after salvation, not work to join the body of Christ.
Application
Hebrews 11 is also known as the “Hall of Faith.” In this chapter, the writer of Hebrews describes person after person and their acts of faith. People like Abraham, Noah, and Moses are mentioned and then the chapter concludes with a sort of catchall list:
32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. - Hebrews 11:32-38 (ESV)
Just like James describes in James 2, the faith of these saints is shown by their work. It is shown by their actions. There is no doubt that the people mentioned in Hebrews 11 had some knowledge of God. And though Jesus Christ had not yet arrived to do His work on their behalf, they were trusting that God would make a way for them. They were trusting in God’s provision, mercy, and grace for their eternal life.
However, the faith that all of these people possessed manifested itself in what they did. Abel prepared a sacrifice. Enoch walked with God. Noah built a boat. Abraham “went out, not knowing where he was going.” Abraham and Sarah did their business together, even though they were very old. Moses’ parents hid him. And on and on the examples go.
Likewise, our faith will show itself somehow in our actions. Hopefully, this will not happen at the “edge of the sword,” though it might. For most of us, this will likely happen as we live our everyday lives and will accumulate over time. Perhaps it shows itself in the choices we make in high school, or what we don’t do in college. Maybe it is in the decisions we make about marriage or in the way we choose to parent our children. Or it might be in the smallest decisions we make every day at work.
If we belong to Jesus, everything we do should be done by placing our faith, hope, and trust in Him. Others may not understand or agree with what we are doing. We may face incredulity or ridicule. We may face hunger or suffering. Maybe. But we’ll also be close to our Savior and we will abide with Him forever.
