Creator, Father, King #334

Faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

WHEN YOU GET A wild new haircut, start working out at the gym, lose weight, or do something else to drastically change your appearance, people typically comment on your new look, right?

It’s easy to recognize external change because everyone can see it. But what about internal change? That’s harder to detect unless there’s outward evidence of your inner transformation.

This was the crux of the apostle James’s important—and often misunderstood—passage in James 2:14-26. Here is a portion of it (verses 14-17):

What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

Let’s take a closer look at this wonderfully practical passage.

What’s It Mean?

Over the centuries, many people have mistakenly believed James to be advocating a doctrine of “salvation by works,” or “faith plus works”—both of which would contradict the rest of Scripture. Nothing could be further from the truth. James is merely saying that a Christian’s good deeds are external evidence of an inner transformation.

Good works are not needed for salvation in any way. The Bible is explicit about this. Romans 3:23-25 says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith” (ESV, emphasis added). Our good works are not a means to salvation, but rather a product of it. (See also Ephesians 2:8-10.)

James’s point was simple: if your Christianity is real, it should be evident in the way you live. Your good works should prove your faith, joyfully flowing from a heart that loves the Lord and wants to serve him.

(As for that wild new haircut . . . well, you’d better talk to your parents.)

Now What?

Read James 2:14-26. Also see Matthew 7:15-20 and John 14:15.

Did You Know?

Martin Luther, the great Protestant Reformation leader, denounced James’s letter, calling it a “right strawy epistle compared to these others” in the preface to his New Testament translation. (We’re going to respectfully disagree with the great theologian on that one!)