True Faith Is Not Alone | Sermon 04/24/2022

James 2:14-19

James poses two questions to the Christian brethren that demand negative answers. There is no benefit to anyone who says they have faith but has no good deeds. That kind of faith is no faith at all; it is not the saving faith God grants in Christ. James is not opposed to the apostle Paul. He is writing to believers who say they have faith but lack the fruit of such a claim while Paul articulates in his letters the foundation for salvation is faith alone, by grace alone, in Christ alone.

James gives another scenario regarding the poor which shows this time a Christian denied a brother or sister in their community food and clothing when they were in need. The empty platitude to “go in peace” is good-for-nothing and attempts to cloaks this person’s inactivity with false piety. That kind of mere talk with no action is dead faith. It is not only externally inert but internally dead. James uses an imaginary opponent to strengthen his argument. The objector says one type of person has faith and one type of person has works but James emphatically states they are not divorced from each other. Having true faith will inevitably manifest in good deeds.

And he completes his initial argument by saying you can recite things like the Shema all you want but even the demons believe God is one. Even the demons shudder in terror knowing who God is. But the one with dead faith doesn’t know his mere knowledge of God won’t save him. Genuine faith is needed over all the many types of false faiths.