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Welcome to the Cross References podcast on the Book of Ezekiel. In this study, you learn how every small piece of the Bible tells one big story- and most importantly, how they all connect to the cross and Christ.
Whether you’re a newbie Christian or a veteran Bible reader, my goal is that God’s Word will make more sense to you after every episode.
Host: Luke Taylor
What “Faith without Works is Dead” Actually Means
James 2
Introduction
Entire books have been written about the thorny theological issue I want to talk about today.
James chapter 2. At face value, James 2 seems hard to reconcile with the rest of the New Testament.
That’s because the rest of the New Testament pretty clearly teaches this doctrine of salvation by grace through faith not of works. That’s a direct quote, actually.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says
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.
Romans 4:2-3
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
Galatians 2:16
yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ,
So it’s like, every page of the New Testament makes this clear: salvation is only by grace through faith. There is nothing you can do to earn your salvation. Works play no part in it.
And then James comes along and says this in his second chapter,
Verse 14
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
Wait a second here. Let me read that again. (Re-read it)
Is James going against Paul? I can’t emphasize enough how much this seems to be saying the exact opposite of so many other verses in the Bible.
Is James contradicting Paul? Is James contradicting the Bible? Is James contradicting God Himself?
I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.
Turn to James 2, and let’s get weird.
[theme music]
James 2
Let me mention right here that I’m kind of releasing a crossover episode. This is going to be a typical Weird Stuff in the Bible episode, but I’m also releasing this on my other podcast that I do, which I call a Cross References Bible Study on the Book of Ezekiel. So if you’re finding this episode on my Cross References channel, the reason I’m releasing this episode here too is because we just had an episode about the relationship between faith and works, and I’d like to continue that conversation here. Because no conversation about faith and works is complete without addressing the weird chapter of James 2.
Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. This is Luke Taylor, and today we’re going to be talking about the apparent contradiction of James 2.
I say apparent contradiction because I don’t believe there are ANY contradictions in the Bible. And even though this one is pretty thorny, I think I’ll be able to resolve it for you today. In fact, I think I’ll resolve it in a way that brings more clarity to it than you’ve ever heard this explained before.
This is a passage that theologians have puzzled over for centuries. When Martin Luther, the father of the protestant reformation, whose life was changed by the doctrine of salvation by faith alone, came to the book of James, he found it so incongruent with the rest of the New Testament that he concluded that James shouldn’t even be considered canon on the same level as Paul’s letters.
Now, Martin Luther had a lot of great points, but he was far from perfect, and it’s playing a dangerous game when we start downgrading some books of the Bible. We have to find a way to reconcile this stuff, and that’s what we’re going to do today.
So let’s read a few verses of James 2 to better survey the situation.
James 2:14-18
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
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.
Well it sounds right here like James is saying that if you think you’re saved by faith alone, that’s not nearly good enough. He calls that dead faith, and says that kind of faith can’t save you.
Wow. And then, it gets even weirder if you read down a little further.
James 2:21-24
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
That’s where it really gets weird for me, when it quotes that verses about Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness. That’s the EXACT SAME VERSE that Paul uses in Romans and Galatians to teach salvation by faith alone. Paul is always emphasizing that Abraham “believed God,” and making the point that what you believe is the key thing. Faith.
Then James comes along and uses the EXACT SAME VERSE to make the EXACT OPPOSITE point. James uses it to emphasize that Abraham’s faith didn’t stop at believing, but that it demonstrated itself in action. The exact same verse, the exact opposite point. I don’t know about you, but my head is spinning faster than a ballerina on a merry-go-round in a tornado.
The Context of James
So now that I’ve got you all good and confused, let’s me try to untangle this web I’ve spun for you.
Some key things to remember about the context of the book of James. Here are a couple of immutable facts about James that you need to remember as you read this book and filter everything you read in it through this lens.
the purpose of James. The book of James is not a book about salvation. Romans is a book about salvation. Galatians is a book about salvation. So if you want to study soteriology- which is the study of salvation- you need to give preference to the books of the Bible that are about salvation.
Now, that starts to sound a little like what Martin Luther did. Giving preference to some books over others. But that’s not what I’m doing because I believe all books of the Bible are equally true. But I’m recognizing that they have different purposes. Romans and Galatians are about salvation. So if we’re trying to study salvation, we should go with what Romans and Galatians have to say about it first and foremost.
So what is James’ purpose? James was written to lazy church to try to wake them up and make them do something. James was writing to ineffective, sleepy Christians. James was not writing to teach people how to be saved. James was writing to people who already had salvation, but they weren’t doing anything with it.
Now, that doesn’t make all our problems with James 2 go away, but it puts us in the right frame of mind for interpreting it.
2) James 2 has a context. We started reading halfway through chapter 2 today. And this is where most people start reading James 2 when they want to discuss what it’s saying about salvation and try to work this out. But there’s a whole first half of the chapter, and you actually will not understand what the second half is talking about if you don’t read the first half. Literally. Let me show you.
James 2:1-4
My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
So James 2 starts off by talking about what to do with a poor man who comes into your church, and James’ answer is to treat the poor man just as well as the rich man. Pretty simple point, right?
And you can read the rest of the chapter if you want, but this is what James is getting at. This is the context of chapter 2. Then we come to
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?
Who is the “him” that it’s talking about right there? There are two sentences in that verse. The first sentence: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?” Second sentence: “Can that faith save him?”
Well, it seems obvious to us that the “him” in the second sentence is talking about the person who says he has faith in the previous sentence. And that is how almost anybody who reads this verse understands it.
But what if I told you that the “him” in the second sentence there is not talking about about “someone who has faith” in the first sentence. The “him” that it’s talking about in the second sentence is actually the poor man that James was discussing in the first half of the chapter.
In fact, if you look at it in the Greek- which we’ll do in a few moments- this becomes undeniable. If you look in the Greek, the “him” in the second sentence couldn’t be talking about the person who says he has faith in the first sentence. I’ll show you that when we get there. But for now, let me just say that the “him” refers to the poor man in the first half of the chapter.
Going back to the Greek
Let’s also talk about the word “save” in verse 14. The Greek word “save” is “sozo.” This is often a word that refers to salvation, or getting saved. But it’s also a broad word that can mean many things. It can mean “restore,” “keep safe,” “rescue,” or “make well.” It can mean a lot of things such as when the disciples heard that Lazarus was sleeping, and they told Jesus: “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Recover was “sozo.” When the woman with the issue of blood was healed, Jesus said she was made whole. Sozo. So sozo can have a broader meaning than just talking about salvation. And I don’t believe it’s talking about salvation in James 2:14.
Now let’s talk about the Greek word “him” in James 2:14. I will say upfront that I am not a Greek scholar. I could not even order a meal at a Greek restaurant. Unless they got fried chicken on the menu. If not, I’m as lost as Gilligan on a three-hour tour.
However, let me share what I learned from Greek scholar RT Kendall, who I have met and interviewed in-person, listened to hours of his teachings and read his books, and would say he is one of the greatest theologians in the world. RT Kendall says this about the “him” in James 2:14.
One, there is no reflexive pronoun in the Greek. So when it says “Can that faith save him,” it is not saying, “can he himself be saved with that kind of faith.” It’s talking about saving someone else.
Two, the word “him” in the Greek is instead in the “accusative masculine singular.” You say, “I am not even a grammar nerd in English, how am I supposed to understand what that means in another language?” All you need to understand is that it’s the same tense that it was using earlier to talk about the poor man in the first half of James 2. So let’s go back and look at
James 2:5-6 (actually, let’s start at verse 4 again)
4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man.
Let’s stop there. The “poor man” right there is in the accusative masculine singular. When you get a few verses later to James 2:14, it’s the same word in the same tense when it says “Can that faith save him?”
So you see, James 2 is not using the word “sozo” in the salvation sense. It’s talking about it in the “helping someone” sense. So here’s another way you could understand James 2:14 if I translate it this way, and I think this will help you to understand what James 2:14 is really saying:
“Let’s say you have a poor man visit your church. Is there anything you can do to show him love and mercy? What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can your faith do anything to help the poor man?”
Once you understand that James 2:14 is not talking about salvation, this unlocks the whole rest of the chapter. It’s not talking about salvation. It’s talking about what you can do to help others.
Saying you have faith is great, but it doesn’t automatically do anything for anyone else just because you have this big strong faith. Your faith has to be put into action before it’s going to help anyone.
Just keep reading James 2 with that in mind and it makes so much more sense.
(Verses 15-17)
15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Doesn’t that make so much more sense to say based on this understanding of verse 14 that I’m giving you today? There you go. We just solved 500 years of confusion. With a little help from RT Kendall. Actually a lot of help.
So now that we understand what it says, let’s talk about what it means.
[music]
Housekeeping/Mailbag
Next time on this podcast- well, I guess that depends which podcast you’re listening on. If you’re on Cross References, next time we’re going to return to the book of Ezekiel and finish up chapter 33. If you haven’t been part of that podcast, I invite you to come over and join with us right now. Ezekiel 33 is actually a great place to jump into the book of Ezekiel because he’s recapping his main points from earlier in the book.
If you’re here for Weird Stuff in the Bible, next time, I’m going to start taking requests. I’ve had some recommendations for Weird Stuff to talk about and I’m finally going to start talking about them. First up is a recommendation from my friend Joe, who wants to know about the zombies in Matthew 27:52. If you’ve never heard of the zombies in Matthew 27:52 before, or if you have and you’re not sure what that’s all about, I hope you’ll join me next time on Weird Stuff in the Bible.
Make sure you’re subscribed so you can get it!
If you have a recommendation for something weird you’d like me to research: weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com
BTW, big thank you to Alana, our newest official weirdo, for telling me that my email wasn’t working! [explain why she’s a weirdo and what she enlightened me to]
Closing Thoughts
In closing, I just want to say this, because I feel like James 2 has almost never been taught properly, and I’ve had a burning on my heart for several months now to teach what this chapter is actually saying. I’m thankful for this opportunity to finally get it out.
James 2 is almost always taught from the perspective of being a big fat problem, because it sounds like it’s talking about salvation, but it seems to be saying something totally different than what the rest of the New Testament teaches about salvation. Not just different, opposite.
So today, we went back to the Greek and made it clear. James is not talking about salvation. James is not a book about salvation. He is speaking to sleepy, lazy Christians who are already saved, and yet their lives are not bearing fruit of it. James is saying your faith is dead.
He’s not making a point about their salvation. They’re saved. But if you want to make a difference in the world, it doesn’t do anything for anybody unless you put your faith into action. James says, If a poor person walks into your church and you pat him on the back and say, “have a nice day, I’ll pray for you, go in peace, be warmed and filled,” that’s not doing anything for him. Why not reach in your pocket and pull out $20 and help him? That would actually do something.
Oh I’m sorry if that steps on your toes. I know I got a little too practical right there. Some of you are going to argue with me and say, “Well how do I know he won’t just use that money for drugs or alcohol? What if he comes back next week and wants more money?” Then take that up with God, because this is the example God uses here. God says, “if someone comes into your church and needs things for his body, he doesn’t really care how strong you say your faith is. It’s not going to benefit him at all if you aren’t willing to do something to meet one of his needs. That’s the Gospel with work boots on.
There are so many practices we have in churches that are faith without works. I love praise and worship at church. I believe it’s good to sing to God and that we should sing to God. But I wonder sometimes: do we even mean the things we say? When we say God is first in our lives, do we actually treat Him that way? We often identify the music portion of our church services as the “worship” service. But true worship is not just what we say about God, but what we DO for God.
I love prayer. I go to a prayer night on Mondays. My church also has one on Thursday nights that I regularly go to. I know many Christians involved in prayer gatherings. Prayer is important. You won’t find me saying it’s not.
But I want to see Christians do more than pray. We can’t just pray. We have to also do something. We can’t just pray and expect God to do it or God to use someone else to do it. Pray about it, and then YOU do it.
One of my former pastors had a great phrase he’d use sometimes: Work like it all depends on you. Pray like it all depends on God.
And by the way, that is not to say that the Christians I pray with on Mondays and Thursdays aren’t DOING things. My church also has a community center where they feed people three times a week. I’m just saying that we shouldn’t pray and pray and pray but do nothing and just expect God to do it all.
Let me get political for a minute as I wrap this up. I don’t like the direction my country is going. I’d like to see things move in a better direction.
There are some bad people doing a lot of bad things to our country. And guess what: they aren’t praying. They’re just going out and doing what they want to do. And now look: we have a corrupt 80-year-old man in the White House. Our voting system is all messed up. They took over Hollywood. They took over the university and education system. They are strategizing and carrying out their plans and destroying the country.
And all I see most Christians doing in response to this is having another prayer meeting.
Again, I am not against prayer. But I don’t think we need just another prayer meeting. I think we need to do something. How about have the prayer meeting on Monday, and then get back together on Tuesday, and have a do-something meeting.
Because if we don’t do-something in addition to our praying, then nothing changes.
That’s what faith-without-works-is-dead actually means. Have your faith. And then get to work. The Gospel with work boots on.
Look at all that our enemies have been able to do without prayer. Think of what we could do if we do what they did- plus prayer.
Work like it all depends on you. Pray like it all depends on God.
So if you think that sounds weird, then I hope you’re a little more weird today, too. Thanks for listening, God bless you for sticking around until the end, and we’ll see you next time.