Lookahead:  They also were willing to assume major risks as a result of that belief, and to demonstrate their faith.  And how about ~4000 years later?  People are still required to take risks…for example…Should we trust that God told us to leave our profession as a classically trained oboist, and hop on the next ship bound for Hong Kong–to share the gospel in the opium-infested Walled City (à la Jackie Pullinger)? Or closer to home…should we trust that God told us to quit our full-time retail job + burgeoning part-time studio recording career, to go full-time with…our church’s…worship team (à la Taya Smith)? 

If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.  But someone will 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 2:14-17

Early in my Christian walk, I remember judging one of our church members when I overheard her telling an obviously hurting person (who had tearfully confessed that they had “just been evicted”) that she would pray for them.  I thought it was a clear-cut case of telling someone to “depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” à la James 2:15,16.  But only God knows.  The prayer warrior may have been taking real-time direction from the Holy Spirit as she responded to the need. Furthermore, as judgmental as I was, you will note that I did not personally step up and open my home to them. 🙂  Regardless, James 2:15,16 and other verses like them, if mis-handled, can be genuine guilters.  Within a couple of years of this experience (and as I added mileage to my Christian walk), I actually came to the place where the LORD told me to stop trying to provide for another hurting person whom I had welcomed into my life.  In constantly trying to bail them out, I had become the safety net, instead of the LORD.  

So, in this scripture, is James urging us to feed and clothe the needy brethren and sistern regardless of the circumstances–to demonstrate that our faith is real?  No, I believe that James, by implication, is proposing a synergistic relationship between our faith and our works.  And in fact, I think that he’s implying that if we aren’t backing our faith up with action, then our faith may not be genuine.

It is indeed possible to help, for the wrong reasons.  The Pharisees made a big fuss when they gave so that people would be impressed–but, in God’s eyes, they were whited sepulchers full of dead men’s bones. Their faith was empty and meaningless and dead–they were just paying lip service for the approval of men. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. Matt 6:2 Again in this case, it goes to motive. Faith is needed in order for the good deeds to be relevant and effective. I would venture to say that, in addition to “faith without works is dead” that “works without faith are dead.”

Diving deeper…what did James really mean by “faith” and “dead” here?  According to the Peshitta, “faith” (ܗܝܡܢܘܬܐ) does not equate to “Christian doctrine.”  It means “all of the above: faith, belief, and trust in another’s words.”  And the word for “dead” (ܡܝܬܐ) means: having died, ceased to live or exist, defunct, deceased.  According to Bible Hub Greek:  Faith = peithô…divine persuasion…enables the believer to know God’s preferred-will (thelçma)…a persuasion from God that we receive as He grants (the) impulse (or “divine spark”). “Dead” is nekrós…a corpse, a dead body…what lacks life…not able to respond to impulses or perform functions…dead, powerless, unresponsive to life-giving influences (opportunities)…inoperative to the things of God. (underline is mine)

Basically this scripture contrasts a dead, meaningless faith with meaningful, helpful, life-giving works.  Effectual faith would involve my being plugged into God’s will (thelçma), and waiting for Him to tell me to act–or pray–with the knowledge that He’ll take care it. Acting, without checking with God first, isn’t always the best thing and I don’t think that James was strong-arming us toward that approach here. Obviously the LORD needs us to be His hands and feet in many situations. But if we, and the recipient, are not both looking to God for the provision, then there’s opportunity for error.   However, I’m still not understanding faith 100% within the context of the remaining verses in this passage:

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 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. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? James 2:21-25

What was it that Abraham and Rahab believed exactly?  And scripture says that when they acted on this faith, it made them righteous? What brand of faith would result in this righteousness? What was it that Abraham believed?  Abraham believed God’s promise that his legitimate, multitudinous descendants would come through his barren, post-menopausal wife. And some years later, he believed that if he killed that legitimate miracle child, God would raise the latter back to life so that He could keep his promise.  From the time that Abraham fell in love with Sarah, he believed that his family lineage would be through her, or not at all. (This was in an era where polygamy was the norm.) Abraham must have really, really loved Sarah.  Side Note:  I was recently blessed by seeing the movie, His Only Son, that depicted the redemption of Isaac at Mount Moriah.  It gave me a real insight into Abraham and Sarah’s marriage, and the added dimension of a very strong, requisite love that Sarah felt for Abraham.  It also revealed Sarah’s faith struggle–By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Heb 11:11  Not only did she eventually believe that she could become pregnant, but she also may have believed that she wouldn’t die during childbirth (with childbirth being an extremely frightening prospect for a 91 year old).

Bottom line, Abraham probably believed that (1) God was real, (2) He was worthy of respect and worship, and (3) that He was a Good God who did not advocate killing children…i.e., He was not like the false gods in Haran–false gods that supposedly required human sacrifice.  Additionally, (4) Abraham believed that He was a covenant-keeping God.  

Similarly, Rahab believed that the Israelites’ God was real, worthy of respect, and Good–and that His children would keep the covenant they had made with her.   

They also were willing to assume major risks as a result of each one’s belief, and to demonstrate their faith.  And how about ~4000 years later?  People are still required to take risks…for example, should we trust that God told us to step down from global celebrity status as an Olympics gold medalist and become a missionary to China (à la Eric Liddell)? Should we trust that God told us to move in/share the gospel with highly hostile Ecuadorian Indian natives who had recently murdered our husband and brother resp. (à la Elizabeth Elliott and Rachel Saint)? Should we trust that God told us to leave our profession as a classically trained oboist, and hop on the next ship bound for Hong Kong–to share the gospel in the opium-infested Walled City (à la Jackie Pullinger)? 

Or closer to home…should we trust that God told us to quit our full-time retail job + burgeoning part-time studio recording career, to go full-time with…our church’s…worship team (à la Taya Smith)? Or for that matter, should we trust that an evicted person isn’t a manipulator/”taker,” and that we are genuinely sewing Kingdom seed if we help them out?  

Next post:  More on, What was it that Rahab believed?  And how could faith make her (and Abraham too) righteous?