We’ve hit upon the key verse for the book (James 2:17) and look at what, exactly, James means when he used the specific Greek words that he did for “faith” and “works” (and how both Abraham and Rahab revealed the state of their faith in their unique stories). And then, we pan the camera lens around to you and give you the opportunity to ask God how He wants your faith to be expressed through your own distinct works. (Spoiler alert: He’ll tell you. He always does.)

The Technicalities

So far, in this letter, James has outlined faith in the following four ways:

• it endures trials (James 1:2-11)
• it understands temptations (James 1:12-20)
• it produces doers (James 1:21-27)
• it’s not partial (James 2:1-13)

Here, in this last half of James 2, he introduces the fifth characteristic of true, practical, everyday faith: it shows itself in works. With that, we also hit upon the book’s key verse and James’ point that faith without works is dead (a point that he makes once in James 2:17 and then again three verses later in James 2:20). Now, before we go any further, it’s important to define what, exactly, James means by “faith” and “works.”

First, let’s define faith (or the Greek word pistis.) It’s a person’s persuaded belief in and acknowledgment of divine things, specifically regarding the claims of Christianity: that God exists, that He is the creator and ruler of all things, and He is the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Jesus. And then there are works, the Greek word, ergon. They are the business or employment with which a person is occupied, whether that’s in acts or deeds or simply good being done. That said, James begins this passage by asking the reader point-blank about what good faith is that doesn’t have works closely adhered to it.

“Can that sort of faith save you?” he asks the question in a rhetorical kind of way that shows he is also about to answer it. But something really fascinating happens with the Greek linguistics here because James isn’t talking about pistis-faith alone when he asks that question there in James 2:14. The Greek wording he uses is dynamai pistis or capable, strong, and powerful faith.

Sure, faith alone can save you. We see that clearly in Luke 23:39-43 with the thief who hung on the cross by Jesus. He put his faith in Him right then and there and was saved – Jesus promised him that day that he would be with Him in paradise. But the thing about that is that that man didn’t have the opportunity to allow his faith to display itself in works before he died. You and I? We do. But, for whatever reason, some of us still choose not to.

Take, for example, if a brother or sister is unable to provide for their own basic needs. They have no clothing or daily food. You see it, know it, recognize their need, but send them off with a blessing and a prayer.

“Good bye, have a good day!” you might say. “Stay warm and eat well!” But you don’t give out of your rich abundance to fill their lack or to help appease their poverty if only a little bit. What good do those words do them?

In the same way, James says, faith that is not closely joined with and adhered to works but is separated by itself is nothing but a corpse. It is breathless, lifeless, and entirely useless. It is inoperative and, as a result, completely ineffective. However, the most telling thing about this use of the word “faith” compared to how James used it in verse 14 is that it’s missing the dynamai verb. In other words, faith without works is missing the strength and power that makes faith faith.

“Ok,” James says that some might argue, “you have faith. I have works. You do you.”

“But,” James says, “You can’t show me your faith without those works. Yet I will show you my faith by my works.” And that “by” word that he uses means that his faith is the source of his works.

“You believe that there is one God,” James argues. “Great. That’s faith without any works attached to it. Demons do, too, and they absolutely tremble in His presence. But do you want actual, irrefutable evidence that faith without works is dead?”

“Here’s your proof,” he says. “Look at Abraham.” He is referencing the story of Abraham in Genesis 22, who obediently offered his son on the altar before God interrupted him and provided His own sacrifice. As the Amplified Bible describes, he was justified by his works of obedience, which expressed his faith. Abraham’s faith and his works worked together, James 2:22 says, using the Greek word synergeō (where we get the English word “synergy”). It’s the understanding that the interaction of two or more things, when combined, has a greater effect together than the sum of their individual parts alone. Abraham’s faith was the source of his works, and the synergy of the two perfected his faith in a way that it couldn’t have otherwise been on its own.

Same for Rahab – a prostitute from Joshua 2 who answered a knock on her door and discovered a couple of strangers there whom she knew were different. She heard their story that God had sent them to her land to spy it out and take it for God’s people. And she had heard the stories of what God had done for His people in the past. She believed them to be true, and she hid the men from the king, who sought to kill them. Four chapters later, in Joshua 6, when God gave His people the city in which Rahab lived, she was saved, along with her entire family.

Rahab believed God (when the rest of her city didn’t), was a doer, and ended up alive when everyone else was killed. Abraham believed God, was a doer, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Even further, he was God’s friend, as are we if we do the same, revealing our faith as born-again believers through acts of obedience by doing God’s Word. Because those works are the things that breathe life into our faith. Without them, our faith is as dead as the people of Jericho were in Joshua 6, and as dead as our bodies the moment our spirit leaves it. And, I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen a dead body with your own two eyes, but I have. And I’ll tell you this: the way that a body looks without the spirit is nothing at all of how I want my faith to be, nor is it anything close to what I want God to see when He looks at my faith. No, ma’am. Give me all the Spirit-filled faith I can get.

Making it Personal

“Ok,” you might be thinking. “So, what should I do? How can I live this out, breathe life into my faith, and actively do it the way James has persuaded me to?” Of course, you can start with verses 15-16, where James gives a very practical example of how to actively work out your faith by clothing and feeding the poor. It’s a clear way of showing how to give what you have to give, and it can be as simple as basic hospitality or as complex as walking out an Abraham or Rahab-level calling that everyone might think you’re a little bit crazy for believing.

Let’s talk about that first thing – basic hospitality. You can see an example of that in Acts 16 when God busts Paul and Silas out of jail. The Philippian jailer watched it all happen and asked the same question in Acts 16:30 to the suddenly free men who should have still been locked up and chained.

“What should I do to be saved?” he asked, and they told him what Christian faith was – believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, which he did. But then he followed that up naturally with his doing: he washed their wounds. He brought them to his home. And he fed them.

Now, let’s look at the second – doing an Abraham or Rahab-level calling by faith. Take a look over at Luke 3:1-14. When you get there, you’ll find John the Baptist preaching three different times to three different groups of people – “regular” people, tax collectors, and soldiers. Each group responded to his message the same way: “What should we do then?” The emphasis here is wholly and entirely mine because they weren’t just hearers. They were desperate to be doers. They responded to John’s preaching in the way that I believe James is saying here that living, breathing faith should naturally play itself out.

And, do you know what I found fascinating? John gave three different answers. Yes, we should all look after widows and orphans and care for the poor, full stop. But we also need to each be living a nuanced form of faith that is unique to us – the giftings God has given to us, the jobs that we work, the world in which we are immersed.

For me, my way of seeing that James 2:14 need and filling it is teaching women how to study the Bible. I see so many women hungry for God’s Word, struggling to understand it, desperate for more of it, and I try to provide for that need in every way I can think of. That’s why I’m here, doing this.

For John, that was water baptism – something He did for Jesus immediately after his preaching here in Luke 3. And if you flip over to John 1:32-33, you’ll see a detail about his story of baptizing Jesus that isn’t told in Luke 3.

“John bore witness,” it says in John 1, “saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.'” And this is where it gets interesting: “‘I did not know Him,'” John says, “‘but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'”

John was doing baptism in response to God’s clear direction. We don’t know when God put it squarely on John’s heart to do that, but John is recounting that calling in John 1:33. He didn’t know who Jesus was or what He looked like. He just knew that he was supposed to baptize people and would eventually baptize the Messiah. And John walked in obedience to that, doing and baptizing in faith that he would see this very specific event happen. If John had heard that detailed information and waited in faith, doing nothing until he saw the Spirit descend, he would have never experienced it. He had to be out baptizing, out doing before God fulfilled that promise. You can see that played out in order in Luke 3:21-22 – Jesus was baptized first. Only after His water baptism did the Holy Spirit descend upon Him.

That said, let’s go back to where we started with your own “Now what?” question. To that, I’d say: Ask God. Ask Him: What should I do? How should I walk this out? How do You want my faith to be expressed through my works?

Ask in faith, with no doubting. He’ll tell you just like He told John, and just like that Philippian jailer knew what do to next. He’ll tell you, in that simple, frank, and succinct way of His giving of wisdom when His people ask for it that we looked at back in James 1:6.

So, friend, ask God what you should do. Then, run as fast as you can to do it.

Thanks so much for listening!