Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds… – James 2:18
I love the letter of James, it’s the New Testament equivalent of the book of Proverbs, written by a Godly man, who led the first Church in Jerusalem. He was also Jesus’ half brother, yet he did not use his unique connections to exalt himself, rather he comes across as a deeply humble man. However, the thing that really differentiated James from Solomon, the author of the Old Testament book of Proverbs, was that, unlike Solomon, who strayed from following God, James remained faithful to his Lord to his very last breath, even though he suffered a terrible death for the sake of his Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ. So, what he says on faith is important for us, whatever and wherever our Church may be, and however many centuries separate us from the writing of this book.
Even so, his statements about faith can agitate many people, even as they agitated the great Martin Luther. The latter would have removed James’ epistle from the Biblical canon, if he’d had his way. Despite Luther’s objections, we must not dismiss the essential truth of James’s message about ‘Faith and Works’.
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds… You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 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. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. James 2:18-23
What James is expressing here is that Abraham’s faith was proved to be real because it had a practical outworking. He was prepared to trust God even though it meant sacrificing the son through whom God had promised his descendants would come. Abraham acted in faith, without wanting to know why. Unlike us… All too often we argue the case. We are only ready to obey if we both understand and agree with the arguments for a certain course of action. Can you imagine Abraham doing that ?
“Hang on a minute there Lord, Isaac is supposed to be the son of the promise. What is going to happen if I sacrifice him? I’m not sure if I agree with you here… Can you give me some sort of assurance that he’ll come back to life? If you can, I’ll do it… or maybe you intend to use Esau? Is he your Plan B?”
Thankfully, that was not Abraham’s response. His faith in God was unwavering. He may not have understood why God was asking him to do this, even though it seemed to fly in the face of all God had promised, but God, being God, would have known, so he simply obeyed him. His faith and his actions worked together, and God provided wonderfully. But did you notice that his faith came first ? Years before He was asked to sacrifice Isaac, we read this in Genesis 15:5-6
And [God] took [Abraham] outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” Then [Abraham] believed in the Lord; and He credited it to him as righteousness.
I believe that James is reminding us that yes, faith comes first, but if it has no practical outworking in our lives, and if it does not stay the course of time, then we need to ask, is it real? We can put up a pretty good show of faith in the hothouse atmosphere of the Church today, but will our faith sustain us when the going gets tough? Western Christians today face growing levels of opposition, levels unknown for a long, long time, but still nothing compared to our brothers and sisters in Africa, Asia, and in certain countries in Latin America. In the West we live in a society whose immorality increasingly resembles the corrupt societies across the 1st century Roman Empire. Whatever challenges the Lord permits us to face, may we hold fast to our faith in Christ, to the very end.
With love in him,
Sarah
Sarah Cunnington
Sarah Cunnington is a Christian artist and (more recently) writer, who has been living in France with her husband Martyn since 2005, where they jointly lead a small English speaking House Church.
She became a Christian at the age of 25 following a dramatic encounter with Jesus Christ, which totally changed the direction of her life. Now, with family in the Chesterfield area, Redeemer King has become her home Church whenever she's back in the UK.
Related Content
