The Ethical Effect

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 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. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 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? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

—James 2:14–26

We live in a day when the news reports on an “effect” of some kind or another. For example, there is the “greenhouse effect,” a type of global warming that may impact our climate and overall environment in the future. We hear in sociopolitical discussions about the “domino effect.” In the last decade of the twentieth century, like dominos, one Eastern European nation after another broke free of Soviet oppression.

The church today faces its own effect, what could be called the “ethical effect,” or, as James might have put it, “a faith without fruit.” As the world watches, too many Christians profess one thing but practice another, faking their faith and forfeiting any fruit. In the not-too-distant past, the church was the most respected and influential institution in virtually every American community. Now, in large part because of the ethical effect, the church has little influence in our culture. While we are still vocal about proclaiming our faith, much of the world shouts back at us with the question of James 2:14, 16—“What good is all this talk about faith?”

In so many places and in so many ways, the church is losing its voice as our culture also suffers from this ethical effect. An integrity crisis is running rampant in every aspect of our society. Time and space keep us from illustrating here how the ethical effect has touched government, politics, business, law, medicine, sports, and, unfortunately, religion. The ethical effect has brought down high-profile individuals in every professional field. Our world needs people whose lives match their lips, whose walk matches their talk.

As we journey with James through this section of verses, we now enter a room where a contentious debate has flared up from time to time over the past twenty centuries. James 2:14–26 is like a boxing ring where the church has pitted Paul, with his emphasis on faith, against James, with his emphasis on works, as if it were the biggest prize fight ever held. I can hear the announcer now: “In this corner, wearing the grace trunks, is the apostle Paul. His claim is ‘By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves’ (Ephesians 2:8). And in the other corner, wearing the works trunks, is James. He maintains that faith without works is dead . . . DOA . . . dead on arrival.”

Make no mistake about it—the Bible plainly teaches that our eternal salvation rests entirely on God’s grace and is appropriated through our faith in the finished work of Christ. Salvation is the free gift of God to everyone who will receive it. The Bible also says that true, saving faith will always result in good works. After all, how could the living Christ take up residency in your life, be alive in you, and not make any difference in the way you think and act?

This entire debate hinges on the failure of some to make a distinction between the requirement for true salvation and the result of true salvation. Good works are never a requirement for salvation, but they are certainly the result. People who have passed from death to life and from darkness to light, who have had their sins forgiven, and who have become new creations in Christ can’t help but see the world differently and respond accordingly.

In the faith-versus-works debate, people tend to gravitate toward the extremes. Some overemphasize the faith aspect while completely neglecting the fact that it should result in good works. According to this “faith, not works” school of thought, people can pray a simple “sinner’s prayer,” have no change of lifestyle, develop no desire to pray, never open a Bible, exhibit zero desire for spiritual things, yet still be saved because they “believed.” I call this an easy believism.

Other believers argue for “faith or works.” If you say you have faith, that’s fine with them. Or if you do good works around the community, that’s also fine. This universalist mentality trusts that ultimately everyone will arrive at some type of utopian existence.

There are also individuals who come to these verses and start arguing for “faith and works.” This mind-set overemphasizes works and de-emphasizes faith. These adherents of a works salvation somehow think there’s a way to earn our way into eternal life.

It’s at this point of our journey that James revealed to us the code we need to understand the relationship of faith and works. Here it is—and underline it in red: salvation is not about faith and works; it is about a faith that works! If you can grasp this simple sentence, you will understand the heart of the entire issue. The church today desperately needs to rediscover a faith that works—a faith that bears fruit. After all, a faith that has no fruit is a false faith—a futile faith—and, worse, a fatal faith.