My Bible opens to James 2:26 this morning; apparently I had been on that page last night, but I had no intention of reading here this morning. But landing on these words bring conviction to my soul; it seems it is the word of the Lord for me today.
“As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”
As the spirit to the body, so are deeds to faith. Faith and works are inseparable; you cannot have the one without the other if faith is to be valid at all.
Of course, a man can have works—there are all manner of people doing good works, and many of these works far outdo those of Christians. But their works cannot save them; they will go to hell doing good things. Faith in Jesus Christ saves a man, but let that man have actions that demonstrate his faith.
An example is the matter of giving in the Corinthian church. It is apparent they made a commitment to participate in an offering for the poor saints in Jerusalem. At the tail end of chapter nine, Paul writes, “Men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ” (9:13).
Better yet what Abraham did. “Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together.”
Hmmm. . . faith and actions, working together. This is an accurate picture of biblical faith.
A man can say he believes in Jesus Christ and yet by what he does you would never know it. Another man may not say anything at all, but by his deeds you will know he is a Christian.
What sort of deeds go together with faith? I would say any action that faith either requires, the Bible commands, or that expresses what you believe. It may be large or it may be small, but if it is an outworking of your faith, if it is inspired by faith and done in faith, it is a valid deed.
It is amazing the statement, “his (Abraham’s) faith was made complete by what he did.” Or, as the NASB puts it, “as a result of the works, faith was perfected.” The thing is, faith grows by reason of the things we do with it. Christians want to grow, and to grow your faith has to grow, and for your faith to grow, there has to be some action on your part. Like I said, faith and works are inseparable.
It is interesting that when the disciples asked Jesus to increase our faith, the conclusion of His answer was, “So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we had done only that which we ought to have done’” (Luke 17:1, 10).
I said I am convicted by James words.
For sure, I have much to verify my faith—I could list the things I do that demonstrate that I believe in Jesus Christ. But there are many things on the table, things I believe, things I believe the Lord has said to me, which I have received, that I have not done. Yet. The thing is, my faith with regards to these things is quite worthless unless there is corresponding action on my part.
This not to say that waiting for the unction of the Holy Spirit is invalid—for example, I believe I am to go to Israel. Yet I am waiting until I have that inner witness that now is the time and this is the venue. I think this is okay. I believe I am to make disciples, and by God I am going to—God knows I will. I am, and I will. I believe I am to teach, and to write, and to be generous. And I am and I will. Yet I am convinced there is far more that I can and should be doing in these regards.
Dead faith is completely action-less. There is nothing accompanying it. I think it can describe a professing Christian whose profession is not seen one iota in actions, or it can describe a person like me who has many deeds to testify to my faith, but who has faith for such and such but does nothing with it. There is dead faith as it relates to salvation, and there is dead faith as it pertains to a particular thing—like a trip to Israel, or paying off a mortgage, or fasting. Either way, faith without works is dead.